Fox Glacier

We started early that day leaving our accommodations by seven o’clock in the morning. Before our stop at our next hotel for lunch, we stopped by a waterfall that could produce a visual illusion. If you looked at it for a while and then looked at the rain forest just next to it, the forest would divide into three parts. The middle part seems to move up while both of the sides move down. Apparently, Maori legend says that if you cannot see the illusion you are a bad person. However, I do not believe that just one waterfall in particular that would do this. If I remember, I am going to try that trick with random waterfalls such as with Yosemite falls to see if I can get the same effect.

At another brief rest stop with an amazing view, I just came across the cutest baby. He had such a quirky smile that I had to take his picture.

After another hamburger for lunch, remember I went to Furgburger. I walked across the street to the building where the glacier guides were located. 

We traveled to fox glacier by bus and parked on what appeared to be a crushed asphalt parking lot. According to our guides, we were actually on top of ice from the glacier that is slowly melting. Every year they have to pile more asphalt on to keep the parking lot at the same level.

Once we got near, the river had turned from the beautiful blue to a dark gray from the concentrated particles of dirt. However, right near the glacier there were small ponds were you could observe the change in color of the water from gray to blue as the particles were diluted.

Pretty soon into the hike we went of onto a roped off area. They roped off the trail because last year two Australians went to near the glacier and were killed by falling ice.

Soon we were climbing through temperate rain forest right next to a glacier.

On the way, there was a stop at a drinkable stream.

Once at the edge of the glacier, we put on half crampons, and started walking up ice steps to the top of the glacier.

Once on glacier one of the German tourist had brought snaps with her some snaps. Each of us took as swig and took a picture of us looking down on the camera while in a circle. Sadly, my camera was not used, you have to take my word for it.

Not only was the view from the top of the glacier was beautiful. There were a few water filled holes on the ice, one was deep enough that when we threw a wood hiking stick down into it disappeared before it popped up again.

As you can guess fox glacier was the high point of that day. Due to rain and construction a tour of some local caves with glowworms was canceled, and the dinner that night could have used a lot of improvement. But I did see a hilarious show were guys did a bunch of stunts with water boats and jet skies and hurt themselves a lot. 

Bungee Jumping

I started my day by retrieving my cell phone which I left on the windowsill of my room in the Milford Wanderer two days ago. It was transported to me by tourist coach, after the Milford Wanderer's next tour.

Bungee Jumping was not until two o’clock that afternoon. So by 10 am I was hiking up the hill behind our hotel. It was a long uphill walk of over an hour but finally, I made it to the top. Walking was the least favorite transportation option, there was hardly anyone on the trail. The alternative option was a gondola ride up this hill as well as activities such as mountain biking, luge and zip lines.

But, most importantly there was an amazing view.

The view in the third picture down is especially amazing. According to Maori legend, the lake was formed when a princess eating giant was killed by Maori warriors.  You can almost see the outline of his body. The lake also rises and falls rhythmically and is said to be the giants heartbeat. The exact reason for the rising and falling of the lake is unknown. However, it is known that it is not tidal. The change in depth is too rapid.

At two, I boarded the bus with some of the other tourists for a short tour of Queenstown and a ride to the Kawaru bridge.

Nervous throughout the drive about my impending jump I found comfort in the music playing. One song,  a satirical song about bovine revolting against slaughter was especially amusing.

The entrance to the Kawaru bridge was unique, we went down a spiral ramp to the main building and hands shaking I approached the front desk to sign up and pay for bungee jumping. Removing everything from my pockets I was weighed.

I then a waited. The safety personnel were on a break and they would not commence again until three o’clock. It was a long fifteen minute wait, that extended another five minutes as the safety team started to assemble.

For increased speed of hurling tourists over the edge, on the bridge were two jumping platforms.

I was the second runner up for the platform closest to the observation platform. I did have a chance to go first but lady’s first does not apply to bungee jumping. I wanted someone else in front.

Before I was allowed to go down into the prep area I had to have a rock climbing harness already on. It had a long elastic strap to it that would attach to my feet later on.

Once in the prep area, the people would not stop talking to me as they prepped me up. Where did I come from? What did I do? Was I enjoying New Zealand? It was obvious that they were doing their best to keep my mind off jumping.

They secured my legs with a blue towel and then tied them together securely with a nylon strap.

Pulling me up they helped me waddle to the edge.

My heart was pounding. My toes were on the edge of a 43-meter drop.

I waved to the camera, and then the person behind me said three, two, one. I leaned forward and *** I was falling. By the  pictures I bought afterward I could tell that I was screaming. Man it was terrifying. The feeling of bungee jumping was exactly the feeling I was expecting when I went skydiving. My lungs tightened as my intestines rolled in my body cavity.

Splash, I struck the water. 

Then up I went again. Then down, intestines wriggling at a slightly diminished capacity. My nose bleeding.

There was a boat below me, holding out a metal rod. Once I stopped bouncing I was lowed by my ankles to the point were I could grab the rod and slowly I was Lowered into the raft.

After the bungee jumping our tour of the area around Queenstown continued. We traveled to a small former gold rush town. There we panned for gold and found nothing.

But, it was relaxing.

There was also an old-fashioned candy shop were we were given a five dollar allowance for candy. I bought some good rum raisin fudge, tiramisu, some crunchy fudge that I forgot the name of and dark truffle. It cost more than five dollars..

That night we had pizza at a good pizzeria with a retracting roof.

Day 4

This morning the van picked Eva’s best friend and me up at 8:30 in the morning to take us to the stables. On the way, we picked up more passengers including a few Bay area Californians. One of them knew Chase Crewdson one of my classmates from kindergarten to high school.

Once we arrived, we did our paperwork first. Our trip was the longest and needed to be started as fast as possible.

We soon meet the other riders, a guy from England who did competitive jumping and had helped with retraining racehorses for pleasure riding and two people from Connecticut who owned their own trail horses.

Our trip was rather flat and uneventful, but we had a few challenging rides. One of them was going across a wide and deep fast moving river. The Water reached the bottom of the horses barrels. To the point were our feet if not elevated would get wet. The water was so fast. That we had to direct the horses into the current to get across the river, and the point were we exited was further down the river than the point that we entered.

I rode a horse called Omar, a sweet yet grumpy black ex stunt horse. We had a lot of fun. While not super responsive to my leg. He was really good and walk canter transitions when he had to catch up with the herd. Also, he had a nice comfortable canter and trot.

A polluter as well, he urinated in a wonderfully clean stream.

Supposedly, our trip was following the path of Saruman’s army in The Lord of the Rings but I couldn’t really tell even after I saw all three movies again. However, I enjoyed the scenery and the ride.

By the end of my three and a half ride, my ass was killing me.

That night we went out to Fergberger, the most popular burger restaurant in Christchurch to eat.  We stopped for desert at a local gelato. It was then off to The world Bar. A bar where mixed drinks are served in teacups. Later that night there was a live band. Dancing with Eva, I had a blast.

Tomorrow, it is bungee jumping.

Milford Sound part II

Days three’s excitement occurred during the end of our cruse of the Milford Sound.

That morning the cruise traveled out of the sound into the high seas. The bow raised and crashed down with each wave. For fun, barefoot, I traveled to the bow with my camera. When the bow crashed down I enjoyed the short feeling of falling. At that time I was the only one out on the bow. Everyone else, mostly German tourists, observing through the windows of the captains  cabin. According to a civil engineer from Scotland and his wife, they were laughing at me for going to the bow and getting wet. However, once he and his wife had gone there he could see why. The view, much more up close and personal than the captain’s cabin. The German tourists were also commenting on how big the waves were, they were quickly corrected by the captain who said waves could get a whole lot bigger than the 5m they were currently at.

Turning around back into the ound we quickly retraced our root back to the dock.

The rest of the trip that day was an uneventful buss ride. We ended our day in Queenstown. Passing time till dinner I went window shopping down town.

I had dinner with Stephan, Mica, Eva and all of the other German tourists in our tour group. We cooked spaghetti and tomato sauce.

Later that night we traveled downtown to Minus 5 Degrees. A bar in an industrial freezer with ice statues of motorcycles and unicorns and benches were everyone wears UGG boots and coats. It cost us approximately twenty dollars to get in with one free drink and five dollars for any extra drink order.

I happily enjoyed two martinies

.

After a short pole dancing routine, I went to sleep early horseback ridding tomorrow.

Milford Sound part 1

From the lodge in the woods we traveled by bus to the Milford Sound. On the way I got to experience my first temperate rain forest, mirror lakes, and random tourist shops.

Our first stop was a fruit stand where you could buy homemade candies and dried fruits along with ice cream in which they mix in your favorite fruits.

Next, we stopped for gas where I bought a leather Australian hat. It was a lot nicer than the one I bought in England. It had thicker higher quality leather and plastic instead of number 8 wire for the brim support.

Lunch consisted of a venison pie at another tourist stop. The view over the lake was amazing, even with the clouds.

It was also rainy

The rain obscured the Mirror Lakes a bit, however we still got the idea.

The temperate rain forests of New Zealand are grown on only a few inches of soil over rock. Therefore, to stay on they intertwine their root systems to scale the steep mountain sides. This leaves all the empty spaces  perfect locations for waterfalls.

We then traveled through a hand made tunnel through the mountains to the other side to Mission Impossible music.

At the other side we stopped for a short walk through the forest were we saw some amazing stone formations.

I think the rock formations are amusing, the three holes in the rock remind me of an imperial scout helmet.

After our short walk, we arrived at our accommodations the Milford Wanderer.

Our room approximately and eight by five foot room was shared my three people, Mica, Christina and me. It also gave us a low level view of the water.

The Milford Sound while wet was beautiful. The waterfalls were in full swing. We experienced strong winds and close views of seals and penguins. We saw the  penguins, while kayaking around the sound, therefore I did not bring my camera in fear that it would get seriously wet. It was chilly. Especially since, I was only wearing my bathing suit.

Later I jumped from the top deck of the ship to go swimming

The water was freezing.

That night our dinner was crackling, pork, mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. We stayed up late playing connect four and due to my swimming experience I enjoyed two shots of Red Label whiskey.