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.
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