Land of the Kiwis, part II a: South Island

Early in the morning we woke up and took the airport shuttle in to the airport. Lucky for us, the shuttle stop was right outside my parent's apartment. All of us had a flight on Qantas except my dad who took a different airline's flight 1/2 hr later (Qantas flight was full). We were delighted to be served a delicious little quiche on the flight. Since Jeremy doesn't like eggs, he felt gypped when the alternative was an apple. We enjoyed seeing the views of the island as we flew. After arriving in Christchurch Jeremy and my mom took off to pick up the rental car. I waited for our bags and my dad. I was amazed at how quickly the bags came!

We first drove to the coast to check it out, specifically a bay called "Taylor's Mistake." Unfortunately there wasn't much swell on the Pacific side as there had been on the Tasman Sea side of the country the day before. Jeremy and my dad still decided to body surf and my mom and I went on a hike on an alluring trail we saw heading down the coastline. It was an awesome walk.




Afterwards we drove back to Sumner where we had lunch. I needed a break from fish n' chips, but my dad had missed out on the prior day's so he went for it. Jeremy and I got some stuff to make cheese and tomato sandwiches, chips and fruit. We sat by the beach to eat. Sumner/ Taylor's Mistake area is so great. Jeremy immediately wanted to live there.
Jeremy toyed with the idea of renting a board and surfing what was there, but then decided that if he was home, he wouldn't bother with this quality of wave. So we decided to start our drive south. We enjoyed the scenery on the drive. It was gorgeous. We also saw some of the biggest hedges we've seen in our lives. They use hedges as property dividers it seems, and some seem more territorial than others!

We stayed the night at a tiny town called Lake Tekapo, which had a few places to stay and about 4 other businesses. The next morning when we saw it in daylight we quite fell in love with the setting!

Lake Tekapo:


Inside this church, the side facing the lake just has a huge window, so this is the view that churchgoers see, rather than some big gaudy shrine. Perfect place to worship our maker, I thought.
Church, lake Tekapo:



After a walk and breakfast we hopped back in the car and drove by another pristine lake on our way to Mount Cook.
Lake Pukaki:


When we arrived in the Mt. Cook national park we first stopped at the ranger's station for info on hikes. My dad also bought my mom some really soft and warm gloves. They were made of New Zealand's signature blend: merino wool and...possum. Didn't see that one coming, did you? So in perusing the hike options we considered the weather--it was a little overcast, but the ranger said it was supposed to clear up. Right...

Mt Cook--there were 2 impressive suspension bridges on this hike:

The rain came down harder and harder, and we never did see the top of Mt. Cook because of the clouds. We were soaked, and I was freezing, not to mention that my pants were falling off because they were so heavy with water. We decided to turn around ~45 minutes into the hike. I wasn't so sure we should have left Christchurch for this! But you can't deny, it was still beautiful...

After we got to the base we drove back to the lodge and my mom treated us to some hot chocolate, there was a fire, etc. We changed into dry clothes. Felt great!

We then drove up to another short hike, called the Blue Pools. Because it was such a gray day, so were the pools.
After we got to the car we decided to head further south. On the way we stopped at a huge fruit market in a place called Cromwell, and sampled some amazingly tasty and fresh fruit. We bought a 10 lb bag of apples that had been picked the day before. They were SO good. 10 lbs was a pretty big bag, but we had no trouble finishing it, and could've used more. We also bought an ice cream--they blended fresh fruit with the ice cream right before serving it. Yum!

We drove as far as Arrowtown that evening. After securing a lovely place to stay, we went downtown for dinner. We chose an atmospheric pizza restaurant. Jeremy was on his last slice when he discovered that he was the winner; there was a nice black hair baked into his slice. I loved this town's fall mountain feel (a la smaller Park City) with a British flair.

Arrowtown:


After our pizza dinner we drove into Queenstown to stock up on groceries. This town was more Park City-esque because it was bigger and more touristy. Still a beautiful setting.

The next morning Jeremy and I went on a very refreshing run through the Arrowtown. It was dark when we first set out, because this town in nestled in the mountains. We got to see the town in the rising morning light. It just felt great. After showering, we had a bacon and eggs breakfast and then headed for Queenstown airport where Emily's flight was scheduled to arrive at 10 am.

We found her immediately, and she ate 2 of our delicious apples within minutes, almost 3. They were that good. It was great to have Emily with us! We enjoyed the beautiful ride to Fiordland National Park, where we planned to tour and stay at Milford Sound.

Fiordland National Park, view point on the drive:


Kia bird we saw at the stop. These guys eat the kidneys of live sheep (according to my dad) and also will eat your hiking boots if you leave them outside your tent).


We drove straight to Milford Sound, where the sun was shining (apparently a rarity in these parts). We had been debating whether to take our ferry cruise this day or the next morning. The weather helped us decide quickly. After booking our reservation we took our stuff to the hostel and took a walk by the river.
Milford Sound:


Later we went back for our cruise. There are so many waterfalls to see coming off the fiords. It was gorgeous. Apparently when it is rainy (which is most of the time), the waterfalls are even more plentiful and unbelievable. I was still grateful we had sunshine.



We saw some of the tiny NZ blue penguins on our cruise and also ran into some friendly bottlenose dolphins again. One of them was repeatedly whacking its tail on the water surface, which I caught on film. So funny. There were lots of sunbathing seals to see when we went close to the rocks.



We took so many photos at this place. It was absolutly breathtaking. After our cruise we went back to the hostel and made dinner that included pasta and a green vegetable we immediately fell in love with, called silverbeet (later when we couldn't remember its name I called it tickleroot and that kinda stuck for the rest of the trip). We ate it several times after that.

The next morning Emily, my dad and I went on a little run. I loved seeing the glassy water and towering peaks in the morning calm. The weather didn't last though and it soon started raining. We had planned to do a spectacular hike in this area, but opted to go on to our next destination. On our way out we stopped in Te Anau. I tried another sausage roll, and bingo, this one was right on. Jeremy and I shared the first but had to go back for more. We also tried New Zealand's signature ice cream flavor, Hokey Pokey. Loved it.

On we drove towards Lake Wanaka. We found our lodging, which we had picked as a splurge (luxury apartment) only to discover that the main attraction, the hot tub was out of service. Bummer. We still had time for a hike up Mt. Iron.

After our hike the parents went grocery shopping and Emily, Jeremy and I walked by the lake for a while. For dinner that night we made burgers (the beef here is so good--probably because it is grass fed and doesn't have all the water coloring added). Of course we also had tickleroot. Jeremy and I walked to the nearby grumpy chippy for some chips. Great meal.