The following day, December 19th, Nick had to go procure his motorbike, I went to the doctors to have my knee checked out, and we guessed Sam would spend the day wrenching on his motorbike. He also decided to forgo buying a SIM card so he was essentially phone-less.. We could only hope that he would meet us at the agreed campsite that night and as dusk was drawing near, we worried that he wasn’t able to fix his bike and thus wouldn’t be making the rendezvous. Then we heard the rumble of The Pig, he arrived, and we soon agreed to “freedom camp” since this campsite was charging way too much for a spot. New Zealand allows “freedom camping” which means you have the freedom to camp wherever you want out in the woods. As you near towns and villages, there are signs saying not to freedom camp from here on in. So the three of us cruised to town to pick up a feast to cook around the campfire and then went up to the hills surrounding Queenstown and found a great spot with a view of the sunset.
Wine and cheese, classy camping.
The following day we decided to go whitewater rafting in the Shotover River. Queenstown is known for all sorts of adventure activities; bungee jumping, jetboat rides, rafting, skydiving, etc. but we decided whitewater rafting provided the most bang for the buck. It lasts a few hours instead of a few seconds like bungee jumping. Right before heading out, we ran into Brian and Ann who had just arrived to town. They had to go pick up their rental car and get settled into a hostel so we parted ways and agreed to meet the next day in Te Anau en route to the infamous Milford Sound. The busride to the put-in point on the river was the sketchiest road I have ever been on. Skippers Road is an old mining route that has numerous “10 roll turns” AKA if the bus went over the edge, it would roll 10 times down a sheer cliff before it crashed at the bottom. The rapids were mediocre but there is tons of antique abandoned mining equipment rusting away on the riverbanks. We three returned to the Nomad Hostel and met up with some new friends to chill at the beach as the sun set behind the mountains across the lake.
Whitewater Rafting the Shotover River (left) and the sketchy road to get there (right)
The following day was a busy one. We were boarding a century-old steamship, the T.S.S. Earnslaw to sweep us across Lake Wakatipu and then we were doing some off-road riding to Te Anau where we were meeting Brian and Ann. From there we all were zipping up to the legendary Milford Sound for a boat tour. Things were off to a rocky start as I couldn’t find the keys to my motorbike but they were finally discovered in the hostel’s storage room. We were lucky that the Earslaw’s cargo load was low on this morning trip and we could squeeze our three motorbikes on board. We took a lot of photos of the vessel and its old steam engine workings, the surrounding blue water, and our lovely bikes in the hull next to some trash cans. We enjoyed some cuppas (NZ slang for cup-of-tea) on the voyage and nerded out with some of the crew as we talked about the maintenance of the engine.
ALLLL ABOARRRDDDD!
Trash and motorbikes.
So long Queenstown.
We unloaded our bikes as the tourists departed to spend the day at the Walter Peak Farm. It was surreal watching the smokestack erupt with black smoke as the ship pulled away from the dock. I am amazed how far technology has come. We spent some time at the dock to get out gear sorted and soon hit the long gravel trail to Route 94, the road to the Milford Sound.
Thanks for the lift Earnslaw.
Making sure everything is tied down for the bumpy road ahead.