Throughout the 6 hour drive down the west coast, I could not stop staring out of the spaceship windows. If I looked to my right I saw a sunny, gorgeous beach and the Tasman Sea. And when I looked to my left, there was massive mountains covered in rain forest trees with dark clouds in the sky above. The contrast was amazing! We continuously stopped for awesome views and beach areas along the drive.
The next few days were excursion filled again. One morning we hiked Fox Glacier. I was shocked to see a glacier in the middle of green mountains. There were snow-less mountains all around…and then there was a huge glacier in the middle! This is one of only two areas in the world like this! (The other is in South America....Argentina??) The picture below shows my buddy Ben and me during the trek. Next, we spent a few hours at Puzzle World in Wanaka. Here we got lost in the Great Maze (below). Some found their way out quickly and others of us were trapped for much longer than we wished…we could not find our way out!
Around the middle of the week we arrived in Queenstown! Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand. It is a tourist must-visit. The town sits next to a huge lake and is surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains. We had several fun nights here, found another great hike/trek, slept right next to the lake, and bungy jumped! The jump was 134 meters with an 8 second free fall. It is located high above a HUGE canyon and you jump from a hanging cable car. Quite the adrenaline rush!
Next we visited Milford Sound. Some people have argued that this natural phenomenon should be the 8th Wonder of the World. Milford Sound has HUGE mountains that emerge directly out of the sea! The place is gorgeous. There really is no way to verbally describe it, but these pictures give a decent impression. Also, check out the video where our boat captain drives the ship under a waterfall!
As our adventure did have to come to a close at some point, we headed to our final destination –Christchurch. Here we arrived late at night. Unable to find anywhere to camp in the dark, we put Plan B put into place....set up the tent on a grass patch in the middle of the “somewhat shady” part of Christchurch’s downtown area. We were awaken by someone yelling outside, "Who told you that you could pitch a tent here?! You have to leave!" She may have been the only unfriendly person we met in New Zealand…and she wasn’t even that bad. She let us take our time packing up! I would call Plan B a success!
Overall, I loved New Zealand and the trip was all I could want! My favorite findings to come soon...
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