Christchurch and Beyond

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Well, I came to the end of the Kiwi Experience bus yesterday and it's a relief not to have to hop on and hop off another bus for a long time. I met some really fun people and all in all it was a great experience for the companionship and adventure activities while traveling alone.

In Queenstown, I had to bag hand gliding because of high winds, but I did fit in an all day horse trek by Glonorchy near the Lord of the Rings filming areas. After 6 1/2 hours on my former racehorse, Seth (who liked to eat when not whisking me along the river), and riding, cantoring and trotting -- I could barely move. I'm not sure what all those muscles are usually doing down there, but they're certainly not being used regularly. Luckily they had a western saddle for me as I could never have stayed on without grabbing the horn from time to time. I went back to the Black Sheep backpackers, took a shower and dressed to go out to The World pub with some of the people on the trip for the last time, but then I fell asleep til midnight, gave up and turned in. Strangely enough, my knee stopped hurting after the horse ride (go figure)!

The next day I left Queenstown for a 4-day loop around the bottom of the South Island -- Dunedin, Riverton, Te Anau, Milford Sound and then back to Queenstown. Saw seals and sea lions and rough, beautiful coastal scenery. Somehow the weather was spectacularly clear, because this area is usually very wet. I went on a 3-hour hike by myself around Lake Te Anau at the border of Fiordland national park and then watched the sun set over the lake from my balcony as I wrote in my diary -- a perfect day I wish I could bottle.

The next day was probably the most spectacular of the trip -- a long drive through the mountains to the coast to Milford Sound (really a fiord). I thought Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park was my favorite mountain drive ever, but I have to say this drive through the glacier country here beat that. As we came into Millford through a rough tunnel cut through the mountain, the sun slowly began to burn off the foggy drizzle. By the time our 2 1/2 boat cruise around the sound was halfway over, it was a crystal clear day (rare in these parts). The waterfalls glistened as they cascaded into the sound, the seals lazed on the rocks and the birds circled overhead. The bus ride took us back to Queenstown by 7:30. Since it doesn't get dark til 10 at night, the days go on and on.

Now I'm in Christchurch, a cute English-like city, and I think I'll explore here for a couple days and then rent a car and drive up the coast to the wine country and Kaikoura. I fly out of here on the 8th to Auckland and then on to Fiji. 10 days left on my trip, and I can't believe it's almost over!