South Island Trip Day #7

Day 7 was the big day at Milford Sound. For those of you who don't know, Milford Sound is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. You get to see the ocean, cool wildlife and find cool shells on the beach..... that is if it isn't raining, which is does, 364/365 days a year, and if you aren't being attacked by sandflies the entire day.

We arrived that morning after making a quick stop at The Chasm, which was cool, but it was down pouring and cold so probably not worth the 20 minute hike in the long run. After the stop at The Chasm, we drove through Homer Tunnel which was dug by like 5 guys over a long period of time (if you're more interested, I suggest you wiki it) and then finally we arrived at Milford and what was it doing outside...... you guessed it...... pouring!!! So we went on a short hike to get the "big view" of Milford and we couldn't see anything through all the fog and the giant raindrops falling from the sky. After the descend we went into the information center to dry off a bit and to see how much the Milford Cruise costs (super expensive, but from what I hear, worth it) and we decided against going and just sat in the car to see if the rain would clear off so we could get an actual view of the sound.

Turns out, the waiting served us well. At about 2pm (after waiting about 3 hours) the rain finally stopped and the clouds  disappeared for the most part. Turns out, when people say that Milford is gorgeous, they aren't lying. It was absolutely gorgeous! Words really can't describe the landscape so I'll post a picture for you to feast your eyes upon!

Not too bad, aye?


After saying goodbye to Milford after spending hours looking for shells on the beach, we started the drive back to Te Anau, but on the way we wanted to stop at Mirror Lakes and eat dinner. Mirror Lakes was pretty awesome. It gave us the view that Lake Matheson would have given us if it hadn't been so ridiculously cloudy the day that we went there. Another cool thing about Mirror Lakes were the little duck like creatures called scaups. These things will actually dive underwater for like 20-30 seconds and then just pop back up in some other place. We got lots of amusement from watching them dive down and then pop back up.

 We then left Mirror Lakes to head to Mavora Lakes for the next day. For those of you who don't know, Mavora Lakes is where they shot parts of the the Lord of the Rings Triology. But.... while driving there, we saw the most beautiful sight at Te Anau Lake (the one we ate dinner at the night before). The light was hitting the lake in the most gorgeous way that it actually turned the lake an extremely blue color that was almost as beautiful as Milford was (for pictures, check out facebook). After leaving the lake, we were definitely on our way to Mavora Lakes but of course there was going to be one more stop. And what was that stop for, you ask? It was for Becca to chase a sheep down the road in order to take a picture. Her exact words upon re-entering the car "I did not get the picture, but I did chase it and scare it that way."

You've read it folks, my best friend, is a sheep chasing freak.

South Island Trip Day #6

Good morrrning!!!!

This day starts with Becca on a hanglide trip. She was supposed to leave us the key to the car and her room key for the hostel but didn't actually do either of those so when we went to check out at 10, we couldn't technically check her out and we had to explain to the people working at the front desk that we were leaving and had all of her stuff out of the room but that she wasn't able to be there to turn in her key because she was floating in the air like a bird. NBD. So Sarah and I head out to wander the town because we can't load anything into the car because we think that Becca has the keys and that means that we aren't able to leave Queenstown to go explore the small places around the city. So what do we do..... we get a hot dog and chips and go lay on the brick wall that overlooks Lake Wakitipu and stare and the Asian tourists giving their stereotypical peace sign pictures with their iPhone. Talk about hilarious. We then get a text message from Becca saying that she's on her way back from hangliding and asking us where she should meet us. We tell her that she's got the keys so we haven't been able to go anywhere and she says she swears she doesn't have them. Turns out, Sarah has had the keys in her purse the entire morning and we could have been exploring cool things instead of gawking at Asian tourists. We go and get the car, load it up and then head off to Arrowstown, a small town north of Queenstown. We first stopped at Coronet Peak where Becca spent the morning and just looked at the beautiful landscape and view of Queenstown from atop this gorgeous mountain. Then it was off to Arrowstown. I wasn't feeling well at this point so I decided to take a nap on a hillside while the others were off exploring the little colony. Let me tell you... it was probably the best I had slept the entire trip!!!

After Arrowstown, we started for Te Ana, the last place you can get food or gas before Milford Sound. We had to drive through all of this little bity towns to get to Te Anau and I spent most of the day sleeping across the backseat. Motion sickness was killer!!! At one point Sarah turns around and says "Dakota, sit up and put your seat belt on, there's a cop" and I was like "are we getting pulled over" and she goes "yep". So I sit up quickly and put my seat belt just as the cop was approaching the window. In New Zealand, if someone isn't wearing a seat belt, that person gets fined and the driver of the car gets fined so it was a good thing Sarah was looking out. The police woman starts talking to Becca about how she was speeding and how her license was about to expire and how she was going to write her a ticket. Holy crap did I feel bad!!!!!!....but it did provide us with something to laugh about for the rest of the trip because it happened in the smallest town with nobody around. From them on... we referred to it as "stupid Mossburn" About an hour later we arrived in Te Anau, headed to the grocery store to get some food for our trek to Milford and sat by the Lake Te Anau just at sunset to enjoy the last bit of sun on the lake. We then left Te Anau to get as close to Milford as possible to camp for the night and we found a cute little campsite that was like 5 bucks a person to stay at. Luckily for us, Sarah put the envelope in the wrong place so we ended up getting our money back the next day. That night, sleep was rough because it rained all night long. The cold and loud of the rain, along with the uncomfortableness of the car made it fairly difficult to sleep for the night but we were determined to be well rested for the next day at Milford Sound.

South Island Trip Day #5

Day 5 was pretty uneventful. We laid around for most of the day, did a bit of laundry, and went for a walk around the town. Then our hostel had free dinner that was delicious and a $1000 bar tab at a local bar for all the people staying in the hostel. Before we headed to the bar a friend from school walks into the hostel and we find out that he's staying in our room. Talk about strange. We also met two other people who were moving into our hostel who had met Brock, our friend, on a Milford Sound track a few days before.


Talk about a crazy turn of events. The next day we would be off to Te Anau before heading to Milford Sound.

South Island Trip Day #4

The day had finally come for the first time since we'd left Auckland that we were finally going to...... you guessed it....... SHOWER!!! We woke up at sunrise yet again and all we had on our minds was that nice hot shower and finally getting clean, but then we realized we couldn't actually check into our hostel until 9 am so we drove to the lakefront and just sat there. Well stupid me forgot to turn the lights off and the car died, while we were sitting in front of a group of people who I then had to go ask if I could borrow some jumper cables (really a rental car without jumpers.... that should definitely be included). After a few attempts I finally came across a German boy and and Austrian girl who had a set of jumpers and were willing to help us get our car started back up. The girl comforted us by telling us that their car had died like their second day into their trip. At 9 we then headed to the hostel where we found out that we couldn't actually get into our room until 2pm. Sweet. Luckily, they were nice enough to let us use the showers before we were headed out to wander around Queenstown.

Queenstown is probably one of the cutest little towns I've ever seen. It's full of tiny little shops, gorgeous architecture and wonderfully nice people. We first went just walking around and then we saw a couple of souvenir shops to go into to get some things for back home. While walking we saw the first Mexican restaurant in all of New Zealand. I swear to you that they are nowhere to be found here. Thai, Chinese, Indian..... all over the place.... but Mexican, nowhere. After seeing the restaurant, we knew we had to eat dinner there for Sarah's birthday and then we sent her off on her skydiving adventure. While she was gone Becca and I did some more roaming around until it was finally time to check into our hostel. Once we got there we met all  9 of our hostelmates. The rest of the day was pretty boring. We laid around and got ready for a night out because we had heard about a blindfolded bar crawl that our hostel was putting on and we knew we had to do it.


First we headed to dinner at the Mexican restaurant for Sarah's birthday where I had the tastiest enchiladas of my life. It was soo nice to finally have Mexican in my life again. After that we were off to get some green monster (for those of you who want to know, message me and I'll tell you all about it) and then it was off to the blindfolded bar crawl which was a crazy experience and something I don't think I would do again. Somehow being led across a strange town in a line of people just freaks me out. :) Then it was home for the night to get up and explore some more the next day.

South Island Trip Day #3

Day 3 was jam packed full of activities! For starters it was Sarah's birthday so she busted out the tiara immediately (and wore it non-stop for 2 days). Our day began at Knight's Point on the West coast which had an absolutely gorgeous lookout over the Tasman Sea! Let me tell you... from here, it looked as if the Tasman went on forever!!!! Then we were off to Ship Creek. Ship Creek had everything going for it: awesome rocks on the beach, beautiful sea, dolphins, cool rocks to climb on and crashing waves... but, it did have one thing going against it. SANDFLIES. They're like mosquitoes but the bites hurt for 10x longer and are 10x itchier. But don't worry, I only walked away with 23 of them on one foot. :o The rest of the days activities were dependent on the one goal we had in mind..... make it to Queenstown by sunset.

We stopped at Lake Wanaka which was absolutely gorgeous in every aspect. The water was crystal clear blue, the mountains were in the background and it smelled absolutely fantastic. We then stopped at Lake Hawea... it was gorgeous but not as picturesque as Lake Wanaka. The city of Wanaka brought a kickass experience.... PUZZLING WORLD..... It's like a museum full of illusions and puzzles for people of all ages. We went in and our first puzzle to complete was the maze. We attempted to find the colored towers in the order that the people suggested was the "difficult" way and really.... finding the towers was not all that difficult (I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty good at mazes). The most difficult part was literally finding out way back to the start after hitting all four towers in order. We simply could NOT figure it out... so what did we do....the unbelievable. We cheated. We absolutely climbed under a wall that we knew would lead us to the beginning and eventually the exit. I never thought it would be so difficult to cheat, but it was. I wanted so badly to finish it but I was just so frustrated with not being able to find the start that I did it... I cheated. But, I was finally out to do other things and that felt great :)

After Puzzling World, we searched for churches for Becca and went to get groceries. The search for the church failed miserably so we just decided to head to Queenstown. Upon arrival in Queenstown, we got a whole roasted chicken, sat by the lake and ate chicken while drinking the worst sparkling red wine ever and eventually had dessert. THICK MINTS! Clearly the best invention ever. Then it was lights out for the night so we would finally be able to get to our hostel the next day.

South Island Trip Day #2

Wake up when the sun rises?!? Who the eff does that?!? Apparently I would and not just for that day... for every day for the next two weeks.

First.... we were headed to Franz Josef Glacier. The biggest and most epic glacier in NZ, it has been receding at a quick pace and many say that my generation is the last to see it in its current state. The tramp to the face of the glacier was indescribable. The scenery was gorgeous and the first glimpse of the glacier was jaw dropping. we continued our tramp to the face and were continually stopping to take pictures. When we finally reached the front (we were 100 meters away), we realized just how huge this thing was. It was a mountain of ice and snow. You could see faint blue streaks within the chunks of ice and you could also see where the glacier was melting and creating an ice cold "river" that flowed from the base. I really can't explain any more of what it looked like. It's just one of those things where you'll have to check out the pictures I have on facebook to get the feel, and even then, if you've never seen a glacier, you still won't understand the majestic beauty of it.

We found a nearby rock on to sit and each lunch and afterward we explored a bit.... Becca and Sarah further past the warning ropes than I. What can I say... I'm a giant wussy when it comes to natural formations that I have no idea about.... so sue me. After more pictures and the return tramp to the car park we were off to Fox Glacier. Still a pretty glacier but not as epic as Franz Josef. If any of you plan on traveling to NZ someday, seeing the glaciers is a must. I even recommend the half or full day glacier hikes. We didn't do either because the hikes are very expensive, but if you have the money, take the time and do it, I've heard it's simply gorgeous.

Later we were headed to Lake Matheson, one of the lakes you're supposed to see the perfect reflection of Mt. Cook in. Let's just say, the weather didn't want to cooperate that day and no reflection was seen. Zero, Zilch, Nothing. Lame as. The lake was still gorgeous and the 50 minute hike around was worth it until it started raining and we had clothes hanging out to dry on Ferdinand from the day before. Luckily, we got back to the carpark right as it started raining heavily and our clothes were no wetter or dryer than they were before we set them out. SWEET AS.

After Matheson we were in search of another place to sleep the night away and we landed upon Bruce Bay during our scavenger. It was this gorgeous beach with these rock pillars everywhere. At this point we were missing the ocean so it was nice just to be able to hear the ocean and see the waves crashing upon the beach. The night ended effortlessly with a drive down a sketchy road to find our "camping grounds" for the evening. Keep in mind... the night ended when the sun went down, just like the day began when the sun came up. This led to usually about 12 hours of uncomfortable "sleep" in the car, parked on a sketchy road in the boonies of NZ :)

South Island Trip Day #1

First, I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn in order to shower, get the rest of my stuff packed for the trip and be at the bus stop with Sarah and Becca by 5am when the bus to the airport came. First of all, we had no idea where the actual bus stop was, so we ended up walking down a giant hill just to walk back up it again (this typically happens in Auckland because the whole city is filled with stinkin' hills). So we made it to the bus stop with 5 minutes to spare after asking some locals if they knew where it was. None of them were of any help considering they were just going home from the bars and partying the night before. So after finally making it on the bus and heading to the airport for our 7:30am flight to Christchurch, we were dreading going through airport security. Little did we know, airport security simply does not exist in NZ. I was never asked to show my id once, not at the ticket counter, not going through security, and not when getting on the plane. Sooooo easy to get through and no dumb liquid rules. Basically, don't take a lighter, don't take a knife and don't take a bomb and you'll be okay to fly.

We boarded our 1.5 hour long flight to ChCh on this plane that literally had more room than the Air NZ giant plane had for a 13 hour flight (and this flight only cost 70 bucks). Once we landed in ChCh we realized we hadn't called the A2B shuttle to pick us up so we could get our rental car. They came and got us and I filled out all the papers for our car, signed my life away and paid with my credit card. We loaded up the car, which we later referred to as Ferdinand the Knight, and we on our way to find a grocery store. So here's the thing.... in NZ, they drive on the left side of the road. Pretty messed up when you've driven many miles on the right side of the road in the left side of the car. The weird thing is, driving on the opposite side of the road and car wasn't the hard part. Nor was driving through the city and these crazy things called round-a-bouts. The hardest damn part about driving in NZ, was remembering that the turn signal is on the windshield wiper side and the windshield wipers are on the turn signal side. I cannot tell you how many times I turned on the windshield wipers while trying to turn on my signal to switch lanes. RUBBISH I tell you, simply RUBBISH!

After finding a grocery store and getting out of ChCh to start our two week road trip, we stopped at this scenic reserve along the way that was supposed to have a pretty cool cave you could go through. We had our flashlights, our non-slip shoes and tons of layers on and we still weren't prepared for how cold or the deep the water would initially be. First, the water was waist deep and FREEZING, but we continued on. The inside of the cave was pitch black, except the light from our flashlights, and there were giant rocks to step on to get through the cave. It was absolutely so much fun and so cool to see all the natural formations that occur without the cave. It was sad because there wasn't a single glowworm :( Getting out of the cave was the hardest part. We had to climb up this creepy, slippery, metal ladder... shimmy across a tiny path above a pool of water and climb out to safety. Once out we changed out of wet clothes, put warm ones on and took many pictures of the mountains and green grass all around us. Then we were off to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls right before heading through Arthur's Pass.

The Devil's Punchbowl was epic. The hike there was beautiful despite the 98709872049857209 stairs that had to be climbed and in NZ these stairs aren't normal. They're like one and a half step stairs so you're constantly pushing up and landing on the same feet. Makes stairs difficult for a girl like me who has had two knee surgeries. Nonetheless, I persevered and made it to the gorgeous falls, where we again took tons of pictures. After that... it was back to the car to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Not an easy task for 3 American to find somewhere "safe" to sleep, in a car, in BFE. We prevailed and found a place to sleep for the night that wasn't too sketchy. We had to mentally prepare what was waiting for us the next day...... the glaciers :)