Part #2, New Zealand

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The distance from Queenstown to Milford Sound, our next destination, is only about 50km in a straight line, but the drive there is 305km. All of our drives had been quite spectacular so far, but this one was a cut above the rest. Heading south past Lake Wakatipu we drove through to Mossburn then headed east to Te Anau and then North. We stopped in Mossburn for supplies. It had one shop. When the shopkeeper found that we were heading to Te Anau she told us that we'd like it much more than Queenstown because Queenstown was "such a rat race". To put this in context, Queenstown has 3 streets and Te Anau has 1. I'm not sure what this lady would make of London or New York!

The drive from Te Anau to Milford gradually wound uphill as the mountains closed in around us. At the top of the pass we arrived at the 1.3km long Homer Tunnel which was started during the Great Depression to keep people busy, but not finished until 1954. The tunnel is not big enough for two busses to pass, but incredibly no traffic lights were installed until 2004. These lights are still not used in the spring or autumn as the risk of avalanches makes it too dangerous to wait outside the tunnel. We had to wait 15 minutes at the lights which gave the waiting Kea something to look at. Keas are a native bird of New Zealand and are one of the most intelligent creatures in the world. They have the intellect of a 6-year-old and have been known to break into cars.

In Milford we took a cruise out on the Sound. It's named after Milford Sound in South Wales, but is actually a Fjord. It's a beautiful place - especially in the sunshine. We saw penguins and seals along the way, but the stunning scenery was the main highlight. This was another place where I couldn't stop taking photos.

The following day was Emma's birthday so I took her to the best (read: only) restaurant (read: cafe) in town. Still, it wasn't a bad location for a birthday. That night we camped by lake Gunn. There were only three people at the campsite which was on the pebble beach of the lake. The water here was so clear that is was quite hard to see where the water stopped and the beach started. I've taken some pictures in which you can't tell where the shoreline is.

One of our longest drive days was from Milford Sound to Wanaka - roughly 500km. It gave us a long time to enjoy New Zealand radio. Because it's such a sparsely populated area, the radio adverts have some unique features. Instead of advertising the whole used car dealership, in this part of the world they advertise specific cars. The adverts went something like this: "Down at Bob's Autos we have a 2004 Toyota pickup. It's got a brand new set of tyres and is in a nice sky blue. Come down and have a look." Other interesting advert examples included an advert by a school asking for used musical instruments. There was also a hardware store that was located "by the roundabout" - not specifying which roundabout or even which town the store was located in. To put this into context, we were able to pick up this radio station for about 300km.

On the way through to Wanaka we stopped off at Arrowtown. This was a gold rush town in the 1800's. People came from all over the world to try their luck. One of the biggest communities was the Chinese. They were often bullied and discriminated against, mainly because of their uncanny ability to still find gold in old goldfields. The Chinese settlement has been recreated and restored. It's another good example of New Zealand trying to reconcile their history instead of sweeping the bad parts under the carpet.

On the other side of Wanaka we looked for a spot to free-camp. We found a beautiful place on the east side of Lake Hawea, but like so many other nice places, there was a "no camping" sign. These signs exist, I think, to appease the local campsites that must loose out to people camping by the side of the road instead of paying for their campsites. This was our last night before heading over the beautiful Haast pass to the West Coast.

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