New Zealand, I am in LOVE.

Brellowgirl
Nov 28, 2015
6 min read

11.20.15

Today we had a great day despite the drizzling rain in the late afternoon. We went for a long walk around Hayes Lake in Queenstown, went to town for lunch at Fergburger, went to a vineyard and then me, Alyssa and Kunal went back into town for dinner and drinks. Hayes Lake was a beautiful mini hike. It took us a few hours to walk around it and the scenery was beautiful but we did have a casualty… There was a swing that went over the lake and Kunal decided to swing without empting his pockets first and his phone decided to go for a swim =[ He noticed it was missing right after he got off the swing but we looked around and couldn’t find it so we thought that it was in the car. It ended up sitting at the bottom of the lake for an hour as we finished our hike. Sad phone.

In town for lunch, Fergburger was to die for. I had their tofu burger which consisted of tempura tofu, cucumbers, pea shoot greens, lettuce, tomato, onion and a coriander aioli that was so incredibly yummy. After the burger, Kunal and I got gelato down the street. I got a panna cotta flavored gelato with figs in it. My god, amazing.

The winery we went to was adorable. It was called Shard Farms and the lady who was managing front of house and did our tasting was super funny and nice. There were two ladies from MA who were also there for a tasting and were giving us tips of additional things to do/see in the south island. They had just spent a week in Sydney and recommended a brewery there that’s owned by one of the lady’s college roommates so I can’t wait to check it out when I get to Sydney! After the vineyard we stopped at the Kawarau suspension bridge and got to take some beautiful pictures of the river below. There wasn’t anybody getting ready to bungee jump right at that moment but it would have been so cool to see someone jump while we were there. We did Thai food for dinner in town and hit up a bunch of bars afterwards. We must have bar hopped to 4 different bars. They were all so so different. There was one with a rock band that had a bunch of older people dancing but it was great, everyone was having such a good time. People were shaking their tail feathers and actually dancing to the music.

11.21.15

For the past couple of hours we’ve been sitting around the glass sliding door in our room just staring at the mountains wondering how this could even be real. We’ve counted over 12 waterfalls in sight but there are easily more, we just can’t see them because the fog is so dense. Night came in fast and it’s so dark now. The girls are asleep on the bed next to me and Kunal is still up reading. We can hear the rain pouring outside and are thankful it wasn’t raining this hard during our drive today. We left Queenstown around 10 in the morning and it was my turn at the wheel. I didn’t mind driving at all, I actually quite like it, I just wasn’t ready to drive in the city before. City wasn’t that bad though, it was the winding up and down the mountains that got me because the roads are so narrow and the tour buses zoom by but they barely have room to squeeze past my car. Just a few minor heart attacks on the way here but no worries =] Pumped some gas by myself and drove the whole way! We stopped at The Divide to try and hike to Key Summit for some views but it was 2 hours of hiking in the rain for zero views. Thank you, clouds. We did see some awesome waterfalls though and got to stretch our legs from the car ride. As we continued driving closer to Milford Sound we saw the most spectacular scenery. It’s been raining here so there are so many non-permanent waterfalls that have sprung up. It’s so beautiful to see them cascading down, so white contrasted on the darkness of the mountains. There was a place to stop probably every 10 minutes or so because the views were just so amazing. We stopped at most places haha. The first time we stopped there was a bird (we later found out it’s called a Kea) chillin’ in the gravel on the pull off. We wanted to take pictures of the waterfalls but ended up being smitten by this bird. It was about the size and coloring of a small hawk and had a long, sharp, curled in beak. It was friendly and loved having its picture taken. What it really probably wanted was food and decided to jump on our car and nibble on our antennae. Glad I spent some extra for insurance… When it flew we saw some great orange coloring on the underside of its wings. Super cool.

These Keas found our car the next two stops we pulled off on. They’re not shy at all and we noticed that they’ve all been tagged and have little metal bands around their feet.

We stopped at a chasm and saw the coolest rocks that have perfect round cutouts on them. The shapes in the rocks are formed by the pressure of the water hitting the rocks and all the little stones and rocks in the water swirl around and after time carve out holes and smooth the big rocks. It was beautiful, no doubt.

We finally got to Milford Sound and have been in love with our room. It’s a little chalet with a view of mountains and river. We cooked some pasta in the communal kitchen and brought our plates back to our room to eat with a view. I passed out right after dinner laying out on the carpet in front of the heater and woke up to find everyone ready for bed. Tomorrow morning we’re going to be taking a cruise around the Sound so I’m going to head off to bed.

11.22.15

Milford Sound in the rain is typical. It would have been nice to have a bright, sunny, beautiful day but it’s been raining here since the morning. I hope it stops cause I would really like to go for a run early in the morning but I don’t think that’s even possible. We all took a 5 hour cruise in the morning that took us around the sound. It was beautiful and we learned that it rains 2-3x more here than in the Amazon rain forest! We got to see seals and a special kind of penguin that’s the second rarest in the world. We also saw plenty of waterfalls! Two were permanent falls and the rest have sprung up in the past few days because of the amount of heavy rain. The boat took us right to the base of a few falls and those who wanted to get wet could walk to the front of the boat and get soaked. Only Kunal was brave enough though… I was freezing already. They set out a tray of glasses to collect the waterfall water and so we tasted a bit of New Zealand. We had a pit stop at an underwater conservatory where we saw some colonies of black coral growing and got to learn some more about the landscape from our guide. We spent the rest of the day indoors writing, reading and relaxing due to the rain. I got to upload all my pics from the past few days and write a few postcards. I’m going to miss this place. Such awesome mountains with lush forests growing on them. It’s the coolest thing ever.

Alright, it’s bed time for me.

Tomorrow we have a 6 hour drive and have to leave early so I’ll check in with you in the evening!

11.24.15

Tried to write last night but I passed out so hard. We had a day of driving from Milford Sound to Queenstown. Stopped for lunch (of course had Fergburger again but this time tried the falafel burger. SO good) and then hit the road again to Wanaka. We're staying in a YHA and it's a really nice hostel. Lots of space in the kitchen, our room for 4 is just enough space (I got top bunk =]) and there's a pool table out in the common area. We took a walk out around Lake Wanaka and found lupins everywhereeee. They look like snapdragons a bit. Super super cool.

We met some travelers last night and offered them a ride to Roy's Peak which we climbed today. The hike was 16km and took us 5.5hrs to complete. It was categorized as a hard climb but "worth it" and that it was. SUCH AMAZING views from the top (well, the entire way up was pretty spectacular). We just got back and I can't feel my legs but I'm so glad we've been hiking (tramping) every day. I love being this active!!

I need food in my tummy immediately so I'm going to sign off!

Much love,

Cas