The journey began in Queenstown on the South Island. With winter fast approaching (I just can't escape cold weather!), I felt it a good idea to start south and work my way north to avoid too much cold. I did manage to ride through a snow storm on the North Island two weeks ago for 1/2 hour at the highest point on the island, otherwise the weather has been fairly manageable and I haven't frozen to death. (Gabe, I am thinking of you and that night at the train station in Italy. Brr....)
Queenstown was great to see but I was feeling a little anxious at that point about not having a wwoof host set up yet. I had emailed around but it seemed everyone already had wwoofers. To take my mind off of things, I did a day tour to Milford Sound. A four drive through huge mountains and the rainforest is required to enter into Fiordland National Park to the sound. Total bummer. All those ostentatious views. It was ridiculous! New Zealand definitely lives up to its 'absolutely beautiful country' status.
The boat ride on the sound took us through the fiord and out to the Tasman Sea. The waterfalls were immense and deafening, and I am told that on a rainy day there are hundreds falling off the cliffs. It was a great trip and good introduction to nature kiwi-style.
The next morning I decided to head north to Wanaka, about two hours from Queenstown. (Mother warning: you may want to skip ahead.) I had talked to Tori, the receptionist at the hostel, and she gave me two good tips about hitchhiking. One, face the direction of the cars so they see your face not your back. Two, SMILE. I took off toward the main road heading out of town, turned around, stuck out my thumb, smiled and two hours later I was in Wanaka. Whee! It was odd and fun at the same time. I was picked up by 3 separate people and didn't wait more than 10 minutes in between each, so it was a pretty good hitch.
Wanaka is a small town by a huge lake with lots of places to wander. The hostel had its own herb garden for the culinary traveler and a sauna. I found out quickly that quite a few hostels here have saunas, although I don't think they get much wear in the winter. There was only one other backpacker staying at the hostel, a girl from Idaho. Kristine and I made friends and two days later she took me with her up the West Coast to the Franz Josef Glacier.
We ended up doing a two-day hike on the Copland Trail to the Welcome Flat Hut. At the end of a fairly grueling six-hour hike, you are rewarded with mineral hot springs to boil your weary bones in. A wonderful thing about trekking in New Zealand, is that there are huts provided by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to stay in. A wood stove, mattresses, and a dry space to sleep is all they have, but you don't need much more. After a good nights sleep, we hiked back out. The day before I had fallen partially into a river trying to cross on slippery rocks. This day, Kristine was having trouble avoiding the mud pits along the path. About 45 minutes from the carpark, she watch me deftly step over a particularly large one and thought, 'well, that seems easy to cross...' She promptly fell in up to her waist! It was amazingly funny after the fact and she was a good sport about the whole incident. (If only I had taken a picture, Kristine!)
That night we treated ourselves to dinner out and warm showers and the next morning we took off further up the coast.
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