Wow so much to write about I don't even know where to start. Let me first give a quick congrats to the New Orleans Saints. I have been an extremely lucky sports fan to this point in my life. I grew up during the golden years of LSU baseball, which I'm glad to see are not yet over. I have fond memories of sneaking sandwhiches and apples into Alex Box stadium for double headers on Saturdays. I've been in the Superdome for both of LSU's BCS titles. I watched the Astros clinch the National League Wild Card spot in 2005 by beating the hated Cubs in Minute Maid Park. (I was also present a couple of weeks later when Albert Pujols knocked a Brad Lidge slider into another dimension to keep the Astros out of the World Series for one more game) And even though I wasn't in Miami witnessing the Saints super bowl victory live, it was just as special as all of the other championships I've been a part of. I hollered "Who Dat?" all day long in Queenstown, and received plenty of confused looks in return....
I also need to give a quick congrats to my very dear friend Catherine Salazaar for sending me a beautiful calendar filled with pictures of events and landmarks in Austin, Texas. Thanks Cat! You rock.
Milford Sound
The first few weeks that I spent in New Zealand were on the road. Traveling from one new town to another and sleeping in a van provides a high level of excitement. Queenstown has been far from boring. But it has become very familiar to me. After a couple of months of staying in one place, I was ready for a road trip. And I luckily stumbled upon a great one.
There are currently three Americans employed at Winnie's: myself, Kile, from Colorado and Kelli, from South Dakota. I learned of the availability of my current position through Kelli. She told a friend about the kitchen position, who in turn texted me suggesting that I go to Winnie's and inquire. The rest is history. So naturally I became fast friends with Kelli and also her boyfriend Hayden. Kelli planned a trip to Milford for her birthday and I was fortunate enough to get to tag along.
In 2007 (i think), in an effort to promote national tourism and travel, the New Zealand Automobile Association compiled "The 101 Must-Do Kiwi Experiences." http://www.aatravel.co.nz/101/ Sitting at the top of this prestigous list was? You guessed it....Milford Sound. What is Milford Sound you say? Well, don't ask me. Ask Wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_Sound
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As you can see on the map above, Milford Sound is only about 50 or 60 miles due west of Queenstown. However, there is no drivable road that traverses these miles as it is straight through the mountains. Thus, it's about a four hour drive to get 60 miles away from where you started. I've been told that this a good nuisance. It is spectulated that if you could get to Milford Sound from Queenstown in an hour or so, it would be raped by tourists. I've always enjoyed road trips, so the drive didn't bother me one bit.
On Thursday, February 4th, I filled my backpack with far more clothing than I could possibly need and started walking down the hill towards Kelli's house which is less than half a mile away from mine. It was there that I met Nick, Kelli's roomate, who also happens to be Hayden's best friend. We split up into two cars and drove to the Queenstown airport to pick up another Kelli (Kelli S from here forward), Jenna and Erin. These were Kelli M's friends from the states. They had flown from Australia where Kelli S is working as a nurse. Jenna and Erin were visiting from the states where they both work as nurses. Why I feel like these details are necessary we will never know.
And so the 7 of us set out for Milford. There are several different ways to tour Milford but one of the most popular is to travel on a cruise ship through the fjord. And that is one of the things that you learn on the cruise tour. Milford Sound is actually not a sound at all but a fjord. Before I went on the cruise I did not know what either was but I am definitely going to share my newfound tid bits. A sound is a narrow channel of water connecting two seas. A fjord is a long narrow inlet of the sea between high cliffs created by glacier activity. The tour guide explained why Milford is incorrectly called a sound but I wasn't listening as I was completely mesmerized by what I was looking at. You may recall that I wrote about being dazzled by the hills in Taihape that been formed by Volcanic activity. Well that was childs play compared to what Glaciers have formed. Unlike the Remarkables ski park, which gradually ascends over a piece of earth, these mountains shoot straight up into the sky. You can see waterfalls. You can see snow caps. You can see beautiful trees and vegetation. You can see the brilliant dark blue water of the inlet that makes you shiver just to look at it. You can see seals resting on rocks below. And the one thing you absolutely cannot see is much sign of human activity. Milford Sound is managed exclusively by the Department of Conservation of New Zealand. This is quite brilliant as it prevents commerical activity from taking place in this region. No one can capitalize on Milford Sound. Imagine that. After our tour, we had pizza and beer at the Blue Duck Cafe and Bar. Then we stayed at a lodge about a mile and a half up the road. These were the only fecilities anywhere near Milford Sound. There's no hotels, no restaraunts, and no gas stations. When we ran out of beer at the lodge around 9:00 o'clock, we had to walk back to the Blue Duck cafe to get more. We had no other options. This turned out to be quite an extraordinary walk though. As we walked back to the cafe, the sun was setting and it was extremely foggy I continue to be reminded of the Lord of Rings throughout all of New Zealand and this sparked images of Mordor. There were no street lights. When the workers at the cafe get off and return to the lodge, it is so dark outside that they cannot see even a few feet in front of them. They have to walk or ride their bicycle on the white line of the road looking straight down at it, lest they end up in the tree.
Milford Sounds' only visible scar was the sand flies. The lodge we stayed at is nestled above a river and shortly after checking in, we climbed down a few big rocks to dip our feet in the water and throw the football. (I've gotten in the habit of carrying my football with me everywhere I go. People are intrigued by it and are always inclined to toss with me. In fact, I have probably thrown a football more in New Zealand than I did in all of 2009) The sand flies attacked us the moment we stepped outside. They were in packs so thick you had to swat them away from your face. Sometimes there were so many I had trouble seeing the ball being thrown to me. At one point I was spraying Off from a can onto a sand fly on my arm and it was not even phasing him. He just carried right on biting me while being soaked in Off.....
The next morning we had a nice cafe breakfast and took our time returning to Queenstown. We stopped at a small trail called the Chasm, where Hayden showed us a hidden swimming hole off of a side trail. Hayden and I were the only ones to jump in and believe me that glacier mountain water is about as cold as jumping into Barton Springs before the sun comes up for those of you who have had the pleasure. I had a delicious meat pie in Te Aneu, the last town of any relevant size before Milford, which I chased with some Hokey Pokey flavored Ice Cream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokey_pokey_(ice_cream) Wiki is your friend.
We arrived back in Queenstown late in the afternoon, but not late enough to stop at Lake Hayes for a quick swim and jump off the rope swing. We concluded the road trip that night with san gria, margaritas, coronas and big plates of mexican cuisine at Sombrero's.
I can't wait to get back to Milford.
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