NZ on the election

From a student magazine (I think)

Kayaking

Sea kayaking in Doubtful Sound. Got up before the sun, after a dizzying array or buses and boats got to cornily enjoy the sound of silence. Also saw penguins! And a seal literally a foot away--probably the closest I will ever get to a wild seal in the water in my life. And supposedly super rare cormorants.

Also, something amusing I have seen is at NZ supermarkets, customers are allowed to post random stuff--rooms to rent, looking for jobs, missing cats. Occasiobally there are really random ones like the one posted.

Kepler Tramp

I just finished the epic 70k (45mi) hike along Kepler Track in three days. It was the most beautiful views I have had in New Zealand yet, and I have gotten to see some cool stuff while I have been here.

Not many words necessary, really. Here you go.

Short hike to Key Summit

 Hello friends!

I have some backed up posts from the blogger app on my phone not working. I went on a very short hike about a week ago on the Routeburn Track, which is a famous one that is 30k and normally takes a few days. I just did a portion so ran up and down a mountain, Key Summit, with a day pack. The weather was gorgeous and the views spectacular.

Well a whole lot of this first for an hour

And then you can see something...

Which is this!

And this. This is called The Divide, it divides the Southern Alps or something. Really cool valleys created by glaciers.

Clean water

Kitesurfing on Lake Te Anau. Sadly that is not me but I may learn later

This is interesting. The supermarkets here allow customers to put up postings on things they want/things to hire out. Usually it's stuff like people selling cars or looking for odd jobs, but occasionally you have fun ones like this.

Time to tone down American friendly

I am on the bus on my way to Te Anau (sort of rhymes with tijuana) from Queenstown, figuring out how to open the window if the reckless bus driver plunges us into the lake bordering this highway along which we are hurtling.

Have I got a story for you, AmyY. Earlier today, I arrived at the bus stop about half an hour before departure, where the bus was already waiting along with the driver. Kiwis, especially the ones in hospitality, are pretty chatty (once a bus driver provided personal commentary during the entirety of a two hour ride on regional wines and rich people). This driver not being excepted, we struck up a convo about Korea as he asked where I was from.

After a couple minutes chat he asked what I was doing tonight, he wants to hear more about Korea, jokingly(?) asking if he can come along with me next time I go. Now this driver seems to be in at least his 60s, old enough to be my grandfather. I think, hmm this is unusual, but I ramble out an I'm not sure. Then he asks if I have a phone, I say no (I really don't) so he gives me his number and asks me to text him later. Still I am thinking, well it might be kind of cool if I got to meet his drinking buddies/old ladies he knows in town. I still can't possibly imagine he is hitting on me.

All pretense of this drops when he asks me, Where is your husband? asks my age, then says ah yes, you are so young and very beautiful. I frantically search his hands for a wedding ring--negative. Shit. At this point I announce I will go look at some shops in the remaining 15 minutes before the bus leaves and run away to the grocery store, making sure there are others on the bus before returning. And that is how I was accosted by a senior Kiwi.

I will probably have to see him again on my way out of the town so will maybe have to make up a boyfriend or something. Oh god he knows where I am staying. Hopefully he forgets about me in the week or so until I need a ride back to Queenstown. In the meantime I am sitting low in my seat hiding and trying to avoid eye contact.

Also they grow deer here for food so one pic is a red deer farm. Weird as they are also considered pests but I guess they really like venison/really like exporting venison.

Bus journey and heewon's giant pack featured

Today I made the long journey from Franz Josef down to Queenstown--this country is so freaking long. 8 hr bus ride, though about two hours of that was stops at various tourist attractions, including a most random salmon farm. I was hungry enough at one point to fork over $8 for vegetable soup. Hrrmph. Really spectacular scenery along the way, especially Lake Wanea--so clean that you can jump right in and drink the untreated water like a fish. I can't put captions from the blogger app on my phone but there was a funky feature at one point, I think in the first picture, an island in Lake Wanea that also had its own minilake. So a lake in an island in a lake.

Also included are some pics of me from Abel Tasman, that 60k hike we did a few days ago, courtesy of Kate. I will share more pics from that when I get home as I can't connect camera to computer right now. Additional technical difficulties have made me give up on chronology in this blog.

And that candy/rock dispenser. Oh New Zealand, how you amuse me. Yesterday I saw a sign warning people not to drink the toxic untreated water in the town, the main feature of which it was "YOU'D BE AN IDIOT TO DRINK THE WATER!" all in red.

Tomorrow going to Te Anau two hours away where I will stay a few days to rest up for Kepler, another big hike. Will be doing a little sea kayaking in Doubtful Sound, named so because Captain Cook doubted that a ship thay went in the sound would make it out whole. Supposed to be amazing. Never done sea kayaking but have done some whitewater--hopefully that helps?

Is this real?!

As my friend Linsey would say. Nicely done, Franz Josef. Nicely done.