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Published: January 22nd 2007
So, where was I?
The remainder of my time in Queenstown was pretty restful, with a solo trip to Milford Sound breaking it up a bit (more about that in a minute). Stuart and I went to the cinema a couple of times (finally saw 'Happy Feet' - it's so cute!) and I spent a lot of time just pottering around the town, which had a lovely feel to it. I can't claim to have indulged in any of the extreme sports and activities that the Queenstown region plays host to - I'm just not that type of person! I did, however, go on a 'Photo Safari' in the Glenorchy area, which was a 5-hour 4WD trip with an international award-winning local photographer. I had a great time, and learned a fair bit about digital SLR photography. I also got to use a digital SLR for the first time, which was an amazing experience and has strengthened my resolve to buy one as soon as I can. Photography is something I feel I am approaching later in life than I guess most people do, but I really enjoy it and I guess I would love it to play some part
in my future in some way. Hmm. Anyway, some of the photographs attached to this entry were taken on my trip - I don't think I did too badly for a beginner!
Another day in Queenstown was spent with Stu and his friends Jones and Sue, who were also on holiday in the area. In the afternoon we took the gondola up to one of the high points in the town (I got a little wobbly on the way up and back down!) and spent a happy hour or so taking rides on the 'luge' - a downhill cart track - and watching the crazy bungee jumpers before taking the gondola back down to the town. That evening we went to the Minus 5 bar (anyone that has been to Queenstown or Auckland will know about -5), which is basically a bar made completely of ice. The premise is this: You pay your money, they dress you up in big Eskimo-style coats, gloves and ugg boots and you get half an hour inside the ice bar, which includes drinking a vodka cocktail out of a glass made of ice. Much fun was had by all - it is a
strange but cool concept and it was worth it for the brilliant ice sculptures we saw and the silly photographs we took. The slightly chilly evening weather felt quite a bit warmer after that, I can tell you.
Now for Milford Sound, the scenery of which was easily the most stunning of my New Zealand trip. The Sound, actually technically a fjord, is set in Fiordland National Park, which is also part of Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site - and with good reason. It is an immensely beautiful and untouched part of the world. Approached by the also splendid Milford Road (125km of beauty), Milford Sound is known to be the wettest place in New Zealand - it gets something crazy like over 6m of rainfall a year, which only serves to improve the dramatic vistas as every time it rains, the water creates dozens of little waterfalls that run over the mountains and cliff into the fjord. Unfortunately it had been uncharacteristically dry leading up to my visit, so there weren't many of these waterfalls. However, the views were still pretty spectacular.
There is limited accomodation options at Milford Sound, as most tourists come to visit on
a day trip by coach and then leave later that day. To avoid the morning rush of tour buses and other daytrippers along the Milford Road, I decided to drive there in the afternoon and stay overnight before embarking on an early-morning kayaking trip on the sound the next day, so I parked the van at what appeared to be the only hostel/campervan park in the area. I had heard a lot of horror stories about the amount of sandflies there were in Milford, but although I certainly encountered a few, there were not half as many as I thought there would be. Until the next morning . . .
Up bright and early, I was very excited to start my sea kayaking adventure, as I had read and heard from numerous sources that it was the best way to get up close to the beauty of the Sound. After a brief introduction and the signing the obligatory release forms, our small group headed to the kayaking headquarters in Deepwater Cove, where we would begin our morning's paddle. I have just one word to describe this area - sandflies. Swarms and swarms of the things. I will say no
more. Luckily, as we left the land behind us we also left the sandflies so we weren't bothered by them for the rest of trip (until we got back onto dry land of course, where they greeted us like old friends. Or enemies.). Sadly what we were bothered by was the wind - as soon as we left the shelter of the bay the wind and waves picked up and from that point onwards, until we returned to the sheltered cove, we were battling against strong waves and currents which unfortunately totally ruined the whole experience for me. My kayaking partner was a middle-aged Aussie woman who was, quite frankly, useless, and left me to do all the work in the back, steering and paddling. It pushed me to the absolute limit of my stamina and endurance and there were a couple of points where I was actually close to tears. It was so futile and frustrating to be paddling as hard as my body was physically able, only to look to my side to see that we weren't actually moving anywhere. The guides didn't seem to care an awful lot and I think they actually found it rather funny.
But for me, it wasn't funny and it wasn't what I was sold or paid for. What should have been the peaceful, ethereal experience I had heard and dreamed about, where I could sit staring at the views and taking lots of pictures (something you can do when it's calm), turned into something horrible where I found I couldn't take pleasure in being there. It was a relief to get back to the shelter of the cove. Nobody else seemed to find it as difficult as I, and I can only put this down to the fact that the lady I was with did absolutely nothing to help me, as after my months of gym training before I came away on this trip I still have fairly strong arms and I am not particularly feeble. I was just paddling a two person kayak, with two people in it, on my own! I was so angry when we got back to dry land. But I had managed to get a few nice pictures, so I guess all was not totally lost.
After a spot of lunch and some time to try to help my sore and wobbly arms to recover,
I embarked on the 5.5 hour return journey to Queenstown. Again, the Milford Road was absolutely stunning and went a long way to soften the blow of the morning's activities. But after getting up at 6am, kayaking like a mad woman and then driving for nearly 6 hours, by the time I got back to the campsite at Queenstown I think it wouldn't be an overstatement to say I was pretty tired.
After Queenstown, Stu and I decided we would drive to Dunedin, a town on the east coast of the south island, as I had heard that it had a great museum that was worth checking out and Stu wanted to go to a warm salt water swimming pool that he had read about and seen a picture of in the guidebook. We ended up only staying there for one day, as the weather was awful. I did get to visit the museum though, called the Otago Museum, and it was every bit as interesting as I hoped it would be. On the one night we spent there, we also went to the cinema (again) to see Babel - it has just won the Golden Globe for Best
Film, and is very, very good, far and away the best film I have seen in a long while.
Next day we headed to Christchurch, stopping on the way at the Moeraki Boulders (pictures attached). Emerging from the cliffs on the east coast beach, as if being born from the earth, the Moeraki Boulders are concretions formed some 65 million years ago. Crystallization of calcium and carbonates around charged particles in muddy undersea sediments gradually formed the boulders in a process taking as long as four million years. The soft mudstone containing the boulders was raised from the sea bed around 15 million years ago and sea erosion of the cliffs is now exposing the often perfectly-rounded, erosion-resistant boulders. They are a bit of a natural wonder, and fantastic to photograph!
And then came Christchurch, the last stop in our New Zealand adventure. We stayed about 3 days there, and I spent most of the time alone, walking around the town and visiting the town's attractions such as the wonderful Christchurch Art Gallery and the Arts Centre. The town actually has a vibrant, cool and interesting arts scene which I found a very pleasant surprise and spent a
Seal at Milford Sound
I was so busy taking pictures of the view that I nearly didn't see this little guy sleeping on the rocks below me.few happy hours looking round the Arts Centre and market. On one night I also went to the art house cinema in the Arts Centre complex, and found myself watching a film in what felt like someone's front room, complete with DVD player, projector and soft sofa-style seating. It was fantastic! While in town I also visited Christchurch Cathedral (!) and the Botanical Gardens, which are said to be the third best in the world after Kew and some gardens in Canada that I forget the name of! I also did the typical tourist thing of hopping on the tram for a ride and indulging in a spot of punting on the River Avon. It was a nice, relaxing end to the trip.
The flight to Melbourne on the 15th January is also worth a mention, because the skies were unbelievably clear and, as you will see from some of the photos, afforded me an incredible view as we flew east to west and over the Southern Alps before reaching the Tasman Sea.
I have now been in Melbourne for about a week, having arrived to be greeted by extremely high temperatures - a huge contrast to the
Kayaking at Milford Sound
Before the water got rough . . . New Zealand climate we encountered. However, more about Melbourne in the next entry - I promise won't leave it so long next time!
I'll leave you with a couple of quotes that I have picked up along the way in my travels, and they seem rather appropriate to me . . . I hope you enjoy them as much as I do:
At night, after the exhausting games of canasta, we would look out over the immense sea, full of white-flecked and green reflections, the two of us leaning side by side on the railing, each of us far away, flying in his own aircraft to the stratospheric regions of his own dreams. There we understood that our vocation, our true vocation, was to move for eternity along the roads and seas of the world. Extract from 'The Motorcycle Diaries' by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO WHAT A RIDE!!' Quotation taken from
a board in a cafe in Picton, South Island, New Zealand.
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About time too!
Long awaited next installment - you don't realise just how much everyone looks forward to reading them. Fantastic pics as usual. Sorry you were not able to enjoy the kayaking as you should, but I guess not everything works out as planned.