We have had some eventful days since our last blog, and we were lucky enough to have Maddie join us for the adventure. Upon her arrival in Queenstown, we got snowed in (which is supposedly rare there)...so we ate a lot of food and drank a lot of hot toddies. Queenstown is one of the BEST cities in the South Island - they are known for having a hoppin' night life, sweet ski slopes (that aren't open yet!), the original bungy jump, and an awesome jet boat tour. However, when it snows, your options are much more limited. Here are some pictures we took on the town harbor. The picture of Jerbear and me was taken on our way out of town after most of the snow had melted.
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After we left Queenstown we headed out for Milford Sound...a staple of your South island holiday. Well come to find out, the road to Milford is closed indefinitely because a massive part of a mountain is getting ready to break off (it hangs right over the road). So.....we did the next best thing and headed out to Doubtful Sound. Both Milford and Doubtful are located in Fiordland National Park on the southern west coast of New Zealand. This is one of the wettest regions in the entire world! and not just a hop, skip, and a jump away. It took 2 bus rides and 2 boat rides to get us to Doubtful Sound but it was soooo worth it. Of course it was raining, but that only made the boat ride through the Sound even better...there were waterfalls everywhere!
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Before Maddie headed out, we ventured to the Catlins. This area is known for great hiking, lots of wildlife, and beautiful waterfalls (there are waterfalls all over this country!). Below are some pictures from our hikes that we did in this region. The first was to a cave right on the Pacific Ocean...really cool hike EXCEPT when there is high tide and slippery rocks = recipe for disaster. In my case, this means falling off of rocks with our awesome new camera into the Pacific Ocean.... I realize in the picture that the water doesn't look THAT deep...oh, but it's deceiving. I fell right where the water is blue, just before the entry to the cave, and couldn't touch bottom. Luckily, I only have one massive bruise on my booty (I refrained from posting a picture of that one) and the camera still works (impressive, right?). Everyone has their stories....
After dropping Maddie off at the airport, Jared and I were east coast bound to Dunedin. This city was absolutely awesome! Dunedin has one of the strongest Scottish influences throughout the entire country. Because of this, the city houses the only castle found in New Zealand.
(this picture is a view from the castle's gardens)
Dunedin is not only popular because of this beautiful castle, but because it is the home of the rare yellow-eyed penguins. It is estimated that there are only 3,000-4,000 of these penguins left in the world - all living along the NZ coastline and on smaller islands closer to Antarctica. We got to go out on a reserve to spy on these cute little creatures. This was most definitely another highlight of our trip so far.
We are now on our way back to Christchurch to return Big Bertha (sad face). But don't be too disappointed... we rented another campervan just like Big Bertha (probably her cousin) for another 20 days to take to the North island. More stories to come!
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