After Milford we did the long drive back towards Queenstown. We stopped off in Te Anau to break up the trip and made it to Queenstown about 4.5 hours later.

We stopped off for lunch in Queenstown at a cute little cafe and then headed to the Kiwi Bird and Wildlife park. We saw a cool show all about native birds (and the Australian lorakeet) and then we got to see a Maori cultural show. During the Maori cultural show we learned some Maori words, saw a version of the Haka and did the Hooky Pokey in Maori ("you put your puka in, your put your puka out...". We also got to see a kiwi feeding and actually see Kiwi's foraging around in the kiwi house. Because kiwi's are nocturnal you usually have to squint in an enclosure to see them. But on this occasion we actually could see them!

After the kiwi house we started driving north to Wanaka where we would spend the night.

Stopping along the way to Wanaka.


Pretty flowers and icy blue water


We spent the night in Wanaka which is about 2 hours north of Queenstown and on the shores of Lake Wanaka (what original names!). The next morning we went for a stroll along the water and even fed some ducks.

The four of us on the shores of Lake Wanaka


After breakfast we headed to the Wanaka Toy and Transport Museum. The guide book described it as being like someones really cool attic with over 30,000 random things including a MIG jet and over 200 cars.



With 3 airplane hangers there was huge collections of star wars memorabilia, old cameras, star wars toys, little figurines, real fire engines, signed cars from movies (including one of "Worlds Fastest Indian" signed by Anthony Hopkins) and more!

Old gas pumps outside


Some of the cool toys at the museum


After spending over 3 hours at the museum (and 20 minutes at the microbrewery next door) we continued on our way to Franz Joseph Glacier.

On our way (oops not in that car!) - more fun at the museum in a pedal car


While the whole area we had been traveling around in thus far was mountainous we suddenly moved in to higher mountains with snow on them!

Mt Cook or Mt. Aspiring (not sure which)


More waterfalls @ Thunder Creek Falls


After a long 3 hour drive we arrived in Franz Joseph which was pretty impressive. Again another town that felt like a little alpine ski village. The next morning Mom, Matt and i headed off to do a half day hike on the glacier (which they pronounce "glah-see-er" here).

Franz Joseph Glacier


We did about a 2k hike in a big group of about 45 people from the parking lot at the national park to the terminal face of the glacier.

Matt and I on the hike to the terminal face


We eventually separated into 3 groups and the three of us joined the lead group at the front. We stopped to put on our crampons (spikes) which tied on over our boots and up we went.

These boots were made for walking...


Me and Mom


Up we went. Guide ropes were up on some of the areas we went up on and not in some areas. Not that it mattered, crampons really do their job!

Our young guide took us up, around and even through. That's right, through. We got to go through caves and even crevasses (one aptly named "Big Momma's Crack"). Again, i'll let the pictures do the talking...

The cave...(of doom!)


Stairs inside the cave


I was very proud of my mom who suffers from pretty bad claustrophobia managed to make it through everything (not without some serious panicking - stay tuned for video).

The 3 of us hiking


Going through Fat Momma's Crack


We spent a solid 3 hours on the ice and had such a great time. It is really one of the coolest things i have ever done (literally!)

For Matt our ice hike was not enough and the next morning he got up early to go to the only indoor ice climbing gym in the southern hemisphere. He spent 45 minutes and managed to do 3 climbs in that time frame while i watched from the peanut gallery. He even got in some of the more advanced walls done!

Up, up, up!


Look at those ice pikes, ouch!


We left for Greymouth to take the TranzAlpine train the next morning (after Matt's hike).

And that is where we shall pick up next time! Stay tuned.

Well it's been a very eventful past 2 weeks! Mom and Pat arrived on Tuesday after Easter and having them here has been wonderful.

We flew to Queenstown and arrived around 4pm. Coming in and seeing the mountains and the scenery was fantastic. It really was just stunning scenery.

We picked up our car and headed in to down town Queenstown (which was really only like 15 minutes from the airport). We opted to stay in a Bella Vista (which is a chain motel) and after checking ourselves in we headed up the gondola in town to see the view from the top!

Spectacular!

Although it barely tops 2000 meters, it feels much higher. We spent the gondola ride up telling silly jokes and enjoying the view.

Mom and the view


At the top there is bungy, street luge and hiking. We took a quick stroll around and waited hopefully (and unsuccessfully) for a bungy jumper while we took in the view.

After enjoying the view we headed to the Central Otago Wine experience. I've never been to anywhere else like it before. Hundred's of wines but all tastings automated. Basically you came in and they gave you a card (backed by your credit card held behind the bar of course) and they you would go up to a section of machines with the card, insert it, select the wine you wanted to try, what size and with the push of a button, voila! there's wine in your glass.

One of the more exciting wines was a bottle of Penfolds Grange. For those of you not familiar with Grange, it is considered by many to be Australia's top wine. Period. A bottle of it sets you back a mere $600. So when Matt and i saw it available for tasting (at a mere $30) we decided it was worth it! After letting it breathe awhile we both tasted it and while i can't say it's worth $600, i can say it was damn nice.

Tasting the richness (literally!)

We had dinner at an Indian restaurant and then checked out the town a bit. Queenstown has a very western ski-resort feel. Maybe it was the wooden buildings, the mountains or the musky smell of winter fires but it very much gave the feeling of relaxing after a hard day of skiing (even if we hadn't been skiing).

The next morning we had an great breakfast at the Vudu cafe (the pancakes are highly recommended) and took a stroll along the shores of Lake Wakatipu. We headed around 11:30am to Te Anau. We stopped at a few places along the way and i really don't think i can say enough just how striking the scenery really is.

We arrived in to Te Anau about 2 hours later and after visiting the DOC (department of conservation) we took a hike along Lake Te Anau towards the bird sanctuary.

I have to interrupt my inner monologue and commend (or curse) Genesis for their lovely Pukeko commercials theme song, which i had running through my head all through this leg of the trip (a similar version of the commercial with the same song can be seen here on you tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw8QJWdC650&feature=related). As some of you may remember i quite like the Pukeko's here which are about the size of a large duck with stick skinny super long feet. Anyways it turns out the Pukeko's fat sibling, the Takahe, is endangered on the South Island. We read all about it at the DOC and bird sanctuary. I guess it makes sense that there is such a huge focus on birds because there are zero native mammals in New Zealand.

Anyways, i digress.

After our hike we checked in for our glow worm tour. We boarded a big boat and took a cruise across Lake Te Anau.

Lake Te Anau


Mom, Pat, Matt and I on the boat


Supposedly early Maori's and local settlers passed down stories about caves of light. The caves were lost only to be rediscovered in the early-mid 1900's. While Matt and i have had the opportunity to go splunking and glow worm watching here on the North Island, the ones at Lake Te Anau were especially impressive because you actually went up river in a boat (think large rowboat) to see them in the pitch black darkness. They're kind of neat to think they're really only a funky fungus gnat! Sadly they're very sensitive to light so i'm afraid i have no pictures to share with you.

Monday we continued on our journey to Milford Sound and deeper into the heart of Fjordland.


For a quick lesson, Fjords are V shapes valleys which have been cut and dug out by glaciers. As the glaciers cut in to the valleys they became more rounded and eventually became U shaped, which are best characterized by steep walls and more stunning views of the steep peaks.

We stopped off along the way at beautiful places such as the mirror lakes


We even saw Wildlife! This is a Kea we saw while popping out in the rain to see the waterfalls before going in to the Homer Tunnel.

Why did the bird cross the road?


Although many other parts of New Zealand have been suffering a horrible drought lately, there is no shortage of rain in Fjordland. Known as one of the wettest places on Earth they measure rainfall in meters per year (around 7m annually!). Not surprisingly we entered in to Fjordland under a cloud of rain.

Lush green scenery


We arrived in Milford about an hour and a half before our boat trip. Between Te Anau and Milford is beautiful scenery and not much else. Milford was a sleepy little hamlet consisting of a cafe, hostel and the boat terminal. And that's it. For what it lacked (like maybe a grocery store) it made up for in beauty and mysterious charm.



We booked in for our overnight cruise on the Milford Mariner.


Sit right back and i'll tell the tale, the tale of a fateful trip which started from..Ooops wrong tale.

Our boat, The Mariner, has 25 rooms and was very lovely.


We sailed out along the fjord and saw waterfalls, dolphins, more waterfalls, birds and did i mention waterfalls?

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:



A picture? Oh no, that's our view out the window from our diner table


Thankfully by the time we made it out of the fjord to the Tasman sea it had stopped raining and we got the opportunity to do some kayaking. All four of us went out and spent about 45 minutes paddling around and enjoying some of the thrills of extreme kayaking.

The original extreme kayak-er himself.


We settled into the lounge as the sunset drinking beers and playing cards. There was a piano and guitar on board and Matt and i managed to pick up the courage to serenade everyone with our rendition of heart and soul.

Sunset


Mom befriended this little boy, George, who was playing on the guitar and he and his Mom, Lisa joined us for dinner. As it turned out we had a very similar itinerary planned and we became fast friends (i think George found a new role model in Matt).

All of the rain that we'd been spared during our afternoon of kayaking was back with a vengeance the following morning. We explored more waterfalls and the capital even took the boat right underneath a few.

Waterfalls don't scare us!


Entering the "mist"


We had a lovely time on the cruise and as you can see the scenery was just amazing. Wet, but amazing.

Well, stay tuned for the next installation of our trip featuring Lake Wanaka and THE GLACIER!