Snowy Sounds

It’s late and I’m tired. I’ve had a frustrating end to the day but now I can relax. Today was mostly a passive sight-seeing day, which my body is thankful for as my right hip is not happy with me after yesterday’s hike. I woke up this morning to a message from my AirBnB host, Emma-Kate, that no one else was checking in today so no rush leaving. Regardless, I wanted to head out at a decent time, even though I still had no plan for the day, but I loved that Boathouse so that was great news. I laid in bed for a few minutes contemplating my day when, yikes, something was in my eye. Holy ouch. Whatever it was stung bad with an overwhelming sharp pain! That was at 9am. It’s now 10:30pm. And my eye STILL hurts with every blink. I have spent countless minutes today trying to figure out what is in there and nothing. I’m guessing that super sharp pain scratched it and it’s the scratch I’m feeling. Hopefully it will feel better in the morning. Thankfully it’s my right eye, if it were my left I’d be really worried that something was wrong with my scleral buckle. I won’t write more about it throughout today’s post but note that it has been a constant pain and bugging me ALL DAY.

I sent Emma-Kate a note back thanking her for the extended check-out and inquiring if she had more of her art for sale, specifically any originals. Once I was dressed and human she came over to chat about it. She had no originals, those were all in galleries but her prints were all very limited edition and gallery quality. Of the larger ones she only had ten of each and of the mid-size only 50 of each, I supposed that would do since I loved her art, loved her home, and she was a lovely person. Let’s just say that my stay at the boathouse turned into my most expensive excursion this trip as I bought THREE pieces of her art. She was nice enough to throw in the stack of note card prints I wanted for free.

I spent an hour chatting with Emma-Kate. We talked about her art, New Zealand, life, her partner (he’s from California, Monterey to be exact!), how she ended up in New Zealand (she’s from Australia) and my trip. It was a pleasure to just sit in that beautiful space, each of us with a cup of tea, chatting away. I asked her if there was any place worth stopping for breakfast within half an hour or so as I made my way out of town and she advised me that I maybe just wanted to eat one of my protein bars and wait until Te Anau to get lunch. Noted! I told her I was headed to Manapouri but still trying to figure out my day. She strongly suggested I head all the way to Milford Sound. Roundtrip, heading to Milford Sound would add a total of FOUR hours to my driving time for today but she assured me it was worth it and gave me suggestions for the day. I wasn’t keen on adding the drive time and the weather was quite questionable but I already knew that I trusted Emma-Kate implicitly and if she said I had to go, I had to go. She also gave me some great tips on places to check out tomorrow on my down to Invercargill and let me know of a couple art galleries on my route today that had her works on display. Finally I hugged Emma-Kate goodbye and finished packing up my car, with my new art in tow. This was the first hug I’ve gotten in a week now since Steven dropped me off at the airport and it felt good to be hugged! One of my favorite trainers, Kristi, always says that humans need something like 13 hugs a day and on a trip like this I’m completely lacking.

Before hitting the road I did a quick scan of my email. I was looking to see if one response had come in. And it had. And I was thrilled. One of the outings I really wanted to do this trip was visit White Island. White Island isn’t just any island, it’s actually the inner crater of New Zealand’s most active volcano! And I wanted to see it. White Island is located off of the North Island; I am only spending a short amount of time up there at the end of my trip, plus given the location of the dock for the White Island tour, there is only one day I could make it work. And the tour was full that day, I’d been waitlisted when I tried to sign up a couple weeks ago. I really want to do this outing, so yesterday I decided to start my own letter writing campaign. Basically emailing the White Island guides and begging them to add me. I am obsessed with volcanoes. This would be the highlight of my trip. I’m just one person. I’m fit and don’t weigh too much. I’m nice (hey, don’t laugh, we can pretend). Could they please just squeeze me in?! And it worked! They can’t get me out on the morning tour at this point but they could add me to the afternoon if I wanted. YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES! Of course, this still depends on the seas, they will send me an email the night before to confirm for it’s a pretty decent boat ride out there and if the seas are too rough they can’t operate. That’s fine by me, at least I won’t miss it if its possible.

By the time I was done chatting with Emma-Kate and thanking the White Island folks profusely I was finally getting a super late start on the road, It was already 11:30am. I was sad to leave the little boathouse behind but thankful that, with Emma-Kate’s advice, I now had the outline of a plan for today in place and also for part of tomorrow. As I pulled out of Kingston and back onto the main road, I took a swig of my now ritual roadie tea in my Hokitika cup, and hit a bump, which caused a giant gulp from that glass, which caused me to choke, which meant I spit tea out all over the place. Well that was fun. My steering wheel, my dash, my windshield, my pants, all covered in tea now. Thankfully I still had a couple paper towels in the front seat (also from the Hokitka place) and I was able to mop up most of my mess when I stopped at the first little art shop Emma-Kate had recommended, just a few minutes down the road. I even had some wet wipes to clean off the windshield.

This first little shop was the Garston Craft Keeper, a tiny little shop that sold the wares of local artists. Most of the art was pretty legit but there were definitely some kitschy local wares in there, so if you need to know where to find possum skin nipple or willy warmers I can put you in the right direction. Now that I look at the picture and see that they were only about $10 USD each I am kicking myself in the butt for leaving them behind! Emma-Kate had some of her prints in there and I was astonished to find that she had sold me her works for less than HALF the price in the shop. When I stopped at the second gallery, the Athol Gallery, a few more minutes down the road I found the prices the same as the first shop. I got a hell of a deal.

About 1:30pm I finally made it to Te Anau and stopped at the restaurant Emma-Kate had recommended, The Fat Duck, for lunch. I ordered seafood chowder and a salad, perusing some activity brochures while I waited for the food. Emma-Kate was insistent that I should take a boat cruise of the sound and that when I got down there I would find a terminal where I should be able to just sign up for one. But for one, I am not a very good wait-till-I get-there kind of person, and for two, as I looked at the brochures only ONE company had a cruise late enough that I could make since it was another 1 hr 45 min from Te Anau to the Milford Sound. I hopped on the restaurant’s WiFi and was able to sign up for a 4:15pm nature cruise! I could scarf down my lunch real quick and be on my way. That would have been a great plan if it didn’t take over 20 minutes to get my soup and salad. And an even better plan if the food was at all decent. When the food finally arrived I was already super anxious as the clock was now ticking, and the meal was awful. The salad was again mixed greens, not the iceberg like they had told me, and the seafood chowder was basically a big bowl of cream with two mussels in it. Literally, the only seafood was two mussels. If I have any choice in the matter I do not believe in eating food that I do not enjoy. Especially something as dairy and calorie heavy as a chowder. Disgruntled I ate a little bit of the yucky salad and a few bites of soup before leaving and grabbing a protein bar out of the backseat of my car to eat instead.

I wished I had been able to take it slow and take in the beautiful scenery of Fiordland National Park as I drove towards the Sound but I had zero time to spare. It had been raining off and on all day and most of my drive so far was pretty steady rain. Thankfully the road to Te Anau and the first half hour or so out of Te Anau was flat farmland (so many sheep and their little lambs!) instead of windy. But once I started to get into the national park the roads grew more curvaceous. And the air grew colder. I watched on my dash as the temperate slowly dropped. I had read about the Kea in my research of the area. The Kea is the world’s only mountain parrot and is only found in the southern alps of New Zealand. They are said to be very friendly and inquisitive trouble-makers – often times stealing items from cars or landing on parked cars and playing with windshield wipers or whatever else peaks their interest. I had hoped I would get to see some. What I was not expecting was to come around a bend and find cars pulled off to the side because three of these little suckers were taking up space standing in the middle of the road. I couldn’t figure out what I was seeing at first but as I got close I realized that was them! Three macaw-sized Kea had literally stopped traffic because they were hanging out on the road. This was not going to work, I had a boat to catch! There seemed to be a car sized gap between them so I slowly pulled up, expecting them to get flustered by the car and scurry away. Nope. I stopped. They looked at me. I honked. They looked at me. I slowly crept forward. I rolled down my window and whistled at them. To one side a Kea finally moved about a foot and I thought I could get my car through. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be squishing anyone on the other side but that was a risk I was going to take. I slowly pulled forward and the three cars of folks on the side of the road who had been watching all gave me a thumbs up as I safely passed without crushing any of the endangered bird – there are only about 5,000 of them left in the wild.

I passed a sign letting me know that I was at Latitude 45 Degrees South. I’m not sure what the significance of this is yet but I need to look it up. Is it like when I was in Iceland and 66 Degrees North meant I had crossed into the Arctic circle? As I drove on, the rain continued on. But then it started to change. The rain grew thicker and quieter and I realized it was no longer rain. It was snow! What the heck?! I wasn’t expecting snow. As I stopped, waiting for my turn in the single-lane tunnel through the mountain, I rolled down my window to feel the flaky snow flurrying at me. Crazy. At 4:00pm sharp I made it to the boat terminal. I must have been the last one on my cruise to check in as the ladies at the counter guessed who I was straight away when I walked up. The cruise was scheduled for 4:15 but they did request that you check in 20 minutes early. Now as lax as New Zealand time might be when it comes to things like restaurants, I have found that when it comes to outings they are as punctual as I’ve ever seen. When I did my heli-hike in Fox Glacier a few days ago they actually called everyone to order 2 minutes early. And here, at 4:14pm sharp they were pulling in the ropes and backing the boat away. The lower level of the boat had a little cafe and tables with chairs and the upper deck just had 5 seats on each side of the stairs facing out and the front and back deck areas. I took a seat on the top, closest to the skipper and guide.

I am so glad I made it for the 2+ hour boat cruise through the Milford Sound. The cruise went out the entire length of the sound to the Tasman Sea and back in again. The skipper guided the boat under waterfalls and I actually learned a lot from the guide as he narrated the tour. Did you know that the Milford Sound isn’t actually a Sound at all? It’s actually a Fiord and the only one in New Zealand that you can access via a road. A small pod of Dusky Dolphins appeared alongside the boat, complete with little baby dolphins! They were so small! Sorry, no pictures as it was hard enough just trying to catch a glimpse of them. A little later on the guide announced that he had spotted penguins. Penguins!!! Finally!!! Sure enough, the skipper turned the boat towards the side of the fiord and there they were, a handful of little Fiordland Crested Penguins! These penguins are an endangered species, one of the rarest penguins in the world, and only found in Fiordland and Stewart Island. We couldn’t get very close but I could see the bright yellow bushy eyebrows and their cute little penguin waddles. Such a treat! Later a couple fur seal pups were also spotted sunning themselves on a large protruding rock. Apparently the fur seal almost went extinct until their hunting was banned. It was a fascinating cruise, the beautiful scenery, the wildlife, and the wealth of knowledge. It was fascinating to learn how the glaciers carved out these areas and how the fresh water sits on top of the salt water and tricks the marine life underneath into thinking it’s in much deeper waters so species can be found that normally are only found in deep parts of the ocean.

Above one waterfall, the Bridal Veil Falls (such a common name for a waterfall) there was actually a visible crack in the mountain that the guide said was a fault line. This fault line is literally breaking the mountain apart and eventually meets with the active Alpine Fault.

It rained off and on, and snowed off and on, throughout the entire cruise. In my haste I had forgotten my sunglasses in the car so I was glad for the cloud cover. As some of you know, my eyes are VERY sensitive to the sun from all my surgeries so being outside without sunglasses is a rarity for me and can be quite uncomfortable. The cruise also included a little “picnic” lunchbox complete with half a sandwich, cheese and crackers, nuts, chips, an apple, and a little chocolate bar. I ate the sandwich and cheese and crackers and I must say, aside from the Big Fig it was one of my most satisfying meals this trip! I look forward to eating the apple for breakfast in the morning. I spent a decent amount of time talking with the skipper and guide during the cruise. Seeing my excitement for the penguins they asked if I was going to the Caitlins. I have actually seen a lot about the Caitlins and wish it was in my plans but it is just outside of Invercargill and I couldn’t fit it into my itinerary this trip. They strongly suggested I make a visit to the Caitlins if the wildlife excites me so, best penguin viewing they assured me. Based on what I’d already read and how the Caitlins have already peaked my interest and in my discussion with them today I am now considering canceling the Christchurch portion of my trip…

By the time I was off the boat it was 6:30pm. And I had over two hours to drive to get to Manapouri where I am staying tonight. I will not be going back into the Fiordland though so I wanted to somewhat take my time getting back and enjoy the area I had rushed through earlier. Just a few minutes from the Sound was The Chasm Walkway. Emma-Kate had specially mentioned the Chasm so I made sure to stop. I was thankful the walk was super brief as it was freezing cold (I’m not being dramatic, it was really only 5 Celsius/41 Fahrenheit) and raining. But it was also worth it. The chasm itself is just that, a little chasm with a rushing river coming through it. It doesn’t sound like much but it was quite impressive. The little finger loop I decided to attach to my phone came in handy as I reached over the ledge to photograph the madly rushing water. And the little walk itself was pure rainforest, complete with the sounds of falling rain and the parrots and other birds calling to one another.

Rain continued to fall and as I approached the area where the road peaks at the tunnel it once again turned to snow. It’s just like rain but quieter I thought, it wasn’t like it was sticking. I carefully and slowly drove the hairpin turns while realizing that the landscape around me was starting to turn white, I guess it was sticking. I came through the tunnel again and by the time I made it to the other side it was flurrying pretty good. I pulled off the road and had a brief conversation with a little Kea hanging out in the pullout about the snow falling around us. I want to stuff one of those Kea in my bag and bring it home with me! They are such curious birds!

I was getting tired, and really tired of driving. I stopped a few more times to soak in the exquisite picturesque views but I could probably spend an entire day making stops and exploring along that drive. I didn’t have any Kea stopping me in the road this time but as I got closer to Te Anau a rogue sheep and her lamb had decided to take “free-range” literally. I am definitely noticing with each day that as I travel further south the days get longer and longer. It was 9pm before I finally took my sunglasses off.

It wasn’t until about 9:30pm that I finally made it to Manapouri and my AirBnB for tonight. And what a pain in the ass it was getting in. I consulted the directions my host had sent me and found the little lockbox hidden behind the shed behind the little home. Really, you have to hide the damn lockbox? The little lockbox did not want to open. It was finally dark so there I was in the dark, freezing cold, with my phone for light trying to yank the damn box open. Two broken clips from the clothesline and accidentally scraping back open the cut on one of my knuckles I got the damn box open and got the keys out. There were two keys. A light was on by the sliding door in front and I felt like an idiot, standing there with a bleeding knuckle, trying to wrench the door open. Neither key would work. Was I crazy? I know how to open a door. Those keys weren’t turning at all. Thankfully there is some service in this town. Not enough that I could get my AirBnB app to load messages but enough that I could call my host. Voicemail. Seriously?! It was 9:45pm and I was standing there in the freezing cold unable to open the door. I had driven past a motor lodge down the road so I decided I would head over there and see if they had any vacancy. As I was starting my car, my host called me back. She was confused why the key wouldn’t work and suggested I try the slider in front. I HAD been trying the slider in front. What did she think I was trying?! The shed?! She couldn’t believe that neither door was working. What did she mean, neither door?! I walked around to the one side of the home I had not been on yet and there was a proper door. No light on it or obvious path to it, but a door. I tried and thank goodness the key worked this time. I informed her that if she thought they key worked in the slider, ya know, the only door that was LIT, she was wrong! Such a pain, I was just happy to finally get in. This place is small and cute enough, a studio apt basically with a bed in the main space and a separate little bedroom with bunk beds. It reminds me of how a basic home in The Sims would be built. Remember that game? Where you have your little people and you have to build them homes? Anyways, that’s what it reminds me of. Its basic but I’m only here for a short time.

Tomorrow I will head down to Invercargill, at the very south end of this island! I am supposed to spend one night there and then fly to Christchurch for a night before flying back to the North Island. However, after my conversations today I am very strongly considering changing my itinerary to spend an extra night in the far south so I can visit the Caitlins and Stewart Island. Time to look into flights and accommodations and see if I can make that work. My AirBnB in Christchurch looks like another awesome one but it is really the only thing that excites me about Christchurch right now so I’m willing to let it go potentially. It’s hard to believe that today marked the start of the second week of my trip. At the same time it feels like it’s been so long but that the remaining days are so few.