Pictures Milford Sound

Queenstown 2: side trip to Milford Sound

If I was famous enough, I definitely would put the Milford Sound into the seven world wonders (well, eight)

We explored the Sounds with a guided tour out of Queenstown. As the drive to Milford Sound is really long, we enjoyed the numerous photostops: Eglinton Valley, Mirrorlakes, the Monkey Creek, the impressive and scary Homer tunnel and the Chasm, a impressive waterfall.
All along the way were huge mountains and I caught myself more than once sitting in the coach with my mouth open.

In Milford we hopped on a cruise which led us through the most breathtking scenery: cristalclear water, huge rockformations, sealcolonies and impressive waterfalls. It was just a perfect day that I will remember my whole life.

Queenstown 1: 49 kilometers

Another drive into Paradise: Welcome central otago

After our time in Franz Josed we continues with a long drive to Wanaka. Thanks to good drivers and a few photostops we survived the windy road through Haast pass. Once you cross it, you are just flabbergasted by what you see: high peaks, wild rivers and mirroring lakes...

We arrived in Wanaka, checked in our hostel just next to Lake Wanaka, before we had to go again to the medical center, this time because of Séverine. Fortunately the doctor gave green light, only the fatpad might be damaged. With a lot of chocolate also this ailment will heal ;)

Until now we had a really good time, although the weather shows it wildest character. The hostels are also much kore comfortable and cleaner than in Australia...

That's it for now, have a good Christmas time!

Ka Roimata o Hinebuketere

The tears of the Godness of Mountaineering.

This is the Maori name for one of the most spectacular spots in New Zealand: Franz Josef Glacier.

We arrived here after a threehour drive from Greymouth and settled down in the nice YHA. The town is really small, there are only two streets but you can find almost everything you need. 

On Saturday we walked into the valley (other people take the shuttle) to do another walk from where we could see the glacier from close up. The weather was rather cloudy but as we are hardcorewalkers we went on doing some other hikes to Peter's Pool, to the Douglas Bridge and to the Lake Wombat. Well, never expect to much from a lake that seems so be in the wop-wops. We would have deserved a beautiful lake after kilometers of walking but it was more a muddy frog-home than something else. 

But who cares! We didn't even get wet altough rhe weatherforecast had predicted 'warning: downpour'.

But at about four o'clock we decided to return and to play Monopoly which took us ages. And once we started to cook, our Pancakes completely failed. But with a lot of Nutella it was still yummy. 

On Sunday we went for another two short walks but unfortunately Séverine injured her knee and so it took us ages until we were back in paradise: the hot pools of Franz Josef. We spoilt ourselves with two hours in these beautiful water in the rainforest, but for me it was almost too hot. 

Let's hope that Séverine's knee gets better soon!  

Certified Mad

Adventurous was not only the drive from Westport to Greymouth but also Séverine's and my trip we did on Thursday: Tube Rafting and Caving!

We started with a drive up Nelson Creek. There we had a zipline which led us into the rivervalley; 300 m long, 25 m high and up to 60 km per hour fast!!
Once down in the river we floated down on tubes, a lot of fun! In between we often had opportunities to jump of from cliffs, up to 3.5 m! In the end we walked into a magnificent cave with thousands of glowworms. And the best thing, something almost nobody did: drink hot chocolate in the cave!!!

Well, for caving the heavily rain was alright, but what doing the rest of the day? The hostel was awesome, Noah's ark, but we wanted to see something. So we went for a short walk in the rainforest and came back completely soaked...

On Friday morning we took the bicycles from the hostel and drove along the stunning westcoast. I have never seen such big waves, and even the weather meant it well and the sun came out.

And then it was already time to take the bus to Franz Josef Glacier. It was a really nice journey and we made a long stop in Hokitika, a picturesque village.

Now we hope that the weather will allow us to see the glaciers!

What a wonderful world!

Next stopp: Punakaiki!
After Westport, my little doctor adventure and a beautiful riverwalk we set off to Punakaiki. There we first of all visited the world famous pancake rocks; it is really impressive and we were soooo lucky with the weather (usually it rains at the westcoast)

After that we got a lift from the hostelowner because this awesome hostel is somewhere in the wopwops ;))
Anyway, we had our own little house to share with some other people in the middle of the rainforest. The good thing about it is that we had access to the most beautiful beach, Truman beach. Only five minutes walk from our hostel, we strolled for hours along this wild beach with impressive rockformations, caves and huge waves.

It was a relaxing day but later in the evening we decided to watch the sunset which was just breathtaking. We were sitting on a stone, giant waves coming towards us and there is just no-one!!

What a nice end of the day! And to calm you down, my gristle seems to be broken since ages :D

Next destination: Greymouth!