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Day 7: Wanaka-Queenstown
An early morning stroll revealed that Wanaka minus the heavy cloud cover looks even better. We had to hit the road to Queenstown, though, and that was spectacular. (It may seem repetitive, this enthusiasm over the landscape here, but it simply keeps on coming - even if each day isn’t better than the last, it’s different.) At one point we were treated to a view from a greater height than I can ever recall seeing from a car.
Queenstown itself is as much a tourist creation as, say, Cairns, and we are here on a long weekend. Fortunately, the ski season hasn’t started, so it’s not as busy as it might have been. We’re staying a little way out of town, and we have another delightful view of another lake.
Today we visited a wildlife centre and saw among other things the mandatory kiwi. A strange creature both in looks and behaviour - it seems like a mammal trapped in a bird’s body. We also met an arthritic duck, aged 20 and as old as the centre, which stays inside by the heater all day.
Tomorrow the weather is expected to be bad, but
we booked the day tour to Doubtful Sound. By all accounts it has its attractions in all weathers, whereas the other outdoor activities that we might get up to are more susceptible to cancellation.
There are gondolas here, reputed to have the steepest ascent in the southern hemisphere. Not sure whether they are on the agenda.
Andrew
Day 8: Doubtful Sound
Another great ‘geographic’ day! Doubtful Sound is not a sound at all but a true fiord 200 metres deep. Eleven glaciers once fed into the sound, leaving huge gouged-out valleys and some ‘hanging valleys’.
The vegetation is truly amazing: with only almost-vertical rock to hang on to in places, there are temperate rainforests featuring beech trees. The guide for the day used the expression that all the plants ‘hold hands together’ on these slopes. The creation of these forests happens like this: first there are mosses and lichens that form a mat and then the seeds of plants and trees fall into it and they grow. Unfortunately there is definitely a ‘group’ feeling required and when one tree lets the group down or slips it falls down the slope and takes a great
gash of other plants with it.
We started off at 6am to drive to Manapouri, two hours away, to catch the “Real Journeys’ company boat across the lake, then over Wilmott Pass by bus to Doubtful Sound (Fiord), a three-hour boat cruise, then back again and a visit - still by bus - 200 metres underground to the Hydro Power Station.
There is only one way into the Doubtful Sound - by boat across the lake. The workers at the Hydro station do it every day. The whole area is a National Park and very rough, tough wilderness country. The power plant was installed with an amazingly small impact on the place.
The country is full of views over lakes, islands, deep beech tree greens with vegetation covering sheer rock and reaching the water, and a profusion of sparkling waterfalls big and small. The weather was pretty wild on the eastern side of the mountains but once at the sound it was sunny, even if what the NZers call ‘chilly’.
On the trip we saw a pod of bottlenose dolphins (including cute baby ones) playing in and around the boat - one huge one played in the
Tuatara
Wildlife, park, Queenstown. It's a reptile group on its own, apparently, and lives over 200 years. bow wave, clearing the water in high leaps. A rarely-seen pair of red deer perched high on a rock, completing the wildlife display.
The whole day was fantastic, if expensive, but thoroughly worth it. The one tiny problem was that we had no camera - well, we did for a while - but the battery hadn’t been charged and we only managed 7 shots for the day in the most fabulous place! However all was not lost in that we started talking to another couple who took pics for us and promised to email them. They also suggested that we keep the battery warm in a pocket and it might work again - this actually worked to the extent of getting the 7 shots!
Arriving back at Manapouri at 5pm, we drove through sleet, snow, rain and hail for the two hours. I was heard to say that I’d like snow once we arrived back at the motel, and a few minutes later it happened and snowed lightly all night. As the ski season starts next week, the locals seem very happy.
Helen
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