The view from our front door We've been in Queenstown for a little over a month now, and we've been so busy finding an apartment and interviewing for jobs that we've had very little time for adventure. We had a bit of a "chicken or egg" situation when we first arrived, since no one wanted to rent us an apartment without proof of employment, but no one wanted to hire us until we had a local address. Fortunately we were able to submit proof of sufficient funds with a local real-estate company, and our application for an apartment in the suburb of Frankton was approved fairly quickly. We live at the top of a very steep driveway with fantastic views looking out over lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range. We're both working as zipline guides with Ziptrek EcoTours, but Steve recently accepted a second part-time job with a local Go-Kart operator and I'm training for a part-time role as a customer service agent with Air New Zealand. We're hoping that having several jobs will help us save back some of the money we spent exploring on our bikes for 4 months.
With all the interviewing, training, and working we've been on very different schedules for the last few weeks, so when we found out we were both off on Wednesday we decided to make the most of a rare opportunity and go on an adventure. One of the perks of working for Ziptrek is that we get to enjoy free tours with several local companies so that we can recommend them to our guests, so we decided to call up Roscos Milford Kayak Tour and see if we could tag along. As soon as Steve finished work on Tuesday we jumped in the car and made the six hour drive down to Milford Sound. We camped for the night at the DOC campground at Lake Gunn, and met up with our guide at the Milford Sound Lodge the next morning at 10am. We've seen a lot of rain here in Queenstown in the past few weeks, so when we woke up to a dark and rainy day we weren't too surprised.
We had a great time out on the water, despite the cold and the rain. We were outfitted in base-layers, a fleece and a waterproof jacket and given a spray skirt and kayak specific neoprene gloves. We shared a tandem sea-kayak that we steered with a pedal and rudder system, so we didn't have to coordinate our paddling to turn. Much nicer than the last time we went kayaking together, when we had an inflatable kayak with one kayak paddle and one canoe paddle, and our boat got a puncture halfway down the river. We started out with some quick safety instructions before we split up into a small group and headed out with our guide. We paddled through a fairly shallow marshy area and out to an enormous waterfall fed by a remnant glacier. From there we made our way up the fijord, paddling along the cliffs that extended all the way into the water before paddling across the open water to the other side. We stopped in the middle of the fijord to watch a seal playing in the water and warmed up with a hot drink before continuing to the other side and back down to where we started. We passed several more waterfalls on our way back to the dock that wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been raining, so there was a silver lining to the wet weather.
We got off the water around 3pm and got back on the road to Queenstown as soon as we could to try and make as much of the scenic drive in the daylight as possible. We stopped off in Te Anau to get gas and treated ourselves to a nice dinner and made it home just after 9:30. It was really nice to get out of Queenstown for a day, but we were grateful for our nice warm bed at the end of our long adventure!
To see more pictures, check out the Photo post.
To see more pictures, check out the Photo post.
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