Great day yesterday. First the drive back from Glenorchy to Queenstown. Went to the airport and quickly swapped hire cars because of a large crack in the windscreen. And then an afternoon of river surfing. Fabulous!! Quick bit of training, get kitted out - wet suit, crash hat and flippers and straight into it. Five and a half kilometres of grade 3 rapids. There's a drop out point at one kilometre and after that no choice! We were a very small group. Eight in total, and would you believe two dropped out! Also an opportunity to do an eight metre jump from a cliff face part way along. Did it twice! It was awesome. You just cannot comprehend the power of the water! Needless to say there are times when you are totally out of control. Coughed and spluttered a time or three but no damage. It was a good physical grind in places and I know about it today. And when you get to the end you get the option to do it all again. Four of us had another go. Confidence is an amazing thing and the second run was even better. We absolutely whizzed down! Unfortunately no pics but I will get some in due course. Obviously couldn't take my ohone and you had to buy the official ones on a memory stick at 45 dollars. Anyway I arranged with a young lady who did buy them to email some to me. Will post when I get them. The river was 45 minutes out of Queenstown and we didn't get back until 7. Went for a quick drink with a couple of the guys and then joined the queue for the famous Fergburger. Took an hour to get served and half an hour to get the burger thereafter. Started for Te Anau at 9.15 and got here at 11.30. So, all in all a fairly packed day! Would have stayed over but I didn't want to put my tent up at that time of night and you just can't get a bed in Queenstown for love nor money over a weekend. I have to say the first half hour of the drive out of Queenstown at dusk was stunning. Also stayed in what is called a home stay backpackers last night for the first time. Basically you stay in someone's home. A good experience which I will definitely try again.
So a rest day today. Got up late and had a lazy breakfast before exploring Te Anau. Nothing to it really. Surprise, surprise it's on a lake surrounded by hills but nothing like as picturesque as Wanaka or Queenstown. Taking a day out has allowed me to put a itinerary together for the next few days. Will stay another two nights, do a mountain walk in Fiordland that I sorted out today for the day tomorrow, stay over again and then drive to Milford Monday morning. The drive is meant to be very special and I want to take my time. I'll stay over in Milford Monday night and buy into a boat trip on the sound on Tuesday. Drive back to Te Anau Tuesday evening, stay at the home stay again and take another boat trip for the day on Doubtful sound on Wednesday. Then stay over again before heading down to Invercargil on Thursday. If I can find another walk out of Te Anau I might even stay another night. Weather could also affect things as I won't spend the money on the boat trips unless the weather is good. They're pretty damned expensive and as you know my activity budget has taken a hit recently. Not sure you really wanted to know all this but it's good to talk!
So, there you go!
Much love,
Glen x
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