A cloudy look at Mount Cook

One of the swinging bridges over the raging river.
Me and our cloudy rainy view
The troopers I tramped with, taking a shot of the cloud in front of Mount Cook.


From Lake Tekapo we decided to take a day trip to climb and see NZs largest mountain, Mount Cook, yet another place named after James Cook who discovered most of the Pacific Islands!
It was supposed to be a mostly sunny clear day but it started with me waking up at 6:30am to hear a torrential downpour and then to continue on all day raining. My friends and I were hoping it would change once we got up to the mountain but after waiting around all morning, teaching our Brit friend Ben all about PB and banana sandwiches and watching him eat one we decided it wasn't going to clear so we gave up entertaining ourselves and ventured out. It wasn't too bad just mostly sprinkling but we couldn't even see the cloud covered Mount Cook. We tramped for 3 1/2 hours with the last hour raining quite hard. Came back to the lodge for a well earned coffee with Baileys and to sit by the fireplace and dry out a bit! I have been very lucky, this is the first time the weather has really affected my day and the views so I guess I can't complain. We blamed it on Kelli who has had bad weather and no views on every major hike she's been on, poor girl but she's toa trooper, she's a Canadian who grew up on the Alaska border. I have met more Canadians in the last week here, it's been great. One night there was 10 of us sitting around and 8 were Canadians!

Another Favorite Town! Lake Tekapo

A view of Lake Tekapo, I practically had to lay on the wet ground to get this shot but it was worth it!

After climbing straight uphill on Mount John for an hour or so, I got this shot of Lake Tekapo

Moeraki Boulders between Dunedin and Omarua.
The first church in NZ

I think I have developed an attraction to small towns by lakes....this lake was actually very stunning. First the color is the most amazing blue, it's created from 'Rock Flour', which is washed off the glacier rocks by the rain and then goes into the lake turning the water this turquoise blue. As I was walking along the shore side I felt like I was at the ocean as large waves where literally crashing into the shore constantly, it was so strange I really had to think about where I was as this lake is also very large and you can't see the far side. It probably helped being that it was a very blustery rainy day out.
This is a very small town and it has the first church in NZ here. It's a tiny stone bu idling that seats 40 people and has a 2 1/2 year waiting list to get married there. I guess if you had to wait that long you'd really be sure you want to get married so that could be a good thing! I was so impressed by the view of the lake out the big glass window that I had to take a picture totally not seeing the 'please respect our church/no cameras' sign that I also blindly captured in my photo! The people I was with quickly told me no pictures and I felt ashamed then only to see the little old man working there grinning at the horrified look on my face. He laughed and said that was mainly because when they get too many people inside it's too hard and holds things up. He was so sweet I had to make a donation!

Critters everywhere!

A sheep who was curiously watching us as we walked back up the hill from the beach.

Hooker seals taking a break from their wrestling. I took this from a ledge just above the beach, safe spot but very close to them. They didn't pay us much attention.

Little yellow eyed penguin heading past us to his/her nest.

Another cute one who waddled along, looked like a little old man.

I arrived in Dunedin after Queenstown and decided to go on a Wildlife Tour as I really wanted to see the yellow eyed penguins. After touring around and looking at all types of birds including the Albatross (it's amazing how many NZ has especially after being in SE Asia and hardly seeing any!) we headed to a farmers property alongside the ocean where the tour company had special access to and built an area just for the penguins to nest.
Here we hiked down the steep hills to first see the yellow eyed penguins who were so adorable! We watched them keeping a distance of about 15 feet or more and I couldn't stop laughing at one little one who was frantically trying to get out of the ocean. As he glided in on his tummy he would try to quickly get up and then waddle as fast as he could to get out of the water before another wave came crashing in forcing him to fall flat on his belly again. Poor little guy did this about 3 times before he got safely up onto the beach. Then it's the season for them to find their mates and we watched them flirting and calling each other and saying hello by standing feet together with their heads looking up in the air. Not sure why they think this is a way to attract someone it looks as though they are ignoring the other with their nose in the air but hey whatever works I guess!
Then we wandered further down the beach to find the Hooker Seals, they are larger than the Fur Seals and all of them where males who were on 'holidays' as they don't take any part of rearing their babies. They leave the mothers and babies alone until it's time to mate again. They just sat on the beach and were constantly fighting and picking on each other, some life huh?!
Further down the beach we saw more penguins coming out of the ocean and going up to their nests in the bushes or meeting a 'mate'.
Then up the humongous hill and down the other side (no one told us there was going to be hiking straight up some of the steepest hills I've seen here!) to see the Fur Seals who were just coming in with their baby pups. We watched them romp around and play and make all kinds of noise, no wonder the males leave..... It was too dark to take pictures of them as we were up above on a cliff and watching them below.
They are very environmentally aware and take special care not allowing us to get too close to the animals which is good. The farmer has been very co-operative in working with this company and allowing them to build a fenced in area for the penguins to nest so other animals like the seals can't get to them.

Amazing Milford Sound and Homer Tunnel

Spent a day going to Milford Sound from Queenstown. Along the way we had a few stops including Mirror Lakes with even more mirror images of mountains in the lakes that were just stunning and then we went thru Homer Tunnel. This is a famous tunnel that is 1.5 kms long and took them 20 years to build. Apparently in Canada we don't know what tunnels really are as my friend from Germany thought nothing of this tunnel as we were going through it and I was just in awe!

We got to Milford Sound and took a 2 hour boat tour through the sound, past 3 large waterfalls, lazy seals and lots of amazing cliff/mountain sides. The scenery was so dramatic and amazing it's no wonder this is one of NZ's top spots to come and see!

Queenstown- The Place to Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

Me and Mr Rees, the founder of Queenstown and his pet sheep?!
Semra and I in the Minus 5 ice bar, she's the bad influence!
View across the lake from Queenstown
Eating my Fergburger!

What a change from my little Wanaka town! Queenstown is a beautiful hustle bustle energy packed city with lots to do. They claim to be the adventure capital of NZ but I find this whole country is packed full of adventures of every sort possible! They are also know for their pubs and the famous Fergburger, which is an absolutely huge burger of all types, I tried the Lil Bambi one. Sounds mean but they actually raise deer here to eat so I thought I would give it a try. In fact NZ used to be known for sheep farming but now cattle farming is the most popular and then sheep and deer.
We also had to go and try the 'Teapot' drinks at Old World Bar. These are basically a large cocktail served in a teapot and they give you little shot glasses to pour into and then drink out of. Then we had to check out the Minus 5 Bar, it's an ice bar that is around -7 or -8 degrees and all made out of ice. They give you warm jackets and gloves and you are only allowed to stay in for 1/2 hour and drink your drinks out of glasses made of ice and sit on ice benches and look at ice sculptures, very cool!
Then we had to check out a popular spot called Winnies which had a rooftop that opened up to the sky so when it got too hot they would pop it open, let the wind gust thru the place and shut it down again. Here I was lucky to catch up with a friend, Krista, whom I had met in Cambodia, amazing where you run into your traveling friends! Then off to an Irish Pub for some more drinks and dancing! I love the diversity in this city, what a great place wish I could have stayed longer!

Fun observation- NZ has $1 and $2 coins as well. I accidentally asked a lady when I was doing my laundry if the washing machines took Loonies or Twoonies. She burst out laughing and asked me what I was talking about and then I realized what I had said!
Also the Kiwis are so into their outdoors they have patio seating with heaters or fireplaces year round!!

My Favorite Town - Wanaka!

The Ames Illusion Room, tiny me and big Semra
Now I'm Big!
The Roman bathroom
Morning mist
View to View point on Lake Matheson with Mount Cook in the back.
Left Franz Joseph and drove past Fox Glacier. There are only 3 glaciers in the world that are attached to a rain forest, Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier are two and the other one is in South America. Next stop was at Lake Matheson and we tramped up to the View to View point and got lucky again as it was another sunny day and took pictures with reflections in the lake with west side of Mount Cook in the distant background.

Then I headed down to an often missed little town called Wanaka. Along my travels so many people had told me to stop here and I am so glad I did! What a great little 'chill out' town, I went to a cool place called Puzzle World where they had different Illusion rooms and a Giant confusing Maze. They also have a giant leaning Tower of Wanaka with a backwards clock that they stated on January 1st, 2000. They also had Paradiso Cinema where I watched the movie - Changeling with Angelina Jolie while sitting in a decorated room with comfy couches and an old car and you got giant cookies at intermission. They still use a projector to show their movies.
I also rented a bike and followed the paths along the lake and through the yellow freshly fallen leaves, it was so beautiful and smelled just like home in the fall! I have only gone thru 2 seasons in the last 6 months, Fall, Summer and Fall again!

More Tramping- Franz Joseph National Park

Yes another windy bad hair day.....
'Heaps' of Ice!
Thru some tight spots
Up up up we go
An official NZ 'tramper' now
Arrived into Franz Joseph National Park and it was raining so I headed up to some amazing hot pools and managed to spend 3 hours soaking in the heat! They had 3 pools with different degrees- 40, 38 and 36. Spent about 7 minutes in the 40 degree pool then just over an hour in the 38 degree one (and managed a little nap somehow) and then visited in the 36 degree one quite comfortably. It was beautiful, outdoors and in the midst of the rain forest.

The next day I went on a Glacier Hike, they equipped us with all the proper clothing thankfully which included clamp ons, boots and wind proof jackets. We lucked out and got a mostly sunny day. Started off with a 45 minute tramp to the glacier thru some rain forest along a river until we got to the base. Then strapped on the clamp ons and headed up the glacier as our guide cut out steps for us with her ice pick. Went up and down some pretty steep and narrow areas but the views were incredible and the ice itself was the most amazing blue color in parts. Met 2 ladies from Minnesota, the oldest who just turned 73, she tried backing out part way up but our guide was incredible with her and kept her going along side her and she proudly finished the 4 hour trip. Ended the day with some hot soup and another soak in our hostel hot tub!