"Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we sense them. The least we can do is try to be there." Annie Dillard
The South Island of New Zealand is breathtakingly beautiful. Jagged snow capped peaks, water ways carved out by glaciers and ancient forests grace the landscape. Like its sister island the hillsides are dotted with sheep. A variety of birds flood the sky. Seals & penguins can be spotted on rocky ledges basking in the sun, while bottlenose dolphins swim up for a closer look. Crystal clear glacier fed icy blue lakes are everywhere. There is a never ending surf that pounds the coastline. The south island is magical.
Tramping the Queen Charlotte and Abel Tasman tracks turned out to be quite the adventure. It always sounds easy during the planning stage from your comfortable living room. After renting backpacks, sleeping bags, cooking gear and packing a large amount of food for Mike including rotisserie chicken, we were off to our first of three huts, only to realize that these packs were really heavy. Four hours later and pretty darn tired, we made it to our first hut located on the beach, a wonderful spot n spite of the relentless sand flies. Between early morning tidal crossings, 35 kilometers of tramping, stopping to enjoy the views and a water taxi ride out we had an amazing, if not exhausting experience.
Queenstown, a beautiful mountain community situated on lake Wakatipu was the start of hours of decision making... should we bungy, 4 wheel drive, white water sledging or sky dive just to name a few of the activities. After consulting the local experts at the I-Site we settled on Funyacking/ jet boating on the Dart River, a day cruise on the Milford Sound, and an overnight cruise on the Doubtful Sound both are fiords. In the process we got to do a wee bit of kayaking, take an icy plunge in the Sound, and be surrounded by the most amazing scenery.
While there are not many people on the south island we managed to meet a few. In Nelson there was Rae & John, friends of Lisa in Brisbane, who made us a wonderful dinner and shared stories of their extensive travels all over the world. On the Abel Tasman we met a couple, about our same age from British Columbia, who sold it all and have been traveling on and off for the past eight years, very tempting. We had such a good time with Elsa and Yugo, our adorable, Portuguese bunkmates on the Doubtful cruise, we are now contemplating adding Lisbon to our itinerary. Finally the two 20 year old hitchhikers we picked up from the Netherlands who entertained us from Lake Tekapo to Geraldine with their stories of hitchhiking and tramping all over NZ. One of the absolute highlights of traveling is meeting amazing people from all over the world.
One last tidbit.. NZ. introduced Possums to controll the Stoats which were intoduced to control the mice and rat population, arriving with Capt. Cook, all to save the native birds like the Kiwi. Today NZ has 80 million Possums and a declining bird population. Not very effective pest control.
SHOUT OUTS;
Hobbs, The Embassy for notorizing was brilliant! We love you too.
Jessie, The package was the best!
Hannah, Five weeks and counting!
Our Friends and family, We miss you all.
The South Island of New Zealand is breathtakingly beautiful. Jagged snow capped peaks, water ways carved out by glaciers and ancient forests grace the landscape. Like its sister island the hillsides are dotted with sheep. A variety of birds flood the sky. Seals & penguins can be spotted on rocky ledges basking in the sun, while bottlenose dolphins swim up for a closer look. Crystal clear glacier fed icy blue lakes are everywhere. There is a never ending surf that pounds the coastline. The south island is magical.
Tramping the Queen Charlotte and Abel Tasman tracks turned out to be quite the adventure. It always sounds easy during the planning stage from your comfortable living room. After renting backpacks, sleeping bags, cooking gear and packing a large amount of food for Mike including rotisserie chicken, we were off to our first of three huts, only to realize that these packs were really heavy. Four hours later and pretty darn tired, we made it to our first hut located on the beach, a wonderful spot n spite of the relentless sand flies. Between early morning tidal crossings, 35 kilometers of tramping, stopping to enjoy the views and a water taxi ride out we had an amazing, if not exhausting experience.
Queenstown, a beautiful mountain community situated on lake Wakatipu was the start of hours of decision making... should we bungy, 4 wheel drive, white water sledging or sky dive just to name a few of the activities. After consulting the local experts at the I-Site we settled on Funyacking/ jet boating on the Dart River, a day cruise on the Milford Sound, and an overnight cruise on the Doubtful Sound both are fiords. In the process we got to do a wee bit of kayaking, take an icy plunge in the Sound, and be surrounded by the most amazing scenery.
While there are not many people on the south island we managed to meet a few. In Nelson there was Rae & John, friends of Lisa in Brisbane, who made us a wonderful dinner and shared stories of their extensive travels all over the world. On the Abel Tasman we met a couple, about our same age from British Columbia, who sold it all and have been traveling on and off for the past eight years, very tempting. We had such a good time with Elsa and Yugo, our adorable, Portuguese bunkmates on the Doubtful cruise, we are now contemplating adding Lisbon to our itinerary. Finally the two 20 year old hitchhikers we picked up from the Netherlands who entertained us from Lake Tekapo to Geraldine with their stories of hitchhiking and tramping all over NZ. One of the absolute highlights of traveling is meeting amazing people from all over the world.
One last tidbit.. NZ. introduced Possums to controll the Stoats which were intoduced to control the mice and rat population, arriving with Capt. Cook, all to save the native birds like the Kiwi. Today NZ has 80 million Possums and a declining bird population. Not very effective pest control.
SHOUT OUTS;
Hobbs, The Embassy for notorizing was brilliant! We love you too.
Jessie, The package was the best!
Hannah, Five weeks and counting!
Our Friends and family, We miss you all.
