Amazing New Zealand ~ the longest post yet....

So to continue where I left off.... after our visit with good friends Dave and Jane Campbell in Auckland, D and I jumped on our first of many trains. The train is called the TranzSenic and our first trip was on the "Overlander Service" to Hamilton on the north island. Why Hamilton? Well we were invited by our new friends Emma and Jared who we met while traveling China. While in Hamilton we all headed to Waitomo Caves for a mid day black water rafting trip. Basically you put on a wetsuit, head lamp and pick up a large inner tube, shortly after you jump into an icy cold underground river and float your way through the Waitomo Cave system jumping off waterfalls and looking at the cave ceiling covered in glow worms... a lot of fun to say the least. We filled up on hot soup and bagels and then Jared took us on a driving tour of their part of the world which included a few short walks, one revealing a huge thundering waterfall. The country side is just stunning and we even got a peak at the west coast of the island. That night we enjoyed some very good New Zealand Meat on the BBQ followed by multiple beers.

The next day we wished Emma and Jared good bye and hoped back on the Overlander for an all day journey through the heart of the North Island to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. This train was fantastic, we were in the last car with panoramic glass windows giving us views or the stunning countryside as we climbed the mountains crossing glacial rivers and huge snow topped volcanoes. We got our best view of the volcanoes when we stopped at "the National Park". Finally we winded our way down into Wellington getting full views of the ocean as we entered the port city. Wellington is a beautiful city set in a bay on the south end of north island at the foot of mountains. Everywhere you look there is another beautiful vista. Although it is the capital of New Zealand and a big city, it is still small enough to navigate on foot very easily and we only needed to catch a bus once. It has an awesome waterfront with a really cool museum "Te Papa". We also rode the famous tram to spot above the city to take in the views and them begin a walk down through the botanical gardens. The rest of the time we just wondered the streets, enjoyed some good food and the atmosphere. D loved the city and says it is her favorite so far... "she would like to live there".

Next we jumped on the "InterIslander Ferry" to the South Island. The ferry is a cool way to see Wellington from the water and then as you approach the cliffs of the South Island you realize you are about to see a whole different world. We landed in Picton and navigated our way to the train station and hopped on the "TranzCoastal Service" to Christchurch "the largest city on the South Island". Again this was an awesome way to see New Zealand, the large glass windows and open viewing car allowed us to get great views of the east coast of the South Island as we journeyed south. Christchurch is a small city, and is actually based on Cambridge in the UK, and feels very similar. You have your Gothic style cathedral in the cities central square and there is a river that winds through the city "the Avon"... and you have punting boats that you can take a ride in, just like Cambridge. There is also trams that travel the city streets and plenty of restaurants to choose from. We spent our days punting the river, walking the botanical gardens and reading our books in the park and at Cafes.

Another day, another cool train journey. This time we joined the "TranzAlpine Service" over and through the mountains to the west coast of the South Island, terminating in the town of Greymouth. This train takes you up through some of the highest mountains in the country and gives you great views of Arthur's Pass and the alpine scenery of the South Island. On arrival in Greymouth we picked up our rental car... some Cadburys Chocolate Bars and began our drive down the west coast. I cant put into words how beautiful this part of the world is, around every bend we were saying "WOW"... our journey for the day ended in Franz Joseph, the small town situated below the Franz Joseph Glacier. We had come to Glacier Country to see something truly amazing, something that can only be seen over other place in the world (Patagonia Argentina), a glacier at near sea-level and something else unique to New Zealand, it is surrounded by tropical rain forest. We spent 2 nights in this amazing place, hiking to the terminal face of Franz Joseph, and a number of other short walks that allow you to view these marvels of nature in all there glory. But the coolest of all was our Helihike on the Fox Glacier. We arrived early in the morning, suited up with boots, crampons etc. hoped in a helicopter and flew up the Fox Glacier, landing about midway up the glacier. We spent 3 hours walking the glacier, our guides using there ice axes to carve a pathway through this alien environment. We climbed into ice caves formed by the glacier moving at different speeds at the surface vs. the base. We saw waterfalls that are carving underground rivers through the ice, and stood on the edge of precipices that drop into oblivion. When down, back on the helicopter for a ride back to sea-level and reality. This one is in my top 5 of all time, WOW, WOW, WOW.

The journey continued... back in our rental car we continued down the west coast, joining the "Heritage Highway", named as such because it guides you through one of the many "World Heritage" areas present in New Zealand. Again, just beautiful, awe inspiring vistas around every corner. We spent the day stopping at a number of short beach and forest walks that allow you to explore what lies just beyond the rode, places like the "Blue Pools", a set of natural pools that are filled with crystal clear turquoise blue glacial water and a number of stunning waterfalls. The road takes you along the coast and then banks east through the mountains past the largest lake in the Southern Hemisphere and into the city of Queenstown, and our basecamp to prepare for "The Milford Trek". Queenstown is an awesome little city, sitting on the shores of a lake surrounded by high mountain peaks. This is the adventure sport capital of the world and you can do anything crazy you can imagine in this place. After a few days, and fully preparing for our 4 day hike through Fiordland (we needed hiking bags, sleeping bags, survival gear, clothing for all 4 seasons, food, maps etc... we set off by bus to Te Anau to check in at the department of conservation office. Next we journeyed to Te Anau Downs and what would be the start of another top 5 experience of my life, hiking the Milford Trek. For those of you who don't know some background on this hike. The Milford Trek, also know as "The Finest Walk in the World" is 53.5 kilometer trail through the heart of spectacular Fiordland National Park, part of the Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. 14,000 people hike this trek every year, although it is restricted to 40 people per day and you can only walk in one direction so you very rarely see any other people on the trail. I am not going to go into detail on how we spent our 4 days but will call out some highlights. First, you begin the walk by taking a boat from Te Anau Downs the Glade House.. the start of the walk at the base of the mountain range in the rain forest. You are now officially in the middle of the wilderness and the adventure begins. Over the walk you will climb from just above sea level to 1143 meters above sea level and then back down to sea level. You will and we did experience all 4 seasons in one day, and you will see some of the most incredible wilderness on earth, from the valleys, to the literally thousands of waterfalls, snow caped mountains, ice fields, crystal clear rivers, dense rain forest, beech tree forests, fern forests, glacial landscapes, lakes, the remains of large avalanches and much much more. The accommodation on the trail is great, each night you stay in mountain huts with bunk-rooms, a drying room and kitchen area with gas stoves supplied. There is running water, it comes fresh from local rivers and is ice cold, but clean and drinkable. You will get to see much of New Zealand's bird life, from Blue Ducks to Kea's... the worlds only Alpine Parrot and a really cool bird to see since they have the intellect of a 2 year old and love to get ahold of hikers gear. It was a hard 4 days, the toughest time was the accent to the highest point in freezing rain and snow to be followed by an even steeper decent through ice fields and avalanche valleys. But the scenery was worth every minute and the sense of accomplishment at the bottom is fantastic. On the final day you make your way into the final valley at end at Sand Fly Point, named for the little buggers that bite the crap out of you over the 4 days, the place is supposed to be teaming with then, but we were lucky and there were not that many on our final day. You meet a boat at this location and sail into Milford Sound.

When we got to Milford Sound we decided to take a scenic cruise of the Sound and just relax and take in this amazing place.... pictures don't do the sound justice, and the same goes for pics of the scenery on the hike itself, but I tried my best. We spend the night in an awesome private lodge (Milford Sound Lodge River Chalets on the river with floor to ceiling windows looking at the river in front of us and cliffs of waterfalls. The next day we made our way back to Queenstown and then to Auckland for another night with Dave and Jane... today we tooled around Auckland and then headed for the airport. This post is coming to you from Sydney Australia.

PS... the reason I did not post anything earlier was 2 fold... public internet in NZ sucks... and secondly I was too busy having the time of my life. I will do my best to post video on youtube and pics on flickr tonight and the next few days, so take a look.

And one more thing,,, New Zealand is the coolest country we have visited so far.