Monday, April 13, 2009

Days 5 & 6 "Autumn Break" and Shannon's Trip Down Under


So now onto days 5 & 6. I guess I should start by saying that following our 4 hour canoe trip in the morning, Shannon and I had to drive the 4 or 5 hours down to Wellington to catch our Interisland ferry across to the South Island. Yay!! Road Trips!!
Anyway, we took the ferry across (a 3 hour trip) arrived at our hostel, got some sleep, and woke up the next morning to Picton and the Queen Charlotte Sounds and hike!

We first boarded our water taxi out to Ship Cove where Captain James Cook first took shelter in New Zealand. We started our hike through beech trees, shrubs, and other small trees and finally made our way up to a lookout where you could see the Sounds from above.

We ended up walking 26.5km TODAY!!! OUCH!! Our legs were hurting by the end of it and I thought for a minute Shannon was highly considering killing me after making her hike that far. I was sore and I know coming from flatland Illinois and hiking here in New Zealand is quite the change! :)




She ended up not killing me and we stayed overnight at a resort which also had hostel accomodation.

The sounds were absolutely beautiful and the views amazing!! We were supposed to hike another 21 or 24 km the next day but it was raining a bit and we were so tired that we didn't really feel up to hiking without the good views so we ended up chilling out at the resort for a few hours and taking the water taxi back into Picton. Actually a very good day for a rest!




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