The Holidays: Part 2

Sunrise on Stewart Island

Stunning golden beach at Porpoise Bay

Catlins

Milford Sound waterfall

Fur seals

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

If you look closely, can you see the boat in the water at the base of the mountain?

I had decided that the days between Christmas and New Year's would be a good time to travel the deep south of NZ. On the 27th, I had to tear myself away and jump back onto the Stray bus. Next stop: Milford Sound! One of NZ's most popular attractions, Milford Sound feels like another world. To get there, you drive through the Homer Tunnel - a 200m man-made tunnel hand carved through a rock mountain. As you exit the other side, the massivity of Milford Sound looms before you, seemingly untouched, as it might have been millions of years ago. We passed The Wall of 1,000 Waterfalls...normally streaming with, well, a thousand narrow waterfalls pouring down the face of the rock wall. Strangely, we saw only 2. Global warming? A drought in Milford Sound? I had actually anticipated rain during the scenic cruise we had booked because it rains there so often, but we had a lovely, sunny day to slide through the calm waters of the Sound. Massive is the first and best word that comes to mind to describe the sights of the Sound. The boats and the helicopters touring everyone around seemed dwarfed against the backdrop of the mountains. It felt at times like we were amongst ancient landscapes. Your existence is really put into perspective there; a place where you can feel small and insignificant in relation to the universe. We stayed in Tuatapere for the night, at a place called Shooters. The next day we made our way to Invercargill and Bluff - and some of us had the opportunity to catch the ferry over to Stewart Island for the night. Bluff, although not the southernmost tip of New Zealand, is usually described by travelers as being so, as proof that they've traveled the length of the country: "from Cape Reinga to Bluff". Stewart Island, reached by ferry from Bluff, is New Zealand's third largest island. As I made my way through the tiny town of Oban, luggage in tow, from the ferry building towards the hostel (Bunkers), I stumbled upon Scott and Carla, two of the people I had spent Christmas with in Queenstown. We decided to meet up later in the afternoon. The weather, although forecasted to be miserable, turned out to be one of the hottest and sunniest they'd had yet this summer. Strangely, however, the activities I chose to do were still thwarted by weather. The underwater semi-submersible boat tour I went on didn't yield much in the way of underwater viewing. Normally you can see all sorts of interesting underwater sea life through the crystal clear water - I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, a wind had picked up further out to sea and was churning up the water, making it incredibly cloudy. And I really wanted to go on a twilight kayak - apparently the water was so calm for the prior night's kayak that the paddlers had been lucky enough to see almost to the bottom due to the calm, clear waters, and lots of little blue penguins had been swimming around and surfacing nearby! Unfortunately, due to the winds, the paddle scheduled for the evening I was there was cancelled. Instead, I headed out for a forest walk near the shoreline with Fergus (Ireland) and Paul (England) to see what bird life we could see and to catch the sunset. Their plans were thwarted as well, although not due to the weather: because so many people are on holiday right now, many activities were fully booked. We even dragged ourselves out of bed at 5:00am the next morning to see the sunrise at Observation Rock, just to make the most of our time on the Island. I heard that Kiwi birds are most often spotted on Stewart Island more than anyplace else because, although nocturnal, they extend their feeding hours into a bit of the daylight hours. But we weren't lucky enough to spy any. Slightly let down by our experience, we caught the ferry back to Bluff the next morning. Gazing up into the clouds I was amazed to see blotches of color in the clouds spread across the sun. Bits of rainbow colored cloud...UV light reflected in them maybe? We met up with the Stray bus and were once again on our way, this time heading along through the length of the Catlins, from Waipapa Point to Nugget Point. Normally deserted, there seemed to be people at every remote place we stopped, similar to our Stewart Island experience. Besides it being the Christmas holidays, it's also the summer holidays for kids and lots of New Zealanders were taking their vacations. And more people means less wildlife. Still, we were fortunate enough to see a sea lion swimming in the water at Waipapa Point and a yellow-eyed penguin at Nugget Point! I loved Curio Bay and Porpoise Bay - incredibly beautiful spots. A maze of little roads through the vegetation, low rocky crests giving way to golden sandy beaches and blue swathes of gently lapping sea. We stopped here for lunch and I couldn't resist taking off my shoes and wading in the water. After too short a visit, we jumped back onboard for our journey to Dunedin, where the next night was spent (Central Backpackers). I tried to arrange for an evening tour to the Otago Peninsula but it was too late in the day. Instead, I had dinner with Nathan (USA) and then settled in for a much-needed relaxing evening at my hostel. After a leisurely breakfast and a stroll through town, we set out for Queenstown once again, where most of us would be ringing in the New Year. The population of Queenstown pretty much doubled for the event. Accommodations were difficult to get so I and my fellow busmates were stuck at the Base hostel for a few nights - situated downtown on the busiest street, filled with mostly young, immature, drunken kids, my bed was in an 8 person dorm room on the first floor, next door to a bar. First point of business - I went to purchase ear plugs! Good thing too or I never would have gotten any sleep during the three nights I was there! Cleaning up after breakfast my first morning there I recognized Tom, who I had traveled with in the North Island. We chatted for a bit and than I asked him how long ago it was that we had traveled together - he said it had been the end of October! It's still hard to believe how long I've been here. Time flies! Anyway, New Year's Eve was fun. I've never been a very big fan of NYE, as many of you know but, joined by Helen (English girl from Christmas at Butterfli Lodge) and Chum Wei (Taiwan) I got my dancing fix in, oohed and aahed at some fireworks, even got a kiss or two. (Dangerous eyes that Wojtek had...[Poland]). So now I'm pretty much just taking it easy and recuperating...again. I checked out of Base this morning and am back at the Butterfli Lodge for one more night in Queenstown with Tim, Andrea, and Helen. We rented a few movies to watch. I will leave sometime tomorrow with Helen, heading back to Dunedin. I hadn't been able to spend enough time there in my attempt to get back to Queenstown in time for NYE. I'd love to do a tour of the Otago Peninsula (penguins, here I come!) and I think I'd like a few more days to get a feel for the town. Helen, yet another person traveling around in a camper van, was interested when I mentioned that I was going to go to Dunedin. She said she wouldn't mind heading that way herself and suggested we go together. That will work out great: a free ride. Plus we seem to have a lot in common and have a lot of laughs together. I'm looking forward to it...bit of a road trip of sorts. And the great guys from Czech Republic (Thomas and George) have invited me to do a 9-day hike with them through the Hollyford trail in February. I have to think about that one...hiking day after day through wilderness (albeit stunning wilderness), lugging around a backpack (including my non-perishable food supplies), sleeping in basic huts along the way, putting up with bite-happy sandflies... Still, these kinds of tramps (hikes) are a quintessential activity of NZ. And I know having those two for company would be fun. So the question is...would the pros outweigh the cons? Might be a good experience to undertake. I'd love to hear what you think!