DAY 9 - Fiordland to Milford Sound

August 30, 2018

With expectations of a really cool sunrise over the mountains, I got up early and went outside into the glacier valley. The moon was just setting over the mountains and the colors were not as great as expected so I wandered around for a bit and was slowly joined by a few more from our group. Not being a "oh my gosh this is the most beautiful sunrise ever" moment, I wandered back inside and crawled back into bed getting a few more hours of sleep. Everyone was flabbergasted that they were up, and I had gone back to sleep until 10am.

Once I joined the world for the second time that day, we ate noodles for breakfast and out of nowhere Ian whipped up some smoked salmon to accompany the ramen. We hung out for a while with the pesky sand flies we had been warned about and then packed up and got on the road to Milford Sound.

We were not in any rush as today was just a travel day and we only had another hour to get to Milford Sound. We made a couple pit stops along the 60km stretch. Our first stop was at the Mirror Lakes which on a calm clear day catches a reflection of the mountains (hence the name). Our day was a smidge breezy which stirred up a few too many ripples in the water.

We continued along New Zealand State Hwy 94 until we got to Lake Gunn where we stopped for a few more photos. An hour drive can easily double in time in New Zealand as you stop and look at everything and want to capture every moment unsure if it's real life or just a dream.

We got to the Homer Tunnel which is a one way pass that we learned much more about later. While we were waiting for our one way to start, we finally saw a Kea! Kea's are large parrot looking birds that have the intelligence of an 8-year old. They are described as very mischievous and can pretty much break into and destroy anything. Kea's are known to like shiny things and will pick apart cars and undo zippers on bags if there is something they want. I'm sure I could someday have a bad run in with one, but until then, I was loving the Kea.

Through the tunnel, we continued stopping at every waterfall and lookout possible capturing it all. Our next official stop was at the Chasm which is a little hiking loop that takes you through green mossy overhangs to a crazy waterfall. If you have ever been to the Climatron at the Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, this walk felt very similar to that. I kept looking for that mechanical tree that asks you for a drink of water. (Alright - if you're from St. Louis, you get it. If you aren't just read over that part - I'm not making things up.)

We hung around with another Kea in that parking lot before continuing on with our drive. We drove straight to Milford Sound from here to see what the hype was all about and the hype was real. It was gorgeous and so secluded. We took a few photos and got eaten by hoards of sand flies before heading up to the Milford Lodge which was a very nice holiday park. We checked in and set up camp and then Ian, Lauren, Andrew and I booked a kayak in the sound for the next day while Emily & Jason booked a boat cruise since they had done the kayaking on their prior trip and wanted to see more of the sound.

Once booked, we chilled for a bit and then went back down to the sound to get some sunset photos. The reflection of the mountains off the water was unreal and got us really hyped for our excursion the next day. Unable to withstand the bites of the sandflies any longer, we made our way back to camp to cook dinner. Tonight was steak, potatoes, beans, corn, salad and soup - none of which made by Ashley - I may have helped snap the ends of the beans at one point.

It was a fairly chill night - other than me having a little mental breakdown thinking about what the heck I'm doing at this point in my life (sorry Andrew for having to tolerate that). We cleaned up the dishes inside the common area and then decided we may as well take showers while we have the facilities. Jason wanted to get some Milky Way pictures down at the Sound so Andrew and I chilled with Ian and Lauren telling them about Auburn traditions (no clue how this came up) until Emily and Jason returned with the RV.

DAY 8 - Queenstown to Fiordland

August 30, 2018

Happy I had gone to sleep early, the rest of the crew was forced to crawl out of bed early for our next adventure in Queenstown. Sans coffee or breakfast, we all loaded up in warm clothes and made our way down the street to the central station of Queenstown where a lot of the tours left from. With our reservation, we were given red Jetboat branded bandanas to use as face windshields.

Waiting around about 15-20 minutes, we were finally escorted to our shuttle that took us the short 5-10 minute ride to the Shotover River where we had booked a Shotover Jet Tour.  After watching a brief safety video on the bus, we were led down to a riverside trailer where we were given lifejackets and large waterproof trench coats for the adventure.

Our group was lucky to get the first two rows of one of the boats and we loaded up a bit skeptical of what we had signed up for after seeing the boats wizzing around getting warmed up prior to our boarding. Once aboard, we were given some safety hand signals like "360 turn" and then off we went down the canyon.

This trip felt like a theme park ride but with real danger. We would zip by canyon rocks and towards walls bailing out at what felt like the last possible second. The boats are basically jet skis and can operate on top of as little as 10 centimeters of water at top speeds of 85km/hour (I'm taking this from the website - no, I have not gone metric). We did plenty of 360 spins in what felt like the tiniest areas and everyone gave out little whips of excitement. It's fun when you have overly dramatic passengers because their exclamations are always humorous.

The wind on your face was freezing but the bar you held on to was heated so that was a nice treat.  One girl in our boat got in trouble because she tried to sneak a handheld GoPro on the boat and then Jason got scolded for sticking his head out too far. Serious business in these canyons! Our trip was probably 20 minutes long and we had a blast. I bought the video of our tour which is on my Facebook. Once we finished checking out the wall of fame of people who had gone on this tour, we hopped a shuttle back to Queenstown.

Emily and Jason had a good history of breakfast at a spot called Joe's Garage so we ventured back there for our last Queenstown meal. Apparently I was very hungry... We sat at the bar so we could watch all of the food prep which is always so impressive. I ordered the Pikelets (Pancakes in America) and Jason agreed to go halfsies on the "Autobahn" which was schnitzel with fries and gray. While I ended up finishing both of our plates, I then also finished whatever was left on Andrew's plate which I believe was a breakfast burrito. Needless to say, I was full.

After a much needed walk back to the RV, we showered and packed up and headed southwest towards Te Anau and the Fiordland National Park. After a quick pitstop to swap out linens at the Queenstown RV rental location, the drive was about two hours plus some to account for stops and photos along Lake Wakatipu. I was not feeling the greatest (maybe because you ate three breakfasts, fatty), so I took a little tiger snooze until we arrived in Te Anau.

Although I did not need anymore food, we made a lunch stop at The Ranch where I had some mussel chowder and I think everyone else got fish and chips. Post lunch, we wandered over to stock up on groceries since the next few days would be out in the wilderness so this was our last chance for preparation. Once restocked, we started back on the road to find a camp sight for the evening en route to Milford Sound.

After a few tries at different locations, we finally settled on a camp site about 40 minutes up the road in Eglinton Glacier Valley. So long story short, we basically were camping in where glaciers used to cruise through. Our campsite was called the Mackay Creek Campsite and once set up, the girls went on a walk to pay for the camping fees while the boys started a fire. Finally putting that hatchet to good use, I was initiated by powerfully getting to cut a log in half with lots and lots of chops. It was a one and done thing for me.

It got cold quite fast in the glacier valley so Emily and Lauren got to work preparing a meal of chicken, bratwurst, dirty mashed potatoes and carrots. Once dinner was all cooked and ready, it was a less than glacial sprint to finish before it all got cold since we had opted to eat outside. Full and cold, the crew hung out by the fire for quite some time while I opted to go to bed fairly early because - you know - it's me.

DAY 7 - Cardrona

August 29, 2018

Andrew and I awoke early, grabbed our #1 priority (leftover sandwiches), and then our #2 priority being our bundles of ski clothes we had set out the night before. We basically got dressed outside the RV because we knew with that bulky of clothes, our stumbling around would wake Emily and Jason. The Holiday Park had organized the tour to the mountain so we were picked up by a big bus with driver Carl around 7:15AM. The bus made its ways towards the mountain which was back towards Wanaka up the switchback road the RV company told us not to go on. Let me tell you - Carl is a champion bus driver. If they had a competition in large bus driving, Carl would crush all competition.

A little over an hour after our departure with a few more pick ups, we arrived at the base of Cardrona Alpine Resort and worked out some confusion with our ski passes and got our rentals. The employees helping us with our rentals (and metric conversions) kept mentioning how they hope it will clear up for us, but we assumed it was only a little cloudy. We were too excited by the fact we were going to both ski in August and on the Southern Hemisphere.

FALSE.

We took our first ski lift up to the top and it was white out. I'm talking - the only thing I can see is Andrew's red coat right next to me. No slope markers, no horizon, no ropes, no cliffs, no walls, no nothing. We were both a little skeptical and annoyed but made the most of it by using a guess and check method. If you've never skied or boarded before, never do this. We almost felt like we were in a video game because every now and then you would see an orange flag on a pole but we had no idea if it indicated the middle or the edge of the slope - we guessed middle and kept moving towards orange flags.

We both took a tumble not having a clue which way was up on the mountain which sort of just causes you to fall over standing up. Andrew got a little raspberry on his face but nothing life changing. We decided to take a break around 10:30 not because we were tired, but more because its exhausting skiing blind with only the treads underneath your skis indicating if you are on a groomed path or not.

So we went into this lodge called the Captain's Cafe and I was immediately in heaven because all of the staff was singing songs from FROZEN! I decided if I was going to move to New Zealand this would be where I would work. The musically medley continued with all of my Disney favorites as I ordered us a flat white and hot chocolate as we sat and ate our backpack sandwiches.

We ventured back out on the mountain hoping for a little more clarity and realized the lower we went, the more visibility we gained. We liked the higher stuff, but trade offs. Thankfully with the clarity , we were able to pick up a little more speed and do some more challenging runs since we could see. Andrew's snowboard binding broke at one point so we had to take a quick detour down to base to swap that out.

So the best thing about the horrible visibility is there was no one on the mountain. It was getting to be the tail end of their ski season but we waited in zero lines the entire day. Literally flew down a slope and straight onto the next lift. If I had to guess we probably knocked out 30 runs at the minimum. Andrew and I both grew up taking family ski trips so it's fun to be able to just pick a direction on the mountain and go instead of having to sort through and be concerned about level of difficulty or skill level. Just flying all over the place!

We skied our hearts out until around 3PM and then went down to return our gear, find some souvenirs and grab a meat pie and coffee before our shuttle back to Queenstown. We were one of the first few to the bus so we sat up front and talked to Carl all the way down about how much New Zealand has changed with tourism over the past 30 years. It was really cool to get a local perspective.

The bus made it back to town before schedule but we still had to rush and get ready in order to meet Emily, Jason, Ian and Lauren at Roaring Megs Restaurant for dinner. Ian, Lauren and another friend of Ian's had taken a quick tour of the North Island before heading south and meeting up with us in Queenstown. Emily had a 40% off coupon for booking an early table at this restaurant so we were basically the only ones there - which was great since our stereotypical American table was quite loud.

We had a great spread of cauliflower soup and garlic bread to start before the mains. I ordered the Confit of Lamb Shoulder with Lamb Jus and Herb Crusted Canterbury Lamb Cutlets which had won the Central Otago Lamb Dish of the Year twice. I have no idea what the means but it was BOMB. Other people were graciously sharing their lamb, hare, and venison while I was quietly hoarding my amazing dish at the end of the table. This trend continued as I quietly ordered and scarfed down their fruit cobbler for dessert without even a thought about offering anyone a bite. I love cobbler.

We continued the party post dinner at a bar where the noise level of our group was a little more appropriate - an Irish Pub. We found ourselves a booth at Pog Mahone's and promised everyone I would have one drink before considering leaving. The bartenders were disgusted by my American mixing of Guinness and Cider but begrudgingly made me my drink. I tried my best to hang in there but after a long day of skiing decided to tap out and head back to the RV to shower and go to bed. The rest of the group got back around 1AM as quietly as possible.

DAY 6 - Queenstown

August 28, 2018

I woke up even earlier today to greet the sunrise. It was amazing - the pink over the lake and the mountain was like cotton candy. It was too early to swing so I brought my coffee and my Kindle into the common area to read for a while. When it was an appropriate time to go back to the RV, we gathered all of the cereal and yogurt and made our way back down to the common area to get a break from the RV.

We had what could have been an hour drive to Queenstown that day, but the RV rental place told us not to go through the mountains so we took the long way around that added 40 minutes or so. Lucky for us, because this was the first time we got gas station meat pie. Oh goodness, I'm glad these little pockets of love aren't a thing in the states. I would be 900 pounds. We made a few pit stops along the way to pull over for water features and other views.

We got to Queenstown a little before lunch and pulled into the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park to get settled for the next few days. We wandered into town which again was super cute - larger and more bustling than Wanaka but still quaint in its own way. My friend, Jay, had suggested we eat at Ivy & Lola's so we headed that way and got a table right on the harbor for a light lunch since we were all pretty full on meat pies. I had a veggie soup and the boys had seafood chowder while Emily munched on a cheese and chutney platter. We also sipped on both spike hot chocolate and spiked cider - purely to keep warm on this crisp afternoon.

We wandered a little more before heading back to the Holiday Park to book a few things for tomorrow. Andrew and I decided on a ski day in Cordrova while Emily and Jason opted for a wine tour. Then for no reason at all, we went and took naps until 5PM or so.

Our next adventure was right around the corner - literally. After a 5 minute walk or so, we were at the base of the Skyline Queenstown which is a gondola ride up to the top of Bob's Peak. The Skyline is known to be the steepest cablecar lift in the Southern Hemisphere! We made our way up around sunset and even though it was a bit overcast, the view from the lookout over Queenstown was still magnificent. We weren't staying for dinner, but we did grab a drink at the bar while continuing to take in the views of the city.

It was dark once we got back down the peak but it was still a short walk to dinner at the beloved Fergberger. This joint is open 21 hours a day and has a line out the door most of those hours. The line move far quicker than the wait for the burger so you spend a lot of time challenging others duals at first come first serve emptying tables and staring at the menu wondering which burger you will get next time you come.

I went with the "Little Lamby" and then the 4 of us split and order of onion rings and fries. I don't know if I was starving or if everyone recommendation got me hyped up - but this burger was amazing and well worth the wait. I couldn't leave any food behind and ended up wandering the streets for a bit continuing to eat fries.

Needing to walk off some burgers, we wandered the streets for a smidge. Emily and Jason had already made their rounds so they went and grabbed a drink while Andrew and I weaved up and down all of the little streets checking out the shops, bars and restaurants. I could definitely spend a little more time here if the schedule allowed. While wandering, we stumbled upon a man singing and playing the guitar -- with his big sheep dog howling along. I plopped myself down on the closest bench and listened to dog and owner sing Bob Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door". Priceless.

We continued to wander aimlessly until finally finding Emily and Jason at a cool bar called Surreal. We sat a while as they finished their wine and then walked home to shower and do laundry. Andrew and I had to get all of our ski gear ready since we had a pretty early shuttle coming to get us in the morning.