From Queenstown...

We've covered some serious ground since leaving Motueka.  We drove South through Hamner Springs where we went for a soak in a strange hot springs/water park thing.  Then we were off to Christchurch where we stayed with Denise, one of Margaret's friends.  We saw some pretty hilarious prop comics perform in the Busker's Festival--a collection of street performers and variety acts that lasts ten days.  It was nice for us poor travelers to get some free entertainment. 

After our one night stint in Christchurch we charged over to Lake Tekapo to meet our friend Tyson.  We spent the day swimming, throwing rocks and basking in the sun.  We slept right on the lake shore under the extraordinary southern hemisphere stars.  After packing up our slightly moist sleeping bags we set off to Mt. Cook National Park.  We hiked in for an overnight stay up to Ball hut.  The hike was easy so we had some time to just sit in the sun above a crackling glacier.  There was a fancy radio set up in the outhouse next to the hut we slept in.  We got to here the Ranger talk to all of the people staying in the huts around the park.  We got to listen in on a hillarious conversation about a very full outhouse somehwere deep in the park.  We all giggled when the Ranger instructed the campers to use the 'poo stick' to try and wiggle out some extra room. 

We climbed a somewhat sketchy rockslide to get a better view of Mt. Cook, which was covered in glaciers and ice.  The park is a big mountaineering hotspot (or should I say cold spot har har har), and most of the hikes through the park are precarious to say the least.  As we hiked out it rained on us and we got to test out our new rain gear.

We parted ways with Tyson, he was headed East in search of surf and we headed off to Milford Sound.  When we settled on a campground it was pouring rain.  There were about 10 campervans and then us in our three person tent.  We set up our stove in the rain and made some veggie soup with some TSP (textured soy protein mmmmm).  I think we were the entertainment for the night for all the people snuggled up in their vans.  In the morning we drove the rest of the way to Milford Sound for a cruise through the fjord.  The rain had stopped and all of the rainforest-covered mountains looked magical with the sun shining through the misty peaks.  It rains on average over 7 meters in fiordland.  It helps explain why even the sheerest peaks coming out of the water are covered in green.  The skipper told us that even though we were on the sea there is layer of fresh water that usually stays around 3 meters thick.We decided to spend another day at our campsite because it was so epic. 

We are now in Queenstown  preparing for a 8-9 day tramp through the Dusky Track--also apart of Fiordland national Park.  It will definitely be really wet and muddy.  We decided to hire a mountain radio to get weather reports and to communicate if we get stranded and need help.  We went to Stu's upholstery (?) to rent what we thought was going to be a little hand held thing, but instead got thorough instructions on how to set up our 'simple' aerial for our radio...  frist we have to climb a tree to get the transmitter 4 meters in the air, then run wires to the ground 20 feet away then hook it into a clunky box.  If we do get stranded, hopefully we can set it up before we run out of food. 

More Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56993065@N03/