We'd not seen an autumn since 2007, or much of winter, but this week we've been through both. As we drove south towards Wanaka, the colour of leaves changed from yellow to red to rust, and the air became crisper. But the sky was still blue, and so we went walking - rewarding ourselves with the by now regular treat of fish'n'chips by the lake.
And then came the rain. 250mm in a day to be precise. We'd planned to go canyoning in Queenstown - a combination of abseiling, swimming and jumping your way down a river gorge. Its not quite bungy - but appealed a bit more as it lasts hours not seconds.. You'd think the heavy rain would help - but the river level was rising too fast for our instructor's liking, and he pulled the plug.
Never mind - because there's one place where you want rain in New Zealand. The cliffs over Milford Sound gain dozens of extra waterfalls when its raining - and lose a few annoying tour groups. From our boat we could spot dolphins and seals - but it was the force of the water and the sheer scale of the rocks that was really spectacular.
And then came the snow. Just up the road from Milford we camped beside a little lake - getting there at dusk to see the light fade over the mountains. When we woke, those mountains were white - we'd slept just below the snow line, and there was more drifting in.
That sent us back north towards Queenstown - where, in a river this time supplemented by snowmelt, we finally went canyoning. It was cold - the kind of cold that deprives your hands and feet of any sensation while the body pumps adrenalin. Feeling we've earned our adventurer stripes, we've now retreated northwards, back to where there's blue sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment