Blogs from Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 8

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Doubtful Sound November 22nd 2011

Winding down with the Weather The morning after my incredible luck at the glaciers, the weather was anything but pleasant. You will not be able to tell from the pictures I have chosen for the blogs, but I have had nasty weather on the way. But I have managed to time it, so that I have been on the road on those days and not missing out on anything really important. It is also a way of cleaning the dust of the EDS. I headed further south - into the mountains and stayed a couple of nights in Wanaka. Some of NZ's skiing territory is in this area, but the season was over weeks before I arrived and the summer activities had not really kicked off yet, so it was nice and quiet. I went tramping ... read more

Fiordland National Park – Milford Sound.

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Milford Sound November 7th 2011

our cruise

Jasmijn and Jan

Gisteren waren we de tunnel al doorgereden. Eigenlijk ging Jan rijden, want ik ben nogal een broekschijter in een donkere tunnel , maar voor dat we het wisten zat ik aan het stuur in de tunnel. Gelukkig had ik de tunnel voor mezelf =) Gisterenavond reden we het dorpje in. Je moet je er niet te veel bij voorstellen. Er zijn 2 lodges , waarvan 1 campers ontvangt. Je staat met je wagen gewoon op de parking tussen de andere auto's. Wij hadden geluk. We gingen tussen de lodges staan en gebaarden ons van niets. Er is in het dorp ook 1 café en 2 grote parkings, een klein vliegveld (voor scenic flights) en een groot aanlegmeer voor de cruises. That's it! Er wonen hier amper 120 mensen , waarvan géén één in de winter. Even ... read more

Fiordland National Park

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Doubtful Sound November 7th 2011

cows on the road (again)

Jasmijn and Jan

Even een correctie van mijn vorig verslag: Er is 180 dagen kans op regen, dus nog 60 meer dan dat ik eerst vermeldde. In Tuatapere reden we langs een leuk cafeetje. We stopten even om te snuisteren. Het café straalde een 'nostalgische' look uit van zo'n 100 jaar terug in de tijd. De dame zelf , was ook al redelijk oud (neenee geen 100) en ze vertelde maar al te graag over de typische dingen in Nieuw-Zeeland en over haar overgrootouders die van Schotland naar Nieuw-Zeeland reisden om daar een nieuw leven te beginnen. 3 maanden zaten die mensen op een boot. Ze vertelde ook het verhaal over 'The Belgian Cookies' -zoals hiervoor al vermeld - De vrouw liet ons ook wat chocolate fishes (snoepjes) proeven. En tussentijds vertelde ze dat ze ook al in België ... read more

Milford sound cruise

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Milford Sound October 30th 2011

hendytravels

We boarded a small 2 storey boat for our cruise through the Milford sounds. The fiords loomed among the mist casting dark shapes into the sky. We chugged up close to waterfalls - the daring getting drenched out on the front of the boat the not so daring inside watching from the windows and drinking tea. The scenery was fantastic with trees and shribs growing out of the rocks and held together by mosses and intertwining branches. We watched fiordland crested penguins bounce and stumble along the rocks before diving into the water and gliding speedily away. After dropping off the Greenstone hikers the Flying Kiwi bus set off for tonights camp on the shores of Lake Te Anau. ... read more

Day 8 - Doubtful Sound, Nay Fiord

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Doubtful Sound July 14th 2011

Kirsten and Chester

Girls Gone Galapagos

It was an early morning for our last full day in New Zealand. Today was a day of cabs, busses and boats. A cab picked us up at 7 am and took us to our bus. We were two of the last people on the completely full bus. By 7:30 we headed out of Queenstown and started the 2 ½ hour ride to get us close to Doubtful Sound. The ride was amazing. We had awesome views of lakes on one side of the bus and the mountains on the other side. It is hard to describe how picturesque the scenes are, they don’t even seem real. This was just the first leg of several getting to the Sound. After the bus, we loaded onto a boat that took us across Lake Manapouri, which took about ... read more

More Adventures

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Te Anau March 21st 2011

Catlins

Graham R

So I dont remember what it was I wrote about last, I also don't rember the day of the week. When every day is Saturday you tend to forget those types of thigs and I'm here to tell you it feels great. So I did the Bungee Jumping thing In Queenstown then headed south to the Catlins where I did more hiking, saw a yellow-eyed penguin and my first petrified forest, that was truly amazing. Then I tought about going to Stewart Island but do to a group of unfortunate events I was detured form that course and found my way back to the neerest town. Where luck would have it I found a opening on the Milford Track. This paticular hike through the Fiordlands has been booked up for mounths and I just happend to ... read more

Millford Sound

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Milford Sound March 16th 2011

Mirror Lake

peteandwen

Wow, what a day! I don’t think there is a lot to write here, and the pictures will only tell one tenth of the story, if that. Today we took the Real Journeys bus trip down to Milford Sound, something like a 100 km drive, and then their boat trip out on the Sound (actually Fjord, but that’s another story). This was pretty much a time-budget thing, as we would have loved to do the Milford Track, but we don’t have four days to spend doing it, but had to see the Southern Alps and the Sound. The words “beautiful”, “awesome”, “awe inspiring”, “amazing” get thrown around a lot down here, especially for us, but they don’t even come close to describing the Alps and the Sound. I’m glad we took a trip to Yosemite last ... read more

New Zealand's South Island

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park March 11th 2011

New Zealand Kea

e squared everywhere

We left Kaikoura after having one of the most amazing experiences of our lives – swimming with wild dolphins in their natural environment – and knowing that we still had some pretty cool things ahead of us. Our longest drive in New Zealand fell on New Year’s Day, of all days, but thanks to one particular Frenchman the night before, we felt just fine! The seven hour drive would take us from New Zealand’s east coast to its west coast via Arthur’s Pass. While the drive was scenic, as all drives in New Zealand seem to be, the “pass” wasn’t exactly what we expected. Living in Colorado, we were envisioning a Loveland Pass or an Independence Pass, maybe even a Donner Pass if you’ve been to Lake Tahoe, but Arthur’s Pass was more of a small ... read more

Doubtful Sound

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Doubtful Sound March 9th 2011

View from BBH hostel

Mumtraveller

After a cup of coffee to fortify myself I will now put the second batch of fotos on - these of my overnight stay at Manapouri Lake and next day trip to Doubtful Sound. Doubtful Sound is named by James Cook ( who else??) who on seeing it was reluctant to take his ship in as he was "doubtful" he could sail it out again given the prevailing westerly winds....he was probably right. Enjoy the fotos. Lv Lynne... read more

Milford Sound

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Milford Sound March 4th 2011

Milford sound umbrella

AfricaBound

We’re told that Milford Sound gets 200+ days of rain a year. So the odds were certainly in favour of the rain, and that’s what we got for the most part. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. The drive to Milford Sound in the rain was absolutely spectacular, possibly one of the best drives in the World. The road carves through the mountains and you are surrounded by sheer rock faces that are covered in temporary waterfalls. The rain made taking photos difficult so we didn’t do it justice at all, but we just enjoyed the experience. One afternoon the rain stopped long enough for us to take a cruise out into the Sound. We had a two for one deal through our car rental so it was actually pretty good value. There are also ... read more

Brief history of New Zealand

The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year...more history

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