Heading Due South

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown
January 14th 2008

Published: January 17th 2008

Hey Guys, Its been a couple of weeks since New Years and we've been making the most of our remaining time on the South Island by touring around the Southland and Fjordland. Since my last blog so much has happened, and i won't lie, I've been too lazy to write another blog entry. So here it goes, prepare yourself, this may be a long one!

On the 3rd of January Chloe and Sam bid farewell and left in their campervan to travel around the last bit of the south island and begin the drive back to Auckland. The six of us had been living together in Glenorchy for two weeks and it was sad to see them finally leave, but we made a promise to meet up again at the Twenty20 cricket in Auckland, to watch England play the New Zealand Blackcaps.

Over the New Year period Trev and I were discussing doing a long distance hike. Ever since arriving in New Zealand i'd really wanted to do a proper walk and with so many mountains and such fantastic views we were really spoilt for choice. We really wanted to do the Routeburn track which is one of the most famous walks in New Zeland, but unfortunatly due to its popularity the NZ Governement limit how many people can walk the track each year and people book up six months in advance. Instead Trev and I set out to begin our hike on the Greenstone track. The Greenstone track crossed the mountain range between Glenorchy and Milford Sound. With only a few spare days in which to complete our walk we chose to walk the Greenstone track cutting up along a valley called Steele Creek and then heading back towards Glenorchy on the Caples track. To begin with the walking was easy and we walked for about 6-7 hours along the track. As i hadn't brought my walking boots travelling with me i made the schoolboy error of trying to hire some from Queenstown, as the evening approached we had walked for 5-6 hours and my hire boots were crippling me. Sure enough they had given me two of the biggest blisters i have ever seen, luckily i had also brought my trainers but the damage had already been done.
As we approached Steele Creek i suddenly realsed what i had let myself in for, a sign blocked the path saying 'Steele Creek: 8-10 hour walk, a track for people with a high level of fitness and backcountry skills', Oh crap, i had neither of those, especially after several days of hearty eating and drinking. Never the less we pressed on crossing some of the most amazing scenery, we passed through woodland compleatly covered in moss that looked like some surreal alien landscape. Eventually as night fell we came across the hut which would be our accomodation for the night, you could barely call it a hut as it was in a bit of a state with holes in the walls, broken furniture and sacks covering the holes that were windows (see photo), the next day we pushed on, as we approached the summit of our climb the path suddenly ended and we were forced to follow posts that were up to several hundred metres apart with no visable path between them. We hacked our way through, waded through streams and hauled ourselves up the steep climb. But the view at the top was well worth the trouble. At no point during the days walk did we see or hear anyone we were compleatly alone which never happens back in the UK. We spent a night in a larger hut in the Caples valley where i was bitten to death by sandflys, and in the morning we set off for the 6 hour walk back to the carpark for our transfer by boat back to Glenorchy.

That afternoon after arriving back from the walk Joe and Anne were desperate to press on and we packed the car and headed to Dunedin. Dunedin is one of the largest cities in the south island and is also home to the Otago University. This makes Dunedin a university town and there were plenty of cheap bars and restaurants. Strangely Dunedun also has the worlds steepest street! Baldwin street is so steep that the road has had to be made from concrete, this is because at this time in high summer the temperatures get so warm that if the tar was to melt it would flow downhill. The gradient is so steep that for every 3 metres travelled horizontally the elevation rises 1 metre. We took an orange and rolled it from the top. Sure enough by the time it reached the bottom it was going far too fast for joe to stop it and it ened up hitting a car but it didnt cause any damage, phew! 😉
In the evening we met up with Chloe and Sam again who also happened to be in the city. The main attraction of Dunedun, apart from the worlds steepest street of course, is Speights brewery. The biggest brewery in the south island Speights dwarfed Monteiths the brewery we had visited in Greymouth and once again we got a tour of the factory and spent an hour after the tour with the guide pouring our own pints from the bar.

The next day we drove onwards to Invercargill, stopping off a a petrified forest, where the trees had fallen into the water and turned into stone and the most southern point in NZ. Invercargill is primarilly an agricultural town, because of this the town is stuck in a bit of a timewarp and most of the shops and services in the town are geared around this. Needless to say we only stayed the night and headed on to Te Anau which is the gateway to Milford Sound.

Despite being the closest town to the Milford Sound, Te Anau is still 120 km approximatly 65 miles away from Milford Sound, we spent a couple of days chilling out in Te Anau and booked a tour of Milford Sound aboard the Milford Wanderer Nature Cruise. The weather in Te Anau was fantastic but sods law on the day of our cruise, the rain was bucketing down and as we drove to Milford Sound we got stuck behind a coach that was barely moving as it made its way down the dangerous pass towards the sound. We arrived with moments to spare and jumped aboard our boat as it was leaving. Despite the pouring rain and heavy fog Milford Sound was still an awe-inspiring place. The huge rock walls of the Fijord line the gorge and massive waterfalls cover the valley walls especially in bad weather adding to the atmosphere of the experiance. As we set off the water was rough and combined with the torrential rain we got soaked! Milford Sound was an amazing place but i couldnt help feeling that the experiance would have been slightly improved if the weather had been better!

With only a couple of days before Anne and I were due to begin heading up to Wellington we headed back to Queenstown and watched the annual charity Rugby Sevens, where teams from all over NZ compete for a range of cups and shields. In an action packed semi-final Auckland knocked out local favourites Otago, much to the detest of the crowd.

Yesterday was the big change-over day. Anne and I had flights booked to Christchurch and Joes parents were flying in from the UK to begin their holiday. The plan was to meet them off their plane and go for a drink before catching our plane. But as with all the best laid plans our plane broke down on the runway in Auckland and didnt make it to Queenstown, instead we were put on an earlier flight with Quantas and were rushed through the terminal to catch a flight due to leave 1/2 hour before. We did get to meet joes parents but it literally was a case of saying 'Hello Goodbye' and racing off to catch our plane.

So anyway we've made it to Christchurch where im now waiting for my connecting flight to Wellington which is due to leave in a few hours time (fingers crossed). Joe has stayed behind to have a few days with his parents whilst Anne and I carry onwards to Wellington. Phew! I think thats finally everything uptodate we're going to have a few days in Wellignton and try to hire a car to explore the north island, should be good fun...

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