Off again I set on Sunday, this time to Wanaka, a pretty little town on the banks of Lake, erm, Wanaka!!! I'd been a little out of sorts before arriving there... We'd made a stop that morning, on the Magic Bus, at Lake Matheson, "New Zealand's most photographed lake." Unfortunately, the driver was a complete tosspot and only gave us 35 minutes here, and it took 40 minutes to walk to the lake edge and back, to get the all important photo of Mount Cook reflected in the waters. We were also supposed to get breakfast here as well, so I don't quite know who'd thought it was worth including in the itinerary, as we all got back onto the bus, pretty damn peeved. Except one guy, who was mercilessly left behind and luckily managed to chase the bus by hitching a lift!
Anyway, Wanaka was extremely picturesque and small enough to walk around on foot. However, I was finding it hard to settle into a more relaxed pace of travelling but was constantly aware that if I sped along too fast, I'd be up in Auckland with way too much time to kill! So, I just took it easy that evening, and planned to have a day of walking and relaxing on Monday! I did indeed have a nice, long lie-in and then I hit the Internet for a good while, and the kindly chap there in Wanaka Web fixed my memory card, which had picked up a virus that made all my photos disappear! Well, not really, dear reader, it just made any PC "hide" them all, and so I'd not been able to upload them for a while!
I then thought I'd better make the most of the day, seeing as the weather was absolutely glorious, so I headed back towards my hostel for a spot of lunch and to get things together for a hike or something. However, as I was walking past The Flight Centre, I decided to walk in and ask if they could book flights from Santiago to Easter Island!!! "Yes, that should be possible!" came the reply... and to cut a long story short, I booked myself a 3-night trip there in April, courtesy of MasterCard! I had to race back to the Internet cafe to organise accommodation there for my stay, as the travel agent insisted there were only expensive hotels on the island! Once that was done, I raced back to my hostel to get my passport so I could pay full the balance! Easter Island! Yikes, that'll be a Facebook profile picture to top all others! Well, some things that I've really learned the value of on this trip are carpe diem and never say never, plus when in Rome... or in this particular case, when in Santiago...!
Rowing on Lake Wanaka
So, I'd spent most of the day indoors, but I did head off for a lovely stroll along the lakeside to Eely Point and Bremner Bay, which provided yet more beautiful scenery. That evening, back at the hostel, I met Aurelia (Germany) and we arranged to go to Puzzling World the next morning. I was so pleased (not) that when we arrived, so did TWO Kiwi Experience coaches, and out poured a load of flashpackers, wearing too much make-up and too few layers. There were several reasons why I avoided this travel option like the plague, and not of them are repeatable here! Anyway, we spent some time in the Illusion Rooms first, to let the "kids" clear out of the maze! Aurelia and I completed it in 45 minutes, reaching all four towers. It should have been less, but it took me ages to find the exit again!!!
We then chilled out in the cafe for a while, until we got too frustrated with all the puzzles you could play with! We then stopped to take our pictures by the wonky turret in the car park - can you even imagine my ire and disbelief when some IDIOT guy walked into my shot, dropped his kid on the grass and proceeded to change it's nappy! IN MY SHOT! Had I not been so damn stunned, I may have taken the photo anyway, just as a record of the stupidity and ignorance of mankind, but I was so horrified, I vehemently insisted that Aurelia should not depress the shutter! Humph! It was then time for lunch before taking the next leg of my journey to Queenstown!
I actually got to QT ahead of schedule, as I took an overspill minibus there instead of the usual coach, so I missed the pointless stops and got to my hostel 2½ hours early! I dropped off my bags and headed straight to Kiwi Discovery, the travel shop that could organise the next leg of the journey. I had a lot of trouble deciding what activities to do here as the range (and cost) is unbelievable! Well, if you did everything, you'd seriously be out of pocket, so it was hard to choose how to be sparing with the pennies! In the end, I just booked a trip to Milford Sound for Wednesday, as that was the one thing that I knew was a definite must-do!
That evening, I bumped into Sarah and Richard (Ireland) who I'd met in Greymouth and Franz Josef. They were en route to the pub. They are Irish. It was St. Patrick's Day. Can you work out the rest of the evening? Let's just say a great time was had by all and after several glasses of wine and a shot of Sheridan's, there are some dodgy photos of me in a curly green wig on someone's camera! After waking on Wednesday morning with a slightly fuzzy head, my lucky run with the weather seemed to end as we left QT on our way to Milford Sound. The clouds rolled in and the glorious sunshine was well and truly over. It got progressively worse as the rain started, the mist descended and soon, the mountain peaks were shrouded in cloud. Bruce, our optimistic driver, was overjoyed with all the waterfalls that this had caused, spilling over the mountains. Emma, our pessimistic photographer, was despairing at the cloud cover that had caused said waterfalls, and was trying to put on a brave face. As we cleared the Homer Tunnel, not far from Milford, the amazing view of the valley was completely obscured by cloud, and I resigned myself to the white skies that would be on all my photos of the Sound.
And then there was a miracle...
By some miracle, and I swear, you couldn't make this up, as we arrived at Milford Sound, the clouds began to clear, the sun came out and the sky turned deep blue! I could not believe it, I sometimes think there is a little force somewhere looking out for me on this trip, or I'm just extremely fortunate! It was amazing and the Sound was truly stunning! I managed to get lots of great photos and then of course, the drive back to QT was spectacular... I was back in the game! I had great fun telling Sarah and Richard all about it over dinner in a Korean restaurant! Well, I have already introduced them to Geocaching, so why stop there! We met up again yesterday, on their last day in QT, for a Gondola ride to the Skyline Luge, overlooking the town! It was hilarious as we all sped down the tracks, me of course making lots of "vrooming" and "screeching brake" noises! Who needs bungy when you can luge!
Today, I went white-water rafting along the Shotover River. Well, I had to something adventurous before leaving QT! It was great fun, if not damn cold and the scenery was breathtaking! It was quite tame, as at this time of year, the water level is quite low. However, it was good practice for all the cheap rafting you can apparently do in South America! Bring it on! Anyway, I leave QT tomorrow and head to Dunedin, which by all accounts seems to be picturesque but a little boring! Well, I guess anything would, compared to Queenstown, but armed with my camera and my GPS, I'm sure I'll be able to occupy myself for a few days. Hopefully, my luck with the weather will continue, as I'll soon be off to Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook after that, and believe me, I've seen the pictures you can get at Tekapo on a good day... so good, they look like they've been drawn on Photoshop!
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