Te Anau and Milford Sound

April 10th 2010
Te Anau and the Milford Sound
Hi Summit Stars! I’m even further south on the South Island now. I made it to Te Anau, which is a small mountain town with a beautiful lake in the center. It is two and a half hours from Milford Sound, which is where I am headed tomorrow. I went tramping (hiking) on a track (trail) in Te Anau and saw some native birds like the Takahe and Pukeko. These are both flightless birds only found in New Zealand. Tomorrow I’ll be off for a boat trip in the Milford Sound.

April 11th 2010
There are no petrol (gas) stations past Te Anau, so after filling up the rental car with gas, I was all set to leave for Milford Sound. I was awake and on the road before even the sun was up. After about two hours of driving, the sun began to rise. The sunrise was one of the prettiest I had ever seen. The sun first hit the snow covered mountain tops and then slowly made its way into the valleys. In order to get to Milford Sound, I had to travel right through a mountain. The tunnel seemed endless and scary as it was only rocks from the mountain that were visible from the inside of the tunnel. The tunnel also traveled downward so it felt like I was traveling all the way to middle earth. From the carpark, the Milford Sound was stunning. I checked in with the ticket counter and got my boarding pass for the boat. The boat had two levels. As the boat cruised into the Milford Sound, I was astounded by the size of the mountains that surrounded it. They were over a mile high, some covered in snow, and very vertical. Some bottlenose dolphins came out to play near our boat. They were just visiting in the sound, so we were lucky to see them. We also saw some New Zealand Fur Seals, which were the same type that I saw in Kaikoura. There were several waterfalls that we traveled past. The captain backed our boat towards one waterfall and it was so powerful that it had its own wind coming off of it. The mist soaked all of us on the observation deck. It was really cool! After the boat trip was over, I was ready to explore some of the tracks off the road to the Milford Sound. On one track, I saw a Kea, which is an endangered bird. On another track I saw an incredible chasm with a roaring ice blue waterfall. On my final track of the day I took in the sights at Mirror Lake, a lake so smooth and clear that it reflects the surroundings in it. This land is rainforest, so there are lots of ferns, mosses, and tropical plants. What a breathtaking and beautiful place!

Penguins!!!

Today I saw two different kinds of penguins in Oamaru. Penguins are not very common in New Zealand. In fact, the two types of penguins that I saw today are endangered. From a distance I saw three yellow eyed penguins glide onto a beach and run around together. Yellow eyed penguins will not come onto the beach if they hear or see people, so I walked a track (trail) up high above the beach and watched quietly for them there. I was very lucky to see them arrive on the beach a couple hours before dusk. My next stop of the evening was at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, which is a protected area where the Little Blue Penguins may be viewed from a safe distance. The Blue Penguin is the smallest penguin in the world. It is bluish in color and incredibly loud when it calls out to other penguins. At dusk, groups of Blue Penguins group together to form rafts and then body surf into the rocks of the shore. These penguins then use their very sharp talons to grip the rock and hop up to shore. Blue penguins are nocturally active on land, which is why dusk was a good time to see them. Some of these penguins were very fat, as some were molting. The penguins that were molting would sometimes tip over because they were so fat for only being 28 cm tall. The penguins would then wait in small groups to cross from the safety of the rocky shore to their nests. They would wait at the edge of the small clearing until one penguin would bravely race for the nesting area. Once one brave penguin made a break for the nesting area, the other penguins would quickly race behind her/him. Tonight I saw 49 penguins at the Blue Penguin Colony. People are not allowed to photograph blue penguins because it disturbs them too much. I watched the penguins for about an hour and a half before leaving for the night. Penguins are fascinating and adorable creatures! It was a wonderful day!


Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony Website: www.penguins.co.nz/

On Holiday

Hi Summit Stars!

Since I last wrote you, our school has gone on holiday (spring break) for two weeks. My husband arrived in New Zealand to join me in traveling around the country during this break. We left Hastings, New Zealand and headed north to Lake Taupo, which was absolutely beautiful. We found a nice campsite by the bluest river that I have ever seen. While exploring the lake shore of Lake Taupo, we found white pumice rocks (which are formed by the ash of volcanoes). These pumice rocks float when placed in water. This area of New Zealand is known for having active volcanoes. We took a day trip into Rotorua and explored a park called Wai-O-Tapu. This park was filled with geothermic activity. Feel free to explore the website below to learn more about this amazing natural park. The park was beautiful, even though it smelled like rotten eggs. The smell was caused by sulfur coming up from the beneath the earth. There were bubbling mudpools and steaming cracks in the earth as well as a lime green pond. At times we also got very hot because of the heat coming up from the earth. It was a fascinating look at a unique landform in New Zealand.

Wai-O-Tapu Park Website: www.waiotapu.co.nz/

From there, we journeyed south to Wellington, which is the New Zealand's capital. Here, we visited Te Papa Museum and learned more about the Maori culture. From there, we quickly visited the silver fern sculpture, which hung high in the air between several building right downtown. It was very cool.

The next day we boarded our ferry for the South Island of New Zealand. The ferry trip was incredibly windy, but a lot of fun. It took about three and a half hours to get to the South Island. Once we arrived in Picton, on the South Island, we drove to Kaikoura, where we saw hundreds of seals out on the rocks by the ocean. We spent two days here and on our second day we decided to hike to the Ohau waterfall which flows into the ocean. On our hike up to the falls, we saw over twenty seal pups playing in the steam of the falls. I fell in love with these seal pups, they were incredibly cute and playful. One pup tried to nip at my ankle while I was sitting on a rock. Seals are very curious creatures and want to play with anyone that comes around. These seals were fur seals and were very fluffly when they were dry. I love seals!

From Kaikoura, we headed south to Christchurch, where we spent some time soaking in the beautiful English style city. So far it has been an amazing trip! I hope to write again soon. : )