Day 5; Milford Road or are we in a postcard? SNOW!! A Milford Sound sunset.

We woke up fairly early the next day to make the drive to Milford Sound. The weather was cloudy and ominous looking, and I wondered whether the rain would ever stop following us. When looking at a map, the drive to Milford Sound seems unnecessarily long, however, I appreciated every minute we were on the road. The views were some of the most spectacular I have ever seen, and the scale of the place cannot even be depicted in these photos. There were multiple designated "scenic areas" that we stopped at along the way to take pictures. We all traded driving every hour, so that we could all just sit back and watch the scenery.Te Anu- the town where we stopped for gas and lunch supplies

Te Anu- the lake where we ate lunch.

First glimpse of the Southern Alps

Eglinton Valley; carved by glacial ice over 10,000 years ago.

Me standing in the valleyMirror Lakes

Lake Gunn- a half an hour nature walk.
The strange thing about walking in the forest in New Zealand is that there is almost no wildlife at all. All mammals were introduced to the country by Maori and Europeans. While hiking, you can only hear the occasional bird chirp. It was kind of eerie.

And then it started to SNOW!!!
And I started to freak out

After the hike we reached the entrance to Homer Tunnel, which went downhill through the mountainside.

The last stop we made before reaching Milford Sound
Upon reaching Milford Sound, we did not even think about checking into the hostel, instead we went right to the beach inside the sound to take the following pictures. We'd finally gotten to what felt like the highlight of the trip. The next morning we would be on a boat headed out into the Tasman Sea.
The tide was out.One of the bigger waterfalls in Milford

Day 4; What is the scariest thing you've ever done?

I found myself asking this question the morning of our Bungy Jump. Hilariously ironic that the first thing to come to mind was something I'd done just a few days before, the glacier hike. That would change in the afternoon.
Amanda, Chris and I started the walk downtown to the bungey store located on two main streets in town. Signing in about an hour early, we were all excited and nervous. We were weighed twice. Once at the store downtown, and again after the harnesses were on at the site. The ride to Nevis Canyon was really quiet, and the roads could only be described as slightly treacherous.
Putting all our valuables in a locker seemed scary, and as we geared up and gazed towards the canyon, the contraption that would take us to the suspended room seemed to sway as people stood in it.
And there someone went, without us even realizing it, someone had already taken the leap.
This was getting scary. A blond European girl began to cry harder, her face turning bright red. And that made me think "this was going to be awesome."
Finally reaching the suspended room, my companions and I were completely ecstatic.

The energy in the room was completely electric. Everyone, aside from the aforementioned girl (pictured next to Chris), was so pumped to jump, and you had to think 'This is absolutely insane"
Finally all strapped in, I entered the barrier where the platform was to jump.
Standing on the edge, looking straight out, then down to the river, and straight up again, I only had one thought tracing through my mind.

I LOVE MY LIFE.