Milford Sound to Queenstown

23/02/09

We drove in the rain to Milford Sound today which took about 2 hours. There were some magnificent mountain views along the way despite the lousy weather. This isn't a town as such as it is within a National Park so we've come stocked up with food supplies. Tomorrow we'll do our cruise (seems to be the only way to see this famous fiord) and go on a few shortish walks. Going through the 50 year old and leaky Homer Tunnel to reach Milford was a bit scary.

This 'lodge' isn't bad but there are swarms of little flies everywhere and if you stand still outside for just a minute you are surrounded by the buggers. Are these the sandflies we were warned of in Te Anau? Thy seem so small to make such an irritating bite. We've just watched a young couple spend an hour trying to 'break in' to their hire car, with the said flies buzzing incessantly around their heads, as they'd locked the keys inside.

The kitchen here is a bit of a zoo, full of young backpackers as well as the older crew, cooking all sorts of weird and wonderful concoctions and leaving the most disgusting mess in the process. It was a free for all and we lost and had to claim back several of our bits of equipment while I was standing over the faulty hob trying to cook some Mexican fajitas. One pair of Europeans of indistinguishable dialogue were cooking some foul looking watery baked bean and rice dish, while another was spooning a hastily cooked sweetcorn and meat creation into freezer bags - for lunch tomorrow?? Another couple were boiling several massive lobsters, two of which were sitting in a pan next to their cooked friends, their beady black eyes rolling, awaiting their own sorry demise. We got in and out as quickly as possible and ate our dinner in the van.

Outside a strange almost meowing noise started and we looked out to find what we think was a Kea a large, fat, curious, lolloping member of the parrot family. Then we went on a short glowworm trail near the campsite and saw loads of the funny bugs stuck to the mossy walls in the forest. Ric wants to bottle some up and take them home and start a new colony in the UK. They remind me of the glow-in-the-dark star stickers I stuck on the ceiling above my bed when I was a child.

24/02/09

Today we did our Milford Sound cruise with one of the many companies who offer tours of the fiord (which is technically what Milford Sound is a it was created by the melting of glaciers). The weather couldn't have been better; blue skies and very little wind. The boat, one of the smallest of those at the port, took us out towards the Tasman sea passing vast waterfalls and walls of steep, craggy rock, a lot of which is now covered with flora. We also got up close to some juvenile male fur seals who didn't flinch at the gawping tourists. Seen lots of them now. I can see why tourists flock in their thousands to this particular gem of New Zealand.

Looking around at this magnificent landscape, it's hard to fully appreciate the size of the mountains, to put them in to perspective. I think the only way to really 'know' how huge they are is to try climbing them, which we wont be doing on this trip, although we did hike over a large area of rock to reach the base of the waterfall which is right next to the south end of the Homer Tunnel- that was challenging enough.

I watched The Reader last night. I love Kate Winslet and was moved by her performance but I found film dower, unconvincing and unsatisfactory, perhaps because I found the 'twist' silly and obvious - I struggled to see the point of any of it somehow.

The are a few more younger people here but the scene is very different to the one in Oz. Neither of us are being actively sociable anyway.

Off to Queenstown tomorrow - the hub of Kiwi travelers.

25/02/09

Having been chomped incessantly during the night we woke early today and set off for Queenstown.

Before we went too far however, we did a hike over to the secluded Marian Lake which is on the south side of the Homer Tunnel on the road which leads back to Te Anau. For most of the way there it was a tough climb over knotted tree roots and loose rocks but it was worth it the pain. The lake we eventually reached was truly beautiful - clear, still, reflecting like a mirror the mountains behind, and far enough away from roads or other signs of civilisation for it to feel peaceful. Another memorable experience, marred only by a group of noisy young Israelis who caught up with us a few minutes later and started showing off to their girlfriends by stripping off and jumping in to the lake. What a grandma I sound like.


Throughout this trip Ric has been saying that he sees squished hedgehogs on the roads but I didn't believe him until today when we spotted a live one, did a u-turn and pulled over to have a closer look. Sure enough, it was a proper Mrs. Tiddywinkle. I wonder how they came to be in New Zealand. Every day we also see at least two or three large hawk like birds with massive wing spans flying over the mountains. If only I could get some pictures up on my blog to show you! Web here is sooooo slooooow. I'm such an impatient city person.

Queenstown seems like a buzzing but relaxed place with lot of bars and trendy shops alluding to the obviously much younger, party hard, thrill-seeking crowd here. Lots of nice restaurants too. The outlook over the harbour is pretty and as we drove in this evening there were some fighter jets doing a display over the lake. I can see why some travelers choose to live and work here for a while.

Now...what thrill sports are we going to do here in the home of the bungee jump. The choice seems endless- white water rafting and surfing, lugeing, cayoning, paragliding, sky-diving...and obviously bungee jumping, which in truth, appeals to neither of us.

25/02/09

Today while the sky was clear, we went and did a paraglide over Queenstown and it was great. No scary free falling, just a gentle glide down for about 15 minutes. The instructors really put you at ease, chatting all the way up, and down! Then we went back up the 'Gondola' cable car and did some Lugeing (like sledging but down a concrete track. That was quite enough excitement for us today and now it's started raining. We're still knackered after our hike to Lake Marian yesterday!

However, now we are thirsty for some scarier stuff...we've still got 4 weeks left to go here!