On the Way to Milford Sound

What a day! The drive to Milford Sound (maybe most spectacular fiord on the West Coast): so many and various spectacular landscapes on the way to Milford that we thought it cannot get any better: Mirror Lakes, Lake Gunn, roaring waterfals, mountains raising straight upwards like a wall and hundreds of waterfalls formed after the overnight rain, mini-glaciers with creeks running beneath, a 1.2km one lane tunnel dug into the mountain rock... And we reached Milford ready to embarque on the ship for a ride through the fiord.

To Queenstown for New Year

The drive from Wanaka to Queenstown went smoothly. The road is full of wineyards and wine tasting sites. In Queenstown we took the Gondola up to Bob's Peak for some great views over the surrounding region. The peak is 450m above the city. We are celebrating New Year in Fishbone Restaurant with a full course dinner. 6 hours left from this year... Happy New Year to everybody!

Passing the Alps to Wanaka

After Lake Matheson we headed towards Wanaka, through the Haast Pass. It is the lowest pass over the Southern Alps, but this does not make it less interesting. We stopped to see some waterfalls (the Thunder Waterfall being the most impressive), then the Blue Pools just before Makarora, and then we drove along Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. We arrived in Wanaka around 5pm.

Lake Matheson

We left Franz Josef very early in the morning around half past six and drove a half an hour to Lake Matheson. This lake is legendary because on clear days Mount Cook is reflecting perfectly in the lake waters. So we went for a one and a half hour hiking tour around the lake hoping to capture a legendary picture. The luck was not on our side since the peaks were all covered with clouds. However, the nature around the lake as well as the views were definitly worth the hike. Then we had breakfast in the local Cafe.

A Helicopter Ride - Franz Josef Glaciar

A 20 minutes flight over the Glaciar wit landing on top of it and some astonishing views from the helicopter.

Pencake Rocks in Punakaiki

Definitly one of the most fascinating sites so far. The sea, the rain and the wind has modeled the shore in various breath-taking shapes, cutting sometimes under the rocks, creating holes and carving caves which the waves hit with enormous power, withdrawing then back into the sea to restart the whole cycle again and again... The name "pencake" comes from the layered shape of the rocks as if they were a pencake pile. We arrived in Franz Josef in the afternoon after stopping by in Greymouth and Hokitika (a very nice small town) and after some stunning views of Mount Cook whose peaks are covered by snow. Tomorrow we'll take a helicopter ride to land on the Franz Josef or Fox Glacier, if the weather allows it.

The West Coast

We left Kaiteriteri on Sunday to start our drive on the West Coast. We passed through the scenic Buller Gorge to Westport where we had a light lunch. Then we stopped to visit an old gold mine in Charlestone (a spookie experience as there was nobody there - not even the owner - and we were walking through some caves and tunels following the mine rail way). The drive to Punakaiki was through a misty and rainy weather, but it still did not prevent us from enjoying the amazing scenery: the mountains meeting the see, with all kinds of interesting rock formations. The region is unbelivably fascinating. The dinner in the local tavern topped up one of the most interesting days so far.

Hiking in Abel Tasman

On Saturday we went on a hiking trip in the Abel Tasman National Park located in the northern part of the southern island, some 50km west from Nelson. We took a Sea Shuttle from Kaiteriteri to to a place called Bark Bay. On the way there we saw a seal colony around a small rocky island. In Bark Bay we started to walk the hiking track following the coast line, with some great views over the seashore. 3 hours and 10km later we arrived at the pick up place called Anchorage and the boat took us back to Kaiteriteri.

Christmas Day - the Southern Island

From Wellington to Picton on the southern island we took the Interislander, it was a 3 hour ferry trip. We drove to Nelson where we had lunch (the fish of the day: terakihi on chick-pea with some scallops). We arrived in the afternoon in Kaiteriteri where we went to the beach for an hour or so, but no swimming, the water was a bit too cold. We'll be staying here 2 nights.

Christmas Eve in Wellington

Very difficult to imagine it is really Christmas here: 25 degrees outside, the sun is shining, almost no Christmas decorations anywhere, just here and there a Christmas tree hidden in a corner of a shop and some Christmas wishes written on a shop's window. We visited the New Zealand's National Museum (Te Papa) almost the whole day. Then we chose a fancier restaurant for our Cristmas dinner (most of the restaurants are just simple food places). We had a delicious 3-course dinner (with some Christmas music playing in the background) and then packed for tomorrow's early departure by ferry towards the South Island.