Fall Break Trip to the South Island: I

Kia Ora!

Hello! So I'm back from my Fall Break trip to the South Island! (Well almost! I've got one more night in Christchurch but I figured I'd get started!) I had an amazing time traveling though I am glad to be heading somewhere like home! I've got a bunch of good things coming up, a weekend trip to Cape Reinga and the Bay of Island, the medical school application opening soon, and of course, talking to all of my loved ones back home, so I'm glad to be heading back but I had an amazing time on the South Island. It is an amazingly beautiful place that I definitely recommend. It exhibits a nature-lovers paradise, small towns, few people and absolutely stunning scenery.

I did my traveling mostly with Pacific Travel. This tour was a great way to go for me; since I wasn't traveling with anyone this company took care of booking trains/buses/tours and hotels for me which I really appreciated. I definitely think it can be done on your own, but it was much easier to have everything ready and waiting for me. I think a tour, even an independent one such as this where I was traveling on my own, is a great option. I was a bit nervous about traveling on my own (especially without regular internet and no cell phone) but it turned out great. Being on my own really gave me a chance to explore what I was interested in and well as being strictly on my schedule. I think for me it was a great option. A lot of what I wanted from my trip to New Zealand was a chance to really get in touch with who I am, what it is that I want, and this trip definitely afforded me that opportunity.

Above is a map of the South Island and you may just be able to see where I traveled, all on tours or on public transportation.

Here is a slightly more close up version. The black lines are the routes I took. To start with I traveled down from Christchurch to Dunedin! I stayed one night in Christchurch when I first arrived; I stayed at Kiwibasecamp, a youth hostel, right outside of the city center. Admittedly I did not enjoy it, the hostel was poorly heated and the staff not all that hospitable. I didn't enjoy Christchurch either; staying near the city center there was a lot of debris from the earthquake's damage and the whole city had a vaguely ghosttown feel for it. I was happy to head for Dunedin the next day!

Dunedin! Also known as "the New Edinburgh," this city was founded by Scottish settlers in the 19th century. The Scottish influence is still quite visible today.

On the streets of Dunedin.

View of Dunedin.

One of the many exotic gardens in Dunedin; the Chinese garden! Beautiful rainbow too!

The Cadbury chocolate factory! I did go on a tour but you weren't supposed to take pictures inside. But I will tell you this, they had a waterfall of chocolate and gave out "free" samples. :D

The steepest street in the world at a whopping 38 degrees.

Dunedin's botanic garden. Dunedin is known as the "Garden City." The gardens were beautiful and I made a new friend from Germany while exploring!

The Free Church.

Inside the Free Church (Presbyterian). It was the first church established by the Scottish settlers here in Dunedin (or, the New Edinburgh).

Beautiful fall colours in Dunedin. Unfortunately just about all of the coloured plants are non-native.

Knox Street church. This was right down the road from my hotel.

The Otago museum. I only stopped in here briefly but it was a great museum with natural history exhibits as well as larger world-wide exhibits, including sculpture and pottery from around the world (from mummies to greek vases).

Overlooking Dunedin.

The Dunedin railway station.

Speight's brewery. Speight's is the "South Island" beer. It competes with Steinlager for being most popular Kiwi beer.

St. Joseph's cathedral.

Church of St. Paul.

Dunedin's Town Hall.

Overlooking Dunedin.

Overlooking Dunedin, you can see the Otago peninsula (where I was lucky enough to see Yellow-Eyed penguins and Albatross. Unfortunately as it was pouring and twilight time my pictures aren't very good, but it was awesome to see them in the wild!)

Heading out from Dunedin I took the train through the famous Tairei Gorge and then continued on a bus to Queenstown.

Heading out to the Tairei Gorge (on a train!)

Stunning fall colours out in Tairei Gorge.

Tairei Gorge.

From the train I took a van from Middlemarch over to Queenstown.

New Zealand's desert. It was amazing; in the South Island of New Zealand there is a huge range of ecosystems, from desert to lush rainforest to frozen glaciers.

Beautiful sunset out in the country.

On my first day in Queenstown I left on a trip to go to Fjordland National Park.

One of our stops on the trip to Fjordland was in the town of Te Anau. This is the nearby lake.

Absolutely beautiful. The water here, as most of it is pristine glacier water, is startlingly clear.

Eglinton Valley in Fjordlands National Park. This was on the drive to Milford Sound, our final destination on the trip.

One of the hundreds of beautiful waterfalls I've seen on my trip. This one is in Fjordland.

Eglinton Valley. We filled our water bottles up at this stop; tasty!

These valleys were all formed by glaciers moving to the sea.

Fjordland is quite a unique place. It is of only two locations like it, the other being in Chile. Here the (temperate) rainforest quite literally runs into the ice and glaciers.

Hiking in the rainforest. We got lucky though, only one of two days the whole month it hadn't rained!

Hiking near the Chasm in Fjordlands. Amazing geology. All of this was carve out by fast moving water.

Another site at the Chasm hike.

Beautiful rainforest with the mountains in the background.

The main event, Milford Sound! Here I took a boat out into the fjord. "Sound" is actually an incorrect name as it refers to a river carved out valley and these are glacier carved out valleys, or fjords. Beautiful.

Just stunning scenery out on the water. If you ever visit I highly recommend taking a boat (or kayaking!) out into the fjord.

We even got to see bottlenose dolphins!

Beautiful waterfall in Milford Sound. We were able to go almost right underneath it.

Fur seals we got to see on the cruise!

Also in Fjordland we got to see the stunning mirror lakes. I almost think they are more beautiful than Milford. When I first saw the "lakes" I was stunned, they were so small! More like "mirror puddles," but they sure were beautiful!

Shots of the Mirror Lakes.

The Mirror Lakes. So gorgeous!

The next day I actually spent in Queenstown, exploring and meeting up with a friend from field camp, but that's for another day. more to come soon!