I think I'll make this segment quite a long post, rather than a few short posts - easier to navigate that way yw. At any rate, shortly after harvest ended, Shannon and I set off on our road trip through the South Island of New Zealand. We organized a loosely packed 10+ days in the camper van, which is totally the way to experience NZ and is what most folks do! There are free & beautiful self-contained campsites throughout the country, ensuring us to sleep basically anywhere we wanted.
Our first leg was down the west coast through glacier country. We saw some cool pancake-looking rocks and a thunderous sea smashing against them, before continuing through a rainforest and ending up near Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier. Incredible how quickly and dramatically the scenery can change in this country. We decided against a helicopter ride due to the dreary weather and outsized cost, but went on some gorgeous walks by the glaciers and around some reflective mirror lakes. Quite picturesque! Keep reading below the pics for the rest of our trip - there's a lot!!
Our next stop was in a town called Wanaka, which was easily our favorite place on the trip. Wanaka is a small lakeside town near Queenstown that has majestic views, epic hikes, and an UNREAL area called the Matukituki Valley about 30 miles west. Wanaka is also great in all seasons - lake activities in the summer, stunning Fall foliage, and skiing in the wintertime! Roy's peak was a steep uphill BEAST for 10 miles roundtrip, but we were rewarded with some of the best views in the country. We even walked through a cloud on this hike! The next day was a milder hike in the Matukituki Valley called Rob Roy's Glacier Track which felt very lord-of-the-rings like. Rolling hills through a valley with large boulders peaking out...and very remote. The end of the hike is my new favorite place in the world - glacier to your right, a waterfall to your left, and an expansive valley right behind you. Luckily, our van survived the ~7 rivers we forded lol (not pictured).
Our next two stops after Wanaka were Queenstown ("adventure capital of the world") and Milford Sound (self-proclaimed 8th Wonder of the World). Both lived up to the hype!!! Queenstown is another town right on a massive lake and is the dream adrenaline vacation spot. We took a gondola up the mountain to ride a downhill go-kart race track, which was hella fun! And while we were up there, Shannon was felt inspired to sign up for paragliding after we saw a guy go off on Roy's peak (video above). I was saving my adrenaline activity for either bungee jumping or skydiving...stay tuned.
From Queenstown, we made our way to Milford Sound for a 2-hour boat trip through Fjordland National Park. The sights were stunning, with waterfalls and crevices in every-which direction. We even saw more dolphins in the fjord! The parking lot was a scene itself with some pesky Weka's (cousin of Kiwi bird) trying to steal my Berks and nosy Kea parrots trying to get in our van!
Continuing on past Queenstown was our remarkable stop in Mt. Cook National Park, which is home to the tallest mountain in NZ and is where the 1st guy to climb Everest did a lot of his training! We did not make it up Mt. Cook lol but we did do a tough 2,000 stair climb on the Sealy Tarns hike, which gave us a nice view of Hubbard Glacier and Mt. Cook itself. Shannon was a trooper for that one, and agreed with a grumble that it was all worth it. Our lakeside campsite was also the best we've had, but perhaps what was most notable on this leg was my skydiving excursion. Shannon enjoyed her paragliding but that was enough for her (although she's now saying she wants to skydive next time). What an intense, but somewhat blissful experience?? The craziest part was feeling nothing around you, just free-falling from 13,000 feet with some of the prettiest scenery around. Certainly scary and extreme, but I'd do it again!
Our last stop on our NZ van road trip before returning to Christchurch was Lake Tekapo in the Mackenzie district. This area is renowned for its world-class stargazing and status as an International Dark Sky Reserve. We would've loved to visit this region in the Springtime due to the endless purple Lupines that bloom, but a quieter Autumn visit was still incredible. We booked a stargazing tour, which solved many of our space-related questions. We learned that the closest star is Alpha Centauri 4.5million light years away (just like in 3 Body Problem) and that most stars we see in the sky actually ARE alive, since they live for millions of years and are only a few thousand light years away (at most). I had never looked through a high-powered telescope that allowed us to see into other galaxies and star clusters!!
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