Milford Sound and the Sound of Playoff Hockey

Long time no post!

It's been getting colder and colder here in Dunedin, which is seriously confuzzling my body, which has become accustomed to the thought that June means warm. Not so in the southern hemisphere! Sitting here bundled up in my unheated flat with temperatures in the low 40's (outside and inside), I'm starting to warm up to the idea of returning to a New Hampshire summer, pun intended.

The most exciting trip of the past 3 weeks has been to Milford Sound, the place so nice I went twice. Renowned by Rudyard Kipling as the 8th wonder of the world, Milford Sound was named the World's top travel destination in 2008 by TripAdvisor. Despite it's fame, Milford Sound is not even a sound. It's a fiord, which was created by 5 glaciers over 5 ice ages carving out a deep valley in the rock, which was then filled with water. 

The first trip was with mates Evan and Hannah over the weekend of May 14. The day after arrival, we ventured into Gertrude Valley to walk one of the best hikes in the area, Gertrude Saddle. The hike began through a valley boarded on either side by vertical rock faces hundreds of feet high. Further into the valley it occurred to me that the valley was formed by a glacier, a monstrous ice scream scooper of ice that cut through tons and tons of rock on it's way to the ocean. Waterfalls cascaded down all around us, as if we were in a giant skull and they were the veins flowing down the inside of the cranium. 

As the picture reveals, it was quite foggy and we saw nothing from the top, but that didn't stop us from following the trail up one side of the skull. Passing waterfalls and trying not to fall on the slippery rocks, we made our way to the final push up a fixed cable to see the Black Lake. It was black. At least for the few minutes we could see it before the fog rolled in.

The next day we paid our $65 and took a boat cruise in Milford Sound. Although we didn't get the postcard-quality day for it, the fog lent a mysterious feel to the place. It was cold and rainy, but that didn't get us down, especially when a pod of friendly dolphins came up to the side of the boat!

Two weekends later I returned with my usual group, Pete, Lexi, and Mike. Pete and Lexi took the cruise and Mike and I stayed behind because we had already gone. That day (as is true for most day's in Fiordland, the 2nd rainiest place in the World), the weather was changing faster than Lady Gaga's appearance, so Mike and I got a brief opportunity to snap some pictures of the Sound in all it's glory.

Milford Sound, timestamp: 10:15 and beautiful

Mitre Peak beyond a palm tree, timestamp: 10:20 and still quite nice

Milford Sound, timestamp: 10:30 and foggy

Now in the last week of classes my focus must shift to studying for my exams, each of which is worth 50% of my final grade. Awesome. But the good news it, I'll be spending my downtime watching the Bruins play in the STANLEY CUP!!! The B's are in the Finals for the first time since I was 6 months old, and while I'd like to think I was aware of it and cheered them on, I have my doubts. So now I'll be keeping the Boston pride alive in New Zealand and praying we can bring another championship to Beantown!

An Endlessly Changing Horizon

Last Sunday night we grudgingly returned to a characteristically cold and rainy Dunedin. Home sweet home. Exhausted from a week on the road and sleeping in tents, it was an easy decision to let my putrid hiking clothes marinate in the sweat of my backpack for just another night. I had a brief urge to look through some of the photos that I had accumulated over the last 10 days but after discovering the total was over 500, I swiftly turned the camera off and designated it as another task for tomorrow.

Our adventure began two Fridays before as we set off for Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island (population 377,000). There, we were met with the remaining rubble from the earthquake that devastated the city center just two months prior. Having grown up in southern New Hampshire, I have never felt an earthquake nor seen the aftermath save on television, so it was quite overwhelming. Few words were spoken between the four of us during the two hours we were there. A solemn silence blanketed the once-thriving downtown area, all of which had been fenced off and guarded by the Army.

Our next stop was Kaikoura, a much happier town known for it's whales, seals, and dolphins. However, I was far more fascinated my the extreme vicinity of two of my favorite things, the ocean and mountains. Here is one of the few spots in the World where the ocean and alpine mountains are so close, about 2 miles. Pretty sweet.

Pete, me, and Michael (left to right) in Kaikoura

The next two days in Picton and Nelson were rainy and unremarkable besides the free soup and breakfast we were treated to in our Nelson hostel. After a short moment of morality, we were able to justify our three servings of vegetable soup and eat up. Joke's on you... the Americans are here and we're hungry!

Monday morning we began the cornerstone of our roadtrip; the Abel Tasman Coastal Track (one of NZ's 9 "Great Walks"). In Marahau, we took a boat north about 30 km up the coast then began hiking a very casual pace along the flat 12 km to our campsite. Along the trail we were treated to beautiful beaches, great conversation, yet mediocre weather. Nevertheless, we arrived at Medlands Beach an hour before sundown to see our private beach of a campsite. After a quick and icy swim, I made a 5 star dinner of rice, beans, and chicken then called it a night. The next day followed basically the same protocol, even down to the private beach/campsite! On the final day, we made it back to Marahau with only one thing on our minds... FISH N CHIPS. After three days of salami and tuna, we were more than ready for something warm and packed with cholesterol.

I bet you didn't know I was a break dancer

Cleopatra's Pool

The crew on Torrent Beach

Night one campsite: Medlands Beach

Night two campsite: Te Pukatea Beach

The next morning we took to the seas on the first sunny day of the trip. We rented kayaks and paddled around the bay for the better part of the day. We first parked on Adele Island and I made a PB&J using a shell as I forgot to bring a knife. Next, I led the way to the opposite side of the much smaller Fisherman Island to a beach I found on Google Maps. It turned out to be one of my favorite places of NZ so far. On one side, a beautiful white sandy beach, on the other a black sand beach, and in between a craggy rock formation on which I let my innate drive to climb things take over.

Pete piloting our 2-man kayak

Adele Island

Fisherman Island

<3

The final subadventure of the week was a more challenging hike to Lake Angelus, an hour south in the Nelson Lakes Region. After an initial steep climb I found myself on Robert Ridge, which we would follow for the next 12 kilometers. Shortly into the ridge hike, I realized this was one of the best hikes I had ever done. I looked right and saw miles and miles of rolling green landscape and dark blue lakes. I looked left and saw imposing snow-capped mountains extending well above a well-defined tree line. I actually felt like I was in Lord of the Rings. And to boot, there was a vicious cold wind blowing from the mountain side that we could only escape behind infrequent rock piles along the trail. Unlike most, I found great joy in the powerful winds, which made the trek all the more intense.

Robert Ridge stretching for miles

Decent view off the left side of the ridge

After 5 and a half hours, we peaked over another ridge into a crater of a valley and saw Angelus Hut surrounded by an unimaginably blue lake at 5,000 feet above sea level. I spent the rest of the day beside the lake, writing, and marveling at how amazing my life is and how lucky I was to be at that particular spot on that particular day. I woke up the next morning in a similar awe-struck mentality which was only intensified by the perfect reflection of the orange glowing mountains on the lake.

Looking down upon Lake Angelus and Angelus Hut

Good morning, Lake Angelus

Finally, I'd like to conclude this post with more of a personal comment. Today I received a card from my Mom which read "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." I thought about this for a long time and recognized that it does, in some ways, speak to my experience here thus far. Being in such an amazing country while being so far away from home has a change potential that I was warned of. And I am starting to see that I am changing and creating myself here. I'm finally finding out what I want from life, and simultaneously rejecting the vanilla lifestyle that I before saw myself falling into. With only one life to live, why not do what I love? And why waste any time? I hope this will be one of the biggest changes I bring back with me; the hunger to live life every day and the curiosity to go out and experience this beautiful World.