South Island - Queenstown Skyline Luging

Firstly, I apologise for the overload of photos here, but I just can't help it, I'm so in love with this place!

Well the next day couldn’t have been more different weather wise to our previous Milford Day… not a cloud in sight - just blue sky again (the kind weather gods have been looking down us). 

A quick breakfast and origami napkin session...

and we headed on our stunning leisurely autumn stroll into Queenstown.

 

First port of call…The Luge… sorry correction coffee break and then The Luge.

Put it this way… we think the grandparents enjoyed themselves as they were grinning ear to ear at the end, opting for the fast lane track for round two!

Along with the beautiful scenery at we also took a few moments to watch crazy people trying bungie jumping, which I've since learnt is the highest bungie in the world. 

After the louging adventure we went for a quick stroll up on the mountain into the forest, quite a surreal place. The pine trees look so lush and green on the outside, however walking though them everything was brown and dead on the inside and surprisingly light... quite eery!

And then back down again for a quick bite to eat and a leisurely stroll back home, sorry going to say it again, Queenstown is such a beautiful place.

Then the next day, quick car drop off and a sad au revoir to Queenstown... but something is telling me we will be back.

South Island - Milford Sounds

It was an early start today, mission get bags packed, breakfast downed and in the car to catch our 11am ferry at Milford Sounds. 

Guttingly the weather grew darker and darker and the rain drops bigger and bigger along our winding journey which led us to Milford… not an established town, but rather the end of the road port in which to catch the ferries out into the sounds. 

Raincoats on we ploughed on like a bunch of drowned rats, boarded the ferry and found our positions in the shelter and warmth of our boat. 

It had to be said that my spirits were slightly dampened by the weather, however once we floated out into the sounds and headed up to the upper dick (well I have to have that one as I’m constantly ridiculed about my pommy accent here) for some quick snaps, I can say I was truly blown away - it was just so truly stunning and if anything the rain and low clouds simply added something mystical to the views, so stunningly beautiful.

By the time we returned to port at Milford the departure lounge was bursting at the seams with the coach loads of people booked onto the the next trips out, so we slipped away and started our long trip back to Queenstown. The map marked many points of interest and we stopped off for a little walk at The Chasm and then again at the Mirror Lakes. 

Have to say the mirror lakes were a slight disappointment as there was a shed load of pond weed spoiling the mirror effect, however pretty good scenery none the less. 

Along the journey we also had to venture through a 1.2 km one way tunnel. Luckily we had to stop to let the oncoming traffic through so scrambled out the car for some stretchy leggy time, and to meet some of the squawky kea birds along the edge of the roadside.

It was dark by the time we reached base camp in Queenstown, and totally I-spy-with-my-little-eye’d out. Time to pay the hotel bar a little visit for a little night cap while unwinding by the fire before heading off to bed, ready for another full on 'knacker-the-Grandparents' day tomorrow!

South Island - Te Anau

The trip to Milford Sounds was a two stage event, just due to the sheer distance we decided to do the first leg of the journey and stop off at Te Anau to offer some much needed road relief. 

The first leg of the journey to Te Anau took about two and a half hours, part of it winding up through The Remarkables lots of stunning scenery, and on the other side straighter roads with gazillions of sheep and some deer dotted around. Unfortunately our eldest's breakfast decided to pay a surprise visit, so he was then relegated to the front prime seat of our people mover carrier beast of a car… guess that’s one method to wangle the best seat in the car! 

One thing I've noted is that Grandpa's travel plans heavily revolve around his coffee breaks, so we stopped for a refuelling stop at a little place at Athol (roll on the Spanish pronunciation). A little grocery come coffee come ice-cream shop in the middle of nowhere… which had a surprising number of visitors having a pit stopping there. 

Out side we saw a licence plate  on a car which made us have a little giggle… one to add to our ever growing list of personal licence plates.

Coffee downed and Grandpa happy again, we then pressed on and continued our journey down to Te Anau.

Once we'd checked into our hotel at Te Anau we decided to head on over to the "Bird Sanctuary" and for a late afternoon walk along the Kelper Track. Now... as for the bird sanctuary... I use the work 'sanctuary' in the loosest way as it was blimmin' awful.

These poor sad looking creatures cooped up in small concrete cages with minimal if at all any vegetation, staring out at the green trees beyond the wired cage. In all honesty I was truly shocked that a place like this even existed... and we didn't stick round as the place had doom and gloom vibes about it.

We then embarked on a stroll along the Kelper Track which runs along side the Upper Waiau River. Being quite late in the day it was a fairly hand numbing chilly affair but a beautiful little walk none the less, which lead us through quite a magical green forest full of moss and ferns, which we renamed as the Fern Gully walk. 

Now the Kelper Track is a full on 3 day walk, however given that the light was fading and it was getting cooler by the minute (like we would have made 3 days anyway) we made a quick stop at a beautiful lake before heading back for a quick early dinner and bed... ready for our day at Milford Sounds tomorrow.