Milford Sound

Milford Sound is considered a must-do when visiting the South Island of New Zealand. However, it's one of the wettest places in the world, and the day we visited was no exception to the usual rain.

Because our kayaking trip was cancelled, we took a scenic boat cruise of Milford Sound instead. When we saw these kayakers braving the cold, windy, wet weather, we were quite glad we weren't among them.

Milford Sound is beautiful, even in the rain. There are tons of waterfalls, enormous mountain peaks, seals hanging out on rocks, and gorgeous views along the whole trip. There's not much else to say about it, so I'll leave you with a few pictures of our wet trip.

The boat you can see (which is a large boat) might give you an idea of the size of the mountains.

The Drive to Milford Sound

On January 2, we were scheduled to kayak at Milford Sound. Unfortunately, with all of the rain, the road to Milford had been closed for a couple of days and we didn't know if it was going to open back up in time. Well, it didn't open in time for our 9am kayak trip, so that was cancelled, but it did open at 11am, so we were able to drive there from Te Anau for an afternoon scenic boat ride (more on that in the next post). I'd say that the drive to get there was just as, if not more beautiful than Milford Sound itself. I think the rain actually added to the amazing sights.

One of our stops along the way was Mirror Lakes, which (when it's not raining) has a lovely reflection of the mountains in the water. We didn't get to see the reflection, but the lupins were pretty. Lupins are the pink and purple wildflowers that you see everywhere when driving around New Zealand at this time of year. I couldn't get enough of them!

Because of all the rain, the water levels everywhere were high. This rushing river was super loud, and I could see why the road had been closed for a few days, as the bridge looked like it could easily be flooded.

The rain did make for spectacular waterfalls all over the rocks. It reminded me of my trip to Uluru, where it never stopped raining but gave us a unique viewing experience. This picture is just before you go through Homer Tunnel (over a kilometer long!), and the one below is the view just after going through the tunnel.

Another stop along the way is called The Chasm. You do a short walk through an extremely green forested area to see swirling water rush through deep rock holes. It was pretty cool.

These birds are called Keas, and they are the world's only alpine parrots. You see them hanging out in parking lots on the way to Milford Sound, because the tourists feed them. We even saw one Kea trying to chew on the molding of a car roof. The owner of the car didn't like that too much!








Even though it was a long, wet drive, the road to Milford Sound was one of the prettiest I've seen. I wish we could go back and experience it in the sunshine as well!

Uluru in the Rain

Well, since my computer's still not working, I'll start the Uluru posts I've been saving for awhile. This one has been in draft form for awhile, so maybe it'll upload and hold you over until I get things up and running again. I know you've all been missing my posts terribly-hahaha! 

After my parents and brother and sister-in-law left in mid-November, my sister Morgan stayed an extra week in Australia. We took a short trip to Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, which is a huge sandstone formation in the middle of the Outback. It's over 1000 feet high and two miles long, and it's pretty darn famous.

No, Uluru does not usually have a big cloud over it!

Anyway, we checked the weather report before leaving, and it said there would be rain showers. Now, you have to understand, this rock is in the middle of the desert. Yulara (the "city" that Uluru is in) regularly reaches temperatures near 100 degrees (Fahrenheit) during the day at this time of year. So we packed mostly shorts and tank tops, threw a pair of pants and a raincoat in our suitcases for the rain shower we expected would pass through quickly to cool us off, and called it good. Little did we know we would be wearing the same thing for three days straight and that the rain would never really stop.

Morgan says, "What is up with the rain in the desert?"

We got there on November 20. As we were landing, the thing that struck me was the bright red color of the dirt. I'd say it is even redder than Moab, Utah, and that's pretty red! Also, I was surprised at all of the plants, bushes, and short trees that covered the land. I thought it would be more barren.

The walking "trail" around the rock.

Morgan and I got our rental car and headed out in the rain. Yes, rain. Lots of it. Never-ending (seriously). And it was kind of chilly. But we were in the middle of nowhere, and darn it, we were still going to walk around the rock. So we did the six mile hike in the pouring rain. At some points, we literally had to wade through knee-deep water. But it was worth it. There were hundreds of waterfalls pouring down Uluru, and it was amazing. Apparently only 3% of people get to see Uluru in the rain, so we were lucky. Over the next few days, we didn't always feel that way, but I'll admit it was pretty incredible. And from some searches I've done, some of the pictures we were able to get are pretty rare. My good camera actually got so wet it stopped working for awhile (yikes!), so some of these are actually phone pictures or taken with Morgan's little point and shoot camera.

If you happened upon my blog somehow and want to steal some pictures, please don't. :)

The Aboriginal people still own and live on this land. We actually saw a couple of Aboriginal kids playing around the rock, running barefoot down the path and under a fence (they can go wherever they want!). The visitor's centre had all sorts of interesting information about the history of the land, the food and tools of the Aboriginal people, and their beliefs about Uluru. This is a picture of some rock engravings we found while on our walk.

Green trees in the Outback-who knew?

After our walk, we set up camp in the back of our car (thank goodness we got an upgrade to an SUV!), since the campground at Ayers Rock Resort was flooded. We cooked up some chili and tried to stay dry. Ayers Rock Resort is really the only manmade thing that you can find in the vicinity of Uluru. It's a complex with a campground, cabins, fancier accommodation options, a few touristy stores, a post office, gas station, medical centre, grocery store, a couple of restaurants, etc. The campground was $36 a night (ripoff), but at least we could warm up in the showers and dry a load of soaking wet clothes.

It rained all night, but we slept decently well in the back of the SUV. In the morning, we put on the same pants and raincoats and headed out for our next adventure. Stay tuned for more!

Blue Mountains Hike

Here's a short post from my mom. I think she copied some of it from Wikipedia!

Church at St. Mary's Cathedral

Sunday, November 13 began with Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral.  We then boarded a train for our two hour ride to the Blue Mountains; it was a nice time to nap, read a book, or just rest while watching the countryside roll by.  Once we arrived in Katoomba, we fueled our bodies for the upcoming rigorous walk by eating large quantities of Chinese food.  The Blue Mountains are a series of beautiful and rugged valleys eroded down through an ancient plateau.  We began at Echo Point, famed for the three-pronged formation known as the Three Sisters.

"Three Sisters"-get it?
Yes, I am hunched over and squinty. I thought I needed to duck out of the way of the formation,
and I thought I didn't need my sunglasses at this point. Wrong on both accounts.

We then began a 900 step descent down the "Giant Steps" – a feat for the sure-footed!  We continued to trek for about two hours through hidden valleys, lush rainforest, beautiful gum trees, and spiraling waterfalls.  It was a tiring day but one in which our spirits were renewed and nurtured by nature.  -Sue

Justin at one of the waterfalls.

Heading down the "Giant Steps."

Blue Mountains

On Sunday we headed to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. They actually do look blue, apparently because of the eucalyptus oil combining with the atmosphere to create a blue haze. It was kind of a trek to get out there, because they were working on part of the train route, so we had to take a bus for about an hour, wait for awhile, and then take a train for over another hour. But it was worth it. We started by walking through town and checking out the Three Sisters. This is a famous rock formation, and all of the tourists were there.


Then we started our hike (or bushwalk as they would call it here), and it was quite the hike! We went down the Giant Steps (all 900 of them-seriously), walked through the oh-so-green rainforest, saw several waterfalls, heard lots of noisy birds, and went back up a trillion more steps as part of the loop. We only saw a few people once we got away from the big staircase down into the valley. The whole thing took us a few hours, and our legs felt the results of those darn stairs for several days afterward! We felt like we were climbing a 14er in Colorado, huffing and puffing and wondering when we would ever reach the top. Maybe we're just out of shape (quite possible).

 

On our long walk back through town to the train station, we stopped in a little place for some Chinese food. Much to our delight, the prices were completely reasonable, the quality of the food was excellent, and the portions were large. You don't find that winning combination in Australia very often! We both fell asleep on the train and bus ride back to town and woke up sore the next morning. I think the Blue Mountains are a pretty cool place to visit if you have a spare day while visiting Sydney. We're kind of spoiled brats because we compare everything to the mountains in Colorado (and not much compares), but we were impressed with the waterfalls and green plants growing everywhere. It was also nice to just get out of the city. We sure did miss Molly the Trail Dog though; she would have had a blast out there!