Hello !I'm writing to you from LyLo Hostel in Queenstown. There has been a cyclone on the North Island and we've had the tail of it here. We've been getting down to 1-3 degrees at night. Chilly! Last Thursday we went to see Franz Joseph Glacier.  You can't get much closer these days without a) risking your life by walking down the riverbed or b) taking a helicopter which further contributes to the melting of the glacier  The glacier security guard  Me with my stalker again (I have since shaved btw)  I am in love with Suzuki Jimmys. I like this one We then went for a little walk to a nearby gorge  Box of explosives on the trail, always useful    The water is grey because its glacial. It contains lots of sediment from the glacier.  There were only 3 of us so we couldn't test this sign That evening we drove 20k down a gravel road to a campsite on the sea near Fox Glacier. (Dont tell the rental company, we're only meant to do 500m gravel) We got some really good views of the sky and quite a lovely sunrise on the Friday.  I don't have the best camera setup for astrophotography, but I was happy with this one!  The tallest mountain in this pic is Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3700m! After the sunrise we went to see Fox Glacier before heading to Wanaka.  I think I might be considered a security risk. This man followed me to both glaciers we visited.  Those big rocks are one of the many reasons they don't like you walking up to the glaciers. People still do it because people are people. Saturday was chilled out for me. I went for a morning run then we headed to Wanaka. Bethan woke up at 3am to do a sunrise hike, I had a nice lie in instead.  Tourists go mad for a photo with this tree. I am not above being a tourist so I had to get a picture too  Coffee Club: Coffee has been dire at quite a few places in NZ, but this Piccolo bucked the trend. Quite yummy indeed. And only £2.61  Winter is coming, but Autumn is very much here On the way to Queenstown we stopped in Arrowtown, a picturesque ex-gold mining town.   Ice Cream Club: Dulce de Leche on bottom and some berry & Mascarpone on top. Yum  I met my idols  Kiwis enjoy putting cones in places they shouldnt be. It seems theyre stuck in the mindset of british uni students. And I love it  I have spotted a business opportunity On Sunday I went for a hike towards Ben Lomond before we headed south towards Milford Sound  Spot the cone  Spot the cone (Easy Edition)  I started this hike with half a bag of crisps and half a bottle of water. I ended up trail running down cause it was very fun. My legs hurt now tho On Monday, after another lie in at the hostel, we hit the road to find our campsite near Milford Sound  A misty stopover on our way to the Eglinton Valley campsite After a cold and wet night, we drove to Milford Sound for our boat trip. It was breathtakingly beautiful!   Stupid freeloader didnt pay their way and got a free trip :(      We got up close to the edge to see how the plants grow without any topsoil, all clinging onto the rocks and each other. This means when a tree dies and falls, it takes all the others around it with it. We also got to see a cool seal. The captain said that when white people first found Milford Sound, there were 10s of thousands of seals there. Within a few days, they had all been killed. Whilst its sad, we couldnt help but be impressed by the seal killing efficiency they must've had.  I can confirm there is no gold at either end of the rainbow. Sad but at least we can stop looking now And now we're back in Queenstown on Wednesday. Its another chill day where we're gonna drive to Mt Cook as we head towards the North Island.
I will be leaving the road trip in Wellington to work on a community run farm for a few weeks, cause i'm getting super burnt out with the pace. But I'm still looking forward to this last week of road trippin. Bye for now! P.S. P.P.S |
