Fox Glacier

After our long drive from Mount Cook, we finally arrived in Fox Glacier. We got our key, and then hit up a local bar for a quick drink. It was quick. We were thirsty and since we still needed to eat dinner, we got through our pints pretty fast. And since nothing was open in the very small town we found ourselves in, it was instant noodle time. Either that or dry muesli.

The following morning, I headed out for a run. I saw there was a trail nearby and decided to hit that up. A guy saw me running that way and told me where to go, and gave me the lowdown on the trail, which was great. I spent a few miles going slightly uphill through the rainforest, yes rainforest, until I made it to a swing bridge. I do really like the swing bridges. They are kind of fun to go across, especially while running, and they give some great views. I went further up the trail and eventually decided I needed to get back to eat breakfast and meet Verena, so we could check out Fox Glacier. Even though I may have already gotten a sneak peak.

After eating and sorting out our accommodations in Greymouth, we followed the path that I had taken earlier that morning. We walked through the rainforest, and it was just as quiet as it was when I had gone running.

The rainforest.

Instead of going across the swing bridge (yet), like I did earlier, we followed the path to Fox Glacier. We passed by some waterfalls, a pool of very clear water, and another glacial river.

Waterfalls.

We continued on our way and arrived at the start of the trail up to Fox Glacier. The weather wasn't great, but since it wasn't raining, we were happy. We moved quickly up the trail. I really enjoyed hiking with Verena since she also likes to move quickly. I was the one actually bringing up the rear since I would stop often to take pictures. We made it up to the glacier and had some very nice views. Although I was hoping to be a bit closer. I've seen a couple of glaciers in Alaska, and got way closer then. But since Fox Glacier is up in a very uneven, rock-filled valley, it's not safe to get any closer. Apparently 2 people were killed up there a few years ago since they went over the rope and got too close to the glacier. There was a bit of cloud cover and mist, but we got a pretty decent view.

Fox Glacier.

We headed back the way we came after a short lunch break. On our way to the swing bridge, a couple of guys actually stopped and gave us a short ride to the trail. Which was nice. We didn't go far, but it was a nice return on the hitchhikers we picked up. Even though we weren't looking for a ride. We headed to the swing bridge and had another photoshoot.

Hanging (swinging) around.

We hiked through some more rainforest, made our way through an empty river bed, and up some stairs, where we got another view of the glacier. At first I couldn't tell the difference between the glacier and the mist. But I put my glasses on and changed the setting on my camera. We eventually turned around and made our way back to the hostel.

More of Fox Glacier, but further away.

We spent about 4 hours hiking around and covered around 12 kilometers. Maybe more. My fitbit said I did 16 miles for the day, which included my run of course. After a short rest at the hostel and some tea, we drove to Lake Matheson to do a very short hike to a great viewpoint with a reflection of the mountains in the lake. The weather still wasn't great, but we were able to see a nice reflection under the conditions. I can only imagine what it's like when the lake is very still and the sun is out with all the mountains on display.

Lake Matheson.

The following morning, we packed up out things, ate breakfast, made our lunch, and drove the 30 minutes to Franz Josef. It was time to see another glacier. It was pretty similar to Fox Glacier. Same same, but different. We headed into the rainforest, and got another nice reflection, but this time at Peter's Pool. It was a short walk, and since the sun was shining, we wanted to take advantage in case the weather changed. It was the best we were going to get. Which was still pretty nice. 

Peters Pool. 

We then made our way along the path to Franz Josef Glacier. It was definitely more crowded as it's the more popular of the 2 glaciers to visit. And eventually we saw why. It was much larger than Fox Glacier and it seemed we were closer, but that wasn't really true. We got as close as we could and then climbed up some rocks to get a better view. Don't worry, we didn't go beyond the rope. We were lucky we had some blue sky to distinguish between clouds and the glacier. Unlike with Fox Glacier. 

Franz Josef Glacier.

We enjoyed our lunch, and headed back to the car. It was time to get on the road to Greymouth. As we were leaving town, we picked up another hitchhiker. There was actually a 2nd hitchhiker, but we didn't have room for him. I'm sure he got a ride, but I felt a little bad we were leaving him behind. The guy we picked up was German and didn't mind that we played Adele over and over. We dropped him off a couple of hours later, and shortly after, we arrived at our next destination.

I'm glad I was able to see both glaciers, and would have loved to gotten closer or even gone on it. But helicopter rides and hiking on the glaciers are just too pricey. The glaciers were still impressive to see, but at the same time, it was a bit sad. They are evidence of global warming, no matter what people say. Someday they will be completely be gone, and much sooner than they should be. I'm glad I was able to see them in their stark beauty before that day comes.

Mount Cook

We didn't actually spend the night in Mount Cook Village, but since we covered so much ground on our road trip from Wanaka to Fox Glacier (via Mount Cook Village), it warrants its own post. We traveled about 360 miles (probably more than that) in one day, and the funny thing is Fox Glacier is right on the other side of the mountains from Mount Cook. If we had a private helicopter, we may have just flown over. But we did not, we were relying on Jabba to get us to the other side. Even with a broken window, possibly an oil leak, and who knows what else. 

In Wanaka, we got up super early, packed up our stuff, ate breakfast in the parking lot (the kitchen wasn't open that early) and loaded up Jabba. We were officially starting our road trip. We had our essentials, including Lonely Planet New Zealand and Adele's 25 album. Since Verena was driving, I was the navigator and the DJ. After a slight detour in the beginning, we had a pretty good day of traveling through the beautiful New Zealand countryside. 

Road trip essentials.

A little ways outside of Wanaka, we made our way through Lindis Pass and made our first stop. We couldn't get over the views and had to stop and take some pictures and use Verena's GoPro. We carried on to Mount Cook.

Lindis Pass

Our next stop was to pick up 2 hitchhikers. That is the other thing you do when road tripping in New Zealand. I thought about hitchhiking if I needed to. Even though I was a solo female. Anyway, we picked up these 2 girls who were actually trying to get to Christchurch since their camper van broke down. Which wasn't a good story at all, but we did end up stopping at Lake Pukaki, and they got to see a view of Mount Cook they hadn't seen yet. I don't think they were totally into it, but I hope they were able to sort everything out and continue with their travels.

Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki was so amazing. So beautiful. I know I keep saying this about everything. But I can't help it. The lake was so turquoise. And the sun was shining so we could see the snow-covered mountain in the distance. Amazing.

Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook.

We continued along Lake Pukaki to Mount Cook Village, with another stop, of course, at a viewpoint. After making our lunch, we started the Hooker Valley hike. The sun continued to shine and we joined a bunch of other people to tramp, yes tramp, to the Hooker Glacier. The Kiwis call hiking or trekking, tramping. And now I'm done using it. I'll continue to use hike. So we started the hike, and made our way across our first swing bridge.

Swing bridge with a view.

And our view was this.

Mueller Lake in the distance.

The water color and river was just as unreal as the turquoise color of Lake Pukaki. The scenery was just so stunning. I really need to use some other adjectives, but oh well. Verena and I kept up the hike for little over an hour, went over 2 more swing bridges and made it to Hooker Lake. I was expecting a glacier, and it was there, but not much of it. But I did see some ice in the lake.

Hooker Lake.

We ate our lunch, took some photos, and started the return trip back. I couldn't stop taking photos. Just so beautiful. On the trip back, I saw a 2008 NYC Marathon shirt. The man wearing it didn't really want to chat, but his wife responded enthusiastically. I'm halfway around the world and I see a shirt for a race I ran. Yes, it's the NYC Marathon and over 45,000 runners participated from all over the world. But it was still cool.

Hooker Valley.

We made good time getting back, even with a quick photoshoot on one of the swing bridges. 

Mountains!

After our hike, we got on the road back towards Wanaka, but before we left the Mount Cook area, we had to stop once more on Lake Pukaki. The sun had moved, and the lake was just that much brighter. So amazing. It totally looks fake. 

The turquoise water.

We went back the same way we had come earlier that morning and a couple of hours later, we were back in Wanaka. But no stopping. We followed Lake Wanaka a bit, to get to the West Coast. We saw waterfalls, wound through curvy roads, and passed a few wineries. However, we were on a mission to get to Fox Glacier by 9pm. We also saw a rainbow, which was exciting, but the picture could never do it justice. 

Spotted a rainbow.

It was a successful 1st leg of our road trip. We saw some amazing sights and had great weather. We probably listened to Adele's album about 8 times, which may not be generous enough, due to lack of radio and her album being amazing. And we made it to the West Coast to begin our trip north. 

Wanaka

I made it to my next destination and even before I arrived, I decided to stay a bit longer, if possible, pending accommodation. And I did. Four nights actually.  I booked 2 nights originally, but then had to be prepared to leave if they didn't have accommodation for the 3rd night. And the 4th night just kind of happened.

I kicked off the Wanaka part of New Zealand with a road trip with 2 new friends, Verena, from Germany, and Johnny, from England. After a little bit of coordinating in Queenstown, we hit the road in Verena's new car, Jabba. And by new, I mean new to her. The year of the car is 1996 I believe.

We drove through some beautiful scenery and headed to Mount Iron for a hike. Before setting out, we hit up the toilets at Puzzle World, where we got distracted a bit. We wanted to solve some of the puzzles laying around, but since Verena and Johnny were headed back to Queenstown, we had to get on with the hike. It wasn't too difficult of a hike and didn't take too long. It offered some amazing views of Lake Wanaka and the surrounding area. Of course, after any sort of hike, a beer is usually a must. So before I got dropped off, and they got on the road, we hit up a cafe on the lake for a Monteith's ale.

Hiking with new friends.

I didn't do too much more around town the rest of the day. I wandered around a bit, went to the grocery store, and had dinner. Later that evening, I noticed the sunset was looking pretty good, so made my way back down to the lake. It was pretty amazing. It was a little different from the night before in Queenstown due to the sun's position, but still spectacular. I had a lot of great sunsets in Thailand, but only had one truly spectacular one, and now New Zealand has surpassed it. I'll just need to go back to Thailand.

Sunset on Lake Wanaka.

I tried to get some sleep that first night, which was slightly difficult (and continued to be so) in bunk beds that creak at every movement. I eventually got up to go out for a run to explore. I ran along the lake, and it was beautiful. It would have been cool to keep running, but the lake is pretty big and covers way more miles than what I was doing. As I ran along, I was also on the lookout for Rippon Winery. I didn't see anything on the run out, but when I turned around and came back, I found it. When I come back later to do a tasting, I would know exactly where I'm going. And later that afternoon, that is exactly what I did. I headed along the path of the lake again, and captured some more photos of the Wanaka Willow, a tree that grew out of a fence and is now in the water. I took a lot of photos of this tree while I was in Wanaka, but here's one of my favorites.

The Wanaka Willow.

I continued on my way, found the sign pointing me to the winery and made my way up a hill. I had to work for that wine. But the higher I went, the better the view.

View from Rippon Vineyard.

I finally made it to the winery and tried a few different wines, as I heard the history of the vineyard. Rippon was the first winery in the region and went through a trial and error process until they landed on the grapes that grew best. They included some reds and whites, like pinot noir and gewürztraminer. The girl telling me all about it was actually from Cleveland, which was pretty cool. I also met a mom and daughter from New Zealand after the tasting. I took my bottle outside to have a glass (or 2), and joined them to soak up the view.  We ended up chatting about the US, politics, and building codes in NZ. Sounds boring, but it wasn't. 

Wine tastings.

I really didn't do too much more in Wanaka during my stay. It rained a lot one day and after my run, I hibernated inside for a while. It was good since I needed to get caught up on my finances. I was pleased with the outcome. I have a range in my head of what I'd like to be spending, and I'm on the higher end of it, but was relieved I wasn't over it. For now. I then of course booked a paragliding ride. But it actually got cancelled, so I got a refund. I do need to plan some sort of extreme adventure while I'm in New Zealand and my time is running out. Whenever I pictured visiting New Zealand, I pictured bungy jumping. And why not since it started here. I didn't get a chance to jump off the highest spot in New Zealand, which is located outside of Queenstown. I actually have a jump scheduled, so we will see how it goes!

I did do a little shopping though. I finally bought new pair of sunglasses. Mine broke ages ago and I have been squinting for far too long. I also bought a cute, wool, bomber, zip-up jacket. I rationalized the purchase since it's a local product, I didn't buy a marathon jacket like I usually do, and it will keep me warm on my travels. I think my time with the heat and humidity is fading. I also visited a sports store and it was the first place that I've seen Nuun, Clif bars, and Gu gels in one place. I of course I had to buy a few things. Even though my marathon training is over. But you never know.

Running nutrition.

After our hike a few days prior, Verena and I really talked about doing a road trip together. We mentioned it before, but it would require Verena changing her plan a bit since I had a hard deadline. But we had a plan before she went back to Queenstown and she was picking me up in a few days. I of course was nervous she may bail and I would be on my own, which wouldn't be a huge deal. But I was looking forward to having some company and doing a road trip. She arrived on my 4th day in Wanaka, just as planned. We did some research and actually decided to stay in Wanaka that night before heading out to explore Mount Cook and the West Coast. We had an exciting night of making dinner and doing laundry. But we were saving money and had to get some clean clothes. We also had an early start the next morning.

A real dinner.

I liked Wanaka and definitely would have stayed longer to maybe reschedule the paragliding, visit another winery and/or the brewery, do some more hiking or swimming, and who knows what else. But there's never enough time to do everything. I needed a few days to chill out before going on a road trip and glad I had them. Time to explore some more of the South Island.

Queenstown

I spent two nights in total in Queenstown. I do wish I had an extra day or 2, or at least could have made them consecutive days. But since everyone is still on holiday, I had to make do with my last minute planning.

Coming into New Zealand.

After flying into New Zealand to some spectacular scenery, I hopped on a bus to my hostel in Queenstown. I walked around town a bit to explore and just took in the gorgeous Lake Wakatipu and mountains. I can see why so many people want to visit. I was able to soak in some different views along the lake's path.

Mountains, rocks, trees, and a lake.

I stopped at Atlas Beer Cafe to try my first local beer and to continue to take in the views of the lake. I really do love being around water. Especially with a beer in hand. They had a lot of local beers, but also Brooklyn Brewery. I thought that was pretty cool and very unusual. I haven't seen that anywhere else outside of the US. I saw it in Texas once and I thought that was unusual. Way to go Brooklyn. And it was draft. Although I didn't have any since I'm sticking to local beers on this trip. 

Brooklyn.

I of course then picked up some groceries and beer, and made dinner at the hostel. Dinner hasn't been fancy at all. Where I could eat out every meal in Southeast Asia, in New Zealand I can not. I could, I would just need to come home and find a job and then come back to eat. It costs too much money. But that's ok. I want to try some local foods, and I will, but most food that's offered, I can find at home. And I'm very hesitant to try New Zealand Mexican food. That truly has to wait until I get back to NYC.

New Zealand American Double IPA.

While enjoying my dinner and beer, I made friends with a few others staying in the hostel. We ended up getting kicked out of the kitchen at 10pm and went downstairs to continue hanging out and drinking. Somehow we ended up playing Never Have I Ever. I did have to correct the name a few times since it is a mouthful, especially for non-English native speakers. I learned some things about my new friends, very quickly. I was having fun, so then made the decision to continue the party out at the bars. I've rarely gone out on this trip, and figured why not. I was paying for it the next day for sure and this is why I slept on the bus, but it was worth it. And there may or may not have been a ride on a mechanical bull.

Riding the bull.

I had to get to bed eventually and left my new friends to head to bed. Well that did not go to plan at all. I get to my room, where I have stuff all over my bed and on the floor next to it, and find someone sleeping in it. First I think someone got in the wrong bed out of laziness or drunkenness. Nope. All the beds were taken. Wonderful. The hostel overbooked the room and this girl thought it was ok to get into my bed since it was empty. Oh boy. So we tried calling the manager a few times. No answer. I sent a couple of emails, and of course no response. I eventually resigned to the fact I was sleeping in the common room. But then some of my new friends returned and saw the note outside the hostel with an emergency contact. So we called the night manager and he sleepily came downstairs to help me out. He found a room for me, even though the guys weren't thrilled that I was crashing their room. Oh well. I had to get a couple hours of sleep before heading to Te Anau. Needless to say, it wasn't very restful. 

I headed off to Te Anau a bit sleepily, but had a good couple of days away. When I was in Te Anau, I had to figure out my plan for the next few days and try to find accommodation. Since everyone is on holiday, booking a bed has been a challenge. I booked a place in Wanaka, my next destination, but still needed to find a place in Queenstown. I finally grabbed a twin room for a price slightly out of my budget. But I need somewhere to sleep and didn't want to wander around Queenstown with my backpack. Especially in the predicted rain. 

I took a late morning bus back to Queenstown and actually saw the pretty scenery that I missed on the bus ride out. I wish I could make the bus stop so I could take photos. Or be on the lakeside of the bus. I was able to capture this though. 

Rainy bus ride.

I arrived back at the hostel I was at the first night. After the previous stay's debacle, I was a little hesitant on staying there again. But the mixup wasn't on the part of the hostel, but on the people in the room. It seems like every bed in New Zealand is booked up, so you can't just have your friend stay in the same room as you because you feel like it. So there was just a lack of consideration on the part of another guest. I got a refund, so that balanced out the more expensive room on my 2nd night. 

After relaxing for a little bit, I decided to venture out into the rain. I wandered around a bit and went into a few stores, including Lululemon of course. But I couldn't rationalize buying anything. So I didn't.  Reluctantly. 

Run.

I continued on my way and eventually it stopped raining. Excellent. So then went walking around town a bit more. I went to check out the gondola to see if it was worth a ride. It wasn't. So I continued in my wanders. 

Queenstown wanderings.

It was time for dinner, and instead of instant noodles, I went for the recommended steak at Atlas with some beer to wash it down. It was quite yummy and not that expensive. I need to splurge every once in a while. Maybe once a week? I've been doing a good job of doing breakfast and lunch on my own. And most dinners. 

Steak for dinner.

I hung out for a little bit at the hostel and then noticed the sunset. I immediately went outside along with the rest of Queenstown to capture some photos. After all that rain, the sunset was worth it. So beautiful. 

Stunning sunset.

I socialized with a few folks at the hostel and made plans for the following day. I had booked a bus to Wanaka, but this German girl I met, Verena, bought a car and was going up for the day. So I made plans to get a ride with her and cancelled my bus. The following morning, after getting a nice run along the lake, I met up with Verena and another new friend to head to Wanaka. Time for a road trip. 

Te Anau

I made it to New Zealand. Over a week ago. I'm a little behind on my posts. It was questionable for a hot minute whether I was going to be allowed into the country. I had an immigration snafu a few years ago and this is the first time it has come up since then. I did expect some questions, and I did get them.  Fortunately after a couple of hours of hanging around, I was allowed into the country. The story behind this will come some another time. Maybe. 

So I made it to Queenstown. Unfortunately accommodation has been a problem and has hindered my planning a little bit. So I only had one night. I will come back to my time in Queenstown in my next post since I did have a 2nd night after visiting Te Anau. So on my 2nd day in New Zealand, I got on an early bus to the closest town to Milford Sound. Here I could figure out my plan for visiting Milford.

Apparently the ride out to Te Anau is very pretty, but I fell sleep since I didn't get much sleep the night before. I arrived in town and headed to my accommodation, which consisted of a bed in a large room with camping and a motel attached. Which is called a holiday park. Really not much different from most places, but there was a fee to use the kitchenware. I thought that was a bit odd, but good thing I had a few things on hand like a collapsible bowl. I couldn't check in yet, so I went in search of wifi. Fortunately the town library offers free wifi, so planted myself there for a bit to do some South America planning. I'm currently trying to coordinate some visits from family and friends in Argentina and Peru. Which is very exciting. Except I've barely planned what I'm doing in New Zealand. Since everyone needs to buy plane tickets, I want to be sure we are in agreement on dates. It will all work out and I'm thrilled I get to see more friends, but more importantly some of my family on this trip.

So far my time in Te Anau isn't very exciting. And doesn't get much better that day. I eventually checked in, headed out to explore a bit around town and Lake Te Anau. I had another another wifi session at a cafe on the lake where I enjoyed some tea.

Lake Te Anau.

At this point, I needed to decide on how I was going to explore Milford Sound. I researched what it would cost to take a bus and then a cruise around the bus, renting my own car and the cruise, or doing a tour. Obviously a tour is the easiest, but would it be the cheapest? It wasn't, but it would allow for some stops along the way at various viewpoints. After stopping at a few places, I was able to secure a spot on a small bus for the following morning at a discounted backpacker price. Excellent. I then enjoyed my venison meat pie as I walked along the lake for a bit.

Venison pie.

On my way back to the holiday park, I got a few groceries and hit up a bar to enjoy some local Shiraz. It was a low key night and I needed to get some sleep, so I made my way back to get comfortable and get to bed.

The following morning, I got picked up by the minibus and we went around to pick up the remaining tourists. It was a small group of 4 Americans (including myself) and one German, and our tour guide, who was also German. Her accent was an interesting mix of German and Kiwi. Hard to place at first, but then she explained how she came to live in New Zealand.

We hit the road and drove along Lake Te Anau for a while, which is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia (inclusive of Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific islands). We stopped for our first viewpoint at Te Anau Downs.

Lake Te Anau.

We continued on our way and made some more stops, including dropping off some packages at a few farms. There's only one road that goes to Milford and it's not very populated, well except for all the tourist buses. Our guide has multiple roles, including package delivery service. As we continued on the road, we checked out Knobs Flat and saw a few mountains in the distance. It was looking like a very promising day for the tour.

Knobs Flat.

At some point we had entered Fiordland National Park, the biggest in New Zealand. I wish we could have stopped more times to see additional sights, but I was also anxious to see Milford Sound. The views were so beautiful as we drove up and back down the mountains. We reached Homer Tunnel and got another picture opportunity since we had a few minutes for the tunnel to open up for traffic.

Outside Homer Tunnel.

We made it back down the mountain and reached Milford Sound for our 10:30am cruise. The boat wasn't actually that full, which made the 2 1/2 hours way more pleasant. We made a loop around Milford Sound, which included going out to Tasman Sea. The last time I was at Tasman Sea was in Australia and was slightly different weather and conditions. All along the cruise, we saw some beautiful sights.

The start of the cruise.

Tasman Sea in the distance.

Apparently it's very beautiful when it rains since there are thousands of waterfalls off the cliff faces, but I am kind of glad that it didn't rain. It made being outside way better. Although at various points, I did get sprayed on by the waves, so it was almost like it was raining. It was also way windier than I anticipated. I was ok with my layers, but one more wouldn't have hurt. Good thing for the unlimited tea and hot chocolate.

Milford Sound.

Falls.

Hanging out on a boat.

After the cruise, we met back up with our guide and made our way back to Te Anau, but not before a few hikes. First up was a short hike to the Chasm. It was only about 15 minutes or so, but saw some gushing water over some cool rocks.

The Chasm.

Next up, was the Gertrude Saddle hike. This is meant for more experienced hikers since it's not very well marked, but we had our guide to lead us. This was a little bit of a longer hike and up into the mountain valley. We saw a lot of alpine flowers and had some nice views of the mountains. We actually saw the mountain where Sir Edmund Hillary practiced for his historical Mount Everest climb. No climbing for me though. 

Alpine hiking.

From there, we headed onto the Lake Gunn Nature Walk, where it felt like we were walking through an enchanted forest. There was moss and fallen trees everywhere you looked. The beach trees rot from the inside and since they have shallow roots, they fall over consistently. And then moss and other trees grow on top of them. It makes for a very surreal walk through the forest.

Looking for fairy tales.

New Zealand is known for a few things and the our last stop included a photo opportunity of sheep. I know boring. But I had to do it since there are so many more sheep than people in this country. Possibly the highest density of sheep in the world. This tidbit would need to be fact-checked of course.

Sheep.

We arrived back in Te Anau and  relaxed a bit.I found some wifi, hit up the grocery store, and made dinner back at the holiday park. I also sorted out my accommodation and was headed back to Queenstown the following morning. From there, off to Wanaka for a few days.

Anna Bay

I left the mountains and headed to the beach and hoped for better weather. And that is what I got. For the most part. After 2 trains and a bus, I arrived at my hostel in Anna Bay. The hostel was tucked away and not really close to anything. Since it was the only option I really had within my budget, I'm glad it was a nice place. Very reminiscent of Southeast Asia. They had structures throughout the property with paths through the jungle, or bush I should say. They also had the mosquitos. I thought I had escaped them for a bit. But due to all the rain and flooding in the area, they were out in full force. Fortunately all toilets were flushable.

Path to my room.

After settling in, I walked to the nearby Samurai Beach, about a mile away. I cut through a campsite and made my way through the bush, and eventually over lots of sand dunes to the beach. Unfortunately the sun was setting not on the water, so I didn't actually see the sunset. But I did see a naked guy. Yes, I did. The beach was pretty deserted and a guy had driven by me to one end of the beach. I was walking around taking photos and happen to glance over at one point and saw nakedness. I had to look again to be sure, very quickly, and definitely saw tan lines. It was getting a little late, and the sun was going down, so I wasn't sure the purpose of being naked at that time of day, but I won't judge. I decided it was time to head back before it got too dark, or before I got caught staring. As I was exiting the beach area, I did see a sign that said it was a nude beach. Hence the nakedness.

Clothing optional.

I met some people at the hostel and found that this was a popular place for Australians as well. There were people away for the weekend and on vacation with their families. I met an Australian guy who actually had a car and offered to drive me around the next day to check out the Nelson Bay area. In true Australian hospitality. We got some breakfast in Shoal Bay, hiked a little in Fingal Bay to check out the views of Fingal Split and Island, made our way back to One Mile Beach to swim for a bit, and then lastly to check out Soldier's Point and Salamander Bay. A pretty good day exploring the area. 

Checking out Fingal Bay.

For dinner, I hopped on the bus with a couple of girls from Scotland, and got some fish and chips in Nelson Bay. We hung out and had a couple of drinks, including some hipster beer. I called it an early night and headed back to the hostel via the last bus. They are pretty infrequent, I was tired, and I wasn't prepared to pay for a taxi back to the hostel. 

Fish, chips, and hipster beer.

The following day, I mixed up the day with some beach time and some exploration. This German girl was staying in my room, and we headed to One Mile Beach together. The day was gorgeous and as we made our way through the sand dunes, we could see it would be an incredible day. The day before was a good day for exploring since it was a bit overcast, but this particular day was a great beach day.

Sand dunes in Anna Bay.

And the water was clearing up. After all that rain, the water was a bit murky, But not so much any more. The water was a bit cold at first, but once you were in, it was so refreshing. The beach and water reminded me a lot of home. Just the landscape was different. I'm used to long stretches of beach. Here, the coastline is full of small bays, most of them with sand, but not all. The various points between the bays are typically pretty rocky and depending on the tide, could be a bit dangerous. The waves were a lot of fun, but the bay is pretty shallow, about waist high, for a good ways and where the waves broke.

The Tasman Sea.

After a few hours, we decided to go check out Worimi Regional Park, a crazy landscape of just sand. It was pretty incredible. You felt like you were in the desert. Until you look off to the left and see the Tasman Sea. They do camel rides and sand boarding. I already rode a camel, so didn't need to do it again. I thought about doing the sand boarding, but we really didn't have time. I was on the fence about doing it, so was ok either way.

Endless sand.

We hit up the grocery store and got on the next bus to Nelson Bay. Since I arrived in Sydney, I've been using my Opal card, which sometimes is pretty expensive getting around, and other times not so much. I was able to use that to get to the Blue Mountains and Nelson Bay which is good. But traveling around Sydney, you can quickly use up the daily max of $15. But on Sundays, you pay $2.50 AUD, and get to ride as many times as you want. We were strategic in planning our day this way.

We got to Nelson Bay and walked through the marina and walked along the water to Inner Light, a lighthouse according to my map. The walk was pretty nice and we shared an Australian golden ale we we hiked along. After some beaches and a pretty steep hill, we reached the lighthouse. Or I should say light cottage. It wasn't what we expected at all. 

Light cottage.

But we got some great views of the surrounding area, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Yacaaba Headland in the distance.

We headed back to the bus stop, grabbed some Australian shiraz, and went back to the hostel. The hostel hosted ice cream night, so I chatted with some of the other guests. A lot of them were there with their children, which is a little different from the last hostel's vibe, but nice. It's a good place to camp out for a week. I stayed up a bit too late chatting, but got in a quick phone call to my sister and dad before heading to bed since they were just waking up. 

The following morning I spent a couple of hours at the beach swimming and climbing sand dunes. I then had to leave and head back to Sydney. But not before I met a guy and his cute daughter named Nirvana. Yes, Nirvana. But apparently not after the band. 

Climbing sand dunes.

My trip back was pretty uneventful and I took one last ferry ride across to North Sydney to stay with Brian and his family. I got to meet his wife and kids, and watch some of the Golden Globes (but after I already knew who won). The next morning I headed to the airport to hit up the next country. But no worries, I'll be going back to Australia soon enough to explore Melbourne and visit an old high school friend. 

Very helpful departure signs at the Sydney airport.

Off to New Zealand for a couple of weeks.