Day 79 - Milford Sound - The Drive

We attempted an early start though this resulted in us leaving Te Anau at about 09:00 yet this would still give us ample time to do all of the day’s driving. We had decided to do the drive to Milford Sound minus a cruise as the 120km (240km return) Milford Road drive is meant to be one of the world’s finest drives. We’d figured that if we did another cruise it would just be more of the same and we’d already done Doubtful Sound which is bigger and less touristy.

Our first stop of the day was at the Mirror Lakes, 58km into the drive, though this stop was cut short due to the lingering mist of the morning. We’d heard that the weather would be sunny later on and so opted to stop here on the return journey. There was a lot of mist early on but it would clear in parts giving way to very interesting views of the tops of the huge surrounding hills. It was a little annoying for this first leg of the trip as we knew there would be great backdrops but these were being shrouded by the fog.

Our second stop was Deer Flat a little further up the road where we attempted a few more photos to try and capture the strange effect the weather had caused.

Then it was on to a couple of stops along Lake Gunn which offered nice views across the lake as this was below the clutches of the mist.

Stop five offered a very nice lookout, with the fog clearing enough for us to be able to see more of the mountains surrounding us. We decided that we’d stop here again on the way back and see if it had changed much. The weather has a huge impact on what the views will be like around these areas though we think that the only weather that could potentially ruin the experience for people would be thick fog all day. At least this light mist was clearing and the sun was breaking through so we remained quietly confident about our second 120km stint.

We made a brief stop six to take in yet more wondrous sights before reaching the Homer Tunnel which cuts 1200 metres through the headwall of the Hollyford Valley. Each April locals compete in a race through this dark tunnel completely naked apart from their running shoes apparently. There was a fair wait here as the traffic was regulated by lights at this time so we had 5 or 10 minutes to sit, relax and look back through the valley before we got the green light. Emerging at the other end we spotted a kea which was almost heading for a repeat of the harrier incident though seemed to have slightly more common sense it would seem. Unfortunately the mist was thick at this side of the tunnel and so was hiding what we knew would be more spectacular views.

We briskly made our way to The Chasm which turned out to be quite a good little stop as the views of this Swiss cheese like rock formation in the river were pretty good and easily viewable as were untouched by the mist.

We then reached our destination, Milford, and pulled up in the busy car park where we left the van to do a short walk and look out to the Sound. This view was not nearly as impressive as what we’d both imagined; we’re sure that the sights would be comparable to the ones at Doubtful Sound once out on a boat, though from the edge of the water you couldn’t really get the same feel as our previous day’s tour. We figured this was mainly due to the very touristy vibe here with the amount of: buildings, noise, cars/ vans, people. This coupled with the swampy area as a result of lots of nice sunny weather made for a very anti-climactic vista.

We soon had seen enough and decided to make the 120km route back along the very enjoyable scenic route.

We got to see the views that were previously cloaked from us before as we pulled up to wait to enter the Homer Tunnel and they were as we had come to expect from this place – amazing.

Back through the tunnel we managed to make our tenth stop which allowed us to take in a, now fully visible, snowy mountain. We also made stop eleven further along to take in more of these grand surroundings.

Stop twelve was at a lookout we’d been to earlier and the view had cleared a little more so we parked up to take this in for a few minutes before heading off again.

Our penultimate stop of this trip was at Cascade Creek where yet another photo opportunity awaited Miss Lesser; Danny is dreading the final number of photos that will have to be sifted through as a result of this one outing - an entire day will probably need to be spent on this task.

Our last stop before making it back to Te Anau was at Mirror Lakes again; though this time we could see the obvious reason for their name. The small lakes offered almost crystal clear reflections of the rocky ranges beyond, the only imperfections being caused by the diving ducks continuously swimming under the clear waters in search of food. This irritated Corrie and we spent about 15 minutes here waiting, in vein, for the ducks to get their fill.

Back at Te Anau we got some supplies for lunch and stopped for it just outside the town at a picturesque little picnic area.

Next was Corrie’s turn at the wheel to take us the long, though you’ll not be surprised to read, extremely scenic drive through to Queenstown. As we were nearing the town we could see a small taster of what this town is popular for (adventure sports) with a few paragliders floating slowly down to earth from the hills above, along with the odd small plane or helicopter passing overhead. We finally found some accommodation for the night – Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park, located at the bottom of the Skyline Gondola, right next to town. A nice enough place though we plan to move tomorrow due to the sardine like cramming of campervans and $2 showers!

We made our way into town for a look around some of the shops before making our way to Fat Badgers to get ourselves a pizza with a side order of curly fries.

That was the end to yet another very lovely day in New Zealand.

Day 78 - Doubtful Sound

We had a nice early start to the day so we could have breakfast and make ourselves a packed lunch for today’s trip out to Doubtful Sound. The coach picked us up from Te Anau at 08:30 and took us on a 20 minute or so drive to the town of Manapouri, where we could all board the first cruise of the day.

This boat took us on a 45 minute journey across the placid waters of Lake Manapouri and offered very nice views on its own, though the main part of the trip was yet to come.

We reached the other side and could see the outside of the huge power station here; something which we would later visit as it’s quite an impressive structure. Firstly though, we all got split onto two separate coaches for the next part of our excursion which would take us through Wilmot Pass until we reached the main cruise boat. Whilst on this scenic drive we were being given information about our surroundings and the history of the road and land etc along with little mentions such as: “Around the next corner you’ll be able to get a glimpse of the head of Doubtful Sound.” And so on. These comments were always followed by a unified “Wow” or “Amazing” by the rest of the coach which made the two of us giggle. They did this at every opening in the trees that allowed such views, and to be fair to them, all the views were that good.

We boarded the main boat which then set off on the 3 hour cruise through the waters of Doubtful Sound. This whole trip was incredible offering some of the best views of our entire trip so far; the weather was sunny with a pretty clear sky and so all the hills and mountains around us were relatively unobstructed. This great weather meant we could go on deck and get better photos though it was very chilly with the wind. We imagine it would be equally as impressive on a day where it chucks it down as the rain would create hundreds more temporary waterfalls to cascade down the hills. The trip was also enhanced by the fact that there were no other cruises on the waters and we think this is because Real Journeys are the only ones who operate on Doubtful Sound; thus giving a more tranquil and relaxing experience. The scale of the sides of these valleys was impressive to say the least and seemed to play tricks on the mind as we found out later on. 

We ventured out to the patea and could see the Tasman Sea meeting the fresh waters before turning around and slowly making our way back, branching out along the forks off the main water as we went. One of these detours brought us very close to what appeared to be a very small waterfall from a distance; when up close though this tiny waterfall was over 50 metres high and the cliffs towered way above this. Another of these side routes took us to an area of water amongst all this stunning scenery where the skipper shut of the engines and we were all asked to be as quiet as possible (no cameras or walking etc) so we could experience Doubtful Sound’s raw beauty. This was very nice and created quite a dramatic atmosphere for a few minutes, letting us take in the grandeur of the area with only the sounds of falling water and birds in the distance.

It wasn’t long before we were back on dry land and making the coach, then 45 minute cruise and then coach trip back to our campsite though just before all of that we did make the stop at the power station and venture deep through the tunnel to see the inner workings of it. This tunnel spirals deep into a mountain and is approximately 2km long. Just the scale of the place and how it was made was impressive enough and made for quite a nice end to a fabulous day out. The whole trip was money well spent and definitely something we’d recommend to others as doing the trip is probably the only way to fully appreciate the area; Corrie’s got good photos but we don’t think any amount of snaps can possibly do justice to such a gorgeous place.

Back at camp we decided we couldn’t be bothered cooking tea tonight and so went and treated ourselves to Subway sandwiches for our meal!

Day 77 - From East to West

We haven’t done anything exciting today, so this won’t be very long!!

Our only plan was to head over to the West, to Te Anau, and try to figure out what we’re going to do about Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. We would ideally like to do both, but we don’t have the money for that, so we’d have to choose. It’s a good job we had a long drive from the Otago Peninsula to Te Anau to discuss the options. Although, even after having a long lunch (which was really the only stop we had along the drive) we still didn’t have a clue.

Once we arrived in Te Anau and found somewhere to stay, we ended up asking the receptionist about which one to do. She gave us leaflets (to add to the massive pile of them we already have in the van) and told us what she thought. After yet more discussing, we eventually chose to do the Doubtful Sound coach and cruise tour tomorrow, and then do the Milford Sound drive ourselves the day after, and not do a cruise.

After we had booked our trip for tomorrow, we rustled up a stir-fry and Corrie spent the rest of the evening uploading her thousands of photos onto the computer while Danny read.

We told you we didn’t do anything today!!

Day 76 - Corrie and the Chocolate Factory

Last night was freezing in the van; the temperature dropped dramatically and we both woke early to numb noses and very chilly bed covers. Corrie was unimpressed when brushing her teeth she overheard an older couple saying how it was so cold they’d both put their heating on in their big posh campervans – huh! We seriously thought about purchasing an electric blanket or mini electric heater for our little van/ freezer. The sleeping bags will be out if it is that cold again.

We set off at about 10:00 and started the journey to Dunedin firstly making a stop at the famous Moeraki Boulders. These spherical rocks are all embedded in the sands of the beach and are quite the tourist attraction.

Once we made it to Dunedin we parked our van at the bottom of a street, Baldwin Street – the steepest street in the world. Obviously we had to walk up it and take a few photos, we’re tourists and that’s what we do. There’s houses at the top and cars also but Danny told Corrie that Rhonda could think again if they lived here and once he’d returned from the shops, on foot, and she realised she’d forgotten to ask for milk! Once back down at the bottom we noticed the dustbin wagon pulling into the street and decided to watch to see if it would… and it did! The wagon drove all the way to the top and back down again, emptying the bins as it went – that’s good service.

We then parked the van for lunch and realised we were parked right outside the Cadbury factory. We also realised that we had a 10% discount for a full tour here and so decided to give it a go after lunch. We’d timed it well as there was a tour set to leave in a few minutes and so decided to join it. This was a good tour, with lots of free chocolate and insights into how all sorts of their products are made. Corrie enjoyed the fact that Danny had to wear a snood (or something) to cover his beard as well as a hair net. We also got to try some of the hot liquid dairy milk before it’s put into moulds – yummy.

We then decided to visit the famous, and second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere (try and guess the first), railway station. There’s something special about this station but Danny couldn’t remember what that something is though Corrie assures him it is simply because it is old.

After here we travelled out to the Otago Peninsula and straight to our campsite in Portabello. Once checked in we made our way further along the peninsula to the Penguin Place where we got lucky with our timing again and got on a tour that was just about to depart. This tour was really good and worth the money, running over the 90 minute expected time and hitting the 2 hour mark. We saw about eight of the yellow-eyed penguins in close quarters thanks to the trench system that runs around the private land here. The area kind-of looks like Hobbiton, but for penguins, with all the little triangular huts on the hilly landscape.

From here we went to the tip of the peninsula to see if we could spot anymore albatrosses from the car park of the albatross centre. We did spot a couple flying around amongst the seagulls but didn’t stick around long as it was almost sunset and we had to get back to make tea.

Day 75 - Just Some Rocks That Look Like Elephants Really

We attempted an early start to the day but were in no real rush as we knew we should easily make the drive down to Oamaru before any campsites closed. We set off at about 09:30 and decided to take Elly’s advice about visiting the container mall which is just outside the red zone (where you cannot enter) where the earthquake caused so much damage. We parked up and walked over to the mall which is exactly what it says it is – a mall made up of loads of metal storage containers like you would see on a cargo ship etc. It’s strange and eerie to look out from behind the fencing and see the deserted part of town which is reminiscent of ghost towns like you see in zombie films. After a look around some of the shops and at some of the empty streets we made our way back to the van.

We then began the drive, which turned out to be quite an easy one as whoever laid these roads must’ve known that you can get from A to B much quicker with less twists and turns in them – This person clearly wasn’t around for most of the roads here’s construction.

We didn’t really have anywhere we wanted to stop en-route and so just made straight for the campsite (We did stop for lunch in Timaru but that was a McDonalds and so we weren’t really supposed to mention it…) 

When we arrived and sorted out our things we then went straight out again to get some fuel and nip into Countdown for tea stuff. On the way back up we veered off and made a 45 min or so drive to Duntroon to see a whale fossil and also the Elephant Boulders whilst the weather was still nice. This was nice and gave our legs a chance to do what they’re here for before we had to get back in the van and blast back down to camp.

At the site we then attempted to sort out some travel stuff, and then we did some laundry, as it is free at this site, prior to cooking another mighty fine tea. We’d time the day’s events well as the heavens opened and hail, rain and wind were unleashed on the campsite late into the night.

Ooh, one more thing. Corrie had a Big Mac for the first time in her life today and her verdict – good.

Day 74 - Big Bird vs. Breezer

We slept in today, probably still tired from the busyness of yesterday, before setting off on the trip down to Christchurch.

Our first stop was at Gore Bay where we hopped out to have a look at what there was to see – lots of surfers evidently as we happened to have stumbled across some sort of surfing competition. Corrie didn’t lose focus though and managed to capture a few shots of what Danny can only assume are landscapes.

We continued down the coast until we saw a sign for Motunau Beach and decided to go and check that out also. Whilst driving along this road we found ourselves spotting several of the harrier birds of prey just perched on posts at the side of the road. We came across one which decided to fly straight out in front of the 90kph moving breezer van, though Danny had just enough time to slow the van down to about 60kph on the long deserted road before the bird thwacked into the front of it below the windscreen. As far as we could tell it was a goner, that was until we saw it desperately powering itself backwards and into flight away from the van; you could almost see the shock in the poor bird’s eyes as it made its way off to try and work out what the hell just happened to it. It did make it quite effortlessly to a tree branch so appeared to be quite ok; the same couldn’t really be said for Corrie who, although not the driver, seemed more troubled by the whole event than Danny and the bird put together! We made it to the beach and took a few snaps before heading back to the main road, slowing a little every time we spotted another of these suicide harriers by the roadside.

We had our lunch in the glory of the midday sun at Kaiapoi before making the final leg of today’s journey down to the All Seasons holiday park in Bromley, Christchurch. Here we settled in and made tea whilst Corrie contacted her cousin, Elly, who lives nearby in Cashmere. We found out that we could nip over for a little while before she went to work a night shift and before her boyfriend, Rich, went to bed!

We have to say we were very impressed with their house, even more so with their view overlooking the city. Here we stayed and chatted for a few hours before making our way back to the site for bed. It was good to see them even if it was only for a short time, though we’ll definitely take up their offer of a place to stop if we pass through this way on our trip back up north. 

Day 73 - A Day at Sea

What a day, and where to start with it all? The beginning probably.

We were up at the crack of dawn, well before then even, and made the short 15 minute journey to the whale watching place. Here we checked in and then had time to watch the sunrise outside before it was time for our trip briefing. Inside we were given all the spiel about safety and also reminded that we wouldn’t be guaranteed to see a whale though they do have a 95% success rate. We then got on a bus to take us on the short trip to South Bay where we all could then get on board the boat.

We made our way out to the deeper waters, all the while being given information from one of the crew members, where we stopped briefly to allow the skipper to listen for the whale call – using a special device not just his ears alone! He heard one and made a beeline towards it, making a few more stops to check for changes in direction. He actually picked up two calls and so made for the closest one first where the boat then stopped… and we all watched… and watched. It wasn’t long though before we caught a glimpse of the whale spraying out the carbon dioxide, giving away its location so we could get the 15 metres, we were allowed, from it. Most of us went to the top deck of the small boat to watch the huge sperm whale at the surface knowing we only had about 7-15 minutes before it would dive back down, not re-surfacing for another 50 or so minutes. Our informative guide was good and told us all when to get our cameras ready for the big dive. The dive is pretty impressive, giving that famous tale-out-of-water shot you see. After witnessing this there really was no need to hang around as we’d have a long wait to see this fella again and so we moved on to try and catch the second one. We actually managed to get to it whilst it was still at the surface and so went to the top deck for better viewing. This sperm whale was much bigger than the first and we got almost as much time with this one as with number one. Once he’d disappeared the skipper decided to move on as we’d seen two whales, the aim for the trips, and he wanted us to see some other wildlife… though this was a whale watching trip?!

We headed to a couple of large rocks where we found a massive colony of fur seals along with lots of types of birds including: spotted shags, seagulls, albatrosses and turns. We bobbed around these rocks and took snaps before heading over to one last spot – a patch with dolphins.

We got to see our first dolphins of the day here and there were a fair few about, all of them fishing for their breakfast it would seem. This did make the two of us feel like we may be about to waste our money on the 2^nd boat trip of the day – the dolphin encounter trip.

Back on dry land we both chatted about how good this trip had been and how difficult it would be to top it. We really were regretting having booked the dolphin encounter now, though it would be nice to watch the dolphins again we supposed.

After lunch by the sea, in the sun, we made another short drive down the road to the dolphin encounter place. We checked in here too and had a few minutes to kill before we needed to get kitted up.

Once called, we went to a room where the, very few, “swimmers” were gathered and were given our snorkelling gear. When kitted out in our sexy attire we went to a large room where we joined the “watchers” of the group who were all sat ready to watch our second briefing of the day. A similar DVD was played and then we were taken by bus to the same harbour as for the whale watching trip, where we boarded our boat.

Again the sun was shining brightly and the waters had calmed a bit since this morning’s trip which was very welcome. We travelled for about 20 minutes before slowing, though we had to wait for the captain to give the go ahead before the “swimmers” could hop off the rear of the boat. We’ve both snorkelled before though it took us a minute or two to get a hang of just breathing through our mouths and longer still to try not to smile so much so as not to create holes for water to get into our masks; a challenge made very difficult by what we were about to see. There were lots of dusky dolphins around us and as we swam towards them we were greeted by the playful creatures regardless of whether or not we made weird noises - something which the guide had told us would help attract them. We had rented a small, digital, underwater camera to use and took it in turns to mess around with this – a task very difficult to begin with due to the long delay with the snaps and the small number of dolphins in view at any one time under the water. This all changed as we made further stops with the boat, as we got slightly better with the camera and the number of dolphins began to increase. The numbers soon dwarfed the ones we’d seen this morning, with us eventually swimming, not once but twice, with a pod of more than 150 wild dolphins. There were so many and they were everywhere; the “watchers” on the boat were getting good views of them all doing their acrobatics and jumps, whilst we in the water were being swarmed by them. Danny managed to get one circling around with him over and over, whilst Corrie managed to get close enough to see a lone, inquisitive fur seal under the water being entertained by a couple of the showboating dolphins. We got to spend quite a long time in the water on the last two swims and this made it all the more fun, and all the more sad when it was finally time to get back on the boat. We got in the water a total of five times on this outing and they were all worth the plunge into the chilly depths.

After the fifth and last swim we got back on the boat, hosed down with some warm water and had hot chocolate and cookies whilst we got changed into our dry clothes.

                                    

We moved on so that we could follow the dolphins some more; with them easily matching the speed of the boat and elegantly diving out, then back into the sea alongside us. There were the odd few that appeared to be addicted to launching themselves out of the water and then splashing back down on their sides time after time – this amused everyone and only seemed to increase the number of dolphins doing it! During this journey we also saw quite a few more turns, giant petrels, wandering and royal albatrosses; including one great albatross, so called due to its wingspan exceeding 3 metres – a feature that it lazily demonstrated as it sat bobbing along on the waves. It was soon time to head back and we had clearly timed the day’s trips superbly as, during the trip back to the jetty, a very fast moving and thick mist completely engulfed the coast and removed any trace of the dolphins and other wildlife – almost as if we were all now waking up from a great big dream and returning to real world.

We’d handed our gear back in and went to pick up our camera picture CD – which we won’t know if it works until we make it back round to Paul and Judy’s house in a couple of weeks’ time. We’re fairly confident there’s at least a few good pics and videos on there, though the majority can probably just be deleted. NB - We have done this now!

The rest of the evening was spent: getting food for tea, making tea, relaxing, showering, writing the blog etc and reading just before bed.

This day has easily been one of the very best from our travels so far, with us definitely getting our money’s worth on both trips – and living one of many people’s bucket list items: to swim with dolphins. What a day!

 A sperm whale diving

 Some of the dolphins

Day 72 - To the South Island, and With Some Wildlife Treats Thrown in the Mix

We did get up and manage to leave camp by 06:30, from where we made for the Bluebridge ferry port. From here we managed to book ourselves onto the 08:00 crossing and so were straight in the queue to await boarding.

Once aboard we found a couple of comfy seats in front of a large TV and settled down for the 4 hour or so ferry crossing. We sat through a film before deciding to venture onto the deck and see what views were on offer.

There was a lot to see, the usual standard expected of New Zealand with a little extra after about half an hour on deck. The wind was incredible and it was very hard to stay upright at times; we were sure the Captain would call everyone back on board at any moment but this never occurred. What did happen was much better; all of a sudden there were dolphins crossing the path of the boat and all ten or so people on the front deck rushed forward to catch a glimpse of the sleek animals gliding through the waters. Corrie even managed to get a quick shot or two in the midst of all the landscape pictures she was taking. On a high from the dolphin spotting we made our way back inside and waited for the call back to our van.

Once off the ferry we made our way just out of Picton and to Cloudy Bay where we had lunch and a short walk to get some nice views of the coast line.

We then made our way further south, quite a lot further until we arrived at Ohau Bay lookout and where we got another pleasant surprise – fur seals. There were hundreds of them, many of them just pups, and we stood around taking photos and watching them play for a little while.

Just before we got to our campsite for the night, Peketa Beach Holiday Park, we stopped in Kaikoura town and managed to book ourselves onto the whale watching tour starting at about 07:45 tomorrow morning.

Once at camp we then, somehow, ended up booking ourselves onto the 12:30 dolphin encounter which is also tomorrow, where we’ll hopefully get the chance to swim with lots of dolphins.

Back at the van we then prepared at devoured tonight’s mouth-watering culinary delight of rump steak with mashed potato and gravy – this is the life!

Day 71 - Thank you and Goodbye for Now Judy and Paul

The day’s plan was to leave Paul and Judy’s house just after they’d had their lunches and we started this well. We managed to plan a few more things for the south island and sort some bits out using the internet until Judy got back for lunch. We made some sarnis and Corrie received a slightly belated birthday present, due to her having to decide what she would prefer, and this was an Amazon Kindle Touch. Corrie was super happy about this and we know this present will not go to waste, mainly due to the sheer amount and weight of the books we’ve already gone through and have had to dump with Paul and Judy.

Once Judy had left and we’d said our goodbyes to her, Paul came back for his lunch we continued to sort out our things. We said goodbye to Paul also and began to pack the van once he’d left. This seemed to drag on for ages but we eventually managed it and finally left the house at about 15:30.

We made a brief stop at Countdown (supermarket) for supplies before making the long drive down to Wellington; well a campsite just outside the centre (Porirua) called Camp Esldon. Here we prepared and ate a very late tea – a chicken carbonara type thing that was spot on.

After tea we went straight to bed as we were planning to be up and out of the site by 06:30, YUK!

Day 70 - A Very Windy Afternoon in New Plymouth

We gave ourselves a little lie-in today as both Paul and Judy would be at work until 12:00. We did get up and set about organizing some of our south island stops, along with seeing if we’d be able to extend our stay in New Zealand by pushing a trip in America back by a week or two. We’d have to wait a day for a response though, so have continued with our travel plans using our shorter duration in NZ.

When Paul and Judy got back we had lunch and then headed up to New Plymouth where the weather was now sunny, though incredibly windy. Here we took a look around the museum – Puke Ariki and then had a walk along the waterfront, watching the Wind Wand they have here waving all over the place, and so doing its job really!

Mount Taranaki view on the way back from New Plymouth - Pretty cool ey!

Later we made our way back to the house where we had time to have a quick drink before walking into town for a meal at the local Indian restaurant. The food here was very nice and we just about managed to polish off all the dishes before heading back.

Back at the house we had a couple more drinks and lounged around until it was time for bed.