End of the road

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It's hard to believe that my time in NZ (just 5 days shy of 2 months) is almost over. I leave for Melbourne tomorrow (Wednesday). It really hit me earlier on while at Christchurch Botanical Gardens when I was taking to a couple from Auckland and actually hearing the words "I leave New Zealand tomorrow" coming out of my mouth really upset me! That said while I'll miss NZ, I feel I could never live here. I think I'm just a little too far from home.

Anyway, to pick my blog up from where I left off. After making an earlier than planned exit from Queenstown (the only town in NZ I left ahead of schedule), we headed for Milford Sound via Te Anau. My intention had been to see both Milford and Doubtful, however the cost of doing both was too high. So we decided on Milford, party because it's the better known one, and the drive to there from Te Anau is very highly-rated. We were lucky in that Wanaka i-Site had a special deal on the overnight cruise on the Sound. I was much keener to do an overnight cruise as there would be less traffic on the Sound later in the day. However, the day after we booked the cruise, the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound was closed due to weather. Any tours booked for Milford Sound were diverted to Doubtful Sound, so it looked for a while it would be Doubtful Sound after all! There was no need to worry, the road opened the day prior to our booked cruise, and we made it on to the boat.

I've done a few overnight cruises before (Ha Long Bay, Bay of Islands), however the standard of this cruise was much higher. It was of course higher-priced! But not prohibitively expensive. Anyway, the Sound was incredible but what was more incredible was the lack of rain over the 22 hours we were at Milford Sound! It was actually the one place i had hoped for rain, as a downpour usually results in hundreds of waterfalls appearing. I wasn't too concerned though, I think having sunshine was preferable.

Once we docked back in Milford, we headed back to Te Anau, and checked out the glowworm caves there. Having done the better-known caves in Waitomo, I was still impressed by Te Anau. The waters in the cave flow very agressively.

I'm going to have an aside here for a rant. The town at Milford Sound is there for no reason other than to service tourists going to the Sound. There is one cafe and I feel I need to have a moan about it. It was the most expensive coffee I had in NZ (NZD 5 for a single-shot latte as opposed to on average NZD 4.50 for a double shot anywhere else) and also the worst. And the cafe itself had all the charm of a motorway service station. Now being the only cafe in town makes it very easy to be best in town, however so many times in NZ I've visited cafes in the middle of nowhere and they've been incredible, with great coffee and bags of charm. A few days after Milford, I visited a cafe in Niagara. I reckon there wasn't another cafe for 30 miles (at least) in any direction, but this place was voted the 2nd best cafe in Southland NZ in 2008! So a big boo to Milford Sound cafe (think it's called the Blue Duck or something). Must try harder. It's a shame it's unlikely planning would ever allow another cafe to open.

Anyway, back to my travels. After Te Anau (and saying goodbye to my travel companion who headed up to the North Island), I was back on the road by myself again. I headed from Te Anau on the Southern Scenic Route towards Dunedin. My plan was to travel to Invercargill, then on to Dunedin via the Catlins. En route to Invercargill, I visited another great small town restaurant in Riverton (Mrs Clarke's Cafe) for lunch. The drive from there onto Invercargill was another stretch of roads which reminded me of home, lots of farm land and combine harvestors working. Invercargill itself did not blow me anyway, as it's rather flat and bland. It was still impressed though by the Anderson Park Art gallery. At Bluff, I reached the end of State Highway 1, and felt for the first time that was time here was approaching its end. It only seemed like days ago I was standing at the start of State Highway 1 at Cape Reinga, up in the North Island. It felt very much like the finish line. Although I admit any emotions were blunted by the fact I was being eaten alive by sandflies while at the signpost! I will not miss them!

Time to log out again but I'll be back shortly with my final NZ post!

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