To the Bottom and the land of Oz

Back by popular demand and some quite angry friends and family for not keeping them updated here is the next segment of my journey....

After my Canyon Swing i left to venture down to the bottom of the country. I left Queenstown to go to Dunedin, a big university town and where the Cadbury Chocolate factory is located. In Dunedin we visited Baldwin St -the steepest street in the world. at a rate of 1 to 2.83 I think...I stayed for 3 nights in Dunedin, however, it was Easter weekend so unfortunately most things were closed. I ventured into the Public Art Gallery as I had heard it was quite good. It was definitely worth it....in terms of quality of the exhibits because like many cultural things in NZ it was free. It included works from the 15th century Florence, Monet, Tissot and many modern New Zealand artists. The next day I visited the Botanical Gardens, nothing greatly spectacular but it was a nice walk. Then to the Otago Museum to visit some Maori at and some preserved animals.
Then I left the city back on the bus through the Catlins, that has some gorgeous coastlines that are not spoilt by tourism and the capitalism that plagues many of the beaches and viewpoints. We got to visit Surat Bay which is a resting place for the Sea lions. We saw an abandoned pup that the department of conservation is looking after and lots of massive couples sleeping off their hunt. Hiked up to the Mclean falls. They were absolutely brilliant because you have to trek through the rainforest to come out to the cascading falls. Then we rested at Porpoise Bay. I jumped into the ocean for a swim, I was the only girl in the water and there were only two others that joined me. The waves were pretty big but a lot of fun, the water however, was pretty cold. Then we visited the fossilized forest at Curio bay before stopping for the night in Invercargill - the southernmost city. From there we drove to Riverton I tried to find some abalone but I could only get my hands on some frozed stuff and I did not want to be packing it around with me. However it was cheap...we are talking $20 for 500g. Also it is still in its black form unlike the stuff I am used to eating so it didnt look that appealing. We drove on to our stop in Te Anau, which is a lakeside town with some pretty cool mountains.
The next day we drove to Milford Sound, which apparently if you dont go there is like going to Egypt and not going to see the pyramids. The drive out there took 2 hours but the views were pretty fantastic despite the rain/drizzle. There are tons of waterfalls lining the mountainsides and the mountains are very steep and massive, but they are not the pine forest mountains back home so it is quite spectacular. Milford Sound is amazing, we took a boat tour of it. The name is missleading as it is not a Sound but a fjord which is carved by glaciers making their way to the ocean. Its pretty hard to describe the area you are just going to have to wait for the pictures...however it is not too much unlike the northern BC coastline. the highest mountain is only 1 mile above sea level but the depth of the fjord is about 300 m and you are able to take the boat right up against the mountains as they shoot staight down into the water so there is no worry of hitting anything. We stopped at an underwater observatory because the ecosystem of the area is so unique. The fresh water stays on top for about 1.7m but the mixture of sea life in incredible. Because the water is colder closer to the surface you are able to view creatures that typically live at a deeper depth. I arrived back into Queenstown later that night and headed out to meet up with Britt and Laura (friends from Kamloops that I had last seen in Auckland). Queenstown is the type of place that everyone who travels meets up in so it was pretty awesome to see them again because we had all been on different schedules.
The next day Britt, Laura and I headed up the gondola to go luge-ing. We made a big race so it was a lot of fun! Later that night, as I was staying at a different backpackers than Britt, I got ready to hang out and as I was walking to their place I saw two figures that looked familiar and low and behold it was my friends that I had first met in Paihia, Dave and Todd and then had met up again in Wellington and travelled with to Nelson with. I never thought I would actually see them again and neither of us knew that we were in the same city so it was a great reunion. And then I found out that they had just run into Lisa (I stayed with her in Wellington) on the street as well. So the night was a big reunion as I got to see her again too.
After a couple more nights in queenstown I left to Christchurch to stay with Fay again. I spent some more time in the city and visited their art gallery which was having a show on William Morris. Went out to Sumner with Joy and her sisters. Walked along the beach and into a cave. Very pretty little community.
April 4 my last consecutive day in NZ!!! Joy and I decided to drive out to Arthur's Pass, which connects the east and west coasts through the mountains. The mountains are very different from the Rocky's so it was cool experience. We stopped at Castle Hill. Where there are these massive rocks sticking out from the mountains that look like the gods just dropped something there. They are shaped by the weather so they are these amazing shapes. I could spend a whole day climbing them and playing hide and seek! This is the area that they filmed The Chronicles of Narnia. Then we drove into the Pass and stopped in the town of Arthur's Pass for some lunch. As we ordered food from this cafe a woman steps out from the back and stares me down. It didnt take me long to recognize Kira, whom I lived across the hallway from in my first year of residence at UVic. I probably havent seen her for 3 years now so to come across her in a town of only 40 people, literally the middle of nowhere, was shocking. We both took some time to come down from the high and try to figure out where the hell we were. Unfortunately, after lunch it started pouring rain so we decided not to go for a hike and just head back and maybe find a trail when the weather cleared. We stopped in the Castle Hill Basin at a cave and stream. We went down to explore the limestone cave. We couldnt go very deep into the cave as we had no gear but we both wanted to know which way it went so I took off my shoes and rolled up my pants to get around a bend. I was almost across a part with no ledge when I lost concentration for a moment and fell into the stream which came up to my chest....Then i freaked out as I realized that my camera was still in my pocket!!! I got it out as soon as possible with Joy still laughing at me. The camera was unoperable so there are no pictures of my embarrassing moment. So that was the end to our adventure.
The next day Joy drove me out to the airport and it was very surreal to be saying goodbye to her in NZ because I knew I would be seeing her again shortly. As I came into the waiting area of I ran into some Danish friends of Britt and Laura's that I had met and partied with in Queenstown, we ended up being on the same flight to Sydney and staying at the same backpackers so when we landed it was cheapest to take a taxi to our place.
My first full day of Australia I visited the harbours and area, including Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, The Harbour Bridge, The Rocks, and the Opera House. AND my camera started working again!!! No worries Mom ok it works perfectly and I have all my pictures.
The boys (Danes) and I visited Bondi Beach the next day. Although as we were heading out there it started to pour so we took coverage in a restaurant and played cards until the weather cleared and we were able to enjoy the golden sands. Then some of us took a walk along the cliffs through all of the other bays before bussing back to the city.
Today the boys and I walked through town and then took a ferry to Watsons Bay, however we could not enjoy the harbour that much as it is again raining.
There you have it you are all caught up. I am leaving for Fiji in a couple of days! Hopefully I will be out of the rain then....i hope. Only 10 more days till I am back in Canada!!! Wishing you all the best and am looking forward to seeing you all again. Pictures on facebook soon I promise. I just forgot my chord back at my backpackers....Lots of love