Traveling with 30 of the people who I started my journey with, we got to do a little bit of everything in the adrenaline/adventure capital of the world!
After having spent the last 2 weeks in Dunedin..I was ready for a little more adventure. Our trip started on Friday morning with a bus ride through the south countryside for about 4 hours. The thing about New Zealand travel is that no where is really too far, it's a small island compared to living in the states, but distances just take longer because the roads wind in and out of the hills and along rivers and lakes rather than being the most efficient route. Though, when in New Zealand, I much prefer it that way.
Hot off the bus from Dunedin we arrived at the Shotover Canyon, which was the heart of the New Zealand Gold Rush a long time ago. The river that runs through is apparently the second richest gold river in the world, and people still find nuggets of gold worth tens of thousands of dollars today! Unfortunately we were not there to cover our student loans, but to go Jet Boating through the beautiful canyons. The jet boats we were riding in were unique in that they only need about 6in of water to operate in. The boats operated similar to jet skis, pushing out water from under them to propel forward. And man...these boats could move! We zig zagged through rock formations at high speeds of around 90km/h, and did 360 spins splashing all of us who were inside.
Here is a video to give a better idea of what it really felt like on the boat:
I loved the shotover experience for the thrills, scenery, and the moment of realization I had amidst the ride that I was actually in New Zealand, hurtling through some of the worlds most beautiful scenery at crazy speeds!
After the thrill ride of the day, we were left to our own agency to explore Queenstown and grab a bite to eat. From everyone I'd spoken to about Queenstown, I'd heard Fergberger was the world famous burger shop all visitors had to go to while in the area. We fortunately beat the long lines and took our huge burgers to enjoy down at the beach.
Queenstown had the feel of what I imagine a ski village might be like, but with a more international tourist population and just about every kind of cuisine you could think to ask for. The picture on the right shows the Gondola, which we would go to on Sunday, sitting on a steep peak overlooking the bay.
After heading to bed early, we woke up to a vibrant sunrise over the alpine landscape.
Next on the agenda was the Routeburn Track. We were extremely fortunate to be able to go for a day hike on the track, as just last week the other people in our program were not able to do so because flooding in the area had washed a lot of the trail ways out. The Routeburn is one of 9 New Zealand "Great Walks", that are considered some of the best, and the most well regulated by the NZ Department of Conservation. The Routeburn is typically a 2-4 day hike walking 2 days one way staying in huts and then returning the same way. Do not be deceived as many foreigners are by the misnomer 'walk'...these are full blown hikes or 'tramps' as the Kiwi call them, that are not for the faint of heart! We started at around 9am, as it took a beautiful 1.5 hour bus ride just to get to the trail head from Queenstown.
A view of Lake Wakatipu from the road to Glenorchy and the Routeburn in Mt. Aspiring/Fiordland National Park.
And at once, we were off into the mountains!
The first portion entailed a gradual ascent into the lush, green trees and over canyons and rivers of the crystal blue water I have come to associate with New Zealand back country.
Below is a slideshow (the arrow is hard to see)!
The next leg of the climb was through the grassy flat lands and then on an incline towards the falls at the top of the where the two mountains meet in the picture above.
A slide show below:
We reached the first hut, the Routeburn Falls Hut, where 48 backpackers at a time can stay in bunks and use the stove facilities provided. These huts are usually booked around a year in advance, and can cost around $140USD a night for foreigners. We got to see them when no backpackers were staying the night because the trail was not yet open for multiday use.
While some people chose to relax by the waterfall behind the huts, a few others, including myself, continued hiking upward to Harris Saddle.
As hiked through the saddle between the two mountains, we passed what I can only describe as a lake in the sky.
I like this photo because it puts into perspective just how high above the ground this glimmering body of water really was.
As we rounded the lake, the Harris Saddle Shelter Huts came into view.
Those of us who continued hiking up were generously rewarded with views of the southern alps all around. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand, translating to 'land of the long white cloud', which is an apt description of what we saw in the mountains.
We began our journey back towards the bus, back towards Queenstown.
I thought of my Grandfather, Papa, when I saw this bird as he would always talk about the "Yellow Bellied Sap Suckers," when I was little, and I finally saw one!
In all, I hiked around 18 miles in 7 hours. When I turned my phone back on my health data thought I had climbed 300 flights of stairs!
After a long day of moving, we headed back to Queenstown. I think 80% of the people on the bus ride home were asleep within the first 10 minutes of taking off.
The night ended with pizza, ice cream and good street music as the sun went down in Queenstown.
Sunday morning we got up with tired legs, and I would not consider it a stretch to say that all of us were relieved to be taking the gondola up the peak behind Queenstown, rather than hiking up.
Once on top we had a chance to look around the gift shop and cafe before going down a luge, or what is basically a go cart that moves only thanks to gravity.
In this video you can see the end of the track below.
Or here is another video highlighting the experience:
I had such a fun time luging down in what felt like a real life mario cart game!
The rest of the day was spent visiting Arrowtown, the gold-mining town that boomed from the gold rush mentioned before, and watching some of my peers bungee jump! I opted not to bungee jump this time as I figured I would rather save up and try and go the more scenic route and hang-glide or para-glide down the mountain, which we didn't have the chance to do this weekend, but is something that sounds like a good excuse to return to Queenstown for :).
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