Dunedin to Queenstown

There's not much to say. I'm a bum. Here's the rest of the story from my mom's trip down here.

From Dunedin we had a flight booked to Stewart Island, which is the "third" island of New Zealand - a fairly large island just south of the South Island. It has a population of something like 400 people and is known as a birder's paradise - one of the best places to see the elusive kiwi in the wild. Luckily for us, this was about the time the weather turned really bad, with gale force winds and a little rain thrown in there for good measure. Apparently the planes are "designed to fly in high winds", as we were told at the airport. The check-in guy didn't seem too concerned. Turns out he is a multi-tasker, since he was standing at the door to take our tickets when it was time to board. He even walked us out to the plane and got us seated. Then...wait...why is he getting in? Oh yes, he was also the pilot! Stephanie was a complete basket case the entire flight, but I can't blame her since it was pretty stinking scary. That little plane was getting blown all over the place. At least we didn't take the boat.

Stewart Island is a beautiful, relatively unspoilt place. Unfortunately we didn't get to see too much of it since it rained the entire stinking time we were there. Still, we were able to get out and do some hikes, battling the winds and rain. 

acting!

Steph and Pen enjoying all the ferns

We weren't lucky enough to see any kiwis, but did see a massive sea lion and lots of birds, including the kaka, or "forest parrot" (similar to the 'alpine parrot', the kea, but not to be confused with the rare and flightless parrot the kakapo - try to keep up). When we couldn't take any more rain and wind, we sat in the visitor center and watched dvd's documenting all the flora and fauna we were missing out on. 

cove on Stewart Island coast

The flight home from Stewart Island was no less frightening, made worse by the new pilot chatting it up with a co-ed friend seated in the co-pilot seat as well as texting on his phone. The weather was so bad the ferry was cancelled. Happy to be on solid ground, we headed up to Te Anau for one last night on the road. Once there, we booked our Milford Sound tour for the next day, found a place to stay, and crashed for the night. Luckily for us, the weather cleared for our trip to Milford, since last time Steph and I were there it was rainy and cloudy (still amazing - actually possibly better, but it was good to see it both ways). We made the mandatory stops on the way up there at all the overlooks and scenic spots, dodging the tour bus crowds as best as we could. 

aptly named Mirror Lakes

The boat cruise itself was pretty good. We saw seals splashing around and laying out in the sun, but no dolphins or penguins this time. We did get to directly under a waterfall thanks to the smaller boat size, during which Steph and I got absolutely soaked. You expect it to be similar to a hard rainfall, but it turns out to be quite a bit more water than that. 

this is what the fjord looks like on a clear day - Mitre Peak still covered by cloud on left

hanging valley

getting soaked in a waterfall on the boat

After Milford Sound we drove all the way back to Queenstown for my mom's last couple days before she had to leave. We had a few action-packed days planned, but we had already done a lot and my mom's ankle was far from healed, so we took it fairly easy. Steph and my mom went to the Kiwi Birdlife Park in town so they could actually see a live kiwi in person. My mom wanted to see riversurfing in action (was going to take her, but the ankle thing...) so we went to the bungee jumping bridge to watch them float under. While we were there they let me jump for free! We drove out to Arrowtown for some sightseeing and souvenir shopping. On her last day, since she had an afternoon flight, we drove out to Glenorchy for a brief hike on the Routeburn. It was great to have her visit and really good that she was able to "harden up" and push through the sprained ankle, which I'm sure didn't feel too good. We were sad to see her go, but comforted that it would only be about a month until we came home!

my jump from K-bridge - world's first commercial bungee site

We've been staying busy since my mom left and can hardly believe we'll be home in 3 weeks!! Steph hasn't been working, but has had more than enough work keeping the house clean as we try to find new tenants to move in. Our roommate Simon had a bit of a scare a couple weeks ago when he went flying over his handlebars of his bike and nearly split his skull open. A couple ambulance rides and a long day in the hospital later and he was cleared with a concussion and some nice road rash - he was lucky. I've been actually working quite a bit and generally trying to enjoy my last few days in Queenstown. In the next week I still have another bungee jump to do as well as a giant swing across a nearby canyon, so wish me luck with that. We don't have our flight home booked quite yet, but should in the next few days. We have however planned out or last couple weeks in New Zealand - leave Queenstown on the 11th, giving us about a week to make our way up to Christchurch and try to sell the car. On the 19th we fly to Auckland, where we pick up a campervan for a few days before we fly back to the US on the 23rd! Woohoo!!