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Published: January 11th 2007
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Happy 2007!
I've decided that while Christmas would definitely be better at home in the snow, New Years is much better over here. I spent a number of days in Queenstown over New Years and realized it's very similar to Banff. It's surrounded by mountains, the buildings have a lodge design and feel, the whole town smells of campfire, but unlike Banff it's also on the water. The best part about Queenstown is that it wasn't filled with rich people but young backpackers from all over the world. After going out for New Years dinner we joined a few friends at various bars around town and then just before midnight we headed down to the water for the fireworks. There were thousands of people lining the waterfront, live music, dj's and the atmosphere was of pure excitement and happiness. We ended up meeting a guy who worked on a really old steamship in the harbour and suggested we would have a better view of the fireworks from there. He was right; it was amazing to have them come down over our heads. I was just so happy to be there, it was a moment I will never forget. Afterwards we
On the steamship
from the left: Kate, Maria, me, Jim (the coal shoveler) joined the party on the street and I met up with my three Israeli friends who were also with a few Canadians. As we were dancing on the streets they pulled out a big Canadian flag that just topped off the night! It's a feeling like no other when you run into a fellow Canadian; you feel an immediate connection with a complete stranger.
After spending a few more days in Queenstown with Kate, I left for a bus tour and cruise of Milford Sound. Milford Sound is known for its magnificent mountainous scenery. With the weather being warm and sunny that's what we got! Because it is now summer in New Zealand a lot of the snow on the mountain peaks is melting, creating hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the rock faces. Some of these waterfalls would shoot right off the edge of cliffs so acute that the water would transform into a cloud of mist gleaming in the sunlight. Other falls had their paths etched into the mountain side so permanently I realized NZ could be home to yet another extreme sport, ultimate mountain water sliding.
The area we were driving through was very susceptible to
avalanches, which was obvious by the damaged trees and random lines of trees surrounded by complete bareness. Apparently the road we were using is often closed in the winter due to avalanche risks. In some places it can and has been covered in 13 to 14 meters of snow, taking days to clear. After stopping at the side of the road to fill our water bottles at a glacier stream, we reached the Homer Tunnel. This tunnel was dug right under a mountain and is very typical of Kiwi road construction. It's literally a one way arch tunnel dug right out of sheer rock. There are no reinforcements and up until last year traffic drove its 1270m length in the dark before lights were installed. In the summer there are traffic lights telling cars when they can go. Apparently they're not in use during the winter because avalanches make it too dangerous to stop at either end of the tunnel, I'm really not sure what they do then. Besides the fact that there are very few straight roads, I haven’t written much about driving in NZ. Let’s just say the philosophy of "just close your eyes and hope for the
best", is used a little too often. Almost every bridge in NZ has only one lane, many of the roads also narrow into one lane, usually at the most dangerous spot such as a sharp corner rounding a mountain. At these places they have blurry convex mirrors set up so you can see if someone is coming in the opposite direction. I've also been over one lane bridges that double as a train bridge and on roundabouts with train tracks going right through the middle. All I can say is that either every kiwi bus driver carries around a four leaf clover, or they have mad driving skills.
After the Homer tunnel we drove down yet another windy road (that also happened to be the steepest in New Zealand) to the start of the cruise. Like everything else in this part of the country, it was breathtakingly beautiful. Right after the cruise the tour bus dropped me off at one end of the Routeburn track, another one of New Zealand's great walks which I'll recount in the next entry.
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julie
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ahhhhhh heather!!! everything you do looks soo cool!!! i can't wait till im done school and can go travel like you!!! and now you get to meet up with april like u guys planned!! so lucky! i love reading your adventures, so keep on posting! and ur pictures are awsome too! missed you at christmas. love julie