Queenstown

The leaves are starting to fall, so Christchurch is particularly beautiful. I'm still busy with schoolwork, but a post is long overdue and I've just gotten some more pictures. In two weeks time I'll be on autumn break for three whole weeks, and I'm planning to do some extended hikes. In the meantime, read about some of the adventures I've already had.

Queenstown is a very famous New Zealand city, known as the adventure capital of the world. True to its reputation, it has much to offer: paragliding, skydiving, zip-lining, mountain biking, white water rafting, bungee jumping, horseback riding, kayaking.... you get the idea. I came down to Queenstown with my sister and cousin who were vacationing in New Zealand.

The first thing we did was zip-lining. What is zip-lining? See for yourself:

You fly through the air with greatest of ease! Zipping along at high speeds, you can do cool tricks or just enjoy feeling like superman. My poor cousin was terrified at first, but ended up loving it by the end.

My favorite part of Queenstown was going horseback riding through a valley. You really feel powerful riding a horse. The valley was stunning, and we rode along a creek. Truly an idyllic way to enjoy nature.

I would like to say that I boldly rode through the valley with the fierceness of Ghengis Kahn, but the horses had other plans. It soon became apparent that my horse was not nearly as impressed with the experience as I was. Having walked the route so many times before, my horse mostly always ignored my commands. At one point my horse even started to sprint up a hill, completely ignoring my panicked admonishments to stop. Eventually, we came to a river crossing, and there the horses staged a sinister coup. My cousin's horse refused to cross the river. Inspired by his civil disobedience, my horse too refused to cross, despite my attempts. Even the Dutch couple riding along with us was having problems. So we turned back, but afterwards we had a good laugh about it.

 

Before leaving Queenstown, we also took a day trip up to Milford Sound for a cruise. Milford Sound has a reputation as one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. What do you think?

 

Adventure is all well and good, but sometimes it's nice just to relax. After Queenstown, we took a trip to Akaroa. I wrote about the penguin tour there in my last post. Anyways, we had a small cabin to ourselves, complete with a private black sand beach and a sheep farm next door.

What do penguins, fairies, and waterfalls have in common?

I know my blog has been slow in starting. My apologies, but I have been having trouble getting pictures. I will be doing many posts once I have them, but I thought I'd at least give a sneak peak of what I've been up to.

My wonderful sister and cousin actually flew out with me to Christchurch, and we spent the first couple weeks vacationing together before they left.  We went all around the south island of New Zealand.

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting a penguin colony. Most people take a boring old car to go to such places, but as intrepid travelers we hiked from the French city Akaroa to the colony. (Though due to an unfortunate accident involving mud and family abandonment a centaur, my sister could not accompany us on the hike.) We hiked along a stream, and there were plenty of waterfalls to see. The hike ended in some rolling hills on a sheep farm.

 

 

 

After the hike, we settled in to our lodging. There was a beautiful black sand beach within walking distance, so I went for a quick swim. Akaroa was an ancient volcano, hence the black sand (pictures to come)

That evening we toured the penguin colony. There are three species of penguins in New Zealand. This was a blue penguin colony; blue penguins are the smallest penguins in the world. Since they are endangered, the owners of the colony put up shelters for the penguins to nest in. We got to peak in some of the nests. The tour guide also fed some of the sickly penguins. 

We were lucky and saw some of the rarer yellow-eyed penguins too. We watched until it was too dark to see them anymore.

Blue penguin, during molting

A peak inside a penguin nest

Yellow-eyed penguins, viewed from afar

The next morning was even better. I went on a kayaking tour. I didn't risk bringing my camera,  but suffice to say I saw lots of wildlife, including penguins both on land and in water, fur seals, and even friendly dolphins.

 I will be posting about more of my adventures soon.

I also want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes! Actually, the drinking age in New Zealand is 18, so I've been legally able to drink since I got here. My awesome flatmates gave me over a kilogram of chocolate as a present. We also played a game of hearts: the winner won a bag of jelly beans, while the loser was forced to clean the kitchen floor. I also ate a deep-fried Mars Bar.

I also had fairy bread, a traditional New Zealand birthday treat. It's simple - buttered bread with sprinkles on it - but oddly satisfying.