1.22.2007
NZ'06 (Days 7-8)
5th December'06
We went sea kayaking at Milford Sound!
It is one of the best known "sounds" in Fiordland. I double-apostrophied the sound because all the sounds in Fiordland are actually fiords.
See, a fiord is a narrow inlet of sea carved out by glaciers, which was left behind when the ice retreated. A sound, on the other hand, is an ocean inlet that was... not carved out by glaciers. Haha! So, they mistakenly named the fiords in Fiordland as sounds, and had to name the whole place Fiordland as compensation.
It was only the 2nd time I kayaked, but I was lucky to get paired up with an awesome kayaker.
She's a teacher from England. The subjects she teaches are Phys Ed and Geography. New Zealand must have been heaven for her!
Those sea kayaks were pretty stable, and they came with rudders, too! It was thus pretty easy to steer. Since I was sitting in front, though, all I had to do was paddle at an easy pace, and leave the steering to my partner. Breezy~
Bowen Falls
I was quite jittery when we kayaked nearer and nearer the falls, because I kept imagining how the falls would capsize the kayak and suck us under etc etc. So I deliberately paddled slower and slower as we went along, I wonder if my partner sensed anything amiss? Haha~ See the nose of my kayak, I wanted to prove that I was in a kayak, not cruising on some ship! =P
Bowen Falls without my kayak
I like the rays of light in this one.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the Elephant and Mt. Pembroke
The focus of the picture is The Lion, so named because it resembles a crouching lion. The Elephant lies to the left of it, while Mt. Pembroke is the peak on the right. I fumbled so long to get my camera out of the waterproof pouch, the rest were already faaaar ahead of us by the time I managed to snap this picture.
We paddled a little further, and she took this for me.
Well, the cap might have been ugly, but it served its purpose. Half of my face is... shadowed.
Fiordland Penguin
We were so awed at seeing the penguin! For the most part, it just stayed stationary, occasionally hopping from one rock to another. Happy feet, anyone? =P
We did something interesting before lunch. Our guides got us to raft up (4 kayaks in total), and then they unfurled this huge piece of cloth that apparently was supposed to act as sail. Alas~ the wind was not in our favour that day, and the sail kept flopping down on us. The few minutes that the sail managed to remain half-filled with wind, we were crawling at such a slow pace that I wondered if we were moving at all. Ron, one of our guides, commented, "And you thought kayaking was such as adrenaline-pumping sport, huh?" He finally got tired, and suggested that we all return to paddling. He was probably... hungry. Haha~
Beach
Here's the beach that we had our lunch at. It was actually nothing more than a stretch of gravel and sand. It was fun, nonetheless, until I realised that I needed to pee and there was no toilet around.
Toilet
And that was how I came to have my first pee in a bush! C'mon... Don't be so surprised, I never went to any OBS camps or such in Pulau Ubin. Tell me which female urbanite takes a pee in a bush for fun around Singapore?
The drive to and fro Milford Sound from Te Anau was filled with wonderful scenery:
View from where we had Morning Tea
River
My favourite kind of river! Actually, I have many favourites. ^^
Kea
So named for their cries of "Ke-a-a". I've read that they're the world's only alpine parrot. Tourists are advised not to feed them because they're somewhat of a pest to the New Zealanders. That is because they are neophilic, meaning, they just love to play with anything novel. I guess that's why tourists like them so much! They're not very shy, obviously.
Kea on a car
This one was perched on what is probably one of their favourite places, on a car! According to our guides, they just love tearing the rubber off the windscreens of a car with their sharp beaks. Tourists humour them by taking photos of them and basically gawking at them when they do that, but I can just imagine an enraged Kiwi finding his vehicle stripped of all rubber strips. (Actually, I don't know if the Kea is strong enough to do that.)
We did stop by one of the grasslands by the side of the road for afternoon tea, and there an American in our group commented that it made him want to sing.
"The hills are alive...With the Sound of Music..."
Then our guides started asking us where we were from and all that. Upon learning that we were Singaporeans studying in Australia, Ron asked, "So tell me, who's better in rugby, Australia or New Zealand?"
So, while Freaki and I hemmed and hawed, Yiling replied "Singapore!"
And Ron was like "Singapore doesn't even have a team!"
At least Yiling saved us!
After tea, I was so tired out from the day's activities, I just snoozed all the way back to Te Anau...
6th December'06
We went tramping along the Milford Track that day. Milford Track is a world-renowned track that takes about 4 days to complete. We just walked a tiny portion of it!
Lake Te Anau
I'm not sure when exactly Freaki took this photo, but it was probably while Yiling and I were still snoozing away at the YHA. Looking at this picture makes me regret not forcing my lids open earlier to take a walk with her.
Another blown-away photo
This will be the last one, I promise!
Memorial
They erected this cross in remembrance of a famous explorer who went out to sea one day and never came back.
Due to the excessive amount of rain for the past few days, the jetty that the ship docked at was flooded by the lake for an estimated...7 cm? We thus had to take off our shoes and socks to wade across the jetty in icy-cold water to get to land. Yowzarrr!! When we got to land, rocks were waiting to give us a hard time. Double Yowzaarrr!!
Our guide, Richard
Spectacular view
To make this view all the more spectacular, Richard made us promise not to look behind us until we'd reached a certain height on the track. It was worth it!
Water!
We had lunch beside this river. Since it was a hot, sunny day, I was going through my supply of drinking water rather fast. So I conveniently refilled my water bottle from many of these rivers and streams along the way. Cool~ Mummy keeps saying that I look old in the picture, and I keep telling her that it's not easy to look young when I was that sunburnt.
I love rivers, I love rivers. =p
Stripped bark
Part of this bark was stripped away by a parrot somewhat like the Kea, only the Kea lives on highlands, while this parrot lives in the forest. Unlike the Kea, this parrot is rather shy. I forgot its name already! Looks like it's pretty strong, maybe the Kea is really, really strong, too. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody tells me the Kea can strip all the rubber of a car.
We crossed a rickety bridge to get to the other side of this river.
Bridge that swung from side to side
Pretty?
Boy, I never knew green-looking water could be so beautiful, too. I have even more respect for water now.
Robin
Japanese Lady
Here's a Japanese lady who was very friendly to us on the trek. She was really very cute, very clasically Japanese! Everytime Richard mentioned something, she'd say "Ohhh....", just as if she just realised what that something was. I seriously doubt if she understood all of what Richard was saying, though. Nevertheless, I have tremendous respect for her. She, as well as her husband, handled the trek wonderfully well! Not that it was difficult, but well, I can't imagine my mummy doing it, know what I mean?
Another Japanese couple
This couple spoke only Japanese. To get a picture of them, I rushed over when they were taking a photo together and cried, "Chioto! Chioto!", to get this picture. (Actually I don't know how to spell chioto, how to spell huh?)
The guy actually carries a walking stick, but to our knowledge he doesn't need the stick to get around. At the end of the whole trek, Richard declared, "We've done well, team! We made it back in good time!" At the back of the group, the guy raised up both his arms and waved his walking stick in the air.
Like I said, the Japanese are a hardy bunch!
Milford Track
We took this photo at the end of the trek. The more I look, the more I can't stand my sunburnt face!Labels: fiordland, milford track, new zealand, te anau, travel
