Milford Sound

As we left the easterly shelter of the Alps and crossed back over the west side from Wanaka, we were again met with torrential rain - which pleased Bas no end. He kept telling us he was so happy that it was raining for our night on the boat on Milford Sound, because that was going to cause "thousands of waterfalls" in the fjord for us to see - wasn't it great?! We weren't buying it. We had started out on the west side, hiked through pouring rain, dried our clothes above heaters in our rooms, no one was thrilled about the rain, and the idea of "thousands of waterfalls" seemed like an exaggeration at best - that is until we boarded the boat and motored off into the depth of the fjord... where we saw what had to have been thousands of waterfalls. There is no topsoil under the vegetation on the cliffs above the fjord, that means that when it rains, the water has no place to soak in, so it heads straight down into the sea. There was cascading water as far as we could see, and even the boat's crew was incredulous, telling us they see rain like that once a season if they are lucky. 

This is what happens when 10 inches of rain falls in Milford Sound in one day:

The rain had stopped by the next day and we were able to go out on the tender craft for a spin around the fjord. The thousands of waterfalls were reduced to a few trickles.

Lake Wanaka

Fabled Lake Wanaka... at least that's how I thought of it, due to one of my favorite PBS cooking shows, "The Free Range Cook" hosted by New Zealander, Annabel Langbein who does her show from her gorgeous cabin located somewhere on the shores of this large lake. We had finally left the rain behind us and arrived to a gorgeous day in this lakeside resort town. I was on the lookout for Annabel in case she was strolling around town, but only saw one of her cookbooks in a shop window. 

Emily and I strolled through the town, poking in and out of shops and then went for a walk along the lake, where Merisha told us to look out for Lake Wanaka's "iconic" tree in the lake. We walked along noting several large trees that were very near the lake's edge but not actually IN the lake, until we came across a couple dozen photographers focused on this: 
  I mean, it was nice and all, but it's practically a shrub. Whatevs, it was a really nice evening in a nice town. 
 The next day, Bas and Merisha took us a great hike to get views of the lake. We hiked through some meadows and fields, with views of the smaller Medicine Lake, until we ended up here:

At some point before this spot, half the group split off with Bas to continue up the trail to a much higher point, while the rest of us stayed here and did yoga with Merisha (who along with being a guide, pilot, and all-around-awesome chick, is a also a yoga instructor!) Mike, Jack, Lisa, Dale, and I stretched out our aching limbs and then did a circuit around Medicine Lake before meeting back up with the group for dinner. 

Another Hike that Looked Like the Pacific Northwest

The Beach at Okarito and Fox Glacier

 

Pororari River Track

Not to sound jaded or anything, but today's hike, while quite pretty, wasn't really more spectacular than anything one might find in the Pacific Northwest. It was a long walk through a deeply forested area, but when the Olympic National Forest is in your back yard, it's hard to be too impressed by all the shades of green. Still, a very nice day with lots of exercise. We had a picnic lunch on the shore of the Tasman Sea, followed by a drive to the sleepy vacation village of Okarito, where our guides Bas and Marisha prepared a lovely dinner of grilled meats and salmon (despite the fact that they're both vegetarian), plus veggies, salad, corn-on-the-cob, and ice cream. My muscles ache and I was very happy to crawl into bed and type this up. 

Kiwi Country

the Southern Alps

Today seemed like an occasion to do something special, to be somewhere special, so yesterday I flew to Chirstchurch from Colombo, and today I met ten other travelers and two guides for a tour of the South Island of New Zealand. For the first time ever, I wasn't interested in doing any travel planning, I didn't look forward to getting guidebooks and taking notes or doing tons of internet research and making my own way, so instead I booked a tour through REI Adventures and it started today - on quite an occasion for me, commemorated by a candle in my dessert at the group dinner this evening, but first there was a drive to the west coast, during which we had views of the Southern Alps, took a hike to Devil's Punchbowl Falls, drove some more until we got to the Tasman Sea, took a walk along the Punakaiki (pancake) Rocks, experienced enough rain to feel like I was back in the Pacific Northwest, made a new friend and temporary roommate, chatted with my group of very well-traveled companions, and felt like the occasion that is today passed very well marked. 

clockwise from left: Mike, Emily, me, Terry, Jack, Peter, Dale, Bas (guide), Lisa, Don, Merisha (guide), Claudia, and Jennifer - my companions for the next 10 days.

Here Come the Brides

Friday, January 20th, 2017 must have been an auspicious date on the calendar because when my mom's cousin took me to the Mount Lavinia Hotel for breakfast that day, we counted five different bridal parties, and it wasn't even 9am.