Advertisement
Published: April 8th 2013
Milford Sound, Queenstown, Wanaka, Invercargill
At the Milford Sound Lodge, Ellen and I coincidentally bumped into Mark, who had also stayed in the Bark Bay hut in the Abel Tasman National Park, when we all met for the first time. Mark and his friend had unfortunately driven past the hotel they had booked... by 100 kilometers... and ended up sleeping in the lounge, as no were beds available. The weather was perfect for showcasing the excellent scenery of Milford Sound (which is technically a fjord, not a sound, as it was carved by glaciers). We cruised for two hours, from the village port to the sea and back. A mix up with the booking meant Ellen and I had to catch a later coach back to Queenstown, however, this was no bad thing, as we got to see "The World's Fastest Indian" on the journey, a very entertaining film about Burt Munro, from Invercargill, who broke land speed records on his customised motorbike. Also, the rolling hills on the journey looked terrific, with the sun low in the sky.
I spent two more days in Queenstown, then bade farewell to Ellen, who was heading back to Holland, and caught
the bus to Wanaka. This had a similar feel to Queenstown, but was smaller and felt more open, as the surrounding mountains were not quite as close. I met a nice group of people in the hostel and had a good night in the Irish Pub. On my second day, I climbed Roy's Peak with Luke from Felixstowe, who had been travelling for two years and gave me some ideas for when I go to South America. Although it doesn't look big from the town, it was a hard slog up the steep and unrelenting path to Roy's Peak. I later found out that at 1,578 metres, it is substantially higher than Ben Nevis and so I didn't feel quite so ashamed at how much I struggled.
I caught the bus back to Queenstown again, where I listened to the bus driver's commentary on the major fruit-growing area of New Zealand and the town of Cromwell for the third time (I now consider myself an expert on this region)! This was only to pick up a car, which I had booked before heading to Wanaka, on a relocation deal to Christchurch, where I needed to go to meet my
Invercargill
St Patrick's Daydad. I drove first to Invercargill, which didn't appear to have much to recommend it, other than the homely hostel I stayed in, Sparky's. The owner, Sparky, clearly had a sense of humour, as one of the rooms was labelled "snorers only" and he had attached toy cars and aeroplanes to the doors by wire so that they moved (and often hit you on the head) whenever the doors were opened. In the second coincidental meeting of the week, it turned out that Sparky's housekeepers were Sam and Alisha from Tennessee, who I had met briefly in Greymouth. The highlight of my stay in Invercargill was the night out on St Patrick's day, with the festivities led by Sparky.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0266s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Wanna Soar
non-member comment
Great photos, looks like an amazing place. I'd best get saving!