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Still in Queenstown? I decided to stay an extra day, and then travel on with Amanda and Sas. The following day we finally left. The drive back to Christchurch was rather uneventful. We stopped for a few cool views of Mt Cook and lunch near the lake. After arriving in Christchurch, we went out for [...]

This morning we took the gondola up to the mountain, took the luge chair to the top of the track, and then hiked into the woods. We were originally going to hike the Ben Loman Saddle and return trail, but it wasn’t well marked, so we hiked as far up as possible and named a [...]

I’m back in Queenstown. This time I’m staying out at Bumbles Hostel, west of town, across the street from the lake. It’s a smaller hostel, so a lot cozier than the massive hostels in the downtown area. Anyway, two of my new roomies are Oregonians. We’re everywhere, and watch out because we love to brag, [...]

I overslept this morning. After washing my face (it’s too cold to shower anyway), I grabbed by gear and hurried to the ferry terminal. The ferry didn’t leave for 30 more minutes, and the ride back to Bluff was pretty mellow. I drank coffee, listened to my iPod and stared out at the waves. After [...]

This morning we headed to Invercargill to drop off all the non-Stewart Island-goers. Then the ferry left for Stewart Island at 9:30. What a fun trip! The water was really choppy, but it was great, aside from 1/2 of my fellow passengers who were puking. I love boats. I also love not getting sea sick. [...]

Early start! We left for Milford Sound at 6:30am. We stopped halfway there to book our Stewart Island ferry tickets and have breakfast. I had a yummy cappuccino and eggs on toast, before we continued on to Milford Sound. We stopped twice more for some quick hikes and to take pictures. Milford is gorgeous, the [...]

The bad weather almost caught up to us again. It was raining as we left Franz Josef yesterday morning. We did several hiking stops during the day. One was to the blue pools, which was gorgeous, and there was even a suspension bridge. After traveling through Haast pass, we spent the night in Makarora, which [...]

I’m staying in Franz Josef for two days to do the glacier hike, so it’s nice to be off the bus for a few days. I picked the 8:15 glacier climb this morning. I’m really glad I have my own hat and coat, so I didn’t have to use the rental ones. I just had [...]

I seem to be staying one day ahead of the weather. It was raining this morning as we pulled out of Abel Tasman park. The plan was to drive all day, down the west coast, stopping for a few cool hikes. But the bus got a flat tire! So after sitting on the side of [...]

I booked a 1/2 day kayak and 1/2 day sailing trip last night. I wanted to do both kayak and sail, but I didn’t want to spend several days here. The kayak place picked me up at 8:30, and I ended up being paired with this tiny girl from Taiwan (who didn’t paddle). So we [...]