New Zealand's South Island - Part A: Queenstown Region

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New Zealand South Island Part A: Queenstown Region

It's been quite some time since we've last used the blog, in fact, probably pretty close to 2 years. However we've decided to make use of it again but more as a journal for our own keeping than to stay in touch with everyone, but feel free to read on. Much has changed since our trip to the US and return home through Europe – namely the birth of our son Patrick, so I think the manner in which we record our 'adventures' now will differ greatly. I expect that much of what we record will be watching Patrick's experiences and responses to encounters on our travels. This will probably bore some, but I'm sure it will make for great reading for Fiona and I in the years to come.

Anyway, enough reflection. Whilst we've had a few trips to Hawaii for work and holidays in the past two years, our next adventure is an 18 days trip to the south island of New Zealand. Whilst Fi has made a short stop to NZ during her sea time with the Navy, neither of us have really spent time any great deal of time in the land of the long white cloud. So, whilst Patrick was still under 2 years old and we didn't have to pay for his flight (significant motivation for the trip, coupled with the short 3 hour flight); we decided on NZ. The plan for the trip is a week in the Queenstown area based out of Wanaka, followed by two days to explore the majestic Milford Sound in the Fiordland region. We then plan on returning to Queenstown to pick up a campervan that we'll drive up to the north coast and down to Christchurch where we'll spend a few days before flying back to Sydney.

Saturday 11 Dec 2010; D-Day. We finally packed everything we need and it felt like we were moving house. For Patrick: Port-a-cot, Stroller, Baby-Carrier Backpack, Suit case of clothes, Toy Bag and Nappy Bag. Dan and Fi: Suitcase. After an amusing flight over the Tasman with Air New Zealand (their safety video is a pissa) we commenced our approach into Queenstown Airport. This part of the flight is spectacular, if not somewhat concerning. Due to the mountainous terrain surrounding the Queenstown region, the jets have to track in through a gorge as the airport is surrounded by mountains on two sides. So, as you get about five minutes out from landing, all you can see out the window are steep cliffs and snow covered mountain ranges – couple this with a fair bit of turbulence and it makes for an interesting approach. We stepped of the plane onto the tarmac and were greeted with some some pretty spectacular scenery – 'The Remarkables' mountain range, and that they were. Patrick made plenty of friends in the airport pushing his little car bag around the baggage collection area and crashing into people. It was a handful trying to collect our masses of luggage and keep an eye on the little bloke. We picked up our hire car, struggled with the bloody baby seat for a good half an hour before heading out to Wanaka. The drive passed through a mountain range and was made quite amusing due to the road being lined by some very phallic looking purple flowers. Fiona reckons NZ shouldn't be known as the land of the long white cloud, rather the land of the purple penis'. I pointed out that the plants were missing testicles, but after stepping outside into the cool mountain air, it was clear they had testicles, but it was so cold they were wearing them as ear-rings. The rental car was a manual (it'd been a while for both of us), and I asked Fi if she was ok to drive – this got me a filthy look and “Of, course I'm ok”. This was then very closely followed by someone forgetting what a clutch does, grinding the gears before a quick stall.....no comment.

Wanaka is a beautiful small town about an hour north of Queenstown which is nestled into a lake surrounded by mountains (which pretty much seems to be a constant theme for NZ towns at this stage). It's quite small, but packed out with tourists – fortunately we seemed to have beaten the rush by a week or two. Our timeshare apartment had a beautiful view from the balcony over the snow covered Aspiring Mountain Range which made for a great place to flex out with a beer. After quickly unpacking we jumped in the car and headed in to explore the town – which took all of two minutes. A small and charming little town, Wanaka was just the holiday we were after. We picked up a few groceries and headed to the local Ale house for dinner where I tried a few of the local drop, and Patrick smashed a glass all over the floor. This was quite embarrassing as we were still on Sydney time, so it was about 8:30pm and being a Saturday night, the place was starting to warm up a little.

Day 1 – Exploring Wanaka
Next morning we had a nice sleep in (8am) due to Paddy being on Sydney time still before getting up and enjoying breakky with a great view. We'd decided on a lazy day, so we were in no rush to get anywhere. We picked up some bicycles from the Resort and took them for a ride along the lakeside track into town. Paddy was enjoying his ride in the kiddy seat so much that he fell asleep on the way! We packed a picnic lunch, feed some ducks (much to Patrick's enjoyment) and just wandered around the town. We dropped in to the tourist information centre and quickly realised that we were in the adventure capital of the world, located right next to stunning vineyards, with some of the worlds best aquatic reserves and wildlife – all with a pregnant wife and 18 month old toddler. There was going to be a lot of walking, bicycle riding and eating because that was all we could do (although no seafood, shellfish or soft cheeses, all of which are all a New Zealand speciality). Luckily we could still eat lamb, and with the most of the country having some form of physical affair with sheep, I'm sure there'll be plenty for us to eat.

Day 2 – What to do on a rainy day?
We woke quite late to a rainy Monday morning and decided that it was a day best spent inside, so we started the day with the International Scrabble Championship. Fiona had never played Scrabble before, so I thought I would be an absolute shoe-in......big mistake. Fiona handed me an absolute ass whooping plucking words like 'Mosque' and 'Victory' out of her 'you-know-what'. Obviously I immediately demanded a rematch and managed to retain some dignity, so we now stand at one-all but I've got a nose in front with the world record highest score. Following an intense morning of Scrabble we decided to head out but we wanted to find something to do that would entertain Patrick as well as Mum and Dad. We soon decided on the Wanaka Toy and Transport museum which would prove to be an interesting choice. After a short drive we arrived at the museum which probably should really be called the 'Wanaka Eclectic Mix of Crap loosely associated with Toys and Cars'. Basically the museum was three hangers of stuff loosely grouped together, and boy was there a lot of it. There were extensive collections of Cars, Toy Trains, Chainsaws, Boat Motors – none of it connected and with no information detailing the significance of each piece, we just wandered around marvelling at how one person could collect so much crap. Patrick did love the toy train collection though, there were continual 'Whoo Whoos' coming from the stroller. One bonus of the museum was that it was next to a Microbrewery, so after a wandering around the museum we were able to duck in for a quick beer and a few take-a-ways of what turn out to be absolute top notch stuff. Made the Toy Museum very worth while.

The weather cleared into the afternoon, so Fiona and I decided a short hike up the local mountain was on the cards. We shoved the little bloke into the Baby Backpack and started climbing. It became obvious to me pretty quickly that two years in the states and a few years of pushing paper as a staff officer had really limited my pack fitness – I was in struggle town, in fact I was the Mayor. Still, I struggled on up the hill which much encouragement from Patrick and we were greeted with beautiful views across Lake Wanaka to the Mt Aspiring National Park; it was well worth the effort. After taking in the view for a while, we decided it was time to retire for the evening and enjoy a few of the take-a-ways from the Wanaka Beerworks.

Day 3 – Mt. Cook Adventures
Patrick woke us nice and early which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it was a beautiful crisp clear morning. We decided that the early start made it the perfect day to visit Mount Cook, which was a bit over two hours drive away and often obscured by cloud (the clear day made it ideal). We smashed a quick breakfast into our heads, loaded the car and hit the road.

The scenic drive quickly chewed up the kilometres, and before we knew it, we'd arrived at the shores of Lake Pukaki. Pukaki is made spectacular by its luminous blue water which makes it appear that it's almost glowing. Over time, the numerous glaciers in the region have ground rocks against each other causing very fine powders which are washed into the rivers and become lake sediment. It is this sediment that refracts the light in a unique manner giving the lake a beautiful light blue glow. This particular lake is also famous for the views across to Mt Cook – quite spectacular.

After taking the views we head into the Mt Cook Alpine village which lays at the foot of the mountain range with views to several of the large peaks and the glaciers which clung to their slopes. Mt Cook is famous as it is the highest peak in Australasia at approx 3755m tall. It was also the first major peak conquered by Sir Edmund Hillary who is considered to be the greatest Kiwi of all time, although we Australians know this pales in significance with Sir Donald – climbing the biggest peak in the world is impressive, but it's no 99.94 batting average. However, there were apparently enough Kiwi's who disagree with me as the Sir Edmund Hillary Centre is located in the village complex at Mt Cook and is full of interesting bits and pieces about his life. The three of us enjoyed lunch and the biggest piece of carrot cake known to man before deciding we needed to burn some of those calories with a short hike. We once again donned the Baby Backpack and headed off into the bush. The track we chose was nothing short of spectacular. It traced along the banks of a river formed by the glacial run-off. We crossed to impressive swing bridges before entering the valley itself which thousands of years ago was formed when the glacier advanced and leaving a huge gouge in the terrain. One end of the valley was dominated by the mighty Mt Cook, and we were hiking in its shadow as trekked along the icey cold river. The hike ended at a lake which was formed by the terminal face of the glacier at one end and small series of rapids which flowed into the river we had been following. Big chunks of ice floated in the lake which gave a good indication of how cold the lake was, which to us seemed absurd as we stood there sweating it up in shorts and T-shirts. We enjoyed the tranquillity of the lake broken by Patrick's excited squeals as he threw rocks and kicked loose stones on the path – I'm not sure if the other hikers thought it as funny as we did. After the return trip we jumped back in the car and headed into another valley within the park which was once again dominated by a glacier. The end point of this trek was the very recently formed (30 odd years ago) Lake Tasman which was created when a huge chunk of the Tasman glacier broke off and melted. What was unique about this was that huge icebergs still float in the lake and depending on the breeze and weather they move around, grow or shrink. Paddy had managed to drift off to sleep as we arrived, so rather than wake him by shoving him into the backpack, I thought it might be better to carry him up the hill to the look out. Bad idea. It was like trying to carry a 15kg floppy sack of potatoes up a steep and shale covered hill.....my arms were nearly falling off only halfway through the hike. But, the view was worth the effort - it was a very unique opportunity to sit on dry land and see icebergs floating in a lake in the middle of NZ –something we only expected to see in the Antarctic.

It was nigh on 7pm when we finished this hike, but the great thing about the South Island in summer is that it is so far south it doesn't get dark until about 10pm, so we still had plenty of time to start the drive back to Wanaka. We stopped at a small town uniquely named Twizel which had originally been established to house the construction workers who built the hydro-electric infrastructure around the Mt Cook region. It was intended to be abandoned after the completion of the work, however due to it's close locality to the Mt Cook Park and relaxed mountain life style, it has become a quite popular place to live. We found a place to eat right next to a children's park, so Patrick got to play on the swings and drive an old Massey Ferguson tractor while we waited for our dinner, all at about 9pm!

Day 4 – Small Town NZ
It had been a late return from the Mountain yesterday, so fortunately Patrick allowed us a sleep in before demanding his breakfast with his usual morning yelling contest (he always wins). Fi and I were both feeling a little fatigued from the hiking the day before, so it was a slow start. There was no rush though, we had a very relaxed day of exploring some of NZ's small downs on the agenda. First stop was Arrowtown, a small gold mining town established after gold was found in the Arrow River a short drive out of Queenstown. The town was an absolute postcard, set alongside a bubbling stream amidst pine covered steep mountains. The town itself looked like a movie set – a lot like Sovereign Hill, although not artificial. Although the gold rush era buildings were relatively untouched on the outside, the inside couldn't have been more different – the place was an absolute tourist trap. Almost every building was occupied by a boutique shop, jewellery store, chocolatier, all set up to lighten the wallet of the thousands of tourists who grace Arrowtown every year. Fiona and I pushed Paddy up and down the streets admiring how beautiful the place was, but noting that there was bugger all to do but spend money. We found a quaint little bakery and picked up some rolls before visiting the river for a tight-ass picnic lunch we had packed less the bread.

After lunch we left Arrowtown behind to visit the much less touristy, but similar era town of Clyde. The hour drive took us through the picturesque Queenstown vineyard and orchard region before arriving at the tiny town of Clyde. It didn't take us long to work out why Clyde didn't suffer from the tourist crush of Arrowtown – there was nothing there. A few beautiful old buildings, but not much else, so without alighting from the car we headed to another small town called Cromwell.

Cromwell is somewhat unique in that is lies somewhere deep under the water of the Dunstan river which was dammed in 1993 which caused the flooding of the town. Prior to the flooding a group of industrious locals disassembled all the historic buildings in the town and reassembled along what is now the banks of the new river. 'Old Cromwell Town' now has beautiful views of the Dunstan River, but is now a combination of Clyde and Arrowtown. 'Old Cromwell Town' is quite beautiful but consists of only a small number of buildings which are now occupied mostly by artists selling their works. It's a lovely place to visit, just not a whole lot to do there. So, after a short stop we headed back to Wanaka so Paddy could let off a bit of steam on the local playground which is outstanding. Not often in the blog have we talked about kids playgrounds (to be honest we had no interest until Paddy came along), but this one is pretty special. Nestled into the banks of Lake Wanaka, it has spectacular views of the Mt Aspiring peaks and the crystal clear waters of the lakes. The key piece of playground equipment was the Stegosaurus Slide. The dinosaur was in the pose of eating with its head and tail on the ground. You walked up a smooth concrete path encased in the monsters tail until arriving at the top of its back where the slide started before finishing at its head. Patrick absolutely loved it, but the slide was a little bit big and steep for him, so Dad got to go up and down the slide about 12 times before we could distract Paddy with some of the other equipment.

Day 5 – Queenstown
Today we decided it was time to explore the hub of the region – Queenstown. For those who haven't been to there, Queenstown is a surprisingly small town, only 10,000 people, however is swells with the number of tourists which visit in a pretty continual stream through both summer and winter. It is an absolutely picturesque place, nestled into the foot of pine covered mountains one side, the shore of the richly blue lake Wakatipu and the rugged snow capped Remarkables mountain range on the other. The town itself is full of the character of an alpine town – heaps of pubs, clubs and great shops all packed into a very condensed and pedestrian area. All this combined makes Queenstown a fantastic town, one of our favourites we've ever visited!

Before hitting the town we decided to make a quick stop at Santa's Grotto which was just on the outskirts of the town. We'd managed to arrive early and Santa had no other visitors, so Paddy had him all to himself. At first Patrick was somewhat apprehensive of Santa before descending into screaming and yelling. We plan on getting a photo of Paddy every year with Santa, and this one Dad had to sit on Santa's lap with a screaming Paddy burying his head into Dad.

We drove into town and found some parking before strolling into the centre of town along a lake front path through a park. This is pretty typical of Queenstown; maximising public access to the water frontage and lots of greenery. We found a nice park on the water and settled in for our picnic lunch. A pretty decent busker was belting out some tunes and Paddy was digging it, cutting a bit of 'chair dancing' in the stroller while we shoved mucho food into his head. Chair dancing is pretty amusing to see, lots of head bobbing, shoulder shrugging and the occasional fist pump if he's really getting into it – probably much the way Ian danced at the AC/DC concert.

After lunch we strolled though town, picked up a coffee and headed for the Queenstown Gondola which runs 730m to the top of Bob's Peak. Paddy was pretty excited about the whole idea, lots of ooh-ooh's going on while we waited, but this quickly changed as soon as we got into the cable car itself. Poor little bloke was not happy at all and clung to me like a little monkey. I could imagine it must be scary for the little man, but he's shown no previous fear of heights, and once we got to the top he was pretty happy to stand there bashing on the glass railing of the look out tower with a couple of hundred foot drop directly below. Anyway, without too much drama we got to the top and stepped out onto the viewing platform for absolutely jaw dropping views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. One thing that continues to amaze me is the colours of the lakes here, they are so rich in colour whether it be the turquoise lakes near Mt Cook, or the deep rich blue of lake Wakatipu – something that words and photos simply cannot describe. Much to our amusement, Patrick found one of the original cable cars which was on display at the viewing platform, and we couldn't keep him out of the bloody thing. He stood on the seats screaming with excitement and yelled at everyone walking past – quite the showman, but hates the real cable cars! After a bit of a stroll around we caught the gondola back down the mountain with Patrick having a repeat performance of his monkey impression but was good to go when we got back on terra firma. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the town just taking in the atmosphere and people watching. We finished off with a quick look around the gardens before calling it quits and heading home.

Day 6 – Here comes the rain (again!)
Unfortunately the weather man got it wrong today, and whilst we were expecting showers to clear, we found ourselves with a pretty wet Friday. We'd planned on taking a short trip to Glenorchy, a small town on the other side of Queenstown, and even got as far as driving about 10 minutes there before thinking better of it and having a relaxed afternoon in the resort. We continued the world championship of Scrabble and decided on a new rule: the winner of the last game must play with Patrick on their lap the next game. This is a distinct disadvantage as you have very limited time without your tiles being picked up, thrown away, eaten or shown to your opponent. Anyway, despite this disadvantage I managed to pull through in an epic struggle that will go down in the ages. A heroic victory they will call it for years to come. The next game commenced only to be interrupted and then destroyed when Paddy upended the board – although I was away to a healthy lead, I conceded a draw which leaves us at 2-1 at the moment with Fiona very lucky to be in touch still (I think she paid Patrick to wreck the game!). We spent the remainder of the day doing some much needed washing and ironing and get ready to leave our Timeshare.

Day 7 – Time to go.....Milford Sound here we come
The next morning we woke with a long drive in front of us. Although Milford Sound is only approx 150 km due west of Queenstown, the terrain simply does not allow a direct drive. As a result it's about a 4-5 hour drive without stopping to take the long (and scenic) drive to Milford Sound. We got ourselves organised pretty quickly and got on the road as soon as possible.

Initially the road winds through green farming country flanked by rolling hills (rather than the mountains we'd become used to over the last few weeks). It was pretty, but unremarkable. We stopped for lunch in a small town called Te Anau which is pretty much the gateway to the Milford Sound drive. This town is interesting for two reasons, it was where we would stay the night after Milford, but also denoted where the scenic drive began. The drive into Milford Sound is rated by many as one of the best in the world, and over the next two days we would see it in two very different guises and come to appreciate why it is so well regarded. As we progressed along the road the landscape changed from rolling hills to steep mountains, and the vegetation shifted from farmland to sub-tropical rainforest. The bubbling brooks of the flat lands now became fast flowing rapids complete with whitewater kayakers enjoying their challenges. Soon we were winding our way through the mountainous landscape with clouds clinging to the mountain tops and climbing out of the steep re-entrants.

Along the way we stopped at a few short hikes to visit waterfalls. Although we had the child carrying back-pack, Patrick had begun to enjoy our bush walking and wasn't content unless he was strutting out the front, leading the way. This included a walk across a swing bridge, of which Paddy couldn't get enough. He stood in the middle bouncing up and down laughing his head off. He did pretty well though, covering about 1km before having enough.

About two thirds of the way along the drive we arrived at Homer's Tunnel and were met with a curious sight. Homer's tunnel is 1700 meters long and cut crudely through one of the mountains to create a pass by which traffic can get to Milford Sound. With almost no lighting and water teaming through the roof it's a pretty interesting drive. It's a one-way tunnel with 15 minute waits dictated by traffic lights, but as we waited we were able to view two waterfalls, one either side running down the mountain face and ending in big clumps of ice – a very strange sight. We passed through the tunnel and quickly emerged at the head of a sweeping valley flanking by a towering mountain range on each side. As there'd been some rain the occasional waterfalls trickled from the top of the bare mountains, making its way down to where vegetation clung to the sides of the mountains. The road twisted and turned it's way through the valley and down to the edge of the sound. We stopped for a quick look before making our way to the hostel where we were staying the night. The communal environment proved a hit with Paddy, although he wasn't all that popular walking through the hostel squealing with excitement over and over and over again. We hunkered down the night doing our best to avoid the sand flies which seemed to be swarming everywhere.

Day 8 – The Sound (well Fiord actually), then back to Te Anau
Next morning we arose to the unfortunate sight of a very overcast and somewhat rainy day – although that didn't seem to perturb the sandflies – little bastards were everywhere. They weren't too high on the dangerous front if you covered up, but they were just everywhere and persistent as hell. We waited in the cruise terminal (which is pretty all Milford sound consists on along with the Hostel), but the sand flies had even made the terminal home. We had a decent wait in front of us, and we sat their lamenting our misfortune of good weather nearly all week with the exception of the day we need it. The cruise manager even told us that the days didn't get too much worse than what we had, but what can you expect from a place that receives 7m of rain a year and rains two out of every three. We boarded our ship and made our way out into the sound. The majesty of Mitre Peak, one of the Sound's highest features at 1692 metres (or one mile) loomed ahead of us shrouded in a blanket of cloud. The amazing part of the Sound (which is actually a Fiord) is that you get a true understanding of the height of these mountains because you are at sea level when viewing them. Although it was raining pretty consistently, there was one amazing side effect – the stoney walled mountains were lined with literally hundreds of temporary waterfalls. The mountains were alive with walls of cascading water teaming down into the Sound and creating a fresh water layer of approximately 4 metres on top of the salt water. Fi and I made the most of the weather, tag teaming with Patrick and throwing on our single Gortex jacket and braving the rain. Although we only caught glimpses of the peaks, Milford Sound is a place which is remarkable regardless of the weather. The cloud clinging to the mountains created a sense of mystery, that she had more to show us but was not ready to release all her secrets just yet. I took it as an invitation to return on another, clearer day. Milford Sound is right up there with the Grand Canyon and the Redwoods as one of the great natural wonders we have seen, and I would be disappointed if we don't get there again.

After the cruise was over we jumped in the car and headed back to Te Anau, but the amazing sights weren't over. Much like the cruise, the valley in front of Homer's Tunnel was also awash with waterfalls due to the rain we had received. Again, literally hundreds of waterfalls both cascading torrents and trickles lined the mountains on each side of the valley. The mountains were so high that we watched the water falls and literally disappear into a cloud of mist. It was a truly amazing way to finish a fantastic cruise, and both Fiona and I felt privileged to see this side of nature in all her glory.

Day 9 – Picking up the Campervan
We had camped the night in Te Anau and rose early to get back to Queenstown as we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We were picking up the Campervan and then covering a few hours towards the West Coast before calling it a night, so we needed to get on the road early. The trip back was uneventful and we eventually arrived back at Queenstown to pick up our 4 Berth Campervan. This was our first experience at 'motorhoming', so we were pretty excited. The only problem we could see was the the anchor points for the baby seat were way up the back, so Paddy was a long was out of reach.

We picked up the van and Fiona drove first, pushing the van through the series of 180 degree hair pin turns to cross the Crown Ranges and head pack out past Wanaka to Lake Hawea. We arrived in slow time (which would be a theme of our motorhoming) and set up shop, only to find our gas bottle was buggered. So, after spending some agitated time on the phone, we had to cut all plans in the morning to head back to Wanaka to get the gas bottle fixed....pretty shitty really. It's at this point that we will bring this part of the blog to an end. So they don't turn into 'War and Peace' we'll break our trip into two parts, this being Part A and our Campervan adventures being Part B. Hope you've enjoyed this one and we'll see you on the flip side.

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Photos

Classic New Zealand
Mount Cook over the turquoise waters of Pukaki.

Making Friends at the Aiport
Paddy his racing car bag full of toys

Remarkable amount of luggage
Dan with all our bags - one for Mum and Dad, the rest for Patrick. The 'Remarkables' are in the background.

Balcony View
This was the view from our timeshare balcony when it wasn't cloudy or raining!

Cycling Lake Wanaka
Here' Dad and Paddy hitting the biking trails. Paddy feel asleep in by the time we made it to town.

Lake Wanaka
Here's Fi and Paddy enjoying lunch at Lake Wanaka

Mount Iron
After a 40 minute climb we enjoyed great views over Lake Wanaka.

Did you say Pukaki?
The turqoise waters of Lake Pukaki

The Mighty Mount Cook
The view looking up Hooker Valley to Mount Cook.

Rivetting
Patrick is super excited about the iceburgs at Mount Cook National Park.

An afternoon walk
Here's Paddy and I taking a stroll in the late afternoon.

Arrowtown
The cheesey goodness of Arrowtown....tourists galore

Watching the Bungy Jumpers
No, none of us did it...I'm too broken and Fi's too pregnant!

The Dinosaur Slide
Here's Paddy coming down the dinosaur slide for the 100th time.

Merry Christmas
Paddy Paddy is not too happy at all to see Santa!

The Gondola
Paddy was not real keen on this ride at all - hard to blame him with this view.

View from the Top
The top of Bob's peak - the veiw over Queenstown.

Queenstown Foreshore
Fi and I relaxing on the Queenstown Foreshore, it was lined with cafes and restaurants.

Leading the Way!
Paddy charging along New Zealand's longest swing bridge - all 114 metres.

Hiking to the falls
Here's the little bloke strutting his stuff on the way to the water falls.

Milford Sound....stunning
Momentary clearing in the weather at Milford Sound.

Majesty of the Sound
One of the benefits of the weather was the numerous waterfalls all along the Sound.

The size of the Sound
If you look closely you can see tourist boats at the base of the mountains - it shows just how big these things are!

The Falls
With so much rain, the water has to go somewhere!

Waterfalls Everywhere
This was what greeted us on the drive out of Milford Sound. Picture it running the full length of a valley on both sides.

Wanna come for a ride ladies?
This is the way to shop! Kept Paddy and Mum and Dad really happy.