Day 41: Back to Queenstown, Kms driven: 300

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown
December 7th 2013

Published: December 8th 2013

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Dobbos on tour

Nose into the waterfall

As if we are not wet enough

So we woke at 6.30 still in the harbour so not quite the waking up in the middle of nature but it had rained all night and was still raining so we did wonder what we would see. 40mm of rain had fallen over night.

Once breakfast had started we left harbour to head off back up the sound. And it was such a different sight than the afternoon before. Hundreds of waterfalls had sprung up overnight. And ones that had been there before were hardly recognisable as they were so much bigger and more powerful. Not good for indigestion as one minute you are tucking in to bacon and eggs and the next you are on your feet taking photos outside! In an ideal world the storm would have passed and we would have had the waterfalls and sunshine but you can't have it all! One phenomena we did see was where the fresh water had landed on the sea with a clear delineation in colour. Apparently sometimes the freshwater can be a 10m layer on top!

By 7.45 we were gearing into the Tasman sea passing Abel point. And boy did it get choppy. And by now

Abel point

Open sea just beyond. All a bit bumpy

we were pretty wet!!!!! The skipper still pointed the nose of the boat into the waterfalls and made us stand on the side of the boat looking up at an amazing overhang.

Back into harbour for 9.15. Our journey back was exactly as we came. We did pass a tree avalanche on the road which they told us yesterday had happened 7 months before and it had taken 5 days to clear the road. So everyone on that overnight trip had had to stay on board for 5 days! Also at the start, the temporary waterfall phenomena also existed just outside the sound so it did take us an hour to do the first 30km!

Few pictures of things we we missed on the way down including the tunnel entrance and the red tussocks!

We stopped for lunch at the one cafe between Te Anu and Queenstown. Now New Zealand is hot on speeding and they hide out in unmarked cars. While I was driving I spotted an actual police car and realised I had slipped up to 110kmph. Well, 100 is so slow when there is no one on the road. Braked obviously and carried on.

Can you see what it is yet

A picture coming into view

So imagine my panic when I came out of the cafe to see a police car parked next to ours and 2 policemen loitering. Luckily they had just come for lunch!!

So back to Queenstown for 3. No upgrade this time 😞 Handed back the car and made our way to the bar to watch the England cricket team get humiliated again. We've decided we must be jinxing them.

By this time we have done nearly 1900 kms and suddenly we felt them. So a quiet couple of hours before dinner watching shark attack on the discovery channel!

I fancied fish so we went to a restaurant called Fishbones. Really brilliant turbot for me and sole for Ian with the campest waiter so far.

Saturday night means music night so despite the fact we could hardly put one foot in front of the other we headed to a bar called public to watch a band called Mutz Nutz. Really good and they served Mac beer which is one of Ian's favourite on this holiday so managed to keep us going for an hour before we finally admitted defeat and went off to bed.

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