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This morning we walked back to the spa park to swim in the river. It was rather murky and really warm. I ventured closer to the river where it was practically freezing, and then decided to stick to the mud area. A very fun morning! Everyone was going skydiving before we left for Rotorua. (Our Stray passes didn’t cover Rotorua, so we bought $13 tickets on Nakedbus.com instead.) Their dive ended up being canceled because of the weather, so we headed to Rotorua. Us girls got off the bus in Rotorua and Ireland continued on to Auckland. After checking in to possibly the nicest hostel in New Zealand, Treks, we decided to check out the Polynesian Spa. We grabbed our swim stuff and headed in to town. It was $20, but ended up being really fun. Each of the pools vary in 1 to 2 degrees, so if you travel in one direction, it just gets hotter and hotter, until you circle around to the first pool. It was overrun with Japanese and Chinese tour buses, but after an hour it cleared out a bit. It was fun checking out a natural spring spa and then the geo-thermal commercial spa, all in the same day.

We had an early start yesterday on the express bus to Auckland. We were only going halfway, to Taupo, but since it’s the express bus, it made only a few stops and no hiking. We made it to Taupo around noon and received the bad news that the Tongariro Crossing is closed, due to a storm. We decided to stay here a few days anyway, in hopes that it will re-open and we can hike it.

We decided to go hiking around Taupo while we wait for the crossing to open, but we woke up to pissing down rain, again. After breakfast, we headed in to town and checked in with one of the Stray drivers at Urban to see if there were any updates on the crossing. No good news. Then Sas and I decided it was clear enough to hike to Huka Falls today. But on the way back to the hostel we got drenched in a sudden downpour. We changed and then headed back in to town to find ponchos and got even more drenched! By the time we had found garbage bags, it had cleared up a bit. We walked out toward the falls trail. We passed a spa area, which we need to return to tomorrow. You can just swim in the warm, muddy creek that flows into the river. After several hours we reached the falls. It was a brilliant trail, right along the river. I could totally live on this river. We continued past the falls and ate our lunches outside of this heli-pad cafe. We considered hitching back into town, but decided to just take the same trail back. By the time we got back to town we were exhausted! After finding dinner, we met up with our favorite Irishman, who arrived in town today, and went to see a movie at the Taupo Cinema, followed by a second dinner at Hell’s Pizza.

So this morning when I checked the fridge, two pieces of my leftover pizza were gone, and in their place were two $2 coins. I was mad that someone stole my pizza, but then I just started laughing, because no one ever steals food out of the fridge and compensates you for it. It had to have been JP because he was the only one who got up early, to go surfing. I’m pretty protective of my food, but the money idea totally cracked me up.

We arrived at the Picton ferry at noon, and ate our picnic lunches at the terminal. I slept most of the way over to Wellington. When I walked into the hostel, I bumped into my favorite Irishman in the kitchen. I hadn’t seen him since the first Queenstown stop, so we all went out after dinner. It ended up being pub quiz night and we placed 2nd!

So I’m standing in the coffee shop this morning, waiting for my take-away and “boo!” Amanda appears. They decided to not spend an extra day in ChCh, so we’re on the same bus again! So I’ve already done the the Christchurch to Kaikoura bus trip, and the deja-vu part is that we happen to have the same driver that I had last time too. After leaving Christchurch we stopped at a few places and arrived in Kaikoura around 11:30am. I ended up being the last person to check in at the hostel, and what do you know, they stuck me in a room with some old, creepy Scottish guy. I walk in and some old guy is in there, totally off his face, and it’s like 20 Questions time. “Do you have a boyfriend?”, “Are you traveling alone?” while creepily staring as I unpacked my bag to do laundry. After I got my laundry together, he’s like “Where ya goin’?” And I was like “to do laundry”. Creepy laugh, “I might just put some of mine in there too, heh heh heh.” Riiiiiight, so I dropped my stuff off at the washing machine and then went downstairs to get a different room. They asked why, and I said “because there’s a creepy old guy in my room!” :) Sometimes you just have to go with your gut. After lunch, I went down to the pebble beach and then we all watched a movie at the hostel. Oh and creepy Scottish guy was downstairs again. At this point, he’s drinking straight out of a wine bottle and saying “love, hey love, you want some chicken?” and laughing to himself. Now that he’s not my roommate anymore, I can laugh about it.

After the movie, we went out for dinner. I ended up with a gigantic pizza, so I have half of it leftover for tomorrow. :) Then we just hung out at the hostel all evening.

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 Thai food and checked out rugby tickets. We wanted to go to the Chirstchurch Crusaders vs Auckland Blues rugby game, but the only tickets left were “obstructed view” tickets. So we ended up watching the game at a pub. After the game, we all said goodbye and went our separate ways. And then there was one… I’m traveling solo again. On to the north island.

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 new “summit.” After hiking back down we bought gigantic bowls of potato wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce (for only $4.50!), clearly a highlight of my day. Then, we went luging. It was insanely fun. I loved it! It was so funny to pass people, especially edging them out on corners. After we used all six of our luge tickets we watched people bungy jump, (while trying to coerce Amanda to join them), before heading back to town. After a day of hiking and luging, we hit Fergburger for the *cough* third time in 4 days.

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 mean talk, about our state!

After my whirlwind tour of the south coast, it’s really nice to not be packing up and moving on for a few days. This afternoon, I walked out to the larger supermarket in the suburbs to buy a few groceries. I got a little carried away, and ended with a lot of breads, cheeses, and fruits. Why does this always happen to me? I also did some shopping on Beech Street, and finally broke down and bought a hoodie. So comfy! It’s starting to get pretty cold here, especially in the evenings. After dinner, I hung out with my fellow Americans. I haven’t been in a room with seven Americans since I left home. Sometimes Americans are just more fun! ;)

Another chilled out day in Queenstown… Although this is the adventure capital of New Zealand, I’ve just been relaxing. After breakfast, I borrowed the disc golf frisbees from the office and headed out to the course at the Queenstown Gardens. It wasn’t marked well and was super windy, but I still had fun. This evening, Amanda and Sas rolled back into Queentown. They had spent a few extra days in Dunedin, so it was fun to catch back up with them.

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 picking up some people in Invercargill we took the scenic route through the Catlins to Dunedin. It was pissing down rain most of the day, but we still got out at all of the stops. We arrived in Dunedin around 6pm, and after eating in the hotel kitchen, we checked out the town. Dunedin is a college town (4th largest city in NZ, I believe) on the south coast. So they had a really cool downtown area, very college townish, with several pubs and cafes playing live music. This doesn’t sound that different than an average town on a Saturday night, but after traveling through towns with a population of 200, it’s fun to see a little city now and then.

The next morning, I headed back to the octagon district to look for breakfast. I ended up going to a snobby little cafe called Mash, where I had the best cappuccino I’d had in ages, and french toast with bananas on top and two eggs. The servers all had major attitudes, but it just made me laugh, very Parisian of them. One of the best breakfasts that I’ve had in NZ.

Back to Queenstown…

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. An hour later we were at the island.

It’s really rainy today. After walking to the hostel, I had a quick lunch, threw a few snacks in my daypack and headed out for some hiking. One of the Danes decided to come, so we headed over the hill to the water taxi dock that goes out to Ulva Island. It started hailing, so she decided to turn around. I waited with a few other people for about 10 minutes at the dock, and then a water taxi took us to Ulva Island. The island is a bird sanctuary, and a nature wonderland. It was great to be able to go hiking alone. The island takes about two hours to circle, and wraps around to coves and through the forest. Even though it rained most of the day, it was really fun, and peaceful. I even found a rope swing on the other side of the island. After circling around, I sat in one of the shelters and read and listened to my iPod for an hour, before going back to the dock. What a beautiful island, and the birds are really tame, they just walk around on the ground.

After changing into dry clothes at the hostel, I made a massive cup of coffee (ahhh, warmth) and had toast and Nutella. What a cool day of exploring! After warming up a bit, I walked back through the rain to the supermarket in town. I bought an avocado and tortillas for quesadillas. Yums!

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 landscape is incredible. I’m sad to admit that New Zealand is more gorgeous than Oregon. ;) The fjords and mountains and snow was amazing! I staked out a spot on the top deck of the boat and didn’t move. About halfway through, the Japanese tourists came up to the top deck (they all had tickets that included lunch), but alas, I had the spot they all wanted. It was such a gorgeous day.

More pictures of Milford Sound: