Farewell New Zealand

Well, here I am on my last night in NZ and I'm just chilling at an internet cafe. I'll probably go to bed soon b/c I like to go for one last run. It's my favourite way of seeing a city - on foot. And I plan to run through Christchurch before my flight back to Oz tomorrow.

Thank you for all your well wishes and concerns over my hike. As of today - I was still pulling out little thorns and splinters out of my hand. Ouch! Not super pleasant but I am very thankful that I survived.

The next day, I headed for the dreadfully boring town of Te Anau. Don't get me wrong, Te Anau is great as a jumping off point for hikes and treks, etc. but the town itself. Yep... Friday night was WEAK! I ended up going to bed early. I had wanted to kayak in Milford Sound but it was all booked out. So I ended up doing a hiking option + cruise on Milford Sound. For all the hype about Milford... I actually was a bit disappointed. Yep, the fjords were cool and stuff but yeah... I enjoyed the cruise anyway. I was dreading spending Friday night in Te Anau. I got invited to drink w/ a couple of 50yrs+ Aussie ladies at the Youth Hostel though. They were old enough to be my MOM! ;) But I never say no to G &T. So they left me sufficiently buzzed and then I guzzled the rest of my bottle of wine before going to bed very happy.

I was desperate to get out of Te Anau so I invited myself to join a Scottish couple driving back to Queenstown. I was thankful to get back to Qtown - city of great bars and restaurants. I went for a beautiful run along the lake in Qtown and had exceptional Thai food before joining the 50+ ladies again for a drink. Then I took some Japanese backpackers out to the bars for a fun night of dancing. :D Hurray for Qtown.

THe next day I was headed to Mt. Cook - the highest mountain in NZ. I totally, totally lucked out with the weather. I got CLEAR shots of Mt Cook - not a cloud in sight! And I hiked both days I was there. Absolutely gorgeous! And don't worry - I was fine on the hikes. They keep those trails up to snuff b/c tons of Japanese tourists come through there and you can't have little rich Japanese tourists tripping or getting lost on the trails. ;)

I spent last night watching the stars come out. It was literally the biggest theatre in the world so to speak. ;) I watched the sky go from light blue to black and watched the stars come out one by one, until there were too many to count. I daresay it was a spiritual moment for me too. I felt so much peace. I just sat there - laying on a bench for 2 hours.

Anywho - I better be going. I will post pics once I get back to Oz tomorrow. And boy, do I have a lot of awesome pics. New Zealand rocks!