Nicks Big Adventure

Queenstown is an addictive place. I did stick around for a few days having a great time. In fact I spent a whole week wondering around town doing small stuff. My wonderful mother helped me by paying for me to go on a cruise to the Milford Sound. I unfortunately booked my coach, cruise, coach tour on a cloudy day at the sound/fjordlands. It was OK though. I was picked up from my holiday park by a bus and we were driven to the sound. It took about 5 hours to get there because we stopped to take lots of pictures. The sites were nice and the bus driver was able to provide some background on the places we stopped. My favorite was a 5 min walk to a deep chasm in a valley that had a waterfall bursting down to the bottom and making an incredible sound. There was another stop to look at a valley that was in LOTR. We made it to the sound where we would board a 30 m boat to take us around the sound. The Milford sound was not discovered by captain cook even though  he mapped the area a few times. It has a small headlands that make it hard to realize there is an inlet. On top of that it's not even a sound. A sound is a valley that has been formed by a river and then backfilled by the rising ocean. Think, Grand Canyon by the ocean. Instead a fjord is made by a slow moving but wonderfully powerful glacier. These cut a groove in the earth with flat walls and leave a "pile" of rubble at the end of the glacier. This is evident when looking at a depth finder as the inlet is about 400 meters more shallow than the rest of the "sound". When the ocean rose again it filled into the area of the glacier. That is where one of the more spectacular sites in New Zealand is. The steep walls raise out of the water to heights of up to and exceeding one Km. There are waterfalls that cascade off the heights and splash down into the fresh water of the sound. It will amaze some to find out that the top 30 meters or so of water in the sound is fresh water. Salty sea water is more dense than fresh water thus the fresh water still flowing into the sound floats on top of the sea water. There are seals napping on rocks in the sound out of harms way of the open ocean. The rocky slopes make it hard for a seed to find a place to grow and the lack of soil to protect it. As in most things nature finds a way. Lichens grow on the rocks and those allow moss to take hold. After many hundreds of years there is an OK situation for small trees and shrubs to take hold. However this is a delicate balance, if a tree dies or there is any disturbance in the substrate the whole community can literally collapse into the ocean. Even though it was cloudy and wet I had a good time. THe ride back had far fewer stops. We even got to watch a movie, a must see Kiwi film. Sir Anthony Hopkins breaks the land speed record on a bike he built on an old Indian motorcycle in the USA. It is called "The Worlds Fastest Indian". The bus got in late and I was tired as. The next day started out rainy and bad but got better. I spent the next couple of days doing housekeeping, laundry, playing disc golf, and hiking around. I went to the top of the Mt. behind my campsite twice and the views were spectacular. I made it a point to stick around town for St. Pattys day. It was OK and I went out with James and a friend that I met from New Jersey. Sunday morning bright and early I drove to Invercargill. It was rainy and cold so I drove around a bit and checked into a holiday park. For the first time I opted to get a bed in a cabin. It was not that much more expensive to get a heater and a warm bed to sleep in away from other people. Its cold down here. We are the closest I have ever been to the South pole. I drove to the bluff and took lots of pictures and got warm in the sun. From there I could see my next destination. I did not prep myself for my trip so I decided to postpone it a day so I can get prepared and play a round of disc golf with some locals. So far I am doing well, the longing for home and friends is pretty strong but that the life on the road. I would love to make it to Antarctica but not this time. Everyone have a great week and I will see you when I get back on the South Island! Pura Vida!