And so I was on the move again. Over the weekend I had managed to book a
cheap flight to Queenstown in the South Island.
When I had been to NZ previously with Viki, almost 7 years ago, the only
place on the South Island we got to was Christchurch and, having heard from so
many people about how beautiful it was down there, I decided to check it out
for myself.
After an early flight I got to Queenstown late morning and
it was a beautiful clear day, sunny but cold.
I was prepared, however, and had kept some of my warm clothes from the
Odyssey trip and bought an extra fleece lined zipper. A lovely walk along the lake took me to my
hostel, the first of the trip and I was pretty impressed. After checking in I went for a wander around
the town and decided to go up the gondola/cable car. When I got on it was a lovely day, by the
time I was half way up it was raining and by the time I got to the top it was
snowing. To top it off I had left my
camera back in the room and the battery on my phone died. I did manage to get a few pictures though and
the view was lovely.
Views from the ground first...
Gondola pics...
I then went to the pub and treated myself to a lovely meal
of breaded organic chicken, kumara mash, caramelised green beans and a lovely
glass of NZ Sauvignon Blanc….
Cool saying on the pub wall
The next day I had booked a trip to Milford Sound. This was a place I had seen in many pictures
and it looked stunning, so I was looking forward to it. It was a very early start, with the bus
picking me up at 6.30 am. At that point
the driver informed me that the road to Milford Sound was currently closed due
to a bad storm a few days previously as well as the risk of a snow avalanche,
but that an update on the position would be given at 7.30. As it was a 4 hour drive to Milford Sound it
was decided to continue and then turn back at 7.30 if the road was closed. If that happened I would either get my money
back or would go again the next day, so off we headed. Thankfully the road was open and we were able
to go. En route we stopped off and saw
some lovely scenery and the Mirror Lakes.
We also drove through some snow and some awful rain but eventually we made it to the Sound. Unfortunately the weather was not great, in fact it was terrible with torrential rain so it did not look quite like it did in the pictures I had seen, but it was stunning nonetheless. I had booked on one of the smaller boats which meant we could get in to some of the smaller nooks and crannies of the sound and even right under some of the waterfalls. The waterfalls were all really spectacular due to the rainfall!
All in all, despite the rain it was a good trip and I’m glad
I went. I even got to see penguins and
seals!
The next day I decided to hire a car and see some more of
the south island. After a few phone
calls to ensure I got a manual car (most of the cars are automatic here) I got
a car sorted and headed off. The
previous night I head read a paragraph in the Lonely Planet about a turquoise
lake where you could see Mount Cook on the horizon, so I headed there. It was beautiful but unfortunately the photos
do not do it justice! After that I
wasn’t really sure where to go, but decided that rather than turn back I would
continue to head north. I was enjoying
driving again, I had actually missed it.
The roads were long and empty and pretty cool to drive on. Several hours later I had to make a decision
on where I was going to try and get a bed for the night, eventually I decided
on Kaikoura. This was somewhere I had
wanted to go on my previous visit to the South Island but didn’t have the
time. I got there late but next morning
I headed off in search of the whale watching office, which was easy enough to
find as the place was pretty small.
Whale watching is what Kaikoura is famous for and I was not disappointed
– getting to see 2 sperm whales as they came to the surface after a dive as
well as seeing them diving down again.
We went on the hunt of a dolphin pod that the crew had been told were
nearby but we didn’t manage to find them; instead we did see an albatross
swimming on the surface. It is the bird
with the largest wing span in the world but I didn’t get to see it in flight as
it seemed happy enough just swimming.
There wasn’t much else in Kaikoura so I decided to head in
the direction of Nelson, a city on the North Coast. It was a really nice drive, partly coastal,
partly hilly and partly flat and full of vineyards – I was heading into the
famous Marlborough wine region. I was
driving though, so not the best idea to stop and sample! Nelson was lovely and I soon found somewhere
to stay, a lovely little place called Shortbread House. There was even a piece of shortbread on my
pillow J
It was late afternoon when I arrived so I went for a wander
round town and found that there was some masquerade parade on as part of a
larger arts festival. Once that was
finished street stall selling food sprung up and a band start playing live
music, it was a great atmosphere and lovely to just walk around in.
After a walk round the market in the morning I headed off
again, this time to see something called the Pancake Rocks. Again I had read about it in the Lonely
Planet and thought it sounded pretty cool.
I headed in the direction of the west coast; it was an amazing drive – some
majorly choppy waters from the Tasman Sea.
I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
I thought the Rocks and Blowholes were pretty awesome and
well worth a visit. I then headed to
Greymouth for the night, not much there but a decent place to spend the night,
with a great sunset…
Next morning my plan was to head towards the Franz Josef
Glacier and spend the night in the town there.
It was only a 2 hour drive so I planned for a longer lie in before
heading onwards. The sun had a different
plan for me and I was up early as the sun shone right on to my face at 7am and
woke me up. So I just got off and headed
off and got to the Glacier very early on.
I took the time to do some of the walks to the viewpoints. I have to be honest and say it felt more
like I was ticking the box on something that you should do in NZ rather than
something that blew me away, I found the pancake rocks and blowholes more
impressive but hey, to each their own!
As it was still fairly early in the day I headed to the
town, it was pretty small and not much there so I decided not to stay there and
instead kept driving south. Next stop
was another lookout point for Mount Cook but it wasn’t playing ball again today,
so no clear photos. I then headed to the
lookout point for the Fox Glacier but again couldn’t see too much. At this point it was decision time, did I
keep driving south for another few hours or stop for the day? I decided to keep heading south, with the aim
of getting to Wanaka, a town about 100km from Queenstown. The drive was stunning. I have to say, the South Island is a
spectacular driving destination. The
scenery is amazing – you want to stop at every corner or lookout point and take
photos but if you do you’ll never get anywhere!
I made it to Wanaka knackered, so just found the YHA hostel,
got a bed, some food and went to sleep.
Next day the weather was totally awful, so I had a wander round the town
and decided to stay for another night so I could have a chilled day. I managed to sort some photos, write a blog etc.
before heading back towards Queenstown the next day. On the way I stopped at Arrowtown, an old
gold mining town which was worth a visit.
Wanaka.....
Wanaka
Arrowtown....
Once in Queenstown, I grabbed some lunch and decided to
drive along the lake to the small town of Glenorchy as I had heard it was
lovely. I have to say it was another
incredibly scenic drive, maybe one of my favourites…..
I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the South
Island. As much as I was sad to say
goodbye to everyone in Singapore, it was nice to spend some time on my own to
at least partly take in the experiences of the last 6 months.
I’ve been in NZ for less than 2 weeks and I have fallen in
love with it. Time to head back to the
North Island to stay at Lucia’s again then meet up with my friend Katie, who is
flying in from Melbourne, to see some more of the North. Onwards!
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