Blogs from Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

After having some fish and chips and paua (abalone) fritters, a coastal Kiwi favorite, we drove several hours up and over the beautiful mountains running through the backbone of the country. We stopped at the alpine hamlet of Hanmer Springs before dropping down onto the desolate west coast. We were quickly finding there is more solitude to be found on South Island, with long stretches of uninhabited and inaccessible coast. It wasn't until the 1960s roads were built and these areas were even easily reachable. We spent the night boondocking outside of Hokitaka before moving on to the southern Alps and glacier country. We stopped at Franz Josef glacier for a quick hike through the rainforest to a viewpoint of the glacier, but the clouds and rain from that morning had socked in most of the ... read more

It was always going to a long day on the bus….Christchurch to Queenstown via Tekapo and Twizel. 8 hours in total but the Intercity buses in New Zealand are very comfortable and there are coffee stops every couple of hours.... and we try and convince ourselves that it’s much more relaxing than driving yourself. It was a beautiful drive and we learned lots about the amazing water and power engineers who dared to link natural lakes with artificial canals to generate massive amounts of power without coal, oil or nuclear means. Brilliant. “Mum and Dad you will definitely HATE Queenstown”, said all our young people who claim to know about these things. It seems that we must have been determined to show that are deffo down with the youth by somehow booking to stay in the ... read more

We arrived in Manapouri for one night with accommodation opposite the Lake itself, looking beautifully mirror-like in the late afternoon, cloud drifting down the mountains in the background and an air of mystery about it. Took a quick trip into Te Anau later to find some kai as Manapouri was overloaded with visitors and the waiting time at the local eatery was 1 hour for a meal. Recommend Baillez in Te Anau for a good pub meal. Next morning I did a bike ride, in colder temperatures than I'm used to, along the Lake to Lake cycle trail leading from Manapouri to Te Anau. I managed a short ride out and back and couldn't feel my fingers when I finished. And so, on the boat at midday for the crossing of Lake Manapouri to West Arm, ... read more

The highlight most anticipated by many visitors to New Zealand's South Island is a visit to Fiordland National Park, and for many that means a cruise on Milford Sound. In normal times, this means about a two hour car drive from Te Anau or a longer drive from Manapouri or Queenstown, followed by a relatively short cruise on what is a surprisingly small body of water. However, this was not normal times. Continuing our string of catastrophic near-misses, we arrived in Fiordland just days after an historic flood event devastated the road to Milford, stranding hundreds and requiring several air rescues. Over 39 inches of rain fell within a 60 hour period. https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/hundreds-stranded-flood-hit-fiordland The result of the consequent flooding was that the road into Milford was several damaged in several places. When you drive the road, ... read more

Absolutely the best morning of the entire trip! We woke up deep into Doubtful Sound. We had a 180-degree view from the bunks on the top deck, and we were surrounded by magnificent mountains, waterfall and calm see. Within 20 minutes we had dolphins jumping out of the water. Amazing! We had booked an overnight boat trip on Doubtful Sound. It had required a bit of planning and researching to find out how we could best see the Fiordland National Park. The two big sounds are Milford and Doubtful Sound. A blog comparing the two explained (in much more detail) how Milford has more jaw dropping landscape, higher waterfall and taller mountains. It’s also the busier of the two, and often has several helicopters flying above you at any one time. Doubtful is less dramatic and ... read more

Day 1: Admittedly, a little hungover but grateful for the quiet buses to Te Anau. Driver of 2nd bus borderline racist, true Southlander as it were. Very much in love with the landscapes. Paired up with Dutch elephant zookeeper, adventure guide, Stefan. Wonderful 20km in thick rainforest. Crystal clear waters. Nutters at the hut, one very against radiation and lived off the grid for over a year (See letter for more context). Sandflies aren't as bad as I thought they would be. Gambling without a tent...36km day in two days time... Day 2: New year's Eve. Birdlife is off the charts. Greeted by a resident local on his dingy, of which turned the day from scenic walking and waist-high bog trudging to jetting up the Pyke river with Bruce Reay. Learning about the place from someone ... read more