NZ Cont. (Part 2)

Now, as I was saying...

Once in Milford Sound, we boarded a small boat which took us to all the nooks and crannies of the sound and out to the Tasman Sea, from where we could see the rugged coastline extend into the horizon. The boat was small enough that the captain got right up under a few of the waterfalls so everyone on the bow of the boat got sprayed. The scenery was just breathtaking, there's no way to describe it that would do it justice, so we took a few hundred photos instead but it'll be a few more weeks before I can post those. We got to see some seals hanging out on the rocks and swimming, twisting around in the water, from just about ten feet away. We also spotted some dolphins that came and swam right up under the bow of the boat, criss-crossing back and forth and so close that our faces were splashed with droplets of water coming right out of their blowholes. It looked like a giant belly button opening and closing. By the end most everyone had gone back inside because of the cold but I stayed out on the bow drinking it all in, my body giong numb from head to toe. I was standing right there, on a boat in the Southern Fiordlands of New Zealand with arctic winds and saltwater spray hitting my face.

We all dozed most of the way back to Queenstown, I had forgotten my book and ipod and my phone's battery was dead so I had nothing to do but think or sleep, and I definitely don't need to do any more thinking!

We hadn't planned on going out that night but Nea kept insisting that she wanted to to and she finally got her way. Good night to go out, too, as we stumbled on a Chilean World Cup match at a bar where the entire Latino population of Queenstown was watching the game. We went to another bar first where we were given free drinks by some guy who had won a $500 bar tab and then we were nearly assaulted by a group of English guys. We fled to the other bar. We got back to the campervan around 4:30 in the morning, put on all our sleeping layers, and called it a night.

We were supposed to check out of the campgrounds by 10 a.m. but at noon we were still putzing about gathering our belongings. There was a sharp rap at the door and on the other side stood a one-armed man with a grimace on his face and a clipboard tucked tightly under his wing. He told us quite coldly that we should have been out of there by 10 and basically to scram, so while the other two girls were showering, Lupe and I got to enjoy the lovely experience of emptying the gray water from the camper as well as the toilet box. We had all agreed that only liquied shall enter the toilet box, all other matter was to be deposited in public restrooms. Since we were laughing so hard, it was difficult not to breathe and inhale some of it, so we half-laughed and half-choked our way through it.

Once on the road, we headed in the direction of Lake Wanaka. There were some amazing views of Queenstown from the curvy, mountain highway that slithered its way up through a very windy mountain pass. Lake Wanaka was freezing and windy so we only spent long enough outside to take a few pictures before running back to the camper to get some warm food in our bellies. The rain drops sounded like metal pellets on the camper and the wind was blowing so hard that it made the camper rock ack and forth. Once we though the weather was clearing up a bit, we got on our way again, but no sooner had we gotten on the highway than it started raining and then snowing. Lupe was driving and not only was it her first time being in a snow storm, but she'd also never driven in snowy or icy conditions. The snow started to stick and we pulled over to decide what to do with the worsening conditions. The car that had been behind us pulled up alongside and asked if we were okay and if we were planning on going much further that night. We had been planning on going a few hundred more kilometres but they recommended we stay the night because of the snow. They agreed to show us where a capsite was, so they pulled ahead of us but a few minutes down the road they stopped again, the driver got out and came to ask if we wanted to park the camper in front of their house for the night so we wouldn't have to pay for campgrounds. Our budget-minded selves were much-obliged to accept their kind offer and once parked in their front yard, snow coming down heavily, we were invited in for a cup of tea and come crabapples stolen from their neighbor's tree. Hannah and James were very sweet and down-to-earth and we spent an hour or two talking around their kitchen table, drinking hot tea and laughing. After taking a picture and writing down their address with the promise of a postcard from Mexico, we went back out to the camper to sleep. Three of the four of us were now going on our second night and neary third day with no shower and bundled up with basically the exact same clothing day and night. I spent the entire next day with a hat pulled tightly over my greasy hair, thankfully it was chilly enough to be coherent.

The following day we drove up the rugged west coast of NZ, pulling off the highway every so often to take in the cliffs plunging hundreds of feet into the Tasman Sea, the desolate beaches scattered with torturously twisted driftwood, and temporate rainforests with ferns as big as golf umbrellas. It felt so strange to drive through a mountain pass in the Southern Alps feeling like we could be in the Antarctic and just a few minutes later to feel like we could be in a rainforest in the middle of the Yucatan.

We got into the town of Franz Josef just before dark and went to book our glacier excursion for the next day before treating ourselves to a surprisingly delicious steak dinner for about 20 USD. Although complete grease monkeys by any standards, we went to bed once again without showering as we figured we'd want to shower in the morning anyway. Three days, three nights. At least it's not hot and humid!

Indulged in a long, hot shower the next morning, scarfed down some cereal, pulled on my hiking boots and snow pants and off we went. Our guide was a native of Franz Josef called Brooke. Her father was a glacier guide for 15 years and her first time up there was when she was three. As Maori legend has it, the glacier was formed when a Maori couple decided to climb the valley walls. The girlfriend loved th mountains and climbing, but her boyfriend was a total beach bum. Sometimes though, to make her happy, he'd accompan her to the mountains. One day, as they climbed the walls of the valley, the girlfriend was way up high in her own little world of bliss, when the boyfriend got stuck. He couldn't go up and he couldn't go down and finally, exhausted, he fell to his death. The girlfriend was so upset she cried until her tears began to fill the valley and form a river. The Maori gods decided to freeze the girl and her river of tears as a monument to their love for each other and that's how the Franz Josef glacier formed. The Europeans in the group all groaned and the Mexicans swooned.

It was an exhausting full day on the ice. To walk with the cramp-ons (metal spikes that you clamp to the bottom of your boots), you have to keep your feet straight, shoulder-length apart, and stomp your feet into the ice with every step you take. Our guide les us halfway up the glacier, carving steps in and out of the crevaces with her ice pick. We got to squeeze through a few holes and tight crevaces, literally sapphire blue, with the feeling that surely you'll get stuck or the glacier will decide to move and you'll be trapped in that tiny crawl space, getting squeezed more and more tightly with each breath you exhale. Thanksfully there was always light at the end of the tunnel and the glacier didn't budge an inch. We descended off the glacier right before dusk, exhausted, freezing, wet and aching, swearing never to step foot on another glacier again. It was really amazing to be up there, literally slithering between two walls of blue ice no more than 6 inches apart, but I think a "once in a lifetime experience" is definitely applicable.

As it was our last night in NZ and we still had a bunch of food left to finish, we had a double-feast for dinner. Pasta with four-cheese sauce to start, then salad, and for dessert a treat for ourselves - brie and camembert with crackers and apple slices, topped off with a few glasses of white wine from a box, another shower to wash off the glacier grime, and off to bed.

Friday was our last day in NZ before flying to Melbourne. We got the camper back just in time and I spent my last few NZ dollars on chocolates and a few postcards, and on to Melbourne!