South Island - Dunedin, Milford Sound and Queenstown

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We've been really busy - as usual - so I'm a bit behind the blogs, here's the next one.......

After Mount Cook we headed down to Dunedin to meet up with Tom and Linsey - who we'd met in Australia. They had messaged us to say they would be in the city in the evening so Andy and I did a bit of exploring........

We first went to the world's steepest residential street - Baldwin Street. It's even in the guiness book of records as the 35% gradient = 1:2.86 !! We left the Chaser down at the bottom, thank goodness because that street was steep!! We climbed our way to the top (they even had steps to help). Apparently they have marathons up and down it every year and the local Cadbury World holds a charity jaffa roll down the street. The jaffas aren't jaffa cakes like home but tiny orange balls with chocolate inside. Unfortunately, much to Andy's dismay we had missed the jaffa rolling by a few days. Gutted. So I promised Andy that we would go to Cadbury World to see if it's any different from the one in Brum. Later that day we went to a leisure centre and went for a swim whilst we waited for Tom and Linsey - it was great fun they had these river rapids, whirlpools and spas.

That evening we had a great catch up with Tom and Linsey - it took a while to find a campsite that wasn't a rip off but we sat and chilled in their huuuuuge campervan - the beast! The next day we went to Otage Peninsula which is about 30km east from Dunedin. The majority of the land is sparsely populated and occupied by steep open pasture. The peninsula is home to many species of wildlife, notably seabirds, pinnipeds, and penguins, and several ecotourism businesses operate in the area. It was a gorgeous scenic drive as you can see from the pictures. Andy and I were in the lead and I had navigator duties as Tom and Linsey were following. We went to have a look at Lanarch Castle, New Zealands only castle - but I was flabbergasted to discover it was $27 per adult at the gate to go in. You can't even go into the grounds and take a photo and unfortunately you can't even see the castle from the gates. We couldn't afford that so we carried on our drive around the peninsula and back to Dunedin.

In the afternoon Andy got his wish and we all went off to Cadbury's World. Having a Jucy campervan meant we go buy one get the other half price so that was good. Bit of a saving all helps. The cadbury would didn't look too impressive from the outside - but what factory does? We were put into a group and given hari nets to wear - well this was already more than you got in Birmingham! We had a guide who took us around the factory - given out information as well as treats!! We had about 5 bars of choc each and then he'd give you little roses if you got the questions right he asked. I got a couple I was quite chuffed with!! We learnt quite a lot about how Cadburys came to be on other side of the world. A highlight was when a chap walked passed us dragging a huge vat of chocolate - 750kg of it!! It was amazing! Andy was drooling - I had to pull him back before he put his finger in it! We saw how cadbury's milk buttons were made which was cool and they were already making the easter eggs for next year in another part. The best part of the day though was when the guide took us into a silo that was no longer being used. We all had to stick to the walls and the lights were turned off except for a spotlight going down the middle - all of a sudden the guide pressed the button and a tonne of chocolate fell from the top all the way to bottom! It was brilliant but a good job we stood back as the floor was splattered with choc!!

It was a great day and we decided that evening to stay at a powered site with Tom and Linsey - we played a board game called the Game Of Life that we borrowed from the reception - it was good fun. Then after tea everyone piled into our camper and we watched Lord of the Rings! We had to buy it as we are in New Zealand and it was great watching it all together.

The next morning we said goodbye to Tom and Linsey - it was really sad but we will definetely meet up with them in England. We headed to Te Anau and Fiordland - the gateway to the Milford Sound - the number one thing to do in New Zealand! Te Anau is also home to NZ's second largest lake - it was gorged out by a huge glacier! Atonishingly, it's deepest point is 417m - about twice the depth of the Loch Ness! We checked the weather conditions for the roads and stayed the night at Te Anau before making our way on the Milford Road. It can be a very dangerous road to drive in Winter - avalanche warnings all along and if you don't have snow chains at least in the car if not on, you can be fined $750.

The 119km road from Te Anau to Milford was unbelievable! There were plenty of things to see - the viewpoints were incredible. These included Mirror Lakes, Lake Gunn and Lake Fergus and the many waterfalls coming down the mountains. There were long sections of road where we couldn't stop due to the avalanche risk. You could even see the avalanche trails down the mountains but the gritters had done a good job of keeping the road clear - there were huge stacks of snow at the sides of the road.

My favourite part of the journey was going through the Homer Tunnel which was started by three men with a wheelbarrow and pick axe. It's 1.2km in length and really cave like inside - no smooth concrete finishes like in Switzerland. The lighting was really poor in there until we realised we both still had our sunnies on!! The tunnel leads out to the Cleddau Valley which was absolutely stunning. Here, the road down the mountain was very steep and windy - Andy did a great job driving us there. I could see why the road is so easily closed after snowfall. The road then leads to Milford Sound Visitor centre and cruise terminal. Now that we saw our first view of the sound I'll tell you a bit about it......

Milford Sound is not actually a sound but a fiord and the difference is that sounds are created from rock erosion and the sea but fiords are created by glaciers. It was wrongly named a long time ago and has just stuck. It is just one of the many fiords that penetrate 200km of coastline to the south. During the Ice Ages that began 2 million years ago, the region became an icy landscape of large glaciers carving out the long, narrow, u-shape valleys of fiorland. Then about 10,000 years ago when the ice finished retreating from the sea, it flooded the valleys creating the amazing fiords we see today. Milford Sound is 16km in length and 2 km across at it's widest point. About 7m of rain falls here every year!!

The best way to see the sound was on a cruise, I had been on the Jucy website and found a deal for a 2 hour cruise - 2 4 1 if you have a Jucy campervan! Bargain!! It was $75 for the both of us in the end which was brilliant and of course what makes travelling in Winter even more brilliant - the boat was so quiet! There was even free tea and coffee! Andy and I were really excited when we spotted a bottlenose dolphin jumping in the water just 5 minutes into the cruise. Apparently, up to 60 inhabit the waters in the fiord. The captain of the boat brilliantly spotted a Fiordland Crested Penguin on the shore. He took the boat really close so we could all take pictures - the penguin was a real poser! The Fiordland Crested Penguin is only found along the fiordland coastline and is one of the rarest penguins in the world! They are only seen in Milford Sound for a short period of time - we counted ourselves very lucky! We also saw many fur seals laying the sunshine on the rocks - they didn't even bat an eyelid when the boat came close.

As well as the wildlife, the cruise offered some spectacular sights including Mitre Peak which is one of the tallest mountains in the world to arise directly from the sea floor - 1692m high! There was a fantastic waterfall called Bowen Falls and it's one of only two permanent waterfalls that drops 160m from a classic hanging valley in the fiord. Spectacular rock formations and mountains were to be seen all around us. One resembled a crouching lion and another an elephant with a waterfall coming out of his nose!! It was a fantastic cruise!

After Milford Sound we headed to the infamous Queenstown - the adrenaline capital of the world! It was an amazing town, I really really liked it! Unfortunately due to budget constraints and the fact we still have another two countires to visit after this one we had to contain ourselves quite a lot. There was so much going on from mini golf, to skiing, to jetboating, bungys, rafting, and skydives! We decided to do the shotover jet, we had it mind for a while and Tom and Linsey reccommended it too. It didn't dissappoint. It's the only boating company that has a permit to take on the mighty Shotover River Canyons - sharp jagged rocks sticking out of the sides, rocks underneath the water. It took the corners really sharply and turned into the rocks making you feel you were going to crash into it, then the driver would perform donughts in the water and you had to hang on for life while the boat spinned around! The boat was great - it only needs 10cm of water to ride the river and it uses 520 horsepower! We could see why it was one of the most popular things to do in Queenstown! It was brilliant fun - but it was extremely cold, my smile was frozen to my face! We even bought the video and pictures at the end! It's really funny to watch!

After the jet we went to watch some of the bungys just outside the town - it was only a 43m jump, didn't look too scary but then I wasn't the one tied up to jump. On the way back we stopped by in Arrowtown which was just gorgeous, the houses were amazing and the little town was so sweet. We bought some fudge from the sweet shop - we felt a bit inclined to after the woman kept offering us free samples.

The next day we took a trip up the gondolas (cable car) to see the fabulous views of the town. We decided to have a buffet lunch at the Skyline Restaurant which was a bargain included with a return ticket on the gondolas. It was a really nice way to end Queenstown - the food was delicious! We were so full on the ride back down to the ground - I'm sure the cable car was moving slower.

That's it for this blog, another south island to come very shortly. We are now in North Island. Hope you are all ok. Take care.

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Photos

My collection of goodies!
Andy's were already gone before I could get a picture!

Comments

[Chris]

wowow chocolate
wowwww what a blog great pictures can I have ur autograph. Cool pictures love the mirror lake. Speed boat looks cool. Keep having fun and work on the jumping. Xxxx