My trip to New Zealand

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Te Anau, The kepler track

After Queenstown, we headed south again, and finally entered the nice fjord-land. We stayed in the barnyard backpackers just outside the small town, and the next day departed on the kepler track. While the track is quite nice view wise, it was so packed with people (about 60 people in the hut) that (for me, at least) it ruined the experience a little bit. That's when I decided I don't like the 'great-walks' at all (the Heaphy was good, but I did it early, before the holidays, so it was empty. Well, except for the school kids, anyway).
The first day of the kepler is quite boring. You walk in the bush all day, just at the end you go above the bush line, and then you reach the first hut (Luxmore). It looks more like an Hotel or something eh? Well it's nice, but way too big!
Our 'room' in the Hut. You can see Julia, Lisa & Rejka, and Melanie. Oh, and Gal. At least the company on that track was good! (On the kepler I also met Dror, who went to university with me. Amazing how many people I met in NZ!)
The second day has really good views. You walk on top of the mountain ridge, the track is just superbly built. Well done DOC.
Still in the second day.
At the end of the 2nd day you begin to climb down. I really hate going down....
The last day is mostly bush again, and there's a small swamp you cross as well. So of course (this being a great walk) they built some wooden walkways to help.

The Fjords

After the Kepler, we wanted to do some relaxed cruise of the two mostly known sounds - Milford and Doubtful. There's always the argue on which is the 'best' sound. I liked Milford more - because it had so many waterfalls, it was amazing. Then again, that was because it rained the day before we went there, so I guess it's not really fair. They're both great, anyway!
General Knowledge note - I always wondered what's the difference between a 'sound' and a 'fjord'. Why isn't Milford called the Milford Fjord if it's a fjord? It turns out that a sound is just a part of the sea that enters the land. A fjord is a sound that was created by glacier movement. So now you know!
Doubtful sound!
Well, it is a nice, erm, sound, no?
Still in doubtful.
A hanging valley in doubtful. Okay, last picture of that sound.
On the way to Milford sound. The road itself is very nice, and that's the first time we saw a Kea, actually..
The mirror lakes on the way to Milford. They seemed quite pathetic to us when we saw them, but on the picture they look really good...
One of the MANY waterfalls in the sound.
Mitre peak, one of the best known, er, peaks in NZ.
The view from our window in the backpackers. Nice rainbow!

Page 10 (where lot's of exciting stuff happens)