Two Beers and a Pretzel

Friday was a perfect sightseeing day.

Milford sound is a day trip from Queenstown on a bus, then a boat cruise thru the Fijord on the West coast of NZ, then more bus back to Queenstown.  All the way, there are remarkable views of mountains – including a range called “The Remarkables” because the whole range runs true North to true South.

Our first stop was at a glacially carved valley..

Then a bit farther along to a reflecting pool…

Look at it upside down at it looks like a real mountain scene…

The individual mountain + reflection shots were not as good at the pano…

And on to the actual Fijord…

And to the sea…

And back…

And came home to a sweet moon scene.

Today was an easy day for catching up on planning, and resting up for the Easter Egg Hunt / Pub Crawl tonight.  There’s supposed to be 150 people there, including Meghan, Holly, and me!!

Being a bit hungover yesterday afternoon, I skipped the expensive glacier hike with the group, but made it to the shuttle bus and got to see the Franz-Joseph glacier.  This is a bit different from the glaciers in Argentina, as this one ends in a rain forest.

and it’s not as visually stunning as Perito Moreno or Viedma were…  although is does have a unique beauty being surrounded by waterfalls and jungle.

Today was a bus day.  The Magic Bus arrived at my hostel at 7:15 AM.  We went to a reflecting lake early in the morning to get a sweet view of the mountains…

We had a few more stops, but we had to keep moving as we didn’t get to Queenstown until about 5 PM.  We spent most of the day looking out the windows at the ever-changing mountain views that never seem to get old.

We got outside of Queenstown to the bridge where Bungy-Jumping was invented at 4 PM.  Meghan and a few others did the 43m jump.  I’m saving up for the big 163m jump sometime on Saturday… I was going to go skydiving, but apparently there’s a 100Kg (220 lb) limit around here, and I still weigh in at 107 Kg (235 lbs) with boots, camera, ipod, etc…  Bummer…

Tomorrow Holly, Meghan, myself, and a few others are taking the “must see” all day cruise to the Milford Sound and back; so I should have some more great landscape pics.  Then Saturday is adrenaline junkie day followed by a massive pub crawl and Easter Egg Hunt that should have about 150 people attending.  Sunday I’ll be on a bus to Dunedin.  I also need to call Air New Zealand and see if I can swith my ticket to flying ot of Christchurch on the 18th or 20th.