Feb. 23

23 Feb.
I'm writing this on the flight from Queenstown to Auckland. It's raining all over NZ today, so a good day to leave. We checked out of our apt this morning and walked along the lakefront path into town. A walk -- particularly one without a backpack --sounded like a good idea before our long flight. I wore my rain gear from the track and Mike borrowed an umbrella from our hosts. It took about 45 minutes and was pleasant even with the rain. In good weather it must be stunning. We checked out a few shops for last-minute souvenirs. Mike found a terrific lambskin vest which is being made to order for him and should arrive in about 3 weeks. We took a cab back to our lodging, picked up the luggage, and headed to the airport.

We left a little early to make sure we had balanced the weight in our 3 bags. We hadn't. A quick repack with Mike taking his some of his diving gear and tripod in his carry-on luggage did the trick.

Security is interesting here. Everything is outside the security check point. You go thru security only when your flight is called. Mike had to unpack his backpack for the security folks but still had plenty of time to make the flight.

On a more interesting topic, we had one more adventure at the end of the Routeburn Track. We had the option of going on what they call a jet safari, a trip on a jet boat. This is part of the NZ travel culture we had avoided, the part responsible for things like bungee jumping. The most adrenaline-filled jet safari is said to be on the Shotover River, thru a narrow gorge. Our trip was on the Dart River. It's a braided river that runs thru Mt Aspiring National Park and ends in Lake Wakatipu, the lake on which Queenstown is located. It was as much a sightseeing, history, and culture tour as a thrill ride. We saw the Routeburn Valley we had hiked thru; lots of beautiful mountains; the beginning of a long, narrow gorge that would have been great to explore by canoe; several Lord of the Rings filming locations; and a mountain sacred to the local Maori tribe that is the source of some high-quality greenstone. We also went flying 44 km down the river to Glenorchy, at the northern end of the lake.

 We met the rest of our group in a pub there for the farewell celebration and presentation of certificates and a copy of the group photo taken earlier on the track. We have so many certificates from all of our different activities that we'll have to make a scrapbook for them.

The last day on the Milford Track, I told Mike that if we hadn't already paid for Routeburn I wouldn't have done it. I'm really glad we went. It was one of only 3 times on the trip that we had really good views of the mountains all around us. The other 2 were Tongariro on the North Island and the flight over the glaciers from Franz Josef. This time, we had been thru enough of the countryside that I felt I understood what I was seeing. The optional side hike on day 1 to the Key summit showed us the Milford Road we had taken thru the Homer Tunnel, the valley we had driven thru from Te Anau to the Divide, and even some of what we had seen from the Milford Track. The optional side hike on day 2, up Conical Hill, gave us views out to the Tasman Sea (although very much thru clouds), where we were going later that day, and the other tracks in the surrounding country. We could see snow and even some glaciers on peaks, waterfalls, lakes, and rivers. Once it stopped raining on day 2, we had fabulous weather with magical light on the mountains and waterfalls all around us. The clear weather held thru the night and I FINALLY got to see the Southern Cross as well as a skyful of other stars and the Milky Way. Who cared if my knees hurt and my feet felt like they might never support me again? I was incredibly happy. A great way to end an amazing trip.