Fiordland

In Te Anau right now, just getting in from a 3 day hike on the Kepler track. My original plan of the Routeburn was dashed as the Harris Saddle alpine pass is still closed on account of avalanche hazard. Kepler was quite nice though. 30 miles! It too has its share of alpine sections; all met with sunny days and excellent visibility. On the flip side, I did blow out my knee pretty bad on the hike down (about midway through). Managed to get down with the assistance of walking sticks and painkillers O.K. Looks like future hikes will include those annoying ski poles, knee brace, and pain pills...

You betcha I took some great photos. No ETA on those. With my Australian internet account running out soon, I may have to bite the bullet and get my own site so I can post pics (and who knows, maybe a recipe or two). They are piling up and need a new home.

Met many more americans here in less than a week than just about 7 months in Australia. And the simple reason is because this place is the bomb. You know the feeling after you get off work for the week, get a few beers in ya and something happens; maybe someone has tickets to some bruins game or maybe you just finished something big. You get that feeling of elation. I feel like that every minute here. This place is truely remarkable. Its like a cross between Hawaii and Alaska (note I been to neither). It is a volcanic island ala Hawaii, and like Hawaii theres crystal clear waters and magnificent coastline. But like Alaska its got Glaciers, snow capped mountains and raw natural beauty. I may not make it back to Australia after 2003, but New Zealand is surely in my plans again. Even with morning temperatures in the upper 30s - mid 40s down at the southern tip of the south island. Heck that just makes it more familiar to me.

On to Milford sound tomorrow, then back to Queenstown and finally a bit of time in Christchurch. Scrapped are plans to visit Dunedin (on account of the Routeburn closing). No big loss though; talked to a few american students studying at the university there - they aren't too keen on it overall. Then back to sunny sydney!