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Published: March 15th 2007
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After only a few hours sleep we left Queenstown at 7am to Milford Sounds. It was a very wet day, so we couldn't see that much of the scenery on the way there. However once there and on the boat you're blown away by the sounds (though technically they're fjords). Because of all the rain there were lots of waterfalls to look at and by standing near the heater with a hot drink and rain jacket you really don't mind the rain. We got to see even more seals and went close enough to a waterfall to get soaked from the mist. Here's Debbie with a Geography lesson:
Fjordland National Park is one of the wettest places in the world withMilford Sounds averaging more than 6M a year (so we were there on a typical day!)
A fjord is an ice-covered valley, typically narrow and steep sided and has been flooded after a glacier retreat. A 'sound' is a river valley flooded by the sea following a rise in sea level or depression of the land. (I got this from a leaflet but did do this as part of my geography degree!) From Milford we were drove to Tuatapere,
Mike on boat
I'm happy, honest the sausage capital of NZ. So for tea we had bangers and mash but didn't see much of the town as it'd been a long day 7am-7pm. The next day we decided to do a morning sheep farm tour (partly because it included breakfast). It was quite interesting for me to see to watch the dogs work and see how stupid the sheep were, though Debbie had seen it all before. I also got to shear a sheep which was pretty strange and we then ploughed through more sausages. From Tuatapere, the coach went South to Bluff (most southern town in NZ) via Invercargill (most southern city). We had a choice of staying in Invercargill or going over to Stewart Island even further south so we opted for the island and got the ferry over. It was quite rough and at times I was getting ready to move quickly as Debbie didn't look well! Once on the island we found out we only had 1 night booked at our accomodation so we had to find somewhere else for the other 2 nights. Everywhere was quite full and as it was going to be Debbie's birthday I decided to treat us
Debbie and waterfall
Soaked through as we'd just been right next to the waterfall behind Debbie to staying in our own cottage. We did some short walks and then we went to the local cinema where they serve you stone naked home made pizza while you watch the film. Both film (An inconvenient truth) and teh pizzas (cranberry chicken for Deb, blue cheese and pork sausage for me) were really good.
The next day we got a water taxi out to one of the smaller islands, Ulva which is a bird sanctuary. It's here where you can sometimes see wild kiwis but we weren't so lucky. We saw plenty of other rare birds though, my favourite being the Weka. This is another flightless bird which seems to look under rocks for crabs to eat. After watching one I decided to help it by turning over a large rock and it started eating right infront of us. We did this a few times and the weka happily followed us about. Once back on Stewart island we were ready to move to our cottage. It was a bit of a painful walk up a hill but the cottage was worth it and it was nice to have our own house and our very own kitchen with everything
you'd need. As it was Debbie's birthday, I cooked and we had some wine and a big Missisippi mud cake. Our last day on Stewart island was a lazy one spending most of it in our cottage getting washing etc done. That night I was nice enough to cook again.
We were up early the next day to get the 8am ferry back to the mainland (much smoother this time). Once there we got onto a different stray bus (a tiny one which was full) for an uncomfortable drive upto Dunedin. On the way we got to stop to see sea lions and the petrified forrest (which was formed when volcanic ash covered the forrest and fossilised the trees). It felt quite strange in Dunedin as it was a big city after a lot of small isolated towns. We stayed in an old hotel as it was as cheap as the hostels and included sky tv in the room. That night we didn't do much (because of sky movies) but the next day we went for a wander around the city. We decided to go on a wildlife tour to see penguins, albatross and seals. It wasn't very windy
Mike shearing a sheep
Ever the professional. My new founded career? I think I'll stick to software engineering thanks. so we were told we were lucky to see a few albatross. Apparently it one of only two places in the world where you can see them on land. We then went onto the penguin reserve, it's laid out like trenches, all camouflaged so that the penguins don't see you. There were two type, blue penguins and yellow-eyed penguins. The yellow-eyed ones are quite rare and different to most in that they don't hand around in groups. Instead they like they're own space. We saw this as a few landed on teh beach on their own after fishing. The seals are found in the same place (it's sea lions that eat penguins not seals so they're safe). We got back quite late that evening so we decided to be lazy and have subway for dinner.
Dunedin is home of Cadbury's chocolate in NZ and also Speight's brewery (brew one of NZ's most popular beers). You can do tours around both of these so we decided on chocolate for midday and an evening one at the brewery. You can do a brewery tour at 10am but that's just not right! The chocolate factory includes lots of sample and you see
Dog on sheep
She ran up and down like this for a few minutes. some production but not as much as you'd like. It seems over here they must like marshmellows as a lot of their bars seem to have some in. They have a chocolate waterfall there though you can't stand underneath it which is a shame. They also invented Dream here (the white chocolate). After the chocolate factory we spent a few hours in the city and lined our stomachs before the brewery tour. Our tour guide was a bit of a nutter but kept you entertained. The brewery is an old fashioned gravity one and uses gyles (if that means anything to anyone). It was interesting but the main reason we (and I'm sure most others) were there was for the tasting. There were siz different beers to try from light ales to some darks ones quite close to guiness. Keith said we could help ourselves so we drank (and drank and drank) before having to make way for the next tour. We then went to the ale house next door where we bumped into the next stray bus catching up with people we'd already met. We didn't get back that late and the next morning we headed back upto Queenstown
Waiting for Water taxi
Teh only taxi we've got in so far and it's late! on baggin's bus. Sorry for the long blog but for once we're up-to-date!
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Chris
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Thanks for the Geography lesson
Hi Deb, read your geography account, pleased you have made good use of knowledge gained from Uni! Not too sure about you training as a barmaid!!