Day 5: Fun and Excitement in Queenstown

As I said in my previous post Queenstown is known for its high adrenaline type activities and this was the day to try them out. Unfortunately there was only time to do 2 activities one in the morning and one in the afternoon so I chose horseback riding through Lord of the Rings country and then hang gliding in the afternoon.

We got picked up right from the hotel and it was off to Dart Stables in Glenorchy which is about a 30 minute drive out of Queenstown.

After getting our boots, helmets, horses and a brief riding lesson from the instructors we were off.

Because of their well trained horses as well as their close location to Queenstown many of the Dart Stable horses were used in the making of the Lord of the Rings movies. The scenery during the tour was quite beautiful, we went through the forest where they shot many of the elven forest scenes, we also saw the area where Saruman tower was filmed (the tower itself was CG'ed in later).

After about an hour of riding it was back to Queenstown in time for lunch.

For the second part of my day I planned to go tandem hang gliding. In tandem hang gliding you take off in the hang glider alongside an experienced hang glider.

After getting all of our gear together we drove a short distance south of Queenstown onto a set of mountains called The Remarkable's. We drove up and up and up until we reached a flat area of the mountain which was covered in grass.

I think that most people imagine hang gliding as running off the edge of a cliff in a hang glider. This wasn't the case for us, we actually ran down the side of a hill.

The idea is to synchronize your steps with your gliding partner and start running down the hill, you then keep running until you don't feel any ground beneath your feet anymore; it's quite a feeling.

Day 4: Queenstown

After our tour of Milford Sound we gathered our things off of the boat and headed towards Queenstown. The town of Queenstown is interesting because it's a very small town with a few big town elements to it. There are some unique bars and shops to visit but Queenstown is mostly known for its high adrenaline type activities, everywhere you turn there are activities to be done for all ages and styles. On our tour we had a choice of doing anywhere from 0 - 3 activities in the time we had. Activities included skydiving, hangliding, wine tasting tours, speedboating, bungy jumping, horseback riding to name a few.

We arrived at our hotel, the Rydges, by early afternoon which we later found out to be the place where the crew of Lord of the Rings stayed.

The hotel overlooked the river and was just a few blocks away from the main town area. Overhead you could see the mountains surrounding the little town and above that you could see people parachuting.

As nice as the Rydges was, one of the odd things about it were the faucets, one cold and one hot. According to my research this is an old style for setting up sinks which is odd to me why they would be this way however I noticed that this seems to be the standard in New Zealand; in fact Australia has a few sinks in ths style too.

We were left to our own devices for the rest of the afternoon and I took the opportunity to meet with my flatmate Elena who was also traveling around New Zealand on a different trip as well as look at the Queenstown shops. Queenstown is a good spot to do your souvenir shopping and postcard sending because they have lots of places to do both; sometimes you can even do both in one place.

Later that night most of the people on my tour went out to a bar called Minus 5 Degrees which has been nicknamed the "ice bar" because of it's chilly interior. They have ice sculptures which are changed once a week inside the bar and you get a parka and mitts as part of your cover charge to enter the bar.

And thus we ended our day in Queenstown with more fun activities planned for the next day.

Day 3: More of the Sound

We woke up this morning to a lovely varied breakfast consisting of everything from cold cereal and fruit to sausage, hashbrowns and eggs. As the sun peaked out from behind the clouds and mountains it burned away some of the morning fog.

As the temperature rose and the moisture in the air evaporated it produced a beautiful full rainbow.

After breakfast was cleaned away the captain started up the engine and we sailed out into the ocean for a look at the ound from a different perspective.

One of the main problems that explorers had when they first sailed past the coast of New Zealand is that it took a lot of time and energy to sail up to a piece of land and dock there. So they limited themselves to exploring only those places that looked worthy of exploration. Now picture these early explorers, sailing past the entrance to Milford Sound. From a mere few kilometres away the entrance to the sound looks like one completely solid piece of land, not only that, a solid piece of land made up of steep mountains; certainly not worth putting in the effort of going to see. It is because of this that it was many years before the Sound was discovered.

Day 2: Sailing Into the Sound

We sailed out into the Sound the sun started to set on the horizon and soon dropped anchor after about half an hour or so; then started the late afternoon activities just before dinner. We had two choices for activities, they were kayaking and swimming; I chose to do neither since the water was frigid and the black flies were out in numbers.

As the sun finally dipped down behind the mountains darkness set in and it was dinnertime. Dinner consisted of a lovely vegetable puree soup followed by a hearty meal of roasted new potatoes, roast beef with gravy and roasted vegetables and squash.

After dinner the tables were cleared and it was time to break out the games which included all the old favourites like cards (the old standby), Monopoly, Candyland, Scrabble, Jenga and even Connect Four for those of you who remember.

My first choice of game for the night was Scrabble since a bunch of people that I was on tour with wanted to play as well. While we were playing we met 2 kids who were traveling with their parents around the South Island as well (but not on tour with us). They wanted to know if we'd like to play Jenga so we finished up our Scrabble game and setup Jenga. Little did we know that we were going to be playing with a little Jenga master. This kid must have been about 5 years old or so but he managed to move those blocks out with an ease that made it look like those blocks were slicked in butter; out of the 3 games we Board" played he won them all.

View More Photos from Milford Sound

Day 2: Onward to Milford Sound

We got up this morning to a crisp almost frosty air with the mountains in the background and lovely pink sky as the sun rose up on the horizon. After a quick breakfast of eggs, toast and cereal we checked out of the lodge and headed on our way to Milford Sound. We drove through Lindis Pass and along the Kawaru river where the views were spectacular the whole way around with a slight Lord of the Rings feel to it since this was yet another place where some scenes in the movie were shot.

Lunch was in a place called Te Anau (sounds like Tee-anna) which is the last bit of civilization before heading out to Milford Sound. The town itself isn't very large and from what I could gather it mostly caters to tourists, so there were a lot of places to buy souvenirs and little resort type hotels around.

After leaving Te Anau we drove out to our final destination of the day Milford Sound. From what we were told a sound is a body of water carved out from the mountain sides by glaciers, however, by definition Milford Sound is actually a fijord. Milford Sound is so far removed from the rest of civilization that the few people who live there buy several month's worth of groceries just before the winter hits. This is mainly due to the fact that the only way to access Milford Sound (save a helicopter of course) is through the 1.2km Homer tunnel. On a side note, every summer the Homer tunnel plays host to a race. A race where both men and women compete to see who can run through the dark tunnel the fastest with only a torch (flashlight) and when I say only a torch I mean just that, as in no clothing whatsoever. The winners (one man and one woman) of the race win a Ken or Barbie doll (respectively) and their name engraved on a plaque recognizing them as the winner for that year. Our tour guide ran in that race one year and actually won; he's a bit crazy.

Once on the boat we selected our sleeping quarters for the night, left our stuff and went back up on deck for a quick safety talk and an info session on what sorts of activities there were to do on the boat once we left shore.

View More Photos from Lake Ohau
View More Photos from Milford Sound

Day 1: Lake Ohau

After driving for a few hours and over several one way bridges we arrived at our destination for the night, the Lake Ohau Resort. A lovely little lodge type setting at the base of a mountain overlooking a lake.

Dinner was fantastic, homemade lasagna with salad and fresh baked bread, and for dessert, fresh baked homemade brownies with whipped cream. The place (or at least the kitchen) is run by a woman who makes these kinds of dinners almost every night for the guests who stay at the resort.I went for a walk just before dinner around the resort and you could see all the fall colours, it was quite pretty. I think I picked the perfect time to go since the weather was perfect for walking around and you also got to see all the leaves changing colour everywhere in addition to all the beautiful landscape.

It was quite chilly at night but we all managed to stay nice and toasty warm inside. The more adventurous, however, made use of the outdoor hottub. Before going to bed that night we were told to pack an overnight back for the trip to Milford Sound the next day since the boat wouldn't be big enough to store all our luggage.

View More Photos from Lake Ohau

Day 1: Lake Tekapo

Our first stop of the day was Lake Tekapo; it was also our first taste of New Zealand landscape in the south island. The name Tekapo derives from Maori words Taka (sleeping mat) and Po (night). With Mt. Cook in the background and the lake surrounding the foreground it made for some breathtaking landscape.

Prized sheep dog statue with the following enscription, “This monument was erected by the runholders of the Mackenzie County and those who also appreciate the value of the collie dog, without the help of which, the grazing of this mountain county would be impossible."

Next to the lake was a little church called the Church of the Good Shepherd. It was built in 1935 as a memorial to the pioneers of Mackenzie Country who worked very hard to make the land suitable for human habitation.

According to a woman who helps run the church there are 3 different faiths (Catholic, Protestant and one other that I can't remember) who worship regularly in the church and it's a popular location for weddings.

After a quick group photo in front of the lake we were on the bus again heading towards Lake Ohau for our first night.

View More Photos from Lake Tekapo

The Morning Song

It's a tradition on Connections tours to have a morning song, something to get everyone going in the morning when they get on the bus. Our morning song was "Why Does Love Do This To Me?" by The Exponents, a popular New Zealand band, it's quite a catchy tune.

Christchurch - Where it all Began

I arrived in Christchurch at around 11pm and took a shuttle into town to the hostel where I'd be staying that night. As we drove along the road it was interesting to see how the architecture had changed; these houses were much closer to what I'm familiar with, they were built with brick compared to the old Queenslanders I've been seeing for the past year which are much more "flimsy" looking (at least to me).