The nicest mountain resort town I've been to outside of the United States!
Every country has a town like this, but this place is so clean and comfortable that you feel so at ease when you arrive. I would equate it to Bariloche in Argentina or possibly Pucon in Chile. The town is a year round destination with great hiking, water sports, bungee jumping, paragliding, etc. in the summer and skiing in the winter. The only problem is that the activities are quite expensive. Paragliding will set you back about $100 US. Bungee jumping costs about $85 US for a single jump (hmmm. 85 bucks for 4 seconds of free fall). After hiking the Routeburn, it was a nice place to rest and relax before heading off to Australia.
I had tacked on a sea kayaking excursion in Milford Sound right after the hike. There were nine of us including team France, a Canadian couple, and a couple of English girls. The weather was a mix of rain and sun, but mostly rain. Milford Sound (or the MILF as the guides called it) was carved from glaciers thousands of years ago. The surrounding rock faces were steep and covered with trees and bushes. It has been raining for the past two days, so there were multiple cascades along the sides of the rock as far as the eyes could see. I liked the rain and clouds because it gave the sound a nice backdrop for pictures. We paddled in tandem boats out into the water. Although we were given neoprene and fleece outfits, I was still cold. The water was a bit choppy as we headed out, so I was soaked immediately. To keep myself warm, I paddled constantly to keep my temperature up. Along the way, we spotted a few seals playing around in the water. The group was strong, so we covered a lot of water that afternoon. My arms nearly fell off when I finished. I was tired due to all the paddling I was doing. Since I was the only one who needed a ride back to Queenstown, I got a little tour from the guides on the way back. In hindsight, I should have done the overnight sea kayaking trip in Doubtful Sound, but I will save it for another time (maybe in BC this summer).
I'm off to Oz tomorrow. It's going to be warm, so I'm sending all my cold weather clothes back to the US this afternoon. Nothing but t-shirts and swimmers for the rest of this trip!
Every country has a town like this, but this place is so clean and comfortable that you feel so at ease when you arrive. I would equate it to Bariloche in Argentina or possibly Pucon in Chile. The town is a year round destination with great hiking, water sports, bungee jumping, paragliding, etc. in the summer and skiing in the winter. The only problem is that the activities are quite expensive. Paragliding will set you back about $100 US. Bungee jumping costs about $85 US for a single jump (hmmm. 85 bucks for 4 seconds of free fall). After hiking the Routeburn, it was a nice place to rest and relax before heading off to Australia.
I had tacked on a sea kayaking excursion in Milford Sound right after the hike. There were nine of us including team France, a Canadian couple, and a couple of English girls. The weather was a mix of rain and sun, but mostly rain. Milford Sound (or the MILF as the guides called it) was carved from glaciers thousands of years ago. The surrounding rock faces were steep and covered with trees and bushes. It has been raining for the past two days, so there were multiple cascades along the sides of the rock as far as the eyes could see. I liked the rain and clouds because it gave the sound a nice backdrop for pictures. We paddled in tandem boats out into the water. Although we were given neoprene and fleece outfits, I was still cold. The water was a bit choppy as we headed out, so I was soaked immediately. To keep myself warm, I paddled constantly to keep my temperature up. Along the way, we spotted a few seals playing around in the water. The group was strong, so we covered a lot of water that afternoon. My arms nearly fell off when I finished. I was tired due to all the paddling I was doing. Since I was the only one who needed a ride back to Queenstown, I got a little tour from the guides on the way back. In hindsight, I should have done the overnight sea kayaking trip in Doubtful Sound, but I will save it for another time (maybe in BC this summer).
I'm off to Oz tomorrow. It's going to be warm, so I'm sending all my cold weather clothes back to the US this afternoon. Nothing but t-shirts and swimmers for the rest of this trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment