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Day 20 Te Anau to Milford Sound

Today we went to Milford Sound.  Not for a boat ride, but rather have a surprise for Terry (a belated birthday present for him)  Luckily we had a picture perfect day, so the planned Milford Helicopter ride could go ahead.  Of course, the last minute I changed my mind and decided I just had to go with him.  Wow…what an experience and both of us are still on an absolute high.  After all, it is not every day that we could fly to the highest peak in the Fiordland in New Zealand.  Mt Tutoko rises to a height of 2756 m (9,042ft) and apparently was named after a Maori chief Tutoko.

Everything else paled to this experience today.  And let me tell you, that scenic drive to Milford Sound is nothing to sneeze at.  This is one cherished corner of the world where valleys and mountains are in abundance.  Much of the forest clings to steep faces of hard rock or are by the roadsides.  The moss and peaty humus are thick and stunning.  Of course about 100 metres up you will find snow tussock grasses. The road is stunning with just so many visitors by car, camper-vans or buses.  The 119kms are just so easy to drive on and of course there are just so many places to stop and marvel what mother nature provides. The drive through Homer Tunnel was one heck of an experience as well, only 1.2kms and 945 metres above sea level.

As we have chosen to visit Doubtful Sound tomorrow, we did not do a Milford Sound cruise today.  We know that there is no comparison between these two, but somewhere you have to make choices.

 

Day 21 Te Anau to Doubtful Sound

After a wonderful sunrise cool morning, light breakfast and chat it was time to depart for our big adventure day to Doubtful Sound. Drove into Te Anau to catch the bus to Lake Manapouri.  Collected many international travellers en-route and the boat was virtually booked out.

Our trip across Lake Manapouri was choppy and extremely windy.  We chose to sit upstairs in the open and let me tell you, it was freezing and we were totally windblown. Made it across the lake which took quite some time, then to be greeted by a bus that was going to traverse an equally wild road.  This morning it was so foggy in parts that visibility was quite limited.  Luckily our bus driver was more than capable.  Doubtful Sound was blanketed in a thick layer of cloud, yet we managed to catch a glimpse of some of the waterway from the bus.

The next boat we took was to be our sanction for the next 3 hours of the most spectacular rugged pristine landscape.  Managed to capture some fur seals on rock formations.  Most of course were asleep.  Penguins were pretty elusive to be photographed, though a couple were seen.  Went as far as the start of the Tasman Sea and the weather was pretty wild.  Wind gusts around 50knots and reckon the chill factor was around 7C.

Our return was a little calmer with the wind now behind us.  Gee, I have never been so wind-blown, nor cold at times.

Our bus trip on our return was uneventful and we stopped to go underground to view the Manapouri hydro power station 200 metres below the surface of lake Manapouri and had to drive 2.5kms through a tunnel to reach the station.  Not a comforting thought, but I did brave it and can now tick that off the bucket list!

If you have a look at the last image of the google map – our GPS plotter lost the plot when we went underground!  It had the lines going to the south pole…..I think that is a hoot.

More dialogue later.  We are beat after such a long day.

 

Ingrid - December 1, 2011 - 08:44

He has been a good boy and driving the whole time! Bless his heart. I think I should call this blog….NZ through a looking glass. Most of the time they are images through the windscreen or the side window. becoming quite adapt with the camera these days. One body with the telephoto and the other with a wide angle on my lap! Gotta love it.

Peter and Vonnie in humid Malanda - November 30, 2011 - 17:43

We can see you had a great time in that BRASS MONKEY WEATHER!!!

SANTA wants to know if yours are still there Terry or did they freeze off hee! hee!

Seeing the photos brought back some lovely memories of Doubtrful.
Did you see any Lobsters at the Blanket Bay Hilton hee! hee!

SANTA says great blog TERRY keep up the good work. What the heck has Ingrid been doing while you are working hard on the blog hee! hee! ???????

Day 22 Te Anau to Kaka Point

After another farewell from lovely hosts it was time to depart and leave Te Anau.  Jane & Ross were lovely hosts and their property equally so.

We left with weather quite overcast, cold and rain threatening.  Which it did not long after we hit the road.  Heading towards the south promised for some very chilly and hideous windy times.  We could barely open the car doors to hop out to take any photographs.  Yours truly here is becoming quite adapt with photography through car windows or throwing camera out of the window, so to speak.  Talk about snap & shoot!

Terry was in his element to capture all these old cars before we headed out of town.  And of course he was offered a job to help with the restoration of these fine beauties.  But of course he declined.

Today’s scenery had many changes, especially once we left the exquisite mountain ranges.  The cloud formations were unreal and most of the day I spent cloud gazing and capturing the various moods of the different weather we had.  From rain, wind, dark & dreary to bright and sun filled.  You name it, we had it.

Stopped at Cosy Nook to see quaint little houses and not to mention the most tortured tree formations en-route from the constant wind from the arctic.  Headed to Invercargill and stopped for a quick bite to eat.  Terry actually is having driver fatigue, so we did not make it to the Bluff.  Instead we hiked it along the Southern Scenic route to our destination at Kaka Point on the East Coast.  Beautiful set up and a very private retreat for us to regain our mojo.

Tomorrow we will chill out a bit and just do a short little trip about.  Go to Nugget Point and just a few places in that vicinity.

Pam Sutton - November 29, 2011 - 16:24

Brrrrrrrrr…..looks mighty cold! Beautiful images, Ingrid! I have been keeping up with your travels and enjoying all of the adventures you and Terry are experiencing…FUN FUN FUN

Day 23 Kaka Point – Day outing.

Had a relaxing sound sleep and ready to face another day of adventure to the unknown.

The morning was chilly and very windy as we made our way to Nugget Point.  But Terry was not up to walking – besides we all know what he thinks about Lighthouses.  Has seen far too many in his lifetime.  Blimey it was freezing there, so we headed back.  Of course we find enough to photograph to keep us amused.  From fences created with lost car dress rims to flying birds (all out of focus) domestic farm animals, hills and valleys, petrified trees, fishing shacks oh and yes, I did find a flower or two.

So we made our way to Balclutha.  May I suggest you scrub that off your travel must do list.  Say no more. Did a quick shop for provisions…yes the red wine from Woollies & some food.  Then we decided to head to Gore.  The place that everyone said not to stay at.  Well we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The rural scenery through Clinton, Waipahi and Gore is just outstanding.  Obviously they have had good rainfall in the past months.  Everything was lush and green.  And the sheep, cattle, deers must be in heaven there.  The paddocks are just fabulous.  So we were actually disappointed that we did not keep our accommodation there.

Gore itself, the township, is lovely and clean.  Well layed out and the people incredibly friendly.

Being rebellious we continued onwards, of course not to retrace our travel route, we took the road to Mataura and then took the turn to Owaka.  Little did we know that this was all dirt road.  (sorry car company) But it was fabulous.  Again, rolling hills and great paddocks.  The afternoon was turning grey once again and before we knew it, we are back at our B&B by the seaside.

Cannot wait to see the photographs from today.  Tried to be a little bit more serious today and actually get out of the car, brave the wind and the cold.  Tomorrow heading a little further north to the next abode.  But in view of this being only 1.5hrs from here, we will make another detour and discover some more magic.

Day 24 Kaka Point to Dunedin

Had a fun farewell with our hosts and made our way north.  The one hour drive took us all day!  Yes, of course we made a little detour and found a lot of New Zealand that we had never expected. Took ourselves off to Beaumont along the Clutha River, very beautiful drive.  Continued onwards to Roxburgh which is an amazing lovely country town and a great place to stop and wait-a-while.   The countryside continued to change as we continued to Alexandra.  Here we stopped and had some lunch, found a bank, fuelled up and continued on our loop. Some country towns had the most magnificent display of flowers seen.  Colours galore and one house better than the next, just like it was a competition keeping up with the Jones’s.   Next places were Ranfurly, Keyburn with a right turn to Midlemarch and Mosgiel.  Wow, what a road the last half hour or so, so much so that I was quite dizzy and nearly carsick by the time we reached the outskirts of Dunedin.  Should be used to going up and down mountains, bends galore.

On our travels we actually found that some farmers had to irrigate.  Not sure what they were growing.  This is a first that we have seen in the South Island.  The Walking Spray Booms were the largest we have ever seen.

Passed many deer farms, more sheep than we had seen before, Plus goats and cattle. The other tiny townships we travelled through also had plenty of lovely small Hotels.  Looks like the farmers  and other workers must have a wow of a time when not working!

There was still a small amount of snow in some of the ranges, but definitely the last of the season.  Tomorrow is the start of Summer!

Broom shrubs are in full flower right now and in total abundance throughout the day.  We can see how this is an absolutely noxious weed and a problem for the farmers.  So many Hill-slopes and many paddocks were totally covered in them, though for us to see them in full bloom of such mass yellow flowers and a large variety of coloured Lupins is quite beautiful for the traveller.  Today, we again traversed through areas where logging of pine trees took place and passed many heavy laden trucks filled with huge logs.

Mad Betty was good and ensured we found our destinations throughout the day and our B&B Farmstay.  Mind you she was way out on the distances re the property, but we saw it, so no great issue.  It is a lovely small farm, where sheep and chooks greeted us.  Our cottage is cosy and we have everything for our needs to make our next 2 days lovely.

I braved the walk up the hill to see the ocean.  The wind was incredible not to mention freezing.  Found the next door neighbour has Alpacas.  Gosh they have so much character and of course I took many photographs, but need to spend more time with them tomorrow.