Wow, where to begin?
I’m here in Queenstown, the self-styled “adventure capital of the world” ever since A.J. Hackett decided it would be fun to throw himself off a bridge with a bungee cord tied to his ankles… and then realized he had the ultimate marketing ploy. No, I am not keen to try bungee jumping (Mom, you can relax), but I calculated it out just for fun: an average of a jumper every 2 minutes, open 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, at $150 a jump… you do the math. Suffice to say I think we’re all in the wrong business.
Yesterday’s drive down to Queenstown from Wanaka was uneventful apart from the stop at the bungee bridge where one brave (or crazy) soul off the bus jumped and the rest of us watched. After that, we just rode into town, and pretty much went to sleep because of the 7am pickup this morning for the Milford Sound excursion.
Today’s trip into Fjordland was absolutely stunning. I thought I’d seen some nice scenery in New Zealand before. Well, it was nothing compared to today. I’ve posted some photos but there’s no way they will adequately capture it. Once again, my personal patch of blue sky followed me into rainforest where it rains over 250 days a year, and we had a few low clouds but mostly clear weather. Go figure. The trip was a 5-hour drive through Te Anau to Milford, a 2-hour boat cruise on the sound, and a 5-hour drive back. Doesn’t sound all that great, except when you consider that we spent most of the bus ride just staring gap-jawed out the windows, and stopping for photos. The sound is surrounded by steep mountains that slope dramatically into the sea, and waterfalls are everywhere. The trees grow sideways on sheer rock. It’s truly magnificent.
Now I’m back in Queenstown, and about to head into town with some friends for a night out. But since I’m sure to keep getting jealous e-mails from all of you, just so you don’t hate me too much, let me tell you a bit about my two pet peeves of travel in New Zealand: sandflies and snorers.
The two annoyances are actually quite similar in a lot of ways. Both have a bad habit of keeping you awake at night when you’re trying to sleep. Sandflies are harder to avoid, since they’re everywhere, but snorers are harder to squish by giving them a good slap (though I’m keen to try it once in a while). Snorers come in a whole range of varieties, from the relatively innocuous ones that can be drowned out with headphones to the 747-at-takeoff variety. Sandflies seem to only come in one variety: little and nasty. Sandflies also seem more resistant to insect repellant than snorers are.
Hope that makes some of you feel a teensy bit better. Now go check out my photos and you can hate me again.
Hi Sari,
Who are these friends you keep showing in the pictures? You’ve been trying to concentrate on the scenery, but you’ve been having a social life too haven’t you? ;)
> Rushing water caused this strange pattern of erosion
> in the rocks, which looks almost like swiss cheese.
It’s really neat!
What might have happened is that over time dirt turned into rock in that area (sedentary rock). Then volcanic activity squirted new rock (igneous rock) into the old sedentary rock. Over time flowing water eats away at the weak sedentary rock, leaving the stronger igneous rock.
Another possibility is that the rock is made up of different kinds of rock, probably including things like limestone. If the water is a bit acidic because of volcanic activity, then it will dissolve some types of rocks and not others, leaving the swiss-cheese effect. Pretty cool.
I’ve taken 3 geology courses, so that explains how I know this useless crap. :p
P.S. I really hate snorers. Flies I can live with, even the biting kind (which I’m assuming sand flies are).
Great pics
Wow!! What great pictures, Makes you want to see it in person