We Left with 7 and Came Back with 4 - What the Hell?

The Stray Bus left early (8 am). 6 girls and 1 boy climbed into the bus with our driver Gravel (I don't know, so don't ask), ready to head west to Milford Sound. The drive is one of the most scenic that I've been on. Mountains, rivers, creeks and glaciers surround the highway. It looked and felt more and more like Alberta as we got further and further west.

Within 2 hours of our trip starting, Gravel lost the only other male on the trip. When we stopped in Te Anau, he found out his father was very sick and he decided to make his way back to the UK as soon as possible. We were now down to 6 girls and Gravel.

Homer Tunnel

The Kia - the only known alpine parrot in the world

This guy wanted to join our tour

By early afternoon we arrived in Milford Sound where we got a boat for our tour of the Sound. Even though most of New Zealand reminded me of Alberta, this was otherworldly. It is amazing to see mountains just coming straight out of the water. It is beyond gorgeous and definitely something worth seeing in person. There are not enough words in the English language to truly grasp the beauty. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but seeing it in person is a million.

Mitre Peak - the most famous of Milford - to left covered by clouds.

Looking back towards the wharf with Stirling Falls hiding in the shadows

I got a little shower under the rainbow - the boat took the bow right underneath it

Stirling Falls

 
Once we left Milford Sound, it was time to head south back towards Gunn's Camp where we would be staying the night. The drive back over the same highway gave us a new perspective on the views we saw on the way there. Just before we hit Homer Tunnel, we were hit with this spectacular vision of millions of tiny waterfalls that slowly began to dry before our eyes. They were created by a short rainfall that had just recently happened. We were literally surrounded by waterfalls.

We arrived at Gunn's Camp in the early evening. The whole group took a 'tramp' (NZ for a hike) to Humboldt falls. We hiked in 600 m on a fairly easy track to see these amazing falls. Humboldt Falls has 3 drops, adding up to a total of 275 m, the largest drop being 134 m. On returning to the camp, Gravel started cooking. While he was cooking, Katharina and I made our way on a little trek of our own through the forest. The local flora was awesome, especially in the darkening evening. We found the famous New Zealand Silver Fern which is known to shine on one side in the darkness to help a traveler find their way home if they're left on the trail like Hanzel and Gretel's breadcrumbs.

We made our way back for Gravel's fantastic meal. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the views around us and playing Trivial Pursuit on my iPad.

Our cabins were very rustic and heated by a wood stove. The manager of the camp had been nice enough to get the fire started for us earlier in the evening and all we had to do was stoke it a little before going to bed. Unfortunately, upon waking up in the middle of the night, I realized the fire had gone out and I had to start it, all by myself. A first for me. I did awesome if I do say so myself. It only took a couple minutes, and the fire was roaring again.

Humboldt Falls

On leaving Gunn's Camp, we were off to catch the ferry to Stewart Island. I'd recently read a book called Twitchiker where a man from England had decided to hitchhike his way to place on the globe that was geographically opposite to his home of Newcastle through Twitter. He got rides, places to stay and flights through people who followed him on Twitter. He was trying to get to Campbell Island, a couple hundred kilometres away from New Zealand, but found out it was a protected site so wouldn't be able to make it. The next closest thing was Stewart Island. When I found out I had the chance to go on this trip, I couldn't say no. We made our way to Invercargill where we first visited the 'chain' that holds Stewart Island the South Island to each other. Next it was time for the 4 of us who were going to board the ferry. An hour later, we were setting foot on Stewart Island as the sun set into the ocean.

Catherine's bag on Stewart Island. Unfortunately, she wasn't with us as she had elected to stay on  the South Island. Luckily they were able to bring it back to her the next day on the ferry going back.

After getting our bags squared away at the hostel, we decided to head out into the darkness to find us some penguins. With our flashlights and headlamps to guide us, we took off, not even sure of where we were going. We could here them out in the darkness, but they were really shy and chose not to make an appearance. As we turned around to head back in defeat, there was a rustling in the bushes. After calming our hearts down from the fright, we realized there was a little Fairy Penguin in the bushes. He was literally less than a metre away. He very quickly scurried back into the bushes. We'd found our penguin. The next morning we were told by one of the tourist info people that there hadn't been any penguins yet and it was really early in the season. Man, were they wrong! It was awesome.

The next morning, Katherina, Esme,  and I went for a hike around the island in the rain. We saw some beautiful beaches and kept our eyes open for some kiwis as Stewart Island is one of the few places you can still see them in the wild. We also found the other side of the 'chain' holding Stewart Island to the South Island. We were welcomed back to town by a rainbow. The next day it was back to the mainland where we would meet Gravel. It was time to head back to Queenstown.