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Published: March 21st 2017
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Main street view of Arrowtown. A gem!Never judge a book by it's cover is a motto to keep in mind when travelling. Haast (pop 300), the last little town on the West Coast, was to be nothing more than a victualing stop. Clean stuff, tidy the HBS, replenish wine supplies and move on. Haast puffed it's little chest out and we took note. About 50kms down the coast is the last stop on the West Coast before the fiordlands take control so it was only fitting to go and have a look at Jackson's Bay, a tiny harbour settlement which boasts it's own flock of blue penguins which, unfortunately, were out at sea bulking up before the onset of winter. We had lunch at the Craypot, a tiny and quaint little eatery, but crayfish was off limits at R1400 per tail. Settled instead to share a very good fish and chips dish which still felt like a mugging at R340. On the way back to Haast I fished the Arawhata River which my NZ fishing website identified as "very good waters
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Anyone missing a bra? That bloke with a bra fetish....eish!!! In support of breast cancer. for sea run trout and salmon". Not to be. Not to be outdone by many other camps we had stayed at, our Top10 camp site was located right next to an airstrip and the local hardy pilots were testing their skills late evening and early morning. Some very large mountains close by covered in mist so these guys had to be on top of their game. And to round things off on night two a small frontal system dumped about 50mm of rain which no doubt had the sandflies ecstatic as they thrive on moisture (and Sue's blood type).
A beautiful crisp and sunny morning set the tone for our onward journey the next morning. Destination was Wanaka, approximately 180kms east, as we were now finally leaving the West Coast. Again Haast put it's hand up and the scenery following the Haast River for a good 40km and the climb up Haast Pass to Mt Brewster was breathtaking. The coastal plain is not wide and then suddenly towering mountains rise with steep tree clad slopes leaving one wondering just how the trees hold on to the slopes. And just as you think it can't possibly get any better you
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An early morning view on the road to Millford Sound. Mind boggling. stumble across a sign that says Thunder Creek Falls and there it is right alongside the road....a 90m torrent of water cascading down an almost vertical mountainside. This wonderful scenic drive goes through the heart of the Mount Aspiring National Park and hard to describe the views other than to say that NZ is drenched in beauty. Numerous crystal clear rivers rushing to their destiny with the ocean. This got me thinking about renewable water resources as water will be a critical resource in the not too distant future and not unlikely that nations will go to war to secure supply. The World Factbook per kind favour of "Mr Google" has Brazil at the top of the list and NZ at 31. What is staggering is that Brazil has 25 times more water than NZ and this is largely due to the Amazon Basin. For what it's worth SA is ranked 93 of 169 nations listed. Apart from an incredible number of rivers, streams and creeks, NZ has a huge number of lakes all over North and South Island.
Having worked our way up the Haast Pass we stumbled on Makarora (pop 40) which didn't have much going for
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Our Millford Sounds boat. The cruise of a lifetime. it other than this is the gateway to the Otago region and an adventure junkies delight with options for scenic flights, jet ski rides and challenging mountain hikes. A little further down the road we caught a news broadcast on radio which was a real showstopper. Somewhere on North Island 3 red backed spiders had been captured since June 2016 and handed in to the spider authorities who proclaimed that these were the first seen in twenty five years. Yes folks, this was a headline news item! This is a country that has nothing across the entire animal kingdom that can kill a human being. On matters of nature, NZ produces a lot of honey which is sought after all over the world. One of their brands, Manuka Honey, is proving to posess some excellent medical healing properties. All well and good except the Chinese have latched onto this new form of "liquid gold" and it had been reported in the media earlier in the week that there had been a huge spike in beehive thefts across the country. Buggers! Not content with decimating our rhino population, the humble bee is now in their crosshairs.
I digress. Onward the HBS purred as the countryside changed quite noticeably to more open grassland ringed with low lying hills. Superb farming country with a good smattering of NZ's estimated 33m sheep on view in the pastures. Talking matters farming we have noticed often that a number of older NZ blokes wear those rugger type shorts that were fashionable in the 60's and 70's and I can only conclude that this may be linked to the myth (or fact?) that most NZ blokes were at some stage All Black rugby trialists or perhaps still dream of a late call up to the squad. Shortly before getting to Wanaka we passed through Hawea located on a lake of the same name. The thing about these lakes is that small does not fit....this one is 35 km long and 410m deep. A little further on we entered Wanaka, also situated on an even bigger "small" lake and it really was impressive resembling a modern Swiss lake front town. Regarded as a quieter alternative to Queenstown, it is also the gateway to the ski areas to be found there. Having done some research we located the river which feeds into the lake and I had, again, an opportunity to catch the increasingly elusive salmon in what looked like superb water. Not to be but I did notice guys trawling behind boats catching nothing so not too downcast. The lakefront in this quaint, modern town was crawling with pubs and eateries and being an Otago long weekend the place was abuzz. It was an easy choice for late afternoon sundowners taking in the crowds and activity around us.
Drifted out of Wanaka on a bright, sunny morning. GPS duly set and the splendid scenery just rolled on as the road took us through the Cardrona region which is where the skiing crowds gather in numbers in winter. Just short of Cardrona was a farm fence adorned with thousands of bras of all shapes, sizes and colours. Any troubled bloke with a bra fetish would break into a serious fever here. Looked to me like a "booby trap fence". The magnet that attracted many of the early settlers and explorers in the 1860's to many of the towns in this region was gold. Thank goodness this happened otherwise Arrowtown would not exist and believe me, it is a gem! It is beautifully preserved with all the old buildings restored and intact. Walking around this amazing little town was akin to being in a living museum. If I may switch roles to being a travel guide for a second...if you travel to South Island DO NOT miss or bypass Arrowtown. The contrast further down Route 6 when we arrived in bursting and bustling Queenstown could not have greater. From a quiet, quaint showstopper to NZ's busiest tourist mecca took some adjusting. The best way to deal with this is to keep going and soon Queenstown was a dot in the distance. To be fair on the good folk of this town, it is modern and attractively located on a huge lakefront with every conceivable type of accommodation on offer to cater for the hordes who go there for the adventure sports and skiing.
Once through the mountain ranges, the countryside flattens to more open pastureland and stacks of plump sheep with their heads down eating...do they ever stop? Bizarrely we started to see fenced off areas with lots and lots of red deer which were introduced, once again, by the English gentry in the early 1800's. Considering that they originated from chilly locales in Scotland and England, NZ proved to be a breeze for them and they are now roaming wild all over the country. A few days earlier we had heard that our Auckland mate, Graham Fabian, would be helicoptered into the fiordland area along with his son to hunt red deer. They would then spend a week in this rugged mountainous region camping and undoubtedly getting wet. And maybe bagging a luckless deer. Fiordland was our destination and a sign which read Fiordland National Park signalled our arrival. It is a magnificent wilderness area sporting jagged mountains, lakes and jaw dropping scenery. We had booked two nights at the Top10 camp in Te Anau which is a small lakeside town used as a springboard to NZ's iconic Millford and Doubtless Sounds. To set the scene for our Millford Sound visit I had been monitoring the weather forecasts. I shouldn't have bothered. On the mountains around the sounds annual rainfall is between 7,000 and 9,000 mm per annum. It rains on at least 200 days each year. Our forecast read...rain!
We had booked an adventure cruise on the Millford Wanderer which was due to sail at 10.30 am. The drive of 120 kms to Millford Sound can take up to three hours due to the windy road and lots of traffic. The HBS cruised out of the camp park at 07.00 am in the early morning gloom and spirits lifted as we saw blue sky and later a bit of patchy sun. The journey to Millford Sound is like nothing I have ever done before. Up until that point I had decided that the most spectacular road journey I had ever done was through the Rockies in Canada from Calgary to Vancouver. That vapourised as we drove for two hours through the most incredible scenery I have ever seen. I will not attempt to describe it as I could never, ever do this staggering landscape the poetry it deserves. Donning my travel guide hat for a second....DO NOT even think of missing Millford Sound if you visit NZ. Just the drive there will blow your mind!
Duly arrived in the parking lot at Millford Sound and it was not raining but looked threatening. A short walk and we were in the Boat Terminal which shares it's space with 500,000 visitors annually. It is not a sound but a fiord and is home to huge geological forces where the Indo-Australian plate plunges beneath the Pacific Plate. There appears to be little or no soil on the sheer mountain slopes but trees cling somehow to the bare rock faces. Occasionally they detach from the rock and cause massive tree avalanches which plunge into the water below.The barren area left shakes this off and over time growth commences and eventually the trees start the process all over again. The other interesting fact is that the top few metres of Millford Sound is fresh water due to the massive run off rain water which does not mix with the sea water resulting in many deep sea species being found ten metres below the surface. The two hour trip around the sound was mesmerising with some quirky and excellent commentary provided by our adventure guide. Of course it rained! In fact it rained so hard up in the mountains, we were spoilt with a view of huge torrents of water cascading down 100-150 m waterfalls. These had not been there when we set off from the harbourside. Millford Sound was everything I had imagined and more. Much more. Do not miss it!
On the journey back to Te Anau we were on a high having just been treated to what the NZ folk proudly and rightfully proclaim as "The eighth wonder of the world". I stopped in a roadside parking and fished for an hour in the Eglington River with the realisation that I was indeed privileged to be fishing surrounded by scenery beyond my ability to describe. I did not add to my catch rate but that really did not matter.
Back in camp for our last night we sat in reflective silence except for a rowdy bunch of Harley Davidson bikers who had roared in from Palmerston North. Being on a major road trip these blokes and their "Sheila's" were thirsty and they gave it horns. Doing my pre-nocturnal ablutions, I had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders at the urinal with one of these Harley guys. Little chit chat took place. He "so, how ye mate". Me.."I'm good thanks". He.."any day above ground is good mate". Me..."you're right". He..."so where you from mate?". Me..."South Africa". He..."is that right mate? I married a girl from Kloof, Durban mate". Me..."small world hey!". He..."South Africa is like a great big ship without a fucking rudder mate". Me...stunned. Think about answer but look to my right...he has zipped up and buggered off. You just have to love travelling!
Fortunately the HBS is not rudderless and "GPS Sue" will take control tomorrow morning as we head away from Southland to Central Otago. We also leave the sand flies behind much to Sue's delight. They have extracted her blood which I keep reminding her is simply a form of payment for what we have seen and enjoyed in Southland.
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John Wilson
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A great post most interesting, clearly evident that the sightseeing is spectactular! I thought an afternoon parked at bradonar witnessing the unpacking would have been fun! worried about the fishing or lack of catch! continue enjoying this special trip!