Mount Cook and Queenstown - December 27, 2009

My first night ever in a hostel was pretty good. I was nervous about sharing a room with 7 other people, and only one of those someone I know (Colin). Our room had 8 bunks and Colin and I got a top/bottom. He took the bottom and I took the top. We brought earplugs with us, but I was so tired, I doubt I needed them. The night was not quite as relaxing as our first night in Auckland – my body wants to go to bed at 6-7pm and get up by 5-6am. I tried staying up until 10:30pm, but I still woke up at 5am!!
Our hike yesterday was cancelled because of the rain, but we woke up to a full rainbow literally outside our window! We thought about going to look and see if the pot of gold existed at the end, but decided to go on the hike we planned to do the night before. The hike we did was a 1.5 hour trek each through beautiful scenery to Hooker Lake, at the base of Mount Cook. It seems every time I see something beautiful, I turn the corner and there is another beautiful image in front of me. We crossed two suspension bridges, passed waterfalls, soaked up the rays in the valley and found glacial-like formations in the lake at the end. The view of Mount Cook from the base was amazing.
At the end of our hike, we went back to the hostel for lunch and made our way 3 hours to the city of Queenstown. We had heard a lot about Queenstown and it is called the “Adventure Capital of the World” and the place where bungy jumping was invented! We have no plans to go bungy jumping and I hope to avoid crowds of people I expect to see. We have come to relax and get away from the crowds of NYC, and have been rewarded in NZ so far. We are staying in the YHA (Youth Hostel Association), which is the same chain we stayed in at Mount Cook. Instead of a 8 person share dorm, Colin and I have just 2 bunk beds in our room. This hostel is not quite as nice as the one in Mount Cook, but the cooking facilities are larger, it’s very close to the downtown area, they have many more showers and they give you towels! Our plan is to use Queenstown as a stopping point on our way to “Fiordland,” where we hope to experience the sounds created between the mountains. We had hoped to do an overnight cruise of Doubtful Sound, but was a little nervous about sleeping in a cabin with 3 other people on a boat and we waited too long to book the tour. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise – I might not be ready for that. So, we’ll have to find a day trip to the sound instead.
Tomorrow we head closer to the Sounds and plan to stay in Te Anau and experience either Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound. Photos I have seen of both look amazing, but I think I lean towards the isolated waters of Doubtful versus the tourism of Milford. In the meantime, I leave you with a sunset photo taken in Queenstown.