Last days

We are in Queenstown now. We rented an apartment with beautiful views of the lake and Remarkables (maountain range). Last night we went to a vineyard and had an excellent dinner with a 'trust the chef' menu and wine pairing with each course. It was gooood. We sat on the grass afterwards and sipped some more wine. Today we are doing some last minute shopping and internet. Later we will do a luge down the side of a mountain and I am deciding on whether to hanglide or take a jet ride that does loops and flies upside down and g-forces and what not. Still trying to convince Judy that is is necessary that I do both. We'll see. The weather outside is like a perfect summer day back home. Clear, not too hot, a perfect last day. Tomorrow we begin our long flight home. So bad. :(. I am homesick but also don't want to go. Judy is sad as well. I think we are both ready but at the same time it is not easy to leave all this behind. It has been a wonderful and magical journey. I will take time for it all to fully soak in. While we walked Milford we would talk about and reminisce on all of the places we visited, the people we met and the experiences we had. This will probably be my last post. Actually, there will be one more, I will post a link of pictures in the next few days. Probably after Christmas but before NYE so check back and you can view some of the choice pics. Thankx for following along. I hope you enjoyed.

Nick

Milford Walk

Without a doubt the best walk...EVER! We had to carry all our gear and food. No worries as we are experienced backpackers. We hiked up a valley with 1000 meter cliffs on both sides of us. Waterfalls cascading down all over the place. Lush jungle everywhere. Flowers, lakes, birds, the works. For the most part the weather was nice, a little rain. We were lucky because they get on average 1-2 inches of rain a day in this area. Sometimes the walkers have to wade thru waist deep river crossings while on the trail. Lickily for us it was never was above our ankles. Wet feet were unavoidable but with the right shoes and socks it's not a problem. The first day we hiked 3 miles to a cabin. There were 40 other people on the walk with us. While you walked you were pretty much alone but in the cabins the kitchen is communal and the sleeping quarters like dorms. Everyone was pretty cool. People from all parts of the world sharing stories of travels. Funny but everyone is on holidays that go from 1 month to indefinite. It has been common for us to meet people on these large vacations, of all ages, everywhere we have traveled. Aside form the U.S. 1 month holidays are kinda the norm in most other countries. I will remember this when negotiating my contract with my next employer. The second day was a 10 mile walk, mostly flat. The third day we were to hike up and over McKinnon pass (summit is 1100 meters), this is where all the great views are. We had read and that you should make the hike on your second day if the skys are clear because it is rare that they are and the views are worth it. The ranger at the first hut reiterated this as well as the ranger we passed and talked to on our second day hike. Despite the long day and our dogs being a little tired Judy and I decided to tackle it on the second day. We were the only ones out of the 40 people to do it. It was a tough and tiring hike after such a long day. The hike was tough, I mean you are walking up a steep hill, climbing hills is work. I don't care where you are from it takes effort. I think it was a little easier for us because it was not at altitude like we are used to back home. You don't spend the entire time sucking air. When we finally reached the top, the skys were blue and we could see not only the valley we waked up but also the other side which consisted of multiple valleys of the sounds. AMAZING! BEAUTIFUL! SPECTACULAR! MAJESTIC! ....Ok, that's all I got. Well, that and about 100 pictures. There is a cliff off to one side they call the 12 second drop. As much as I wanted to throw stuff and count I knew from Judy's look that she did not approve. She has trained me well. We hiked back down to the hut after a while. In total an additional 4 miles in addition to the 10 we had done that day. At least we didn't have to carry our packs up. So the next day when everyone else hiked up...totally cloudy skys. Actually on top of the pass you were in a cloud and couldn't see 50 feet in front of you. Hahahaha, woohooo, heee, haaaa....LOOOSERS! We got the good views and everyone else got NOTHING. No one seemed to like us after that but we didn't care we were vindicated by our extra efforts. After going over the pass you had to hike down the other side to the bottom of the valley. In my opinion going down is harder than going up especially with gear on your back. This was another 10 mile day. Before we reached the next hut there is a side trip that you can take to the Southerland falls. The highest falls in N-Zed at 580 meters. Very beautiful. I stripped down to my underwear and climbed behind the falls. It was cold but it felt good (no showers at the huts) and exhilarating. The sound of the water crashing down was deafening. After I came out I convinced Judy to do it so she stripped down and we both climbed behind it. Good times. A few other brave souls did the same. Absolutely worth it. How could you go there and not? At all the hust we were warned by the rangers that we had to make sure all of our gear was secured inside or the Keas would get them. They told horror stories of Keas stealing shoes and raincoats and people having to hike out with no coat or one boot. Keas are like Parrots on steroids. Big, intelligent, curious and very mischevious. The last day was and 11 mile hike out mostly flat. Our legs were sore and tired and we hiked at a fast pace so as to be sure not to miss the ferry ride back. It was raining a little more this day and there were new waterfalls appearing on the cliffs to either side of us and the volume of water increased. The Ferry took us on a quick ride thru the Milford sounds which were so incredibly beautiful. I feel very fortunate to have experienced them. All in all a most excellent trip. For us (with the additional hike) 37.5 miles total! We stayed that night in Te Anau and had a hot shower, hot meal and good nights sleep.

A great big dump!

Not the fecal kind...gross. It's been a while since I have had the desire to blog. I am enjoying N-Zed so much I can't seem to will myself to find the time to sit down for more than 5 minutes at a PC. That being said, I am going to just do a dump of experiences here, in no particular order, and with minimal detail. Sorry, just can't find the heart to sit in fron of a PC for long while I am, well, here. I am sure most will sound like nonsensical rambling. Enjoy. Wellington was cool. Small city that felt big. Lots of wandering. It is a virtual wind tunnel due to its location and has hurricane force winds sometimes. It was a bit windy. Not a fan of the wind. We stayed there for a few days with Judy's old flat mate, Theresa. I don't care what Judy says, Theresa is cool. Thanks for putting up with us and driving us around for a few days, you rock. From Wellington we took a ferry to the South Island thru the Queen Charlotte Sounds (beautiful) and drove thru Blenum, wine country, and tasted some good Sauv Blanc. Drove thru some amazing and beautiful countryside. We stayed at a place...name slips me, where there were hot springs. Hamner Springs, thats it! Unfortunately the springs and restaurants both closed at 9pm and we had to choose one or the other. We choose food and did the spring the next AM. After working our way thru some car trouble and getting our hot spring fix we eventually found our way down to Akaroa. Theresa left us there as this was our launch pad for the Banks Penninsula walk. We tramped (walked) for four days with our packs staying at a different hut each night. In total it was about 27km(ish). There were about 8 other people on the walk...not with us, just there. Each cabin was different. After the first night we hiked from sea level to 600meters straight up the hill, for some reason switchbacks did not occur to these people. The views were good and the wind was....not helpful. The second night we stayed in this bay which was a penguin sanctuary and went on a tour of the area. We were able to see penguins climb these huge cliffs and walk about 200 meters up a steep hill to their burrows. I struggled to walk tup this hill to spy on then. Seriously, penguins walking up steep hills, did not know they could do that. I ask our guide why they don't just fly up. He looks at me funny and never answers my question. I don't think he likes me. Sometimes we would flip up the top of the burrow to see the parent and chicks inside. I could tell they enjoyed that by the way the hissed at us. It was called the "biggest little penguin colony" because little penguins (that is their name, little penguins) nested here more than anywhere else in the world. Cool. The next night we stayed at this place where they had, literaly in the middle of the bush, a pool table, outside hot tubs (you made a fire under the porceline bat tub and laid out under the stars with plants and flowers around you), a HUGE swing that took you above the tree tops, fire pit, bathroom made out of the side of a huge tree, private huts, etc... In the middle of the night we were woken up by these clicking, screeching, whirring, clapping, honking sounds. Penguins staying under our hut. WTF...where does this happen? AND were were nowhere near water. Penguins rock. Magical is the best word I can think of to describe this place. We encountered and passed many sheep during our days hiking. I like sheep. ...not in the lonely, sexually frustrated kind of way, they are just cool. Way more interesting than cows. We petted sheep too. For some reason we were compelled to "baaah" every time we passed some. I think I could raise sheep if I was a farmer. Overall the walk was incredible, the views, the climate, the bush, the places we stayed, most excellent. I saw many stars. Even the southern cross. The stars do not set here because we are on the bottom of the earth. Cool. I HATE sand flies. They are like mozzies (mosquitos) except they bite harder and they won't die! You have to hit them like 5 times, the first time just pisses them off and their bites itch and they like to fly up your nose and in your eyes. We saw some sites from Lord of the Rings. In my opinion everywhere here looks like Lord of the Rings except the official sites. Wherever we go it looks like the movie. Then when we go to an official site I cannot recognize it. Oh well. We thought about going to a hobbit hole but when we saw the before and after pics, the after looked NOTHING like the original. Weak. Wanaka was my favorite town. BEAUTIFUL scenery. Huge lake surounded my magestical mountains in every direction. We went on walks and I did a human maze at puzzle world. Took me 40 minutes. We also saw a movie at Cinema Paradisio. We sat on a huge lush couch with pillows and while they switched the film during an intermission they served freshly baked cookies. I drank beer while Judy ate cookies. Best movie theater EVER. There was even a gutted VW bug with couches in it. Way cool. We hiked on glaciers. First we hiked to views of the Franz-Joseph glacier and then we went on a 4 hour hike onto the Fox glacier. 200 meters high at the base and 13km long. Cramp-ons, poles to poke ice with, the real deal. We were on a glacier where we couldn't even see the beginning. Even cooler...we walked thru hot, humid, lush jungle to get up high enough to walk out onto it. Jungle to glacier...who woulda thunk it? The storms had been so bad recently a huge massive (size of a building) chunk had fallen off the front. The glacier was moving out as opposed to receding. I guess global warming does not apply here. We could hear ice breaking and rocks falling the entire time. Good stuff. We killed the batteries in our rental car as well as our camper van for leaving the lights on. Twice. Good thing Kiwis are nice and always seem to have jumper cables with them. We don't have a cell phone or cables. Probably because we are American tourists. My old scout master would not be proud. We rented a camper van and got a free upgrade to include a toilet and shower. The toilet stunk and the shower was too small. Living in it was fun but cramped. Stressful at times. What can you do? Go to the back of the van and throw things at Judy while she drives. When she yells at me to stop I hiss at her. I learned that from the penguins. Driving on the left side of the road has not been too difficult. People seem to honk and flash thier lights a lot and have horrified looks on their faces as you barrel towards them on the wrong side of the road. Kiwis are nice, they are good at letting you know when you are not doing it right. Lots of them have mulletts too, still trying to figure that one out. Today we are in Te Anau, tomorrow we start the Milford trek. 4 more days of hiking with our gear on our back. This one is 53 km. Oi. Supposed to be the #1 of all the great walks so I bet it is worth it. Kinda rainy outside. Oh well, good thing I don't melt. Not sure about Judy though... We come home on the 23rd. :( I am not ready to leave. I could live here. maybe in Wanaka. I will post once more before we leave and let you know how the walk goes. Also, after I get home I will post the choice pics fro your viewing please so if you are interested check back again after christmas.