Need A Better Camera

The trip down the East Coast doesn’t prepare you for the West. The East, or the bit from Christchurch to Invercargill is all about snow capped mountains, velvet green rolling hills, snug little seaside towns and lots of lakes, rivers and streams. A lot of people as well, or at least more than there is on the West. Heading west from Invercargill we gradually started to move through different country. Still plenty of sheep and still green initially but gradually these give way to mountains, trees, gorges and some of the most spectacular country we have seen.

The trip into Milford Sound and the World Heritage Area that extends up to Haast about half way up the South Island introduces you gradually to the country. We made it to Te Anou the first day out of Invercargill. Te Anou is a town that is the jumping off point for Milford. It has its own beautiful and larger than average lake and its businesses are going to a lot of effort to create experiences for visitors that have to flow through to get to Milford. As is our normal practice, we ignored all of this - although I did have a fleeting thought about a quad bike tour of some of the high country until I realised that we would be paying about $140 for a few hours doing what I did for nothing a month or so ago. There was quite a lot of people flogging bus tours into Milford that would take us in, put us on a tour boat, show us all about and bring us back to Te Anou. Most wanted around $150 each for this. We were told the road was dangerous and difficult and that it is much better this way. Thanks but no thanks.

It is about 120 kms into Milford from Te Anou. They tell you that the trip will take 2 hours. We didn’t leave Te Anou until afternoon, having had to get some things done on the net in the morning. We knew that there would be queues of tour buses on the road early and late so we decided to drive in a little over half way and camp in one of the many Dept of Conservation camp sites along the road. We were very organised here, having a look at each camp site and then driving back to the one we had picked. Two people, Jackie and Kim from Wales, that we met along the way - earlier - told us about one of the places and also about the sandflies. Their advice was invaluable.

Decided to camp at a place called Cascade Creek, selected because we could have a fire there and partly because it was just a beautiful spot. Our camp was at a fireplace, a couple of meters from a creek. Very nice. A short walk - about an hour I think - through the rain forest where we started to identify some of the birds and trees and we were ready to light the fire and settle in. No way. Not a stick of dry wood could be found. Made some smoke, burnt every bit of spare paper we could find but no luck.

Still it was a lovely spot. Others thought so too. Particularly the sandflies. These aren’t your squibby littly midges that we are used to from the tropics. These ones have some real grunt about them. They are almost as big as a normal Australian bush fly, although not as quick and therefore easier to kill. The problems with these little mongrels is that they bite, there are a lot of them and they are there all day. On the advice of Jackie and Kim we made every effort to keep them out of the camper. Luckily we had some Muskol left over from our trip to Alaska and it did the job on these insects as well.

Describing the scenery on the drive into Milford is as far beyond me as the task of providing an adequate photo of it is beyond our little camera. The road - which was not all that bad although it did have some hills that make you take a deep breath or two - snakes along the gorges and valleys eventually climbing to a saddle where a tunnel has been dug. This starts your descent down the other side of the range, in the dark no less. But you come out into country so spectacular as to be almost surreal.

Some years ago we drove though the Canadian Rockies up to Jasper and later from the Skagway up to Fairbanks in Alaska. The trip into Milford is not as long nor is the scenery as sustained but, in our humble opinion, it is equally as spectacular. As with the Skagway I found the stories of the people who made it through this country first compelling. The Maori came to the country at times but not in great numbers. The first Europeans were pretty tough and single minded individuals.

We had decided we would do one of the cruises so headed for the terminal. Pretty much like any other terminal. Stuck out in the wilderness and all that but you can’t keep good businesses down. We picked a company that had some sort of deal going with the mob who hired us the camper. Through either luck or good management we got 2 for the price of one. The fact that we were there before the buses could get in from Te Anou was probably also a factor.

Good trip up Milford Sound - or more accurately - the fiord. The place was formed by a glacier rather than by the action of a river and is, therefore, a fiord. One for the quiz nights eh! Many photos were taken by our official photographer - who has pretty much stolen my camera (and now we will see if she actually reads this before up loading). It was well worth the money and might even have been worth the full price.

There was an intention that we would camp in one of the sites on the way our of Milford but this was pre-sandflies. Mountains started to look good to us and we headed for Queenstown. The country on the way is more West Coast than East. Still some sheep but much more in the way of mountains.

We hadn’t intended to make Queenstown on this day but there were not many other options that looked promising. Towns are more uncommon on the West coast and those that we did drive through didn’t inspire us to stay. There were some camping areas off in the bush but a bit far out of our way.

Frankton sounded like a reasonable option. It wasn’t quite in Queenstown and therefore was not likely to as full on part of the tourism and adventure thing that is going there. We hit the caravan park, started to set up and then agreed that it was a hole and that we would leave. And did so.

Caravan parks in NZ are generally of a very high quality. They have pretty good set ups, camp kitchens, ablutions, laundries and internet. We think that the one at Frankton was an aberration - or at least we hope it was. Camping areas set up by the Conservation mob are also normally ok. They are generally in beautiful locations and are cheap. They generally have a toilet but none so far have had a shower or any other facilities. Could use a lesson from the NT.

Queenstown turned out not to be a normal ski town without the snow, that is, a bit of a ghost town. As most who pay attention - and we tend not to - will know the place is a mecca for the adventure seeker with as much bungy jumping, parachuting, white water rafting and whatever as you can take. It was a lively and engaging place for us even though we were not really into the things that it had available. I recall Huw and Marika talking about the place. I think they would love it in the season.

Queenstown sits in the middle of the ranges. These ranges have some size about them. We walked up one - after the vehicle did most of the work - and although we didn’t make it quite to the top it was a great view. We definitely need a better camera.

Down from the mountains we came and, eventually, after travelling through the Mt Aspiring National Park we made it to a camp at Lake Paringa on the West Coast. The road through the national park was one great scene after another. As we found in other places, after a while you do get pretty blasé about even the most spectacular things and this was the case here.

The strip between the sea and the mountains on the West Coast can get pretty skinny at times. The strip varies between some kms down to none. The vegetation is either pretty scrubby coastal flat type that you often seen on the coast of Queensland - before the high rises kick in - or temperate rain forest. The area is not heavily inhabited and west coasters have apparently a reputation as ‘rugged individuals’ - perhaps a bit like some people from Tennant Creek (for those who know what I mean). They do like their whitebait. Whitebaiters are every where, in every stream and inlet with their nets. Haven’t tried any yet. Meant to today but will definitely do so tomorrow before we move off to the east.

Lake Paringa was much like the rest of the West Coast - as beautiful a place as you could wish for but with many, many sandflies that will eventually force even the most hardy to retreat indoors. Although I must say that a couple of blokes in the camp last night were apparently conducting an experiment on the use of red wine as a means of reducing the effects of the bites. Not sure if it worked. They were very tired this morning.

We hit the glaciers this morning. First to Fox and then on to Franz Joseph. They are glaciers and they are not bad. Unfortunately, they don’t really compare with the Athabascan, the Mendenhall or most of the many, many glaciers we visited, looked at or noticed in passing (as the became part of the scenery) in Canada and Alaska.

Up the coast and we have arrived in Greymouth (surprisingly this is at the mouth of the Grey River) having come through Hokitiki which seems to be the jade capital of NZ. There is a lot of this green stone about. I suspect that I am not the best person to describe its wonder and glory. We looked at a lot but bought none - as often happens. Found some on the beach this arvo though and this has a chance of getting back to Brisbane.

Off now further north for a while and then across to the East. We need to leave a little time for the Marlborough coast where the scenery will take second place to other things.

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