Start-light, Start-bright, HOLY COW this Land is Beautiful

I got some time off from WWOOFing, hopped on a few buses and headed South to explore a few places that I had yet to see. I spent my first few nights on my route down south staying in the “adventure capitals of the world,” Wanaka and Queenstown. Ski resorts galore and skydiving and bungee jumping companies flood the area, drawing thousands of adrenaline-seeking 20-something tourists. Although I, myself am also an adrenaline-seeking, 20-something yr old tourist at times, I chose to stay clear of this scene mostly, and rather hung out in parks reading and eating a plethora of granola-filled yogurt containers as my meals while taking cat naps under trees. Am I boring? Maybe. But my hearts desire was to see Southland, and I chose to save my money to continue my journey to one of the most beautiful spots in the world. I am sure I’ll plenty of time in my life to jump off high things anyways.
In order to reach my spot of destination, Milford Sound, you must journey across what is said to be the most dangerous highway in the world due to its almost 90 degree surrounding mountain slopes, cascading waterfalls, and extremely high amounts of snow and rain year-round. Luckily, I got through without any avalanches (although the entire next day the road was closed due to avalanche maintenance), and settled into my lodge nestled amongst the mountains. This spot is visited by tour buses each day, but very few actually stay overnight. Glad to stay the night and soak in the views on my own and take photos free of a few hundred Japanese tourists, I spent my first few hours on the bank and watched dolphins swim in shallow waters next to me.
Milford Sound is a World Heritage Site (like the Grand Canyon, Macchu Pichu, etc), and there I was sitting in a World Heritage Site completely alone. How often does that happen?
I guess when you’re in New Zealand in a place only reached by avalanche-covered highways. I was quite pleased with my decision to see this place on my own, as it was just myself and the most majestic mountains ever, mirror-reflecting waters, and dolphins just swimming about (okay, and the sandflies..horrible biting things not worthy enough to write more about).
Once I finished soaking in all the zen that I needed, I succumbed back to joining other tourists and hopped on a nature cruise through the sound. I was not disappointed as we explored waterfalls, spent time watching dolphins, penguins, and seals! Wee! Each waterfall was filled with rainbows on the sunlit day. Our boat tour was hypnotized as we drifted slowly into a pair of falls filled with rainbows called “fairy falls.” A version of “Over the Rainbow” was played over the loudspeaker, and we were caught in a trance watching the magical waters cascade down the cliffs of the Sound. Unbeknownst to us, the crew was giggling to themselves as the captain slowly steered the boat into the waterfall directly over touristy couples taking photos and holding-only to be disrupted by a nice cool shower. (Luckily I was a safe distance away, and both I and my camera came out dry.)

My last day in Milford Sound, I had to take an important matter in my own hands. With no other tourists around, how was I supposed to get a picture of myself and the Sound-or more importantly a JUMPING picture!? To my delight, a large log had been perfectly positioned in the middle of the beach, obviously set up by the camera Gods, complete with a patch of moss growing to set a camera on. My self-timer and I have overtime become good friends, and I managed to snap a sufficient jumping photo before I journeyed on.
I stayed in another few youth hostels on my journey back up north, delighting in the fact that nearly everyone I meet can no longer tell where I am from. I don’t think my accent has noticeably changed, but my enunciation, vocabulary, and perhaps even my demeanor has changed, and after a small conversation people guess me to be English, Kiwi, or Canadian. Score! I suppose so many months of simmering down my Americaness while hanging out with so many Kiwis, has made a dent after all. I will most probably lose this demeanor within a week of being back in America, but mate, its fun while it lasts eh?

I ended my holiday staying with friends in Lake Tekapo, where the Night Sky World Heritage Site lies. I have been here before (see an entry from April), but chose not to pay the $90 to get a night sky tour. I’ve regretted it ever since, and miraculously-since then I’ve made the right friends and connections to have been offered to do the tour for FREE. I could barely contain myself as I climbed into the old Antarctic Researchers jackets, they gave us to warm our bodies while we gazed upwards on top of a mountain for hours late at night. We were shown around gigantic telescopes and pointed out twinkling constellations above our heads. I put my camera through a telescope to get this shot of the moon, and set my camera on world-class astro-photography tripods that rotate with motion of the Earth.
I looked at globula star clusters that showed over 1 million stars with help of a telescope. These globulas were between 10-12 million years old, about the oldest things that we know of in our universe. Can I say that again? I was looking at one of the oldest-known things in the known-universe with my own eyes. A cluster of a million stars just twinkling at me saying “look at how amazing this universe is..you only a MARGIN of its splendor!” I drooled over the different constellations in the Southern night sky, looked at Jupiter and its moons, and looked at a star so far away, that in order for us to see its twinkle, its light has been traveling towards Earth from around the time of Christ. Giggity! The stars have me mesmerized, and word on the street is that if I came back here in a few years I’d be offered a job as a night sky tour guide! Most of my time in this country, I walk around hyperventilating about the beauty of this place and all the possibilities of where life might take me. Don’t worry, my fellow Americans…you won’t lose me…but I am definitely coming back and hopefully with some friends and family…and maybe I’ll even be your night sky tour guide.