Sydneyside!

Ciao ciao New Zealand.

Just went for a walk along one of the main drags in Kings Cross (red light area - where we're staying of course..) and there's just so much life. Makes me realise that I couldn't live in New Zealand, even though it's so beautiful - it's just a bit too quiet. Not enough freaks. Here, you could just sit at a bar on the street and not say a word for an hour, and just breathe in the atmosphere and watch the world go by. So many people, so much noise. Cool - all I need now is some sleep.

The Sounds of Fiordland (are fjords)

If, like me, you didn't really know your sounds from your fjords (or fiords), here you go: a sound used to be a river valley, which has been drowned by rising sea levels; a fjord is a drowned glacial valley. A sound is like a shallow V shape, half filled with water, whereas a fjord is more like a half-filled U - very steep sides and a flat bottom.
The Marlborough Sounds (see entry way below) are genuine sounds, but Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Dusky Sound et al in Fiordland are actually fjords - hence the name Fiordland. Those pioneers eh, what did they know.

Anyway, Milford Sound is the most famous, and the most accessible. Most people take short cruises up to the end of it, but we thought we'd be different and kayak on it.


A few more pictures of us kayaking on Milford Sound

Then (after the Milford and Kepler walks), we decided to see another. It's great this long-term travelling lark, so much time. You can do something strenuous, then just chill out and recover for a day or two, then do something very similar if you liked it the first time. So anyway, the other vaguely accessible fjord in Fiordland is Doubtful Sound, so named because Captain Cook (who otherwise was an absolute hero it seems) was doubtful as to whether he'd be able to sail back out if he sailed in. It's pretty remote - to get there you have to get a boat across a large (and beautiful) lake, then drive over a mountain pass on a road that simply links the lake and Doubtful Sound. We did an overnight cruise... An overnight cruise? As backpackers? Well, yeah, it was a bit more expensive than our usual tight-arsed activities, but we'd heard about all the great food they ply you with, and we were not disappointed...
Oh yes, and the place was beautiful too.

More pics of our overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound

The Great Walks...

(Words to follow, when I've had a good night's sleep)

I've uploaded some pictures already though (it's like a full day's work, poor ole me eh..). Click on links to see the pictures - it takes you to snapfish, where you need to set up a login, but this is quick and more importantly free. If anyone knows of any better sites please let me know...
Routeburn Track (3 days in Mount Aspiring / Fiordland National Parks)
Caples Track (2 days, completes loop after Routeburn)
Milford Track (4 days in Fiordland National Park)
Kepler Track (4 more days in Fiordland National Park)