Who has time for school when the weather is so nice and the sun is out and the waves are crashing and it's an overall great day? NOooooooottttt me! Fun day of body surfing check it out.
I'm just kidding mom and dad, I do my school work no worries
I guess when there is a lot to do on trips you have to wake up early to get them all done. So once again I was up for another beautiful sunrise from my lodge.
I really like shadow effects.
I supposed I should have taken this picture the day before but hey, I got it today.
An orange glowing mountain in the backround.
We got to Christchurch and the bus dropped us off by the airport. Not knowing what to do for the next 12 hours, we decided to check out this place called Antartica. Randomly, we happened to bump into this fellow: The prime minister of foreign affairs for China. The reason I know this to be true is due to the fact that we were with those Chinese travelers as well, Celest and Alan. They were very excited to have bumped into him by accident. There were talks going on between China and New Zealand over cooperation in the South Pacific region.
Well, isn't that ironic. hhahaha, the Chinese in New Zealand came out to greet their prime minister of foreign affairs, they chose a greet location to stand in front of. hahahahahahahahaha
To be honest, when we entered the city of Christchurch there was not a lot to do or see. The Earthquake had been so devasting that many buildings were unstable and the majority were cracked or crumbling. The whole center of the city had been shut down.
As I walked down the empty streets this eerie feeling overcame me and I felt like I was in the movie I am Legend. The only person in an entire city, it was a strange strange experience.
Unfortunately, one of their most historical buildings had been destroyed. A lot of work needs to be done to repair it. Just read the sign if you don't believe me.
Rubble....
The city has been innovative in trying to keep their buisness district alive. Using connex boxes they have managed to create a strip mall near the center city. Rather interesting if you ask me.
However, there is a stark reminder of the damage caused by the Earthquake as this was the view from those connex boxes. A crane was busy at work tearing down these skyscrapers.
Well, I hope you enjoyed hearing about my adventures in New Zealand. I arrived safety back at Sydney airport and even made it to class that day. It was a fun-packed trip and if anyone is ever interested in going there; let me know and I'll give you some tips!
In the morning we got on the bus and were on the move again. This time we were headed to Ragitata, where many scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed.
We said good bye to Lake Mueller and it's beautiful blue color.
After which we said goodbye to Mount Cook and it's snowy peak.
Then we said hello to this chocolate lab!! I never found out her name but boy was she an attention hog.
We got suited up and ready for rafting!
They gave us booties, wetsuits, flannel t-shirts, wool t-shirts, windbreaker, life jacket, and helmets! They gave us a lot of gear, I was surprised.
This is the point of departure for the rapids we would be going down. We got the rafts all lined up and ready to go.
The valley behind Jesse in the photo above is where the town of Rohan from Lord of the Rings was created. We didn't get to see it because by the time we got there it had been torn down. This isn't my picture but I wanted to show the relevance of the location.
I have to give my buddy Jesse credit for the rest of the photos: his camera was shock proof and water-proof; without which none of these photographs or video would have been possible.
That was one of the grade 5 rapids we went through. It literally drops you about 5 feet at one point. Rather exciting if you ask me.
You need to zoom in on this picture, on the guides paddle is a dead cat that just happened to be floating down stream. Poor thing.
We stopped at a more calm area in the rapids to do some cliff jumping. The first jump was from about 13 feet high.
This video was taken from the higher jump which was about 30 feet up. When the water hits you, it takes your breathe away. It is the coldest water I have ever been in. Super super cold.
This was the lodge we stayed at; it was also owned by the rafting company.
This was the tent Jesse and I opted to stay in. Being as it was 10 dollars cheaper to do so.
Yess! they gave us cots to sleep on wooo hooo. It was really warm actually for being outside!
Before I knew it, we were leaving Queenstown. Honestly, you could vacation here for a week and still not do everything that this little town had to offer. Lucky for us the good weather continued as we went on our way to Mount Cook.
It's weird to think two days ago I was directly under where the sun was shining over the mountain, time goes by fast.
A scenic drive; passed a couple of lakes. I don't have any stories really today because the bus driver we had that day would rather listen to music. Not that I had a problem with it because he had good taste: Foo fighters, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin. So I wasn't complaining. Some girls were but whatever.
The one thing I found interesting about this drive was the region had more hills than mountains. In these hills there were rivets of bare spots. I don't think it was due to water or glacial impact. It had me wondering what was the cause for the lines running vertically on the hill.
Anybody recognize this rock formation????? Pretty famous movie....
This is the Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake. I mentioned before why must of the streams and water is blue. I will mention it once again though. As glaciers melt and grind away at the mountain, minerals are discharged into the water. When the sun hits the water, the mineral distorts the light creating the blue color. Rather pretty effect don't you think?
Although barren and dry at the moment, when the season is transitioning from winter to spring, this riverbed will be full and flowing.
When we got there, it was already 2 oclock and by the time we got settled it was 3 oclock. So in our mini race against time we headed straight for the glacier. We were going to push forward with disregard for the designated trail. A straight path is always quickest! We headed straight for the green hill in the forefront to get a great vantage viewpoint for pictures! The valley we are crossing is named Hooker Valley, I am hoping it is named after an explorer. Another note about that yellow grass; it is so long and thick that when you walk on it, you feel like you're walking on cushions because your feet sink in about six inches with each step. It's really nerve racking at first haha.
We were WRONG! A straight path is not the quickest way to where we were trying to go! Our first obstactles were these low lying shrubs that you could not walk over nor under so we had to zig zag anyway to start climbing the hill. On a more educational note, the peak you see there is Mount Wakefield.
Eventually, it was time to get on our hands and knees as once we reached the top of that hill, there was another hill behind it that was blocking our view. So again, we had to forge our own path down the hill to climb the next one. I was chosen as leader because I had the most of my body covered with clothing so I could be the test dummy when hacking my way though.
So after an hour and a half of hiking we made it to this spot. The peak on the left is Mount Sefton. The next peak over is Mount Footstool. In the forefront is the Mueller Glacier Lake.
The little black dot in the forefront is me. Cecilia was nice enough to say at the spot where the previous picture had been taken; to capture how high up we were. Where I was standing I could get a full view of Mount Cook.
The main event, ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only, MOOOUUUNNNTTT COOOOOKK. It really was an impressive sight. I later found out that the entire mountain range, valley, and lakes were part of Aoraki Mount Cook National Park which is also a world heritage site. The same principles of Milford Sound apply here as well. The little peak to the left is Mount Hicks by the way.
Not wanting to claw and scratch our way down this one, we walked along the peak till we found a spot where we could actually get down easier. Boy, did we find a fun path!
Ironically, when we had finished our shinanigans, we stumbled across this sign. Hey, adding a little element of danger makes things fun. To be honest, where we were wasn't that dangerous at all, but we got a kick out of the sign.
Judging by the size of the bolders (not rocks), this valley is still relatively young in terms of glacier melting. The landscape is littered with rocks this size which shows that the grass and roots and soil have not had time to firmly conform to the rocks that are the base of the valley. It is a very uneven surface which would have made farming literally impossible in this region, especially having to remove all the bolders from your farming area. The other places I saw that had glaciers previously were much less rocky or the rocks had been worn and broken. Very similar to the picture that I showed you guys above that was a river rock bed. It is also weird to think that at one point these rocks were not crumbled but were one solid piece that was a mountain.
The majority of our time had been spent up high so we decided to check out what it would look like from down low. From this perspective, The mountain looks more menacing in a sense, especially with the rapids in front. Very intimidating.
This time, we traversed along the side of the river and lake. It was fun until the sun started to set and we had to get back to the top. Well, let's just say we had a real tough time getting back up. It was nerve racking to say the least.
As you can see from this photo, we made it and lived. The sun had gone behind the mountains so we were fortunate enough to have beat trying to find our way back up in the night. I was really happy about it.
This was as far as we made it. We had walked 6 kilometers to get to this point or a bit over 4 miles. We watched as the sun set on Mount Cook, it was a beautiful. However, we also had to walk the 4 miles back to our hotel. In order to do this, we were smart enough to have packed a torch aka flashlight. We saw a brush possum on the way back. Had to cross two swing bridges and walk along the edge of a cliff while in the dark. The end justifies the means though because as we walked back we saw a sky filled with stars. There were no cities, no car headlights, no camp fires where we were. Try to imagine this: Thousands upon thousands of stars bright enough to reflect off the snow-capped mountains. Orien's Belt was over top of Mount Cook which pointed directly towards the milky way over top of us. I have never seen so many stars in my life. Simple amazing.
