So.. last stop on the blog was two days into Queenstown the "would like to pay a fortune to die of fear" capital of New Zealand. I thought we wouldn't stick around Queenstown long - so much for that. After almost 5 days of jumping off cliffs, full-contact luging, and being adopted by an entire New Zealand Rugby team we just barely made it out of Queenstown alive and livers intact. I don't quite know how we managed not to do a bungy jump - we had 2 beer courage I think.
After Queenstown, we spent a few days in Te Anau, the gateway to world famous Milford Sound. It rains 2 out of 3 days there (really, somewhere that rains more than Vancouver!) but we managed to have spectacular weather. Milford is known not only for it's spectacular scenery, but also because it's considered one of the most beautiful walks in NZ. There are some great points for travelling in the spring before major tourism season starts.. but it means that most of the major multi-day walks aren't really ready for unprepared ! travellers. We settled for an amazing boat cruise of the Sound and lots of day walks instead.
I made it up to the highest tip of NZ, Cape Reinga - just so I could go to Stewart Island at the very bottom of New Zealand, at about 47 degrees South latitude. Our first task on arriving on the Island was to find Captain Squizzy. we booked a fishing trip to catch blue cod. 3 Brits who had never been fishing and me - not that experience mattered. We pretty much put lines over the side of the boat and hauled up fish, kilos and kilos of blue cod. It's expensive to buy Blue Cod in NZ, and I think we caught enough to pay for the trip! We've been eating cod fillets for 4 days now - in curry, fired in bread crumbs, buttered, BBQ'd. I have run out of ways to cook fish and I can't believe I am looking forward to a night of pasta. Or rice. Or anything without fish in it.
Stewart Island is considered a hiker's heaven is relatively free of the predators that plague the rest of NZ (rats, stoats and possums), the Island is full of birds and native bush, and abundant rope swings. We had a couple of really great day hikes, the best part being the opportunity to hitch rides back to town on various moving vehicles the locals use to get around the island. Our biggest coup was hitching a ride on the back of a tractor - a joy just for the looks from the other jealous tourists as we bumped into town.
I think it's the small towns that have really made my trip to New Zealand is the excitement of people falling down wells and motorcycle rides in Barrytown.. our fantastic experiences in Stewart Island.. it's never the obvious points that you really connect with. I am just a few days out of Christchurch now - and only a week left in NZ before I hit Melbourne for the Melbourne cup. I think I am looking forward to not wearing 3 sweaters at a time!
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