Nevi's 134m

No more bushwalking, its tramping time!

So we are in New Zealand now, in Queenstown at the moment. First one warm up pic from the journey from Christchurch to Queenstown:



And then to the real thing: tramping. During the previous week we were busy with two famous strolls in Fjordland and Mt Aspiring National Parks.

First one was Milford Track, basically walking through Clinton Valley, crossing MacKinnon Pass and following another valley to Sandfly Point and Milford Sound.

A large part of the track was though magical forest of beech trees and a carpet of moss:



In addition to its scenery, Milford track is also famous for being rainy. As a consolation you get a huge amount of waterfalls along the way. The difference between the altitude of the valley and the surrounding mountains is around 1-1.6km, so you can imagine how it looks when water is constantly pouring down from the cliffs.



We stole some of the third days scenery and had a look around MacKinnon Pass already on the second day. It proved to be a fabulous decision since the next day we climbed back and all we could see was white.



Looking down the 12-second drop:



Buttercups along the path to the Pass Shelter:



Looking back to Clinton Valley:



Kea, a very smart bird which will try to play with and destroy every possessing you leave lying around.



Descending towards treeline againg:



An avalance/landslide or smth has done a little damage on the way:



The Sutherland Falls, three stages make together a 580 meter drop from the cliff. Going close felt like walking into a tropical storm.



From the end of the track we took a boat to Milford Sound:



..and a bus to the end of Routeburn Track. On the first day there we made a side trip to Key Summit:



Second night we stayed at Lake McKenzie:



The path zig zagged up from the lake, here's the lake from above:



The track continued along the mountain side..



..and reached Harris Saddle and Lake Harris. You can see the path continuing past Lake Harris on the right:



Looking back to Lake Harris:



The Route Burn river starts here and the track follows it down to the valley:



Getting down, near Routeburn flats:





I couldn't get over the beautiful color of the river's water:

Bääääääää

Countdown time, soon we'll leave Australia behind and head off to New Zealand. Last few days we've spent in the sheep farm Saku used to work in.

Few pics on the way from Adeleide to Melbourne:

We walked a couple of hours to see the seals in Cape Bridgewater:


A very self confident bird in the cute Port Fairy:


Every rock formation along Great Ocean Road has its own name, this one was Grotto or something.


At Twelve Apostles:


And this is how our road trip ended..we took a train to Melbourne in the end :)


Hillary was visiting Melbourne so there was quite a hassle there, heaps of policemen all over the place.


Saku-the-intelligent-coffee-drinker, Melbourne is famous for its cafes, felt like Europe pretty much.


And THE sheep farm. Saku worked here 4 years ago the first time and now again. I've heard so much about it that i was veery curious to see how its really like. I reckon handling the sheep is great fun. They look funny, run around and get stuck in places if there's too many of them. And when you turn them on their back they just look at you with a startled face and dont struggle at all.


Molly:


We did a little bit of crotching (don't really now how to spell it)


and collected some hay


and went for a little buswalks to the Grampians nearby:



Camping the aussie way, first time sleeping in a swag!



Thats what happens when you eat too many magic mushrooms:



Yesterday we tried to go to Dunkeld races but it was raining so we got stuck in a pub for the whole day.

Viinissa viisaus istuu

I'm still not sure how to deal with both english and finnish versions, this time I'll just put short comments in english and highlight them.

Päästiin pois Coober Pedysta, huristeltii Port Augustaan, matkalla ei kirjaimellisesti ollu mitää paitsi Pimba ja pari puuta. Sitte rupeski maisema vaihtuun, tuli kasveja ja kaikkee. Ja Flinder's Ranges.

hardly surprising but we were happy to get out of Coober Pedy, drove to Port Augusta and saw a couple of trees on the way



Flinder's Ranges:




Myohemmin ku paastiin viinialueille kirjottelin pienen maistelun jalkeen muistiin mita pitas kirjotella blogiin. Laitan sen nyt sensuroimattomana tahan niin ei tarvi ruveta selittamaan (englanninkieliset kommentit lisasin jalkikateen):

---klip---

quorn
wilpena pound tätähän me tultiin kattomaan
blinman villi limetti kuparikaivos
sakun torjunta laventelit

kamerapussi sakun pepusa
pysähdyttiin jokasessa kauniissa kukkameressä ja maisemassa joita oli monta

saatiin selville että aussi-bbqlla on turha yrittää paistaa pannareita, vetäydyttiin pakuun ruttuuisten pannareitten kanssa koska oli kylmä

Otettiin puskakävelysessio St Mary peakille ja Wilpena Poundin taikametsiin. Jälkikäteen piti olla palkitsemisherkuttelu mut kaikki paikat oli jo sulki niin nuudelit kutsui nam nam. Kosto saapui seuraavana päivänä. (Tassa pitaisi olla selitysta Stone Hutin vanhasta leipomosta)

Wilpena Pound and St Mary Peak bushwalking:




Flinder's Rangesin vanhimmassa kylässä käytiin vanhassa sepän pajassa. Saku meinasi haljeta kahtia. Täs kuva ulkopuolelta, onkohan tuo mahtumassa ovesta sisöän.

Old blacksmith workshop in Melrose, the oldest town in Flinder's Ranges.




---klip--

Ennen ja jalkeen Adeleiden tosiaan kaytiin kahtomassa lapi Clare Valleyn, Barossa Valleyn, Adeleide Hillsin, McLaren Valen ja Coonawarran viinialueet, sopoyskayrat nousi rankasti punaselle, kunnon hobittilameininkia.

We went through the wine regions near Adeleide, heaps of super cute little villages and wineries and yummy wine. In McLaren Vale we visited Hardy's Tintara winery cause Hardy's makes the best relatively cheap wine in Finland and has thus contributed to our relationship.