Milford Sound

We spent the day driving from Te Anau to Milford Sound via Milford Road. The day started off with heavy mist and ice on the roads. When the mist cleared, the sun radiated brilliantly. The views from the road were beautiful - I couldn't resist a picture of the mountains reflected in the 'Mirror Lakes' - it's just a shame that I forgot to turn off the date stamp on my camera! >_<

A trip to Milford Sound has always been high on my list of things to do before I die... It was even more amazing than I imagined! We saw dolphins and seals swimming in the incredibly cold water. Even in brilliant sunshine the mercury barely got over 5 degrees all day.


There's heaps of cruises to choose from - we chose one of the Red Boat wildlife encounter cruises, specifically because I wanted to see some animals :) It was well worth it! The cruise lasted around 2 hours or so. And even though it was absolutely freezing, winter really is the best time to see Milford Sound. Apparently, the area was in drought because it hadn't rained for 9 days! So we were pretty lucky to see clear blue skies.

After the cruise, we made the long drive back to Queenstown where we were staying for the next 7 days. I was looking forward to skiing for the first time and partying on the town!

West Coast - Wanaka - Te Anau

We spent most of the next two days driving through the country-side. After we left Franz Josef glacier, we headed south towards Haast Pass. We had a quick squiz at Fox glacier on the way - I regret not spending more time in that area because Lake Matheson is nearby, at it is meant to clearly reflect Mt Cook in its calm waters. Something to keep in mind next time, I guess...

After a day of driving, we stopped for the night at Wanaka. We stayed at the Purple Cow backpackers, which I enjoyed because they showed free movies and it had a lively atmosphere. We didn't venture outside much because it was about zero degrees outside, even in the middle of the day. Needless to say, we pretty much sat by the heater while in Wanaka. Which is a bit of a shame because I wanted to explore around the town a bit. There was meant to be some Lord of the Rings locations nearby, but I didn't attempt to find them, it was too cold! Yeah, I know, it's a pathetic excuse...

After our brief stint in Wanaka, we started driving to Queenstown to drop off our new friend, Kim. We met Kim in Franz Josef while staying at the Glowworm Cottages - she needed a lift to Queenstown, so we gladly let her join us in our journey south.

We decided to go along the 'adventurous' route from Wanaka to Queenstown via the Crown Range Road, the highest main road in New Zealand. I was a bit frightened - I had pictures in my mind of driving on narrow dirt roads, perilously close to the edge of a cliff... But it was amazing! A frozen fog had swept through the country-side the night before, blanketing the trees in a delicate layer of frost. It was so beautiful!

The views from Crown Range Road were beautiful. I would recommend anyone driving between Wanaka and Queenstown take this route. Not only is it shorter than the other Wanaka-Queenstown alternative, the views are not to be missed. It's a bit scary in parts - we stopped to take some pictures on a particularly icy patch of road, and there were no guard-rails, so we could have easily slipped over the edge of the mountain! But is was all in good fun - there's always little risks while travelling in New Zealand! This picture shows a great view overlooking the road as it heads towards Arrowtown and Queenstown in the distance.

After we dropped Kim of in Queenstown, we had a quick look around and then made our way towards Te Anau. The drive to Te Anau was beautiful once again, although Steve drove like a maniac and hit a bird along the way! I had a bit of a cry and sulked in the car, but soon recovered. I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later, judging by the amounts of roadkill on the side of the roads...


Te Anau was very quiet, except for the occasional bus full of tourists on their way to Milford Sound. I imagine that it's the sort of place that gets hectic in summer - the massive Lake Te Anau would be great to swim in in the warm weather. We had a go at skimming stones on the water, which I sucked at...

We stayed the night in a really nice little unit at the local Holiday Park. There wasn't too much to get up to, but we did go out for dinner. But we were saving up our energy for the big day ahead at Milford Sound... I'll be posting some more pictures in the next few days!

Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier is HUGE! We hiked for about 5 hours on the ice, and we didn't come any where near the top of the glacier. It is such an amazing natural formation - I've never seen anything like this in my life! New Zealand's landscape is so beautiful but a little odd - only a few days before we were swimming in natural hot pools... Then here we were climbing on this gigantic ice formation a couple days later.

Despite being surrounded by ice, I got incredibly hot and sweaty during the hike. It's hard physical work!! You have to be reasonably fit - and it had been a while since I'd been to the gym, so I was huffin and puffin like a grandma! And the ice is incredibly slippery... Even with spikes on my shoes, I managed to fall on my arse a few times. I'm a bit of a clutz...

I definitely recommend going on the 3/4 day hike... There was a full day opti on, but I reckon I would have died if I did that option! I would like to come back to the glaciers - next time I want to get a helicopter ride to Fox Glacier, we missed out on that one this time around. Fox Glacier looked slightly bigger than Franz Josef, but then again these thin

gs are both beastly huge anyway! And what really got me was these things used to be a lot bigger. Glaciers grow and retreat over time - apparently, Franz Josef is one of only a few glaciers that is actually growing. I hope that people will get to enjoy its natural beauty before climate change destroys the planet...

Franz Josef is such an amazing natural feature - the ice is sometimes so smooth it looks like glass. I couldn't resist having a bit of a taste - I was lucky my tongue didn't get stuck to the glacier!

More photos and stories about our trip to Wanaka and Queenstown coming soon!!!

Arthur's Pass to the West Coast

New Zealand is a fantastic country to drive through. There's nothing better than having the flexibility to jump in your car and drive and visit the places that you want to see. We hired a car for our two week jaunt in Aotearoa and it was worth every cent.

After a three night stay in Christchurch, we jumped in the car and headed to the wild west, soaking in the magnificent sights of Arthur's Pass as we made our way through the mountains. I think this trip will remain in my memories forever - it was the first time I ever saw snow!



Despite the sunshine in the photo, it was incredibly cold! So cold in fact that a nearby lake was frozen solid. And I mean solid - there were people driving their car on it! Crazy...


The views as we drove through the Pass were fabulous. Some parts looked familiar - I thought that maybe some scenes from Lord of the Rings had been shot there.

We stopped at a little hotel on the way through for lunch. It was pretty much the only establishment on the way - Arthur's Pass is also a national park, so you won't see a lot of shops around here! It was lovely though - we sat outside in the sun trying to warm up, enjoying the scenery of the mountains and the rivers. We kept moving, but we stopped at a nearby lookout and I had my first encounter with the famous Kea bird... Apparently these birds have a reputation for being very cheeky and they are fond of attacking cars! Of course the bird that I met was eating the aerial on some person's car, which I thought was rather cute. So I started talking to him... He was most intrigued by this strange person talking to him... So he decided to follow me to my car and he started to attack the rubber seal around the door frame!! Well, I was no longer trying to be friendly - I started yelling at him to shoo away, to the amusement of the other tourists at the lookout. The damned bird didn't budge until we zoomed off down the road at a speed...

After the Kea incident, we continued driving through the winding road of Arthur's Pass towards the West Coast. After a few hours of driving we crossed from East to West - it was amazing to see the blue ocean after we had just been surrounded by snowy mountains! We drove through to Hokitika and stopped to have a gander at the crystal clear waters of the Hokitika Gorge. I don't think the photos illustrate just how clear the water was because the sun was starting to set and there was a serious lack of light. But the water is so clean and pure - if it weren't so cold I would have gone for a swim right there and then!
This was the last stop before we drove towards Franz Josef Glacier, our resting place for the next two nights. After 5 hours of driving, I was ready to chill out in my hotel room! It was a long drive, but incredibly enjoyable and entertaining. I would recommend that anyone drive this route while in the South Island, the views are breathtaking! I would like to go back one day, maybe in summer, to see how the landscape changes. There's a lot of rivers through the national park but I think they were a little dry, due to it being winter and all. Still, there was a lot more water here in the dry season than there is in Brisbane right now!

Stay tuned for my next post, all about the icy wilderness of Franz Josef Glacier! Heaps of cool photos I promise!

Christchurch

We flew into Christchurch from Brisbane with Pacific Blue. It was a good flight and the view of the snow-covered Southern Alps as we flew over was spectacular! I tried to get a few photos but they turned out blurry. Not to worry, there will be plenty of photos to show here!

Christchurch was cold, overcast and drizzly when we arrived. I didn't mind at all though, as I had just come from Brisbane which is in drought and on water restrictions. I was glad to see rain!

One of the first things I noticed as we came into Christchurch was the houses - cute, smallish looking and they all had chimneys! I know that might sound ignorant, but I did think they looked quite, well, English really. In that weather though, it makes perfect sense.

It was getting dark quickly as we drove into the town centre, so we headed straight for our accommodation at the Quest Apartments on Worcester Street. Our room was really lovely, right above a tram stop. And it was right in the middle of town, so it was easy to find our way around. We decided to go out for dinner - we stopped at a nearby restaurant called Sticky Fingers. I was particularly drawn to this one because it shares its name with my favourite Rolling Stones album! Silly reason I know, but it turned out to be a good choice!



The next day we spent our time exploring the town centre, checking out shops and cafes along the way. It was really, really cold and wet, so we didn't explore too far. There were some things that I wanted to see, such as the gardens and the river, but it was just too cold to go exploring - and I'm not used to the cold! Waaaaaahhhhhhh.....

The buildings here were really beautiful, quite old-fashioned looking. This just added to the overall 'English' feeling of Christchurch. But despite this, it was unmistakably kiwi - there were All Blacks flags all over town, advertising the upcoming game against the Springboks. Rugby is like a religion in New Zealand!

We decided to take a trip outside of town the next day, to the hot pools of Hanmer Springs. I've been to thermal pools before in New Zealand, but that was in the summer time. It makes more sense to go in winter, although you freeze your arse off before you even make it to the water. And it is so painful when you get in because you are so freaking cold but the water is so bloody hot! We must have looked hilarious to the other tourists as we danced about and carried on like pork-chops. Overall, an experience not to be missed! And Hanmer Springs is a lovely little place. Not far from the hot pools was a little shop that sold awesome fudge and cute little toys. We indulged our sweet tooth and shared some sickly sweet Mars bar chocolate fudge. Mmmmm.....

One thing that I loved about Christchurch was the cheap drinks at pubs. $3 dollar beers - choice! We drank Tui beer - I'm guessing it's their equivalent to VB or XXXX in Australia. But I thought it tasted a lot better - so that's pretty much what I drank while I was there. Christchurch has got a lot of pubs to go drinking in and several decent live music venues. We didn't get to see any big name acts while we were there, but I did notice that the Shins were coming to town a few weeks after we left. Despite that, we set out to find a club with some live music. So we made a stop off at the Jetset Lounge and watched a Battle of the Bands competition, hoping to see the next Datsuns. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The first band was quite funny, although I'm not sure they were intending on being so. They introduced each song - "this song is about beer...", "this song is about homosexuals", "this song is about f---ing politicians!" and so on. Needless to say, we didn't stick around for the other bands...

Our stop-off in Christchurch was over very quickly, but it was fun to check it out. It's a beautiful city with an interesting night life. I would have liked to check out more, but it was very cold and it was pretty hard to explore the place when it was zero degrees outside. I know - I'm a wuss! Anyways, stay tuned for more posts about the amazing drive through Arthur's Pass to the West Coast.