Queenstown
On our free long weekend we went to Queenstown, the center for adrenaline activities in New Zealand. The weekend was such a blast! It was about a seven hour drive on Thursday to get there so when we arrived we all got settled and head out into town to look for dinner. I ended up with a few other girls at a Japanese restaurant and had what I refered to as "Japanese chicken noodle soup", which was delicious. After dinner we went out for drinks and we ended up all only paying for one drink each that night due to a promotion and some generous Kiwis! We didn't stay out dancing too late though because many people had to get up early the next morning. I got to sleep in a little bit and spent the morning wandering around town and we ended up in the Queenstown Gardens. It was a really nice walk and had a playground and a cute rose garden. After lunch and swiss ice cream I headed over to go extreme canyoning, which was amazing! We got all geared up in our wet suit socks, booties, overalls, jackets and head socks plus a helmet, harness and a life jacket and headed out into the canyon. The canyon had amazing clear (and very cold) water and we repeled (or Ab sailed as they say) down rocks and in mid-air above a pool of water, ziplined (how we got to mid-air to repel), jumped, swam and slid through the space. It was such an amazing experience, even when you add in the nose bleed! After returning to the hostel, showering and having tacos for dinner almost all of us (27 out of 28) headed out to a bar in town where we would start our pub crawl (organized through a company). It was actually a really good night and I got to dance my heart away and go into an ice bar (minus 8 degrees celsius)!
The next morning was an early morning, we had to catch a 7am bus to go to Milford Sound, which is not actually a sound, which are carved by water/rivers, but a fjord, which are carved by ice/glaciers. The bus ride wasn't so bad as we were able to sleep for the first half of it on our way into Te Aanau. Once we left Te Anau the guided tour part really started and was actually really cool. I learned that the beach trees that grow on the side of the mountains don't have much soil to grow in so they spread their roots wide and intertwine them with the other trees. Although this is great for holding on and staying on the mountain if one of them is blown over or becomes weak from decay (which they do from the inside out) and falls, it brings all the trees with it causing a tree avalanche which can cause a lot of damage including that there will now be no trees in that area. I also learned that although the glacier water may look blue or green, the water isself is actually perfectly clear. The blue/green tint comes fromt he microscopic piece of rock suspended in each drop of water that has been grinded down by the glaciers and deposited there. These pieces of rock reflect the light causing the color we see in the water. Once in Milford we hopped on a boat for a two hour journey into the fjord to see the waterfalls. Although there weren't as many because it wasn't raining and hadn't rained super recently, the ones we did see were spectacular! Becaause your perception of them was so off it was hard to imagine how big they were until you right up close to them and the mountains rising from the water looked like an average size until you realized that the tiny spec next to them was the giant boat you saw at the dock. After the long day, we arrived back in Queenstown around 7:45pm, all I wanted was dinner and to relax. I had yet to have a Ferg Burger, something that everyone says you must try in Queenstown, so that is where I went for dinner. It was really good! Some people went out again that night but I did not, as well as 2 of the other girls in my room at the hostel. We had a nice night in relaxing and went to bed early. The next day was basically just the bus ride back that most of us slept through.
Queenstown was such an amazing weekend and I am so glad that I chose to go canyoning and to Milford Sound! They were both amazing experinces that I don't know if I will be able to find anywhere else. This upcoming week and weekend is full of trips so there will probably be a lot of blogging and pictures! As always see Facebook for more pictures.
The next morning was an early morning, we had to catch a 7am bus to go to Milford Sound, which is not actually a sound, which are carved by water/rivers, but a fjord, which are carved by ice/glaciers. The bus ride wasn't so bad as we were able to sleep for the first half of it on our way into Te Aanau. Once we left Te Anau the guided tour part really started and was actually really cool. I learned that the beach trees that grow on the side of the mountains don't have much soil to grow in so they spread their roots wide and intertwine them with the other trees. Although this is great for holding on and staying on the mountain if one of them is blown over or becomes weak from decay (which they do from the inside out) and falls, it brings all the trees with it causing a tree avalanche which can cause a lot of damage including that there will now be no trees in that area. I also learned that although the glacier water may look blue or green, the water isself is actually perfectly clear. The blue/green tint comes fromt he microscopic piece of rock suspended in each drop of water that has been grinded down by the glaciers and deposited there. These pieces of rock reflect the light causing the color we see in the water. Once in Milford we hopped on a boat for a two hour journey into the fjord to see the waterfalls. Although there weren't as many because it wasn't raining and hadn't rained super recently, the ones we did see were spectacular! Becaause your perception of them was so off it was hard to imagine how big they were until you right up close to them and the mountains rising from the water looked like an average size until you realized that the tiny spec next to them was the giant boat you saw at the dock. After the long day, we arrived back in Queenstown around 7:45pm, all I wanted was dinner and to relax. I had yet to have a Ferg Burger, something that everyone says you must try in Queenstown, so that is where I went for dinner. It was really good! Some people went out again that night but I did not, as well as 2 of the other girls in my room at the hostel. We had a nice night in relaxing and went to bed early. The next day was basically just the bus ride back that most of us slept through.
Queenstown was such an amazing weekend and I am so glad that I chose to go canyoning and to Milford Sound! They were both amazing experinces that I don't know if I will be able to find anywhere else. This upcoming week and weekend is full of trips so there will probably be a lot of blogging and pictures! As always see Facebook for more pictures.
Oh my goodness-such fun!! And now I have another picture for Gramp's calendar :) Study hard during the week! XO Mom
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