Not only did Megs and I hit up all the adventure areas of Queenstown, we also enjoyed some of the city life. We went to every souvenir shop imaginable! There were little arts and craft tables set up along the lakefront and a concert was going on. While we were walking around I saw a girl I had gone to school with walk down the street! I knew she was working in Abel Tasman for a few months, but I didn't think I would run into her. What a small world!
That night we went to the Minus 5 Degree bar. Now I am not a big bar person, but this was cool. The ice bar originated in Sweden and are now found in a few other places. It is a popular place to go, even with families and kids, so we had to make reservations. You are alotted a half hour in the bar. Before we went in, we were fitted with fur trimmed parkas and gloves. The whole room is made of ice, and I mean EVERYTHING; the bar, the seats, and the glasses! There were amazing ice sculptures everywhere. That was cool. We met a crazy group of English backpackers when we were there, which made for a good time.
After all the Queenstown craziness we drove on to Wanaka. We stayed at a campsite that night. The next day we went into town to check everything out. We heard from a friend it was pretty cool. Wanaka is situated right on a lake and because it is fall here, the scenery was beautiful. Along the lakewalk was a photography display. There were huge aerial photos displayed all about the changing enviroment and learning to care about the earth we live on. We walked through display for about an hour. That was also very cool. We did some shopping and again headed on to Franz Josef.
Franz Josef is a huge glacier set back in a big rock valley with rainforesty-type woods surrounding it. We stayed at the Rainforest Holiday Park that night, and prepared for our full-day glacier hike the following day. That morning we headed to the Franz Josef center where we were fitted with raincoats, over trousers, wool socks, boots, crampons (grips strapped to the bottom of your boots), hats and mittens. We boarded a bus and off we went. We were in a group of about 10 and a guide. We spent the next 7 hours together exploring around. I was super excited about it, since I see cold and snow all the time, but it was awesome. We even got to use ice picks. We wandered up the glacier where the views of the valley were gorgeous. We tramped through blue crevaces and all arounded. By the end of the day, we were really tired out! We made tacos for dinner, took a warm shower and were in bed by 7:45!
The following morning we headed to Lake Mathison, a well known scenic lake. the backdrop of the lake are the snow covered mountains that are reflected in the water. Again, gorgeous.
Okay, moving on....
The rest of the day we drove through to Abel Tasman. It was a long day of driving; about another 8 hours total. But we stopped at great places along the way. We drove down the highway along the beach, so we stopped for pictures here and there. We also saw Pancake Rocks. On the beach are these massive layered rock formations. When we get the pictures up, you will see what I am talking about. We finally made our way to Abel Tasman and booked a hostel for the night. Yeah, no sleeping in the back of the van! After 13 nights, it was nice to have a break!
Abel Tasman national park is right near the top of the south island. It is known for it's aqua waters and white beaches. In fact, it was one of the top five beaches in the world! The thing to do here is go out on a kayak trip, since most of the beaches can only be reached by water. We booked the "Royal with Cheese" all-day trip. When we got there, one of the guides told us that they drew peoples names for an upgrade to a better kayak package and we had won! So, we were put on the trip that was twenty bucks more and we got it for the same price as the other. We met our guide, Gloria, who was awesome and the other four kayakers in our group. They came from, Israel, France, England, and Austrailia. What a multicultural group! We were fitted into our life jackets and boarded the water taxi that brought us to the beach we would be launching from. The kayaks were two-person, so Megs was in the back in charge of steering and I was in the front. Our guide told us that we were sure to see some seal pups along the way. Not ten minutes after we got going we spotted seals doing there thing on the rocks; lazing in the sun and making noise! Gloria suggested we head to this secluded lagoon where there are usually some seal pups. She said we would be able to get there because it was still high tide. The lagoon was so pretty, but there were no seals in sight. We paddled on further to a little cove. All of a sudden these pups emerged from the trees on the banks and started swimming around our boats. Gloria said they were about 4 months old and often the mother leaves them there for the day while she goes out because they are safe in the cove. One of the pups grabbed onto a rope tied to Gloria's kayak and was swimming and plaing with it. We are watched and pulled our kayaks up side by side. The seals were so playful! Our kayaks was resting on top of a tree that was in the water. The pups would walk on the log and come up to sniff our kayak. All of a sudden, one jumped onto the kayak next to us and sat there for awhile. Gloria was laughing so hard. She said this had never happened before! We are all taked pictures like crazy when another one jumped onto ours. But instead of sitting there, he came up to me and sat on my spray skirt, right on my lap and sniffed my life jacket! haha. Gloria couldn't believe it! After awile we got out to swim with them. The water was freeezing and we were in the shade, so it didn't last long. But the seals would dodge all around us. They were swimming in between Megan's legs and one grabbed the tie on my life jacket and started pulling it! It was the highlight of the trip! Eventually we headed out of the lagoon because the tide was going out. We paddled to a beach where we had the lunches that were provided for us. We even got mochaccinos! Yum! Gloria said she had a surprise for us. She pulled a violin out of her kayak and started playing it. It was so cool. Beach, catered lunch, mochaccino, sun, and violin music. How lucky is that? Total paradise. We explored some more beaches and even sailed our kayaks. Yeah, sailed them. We connected them all together out in the water by holding on to each other's boats. Then the back people tied a tarp the their oars and raised it in the air, the front people (me), held onto the other corners down low and away we went. It was one of the best days, our group was awesome and the weather couldn't have been better! Abel Tasman was one of the most gorgeous places we went to! I loved it!!! We were freezing by the end of the day and headed back to the hostel for dinner and hot showers.
This brings us up to today. Basically we drove from Abel Tasman so Nelson, where we stopped and explored the city and then drove on to Picton, where we are now. We only have a few hours left on the South Island. In fact, we board the ferry in about 2 hours to head back to the North. I am sad to leave here. I fell in love with the South Island. Tonight we are staying at our host parents' other child's house in Wellington. Tomorrow we plan to check out the capital and then head back to Waihi on Sunday to get ready for the last five weeks of teaching.
So, for now I am off since I have been sitting at United Video store to type this! haha.
Love you all.
