The next day, we toured the Northern Beaches (of course it rained the entire time) and they ate a traditional Aussie fare ... meat pies! After that, it was time to get ready for New Zealand.
We arrived the first night at 12:45 am in Christchurch. All we were basically able to see was the airport and hotel lobby. The next morning, we had a shuttle bus take us to the train station. On the way, he gave us a brief tour of the city. For those of you that do not know, Christchurch experienced a major earthquake in 2011. The city was completely destroyed during the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. While touring the city, it was amazing to see how may buildings were still blocked off or in the process of being rebuilt. The city only has around 379,000 people so it is hard to find the manpower and money to fix all the buildings quickly. At least a third of all the buildings were still inhabitable. The shuttle bus driver said you never know which streets are going to be blocked off on any particular day because the are constantly constructing or fixing something. It was very eye-opening to see all the devastation still, after almost 3 years.
From Christchurch, we took the TranzAlpine Train ride across New Zealand to Greymouth. The train took about 4 hours and went through the mountains so we were able to see some beautiful scenery along the way. It was mainly a tourist train so they made a couple of stops along the way for photo ops.
The train arrived in Greymouth around lunchtime, so we stopped for lunch and then headed north to Motukiekie Beach. This was a very secluded unknown beach (I used Scott Cook's NZFrenzy book to find most of our destinations. Highly recommend!). We parked on the side of the road and then had to make our way down a gully to the beach. The beach is only accessible during low tide and unfortunately we stumbled onto the beach at the transition from high to low. Despite this, we were still able to walk a good portion of the beach before we got wet. The beach was absolutely beautiful. There were many rock formations, cliffs, and small waterfalls. The water was very rough which made it look gorgeous. The one downside was the amount of sandflies! They were brutal. Luckily I wore capris pants so I didn't have as much trouble as Adam who looked like he had a bloody rash by the end of the walk (and the bites lasted all week, especially on him)! Despite the sandflies, the beach was awesome and totally worth it.
After the beach, we headed back south towards Hokitika Gorge. The water in the gorge is a milky blue color caused by suspended glacier-ground 'rock flour'. New Zealand is a big fan of swing bridges (which of course this gorge had) and I realized from this place that I really do not like them when there are a lot of people on them ...l especially when those people are 6 10 year olds running across and throwing things off the bridge (of course with no parents anywhere near by). Oh well, it made it more exciting I guess!
From the gorge, we continued down to Fox Glacier. Altogether, I think the car ride was about 4-5 hours (there was a LOT of driving this trip). New Zealand, especially the South Island, is not very populated. Christchurch is their biggest city in the south with 379,000 people. All up, there are only around 1 million people that reside in the South Island (which is about the size of California). Since there are not a lot of people, there are not a lot (or any) highways (or really roads for that matter). All the roads we took were two lane, curvy, mountain roads. It made for a fun, or sick, car ride.
After arriving late in Fox Glacier, we ate dinner at Lake Matheson Café. We arrived right at sunset which was absolutely beautiful (I miss all the red colors). It also had a nice view of the mountains outside the huge windows.
The next morning we went to Lake Matheson which had beautiful views of the glaciers and Mt. Cook (the same views from dinner the night before at Lake Matheson cafe). Even though it was cold and rainy (which is the usual weather in this part of the country) the area of the west coast near the glaciers is actually a temperate rain forest. Therefore, we were able to see a lot of interesting vegetation around while walking the path around the lake.
I think it looks like a forest monster stabbing someone!
View of Fox Glacier
Although the vegetation was really neat, there are actually no indigenous animals to New Zealand besides a few bird and ocean species. They have imported red deer (which are farmed for their meat ... very odd to see deer in a fenced in pen), rabbits, possums, sheep (lots and lots of sheep!) and other cattle from Europe. Since there are so few animals and almost no insects, the rainforest was extremely quiet. It was a little unnerving. I think that is the first time I have been in the woods where I didn't hear insects or small (or large) animals scuttling about!
After Lake Matheson, it really started to rain ... but we did not let that deter us! Next we did the Fox Glacier Valley Track which too us as close to the glacier as we could get without a tour. Once we pulled into the parking lot it was amazing to look up and see how tall the surrounding mountain cliffs were. The Southern Alps are very steep and rocky (when there isn't rainforest) and to see the glacier we were in a deep valley. It was also interesting to see the signs telling where the glacier use to be. In the 1930s the glacier was about a mile longer than it is now! It is amazing (and sad) how far the glacier has retreated since then.
The Rock Slide Warning sign for the upcoming rock slide.
These two pictures show all the waterfalls coming out of the rock face!
View from the glacier look out point
The pictures of the glacier really do not do it justice. They make it look dirty (which they kind of were) and yucky but in person it was really neat to see. We were also able to see an ice cave, rock slides, multiple small rivers, and tons of waterfalls coming out of the mountains and glacier. I think altogether the glaciers were one of my favorite spots in New Zealand and definitely much cooler than I was expecting.
Ice Caves
For lunch that day we went to this small hole in the wall café at the edge of the town (by town I mean about 5 total restaurants and maybe a post office). We were very pleasantly surprised and how wonderfully delicious the food was! I definitely was expected maybe mediocre deli sandwiches and instead we got gourmet food. Since it was so delicious, we stopped back at the restaurant later that evening for dessert!
After lunch, we went on the Fox Glacier Chalet Track. At this point in the day it was pouring down rain. Of course before we started this track there were may warnings that this track is not passable during inclement weather. We decided to give it a go anyway. We were a little leery passing the first stream we stumbled upon but we made it safely across. Next we came across a large bed of rocks with a much faster moving stream. This is the point where we decided to turn around. It was still worth it to walk through the rainforest and climb over the huge mountain of rocks.
This is a picture taken from the same park but the next day. It was beautiful so we were able to see this wonderful view that we were not able to see the previous day.
The next day was a driving day and the weather was perfect! We were able to go back and take some wonderful pictures of the glaciers and mountains before we left. Here is the view from our motel:
On the drive, we stopped at a rest stop (I think the only one we passed the entire trip) - Knight's Point Lookout - that had wonderful views of the ocean. This part of the ocean was very tropical looking which was vastly different from the ocean that we saw to the north.
Also while driving, we went through Haast Pass which is mountain pass in the Southern Alps (one of the few passes through the mountains. Here are some pictures from the beginning of the drive:
The first stop along Haast Pass was the very secluded waterfall, Depot Creek Falls (Again thank you Scott Cook for the recommendations!). To get to the waterfall, you walked through this "wee" path for one minute and it opened up to this roaring 34m waterfall. We were the only ones anywhere nearby this waterfall. It was not marked or shown at all from the road. It is amazing when you find something like this that is so secluded!
We traveled further down the road until we arrived at Thunder Creek Falls. This one was labeled and well marked from the road. To get to the waterfall, we walked through the rainforest for about 5 minutes. There was a closed gate at the entrance of the rainforest with a sign that told us to keep gate closed ... which begs the question, what are we locking in (again no animals in sight)?? You could not really see much of the waterfall from the lookout so we ventured onto the extremely large bed of river rocks and walked over to where we could get a closer view. Although the waterfall was beautiful, I think the cooler part was walking along all the rocks. I have never seen so many river rocks before (that were not covered by a stream or creek).
The final waterfall we stopped at was a "tour bus favorite" and of course when we pulled up so did about 3 large tour buses full of Asian tourists. We stopped for a quick photo and immediately left (I guess we have gotten spoiled by all the other secluded spots we have stopped in)!
More driving pictures:
There were a lot of waterfalls sprouting off the rock faces along a good part of the drive!
The rest of the drive was rather boring. It started to rain at some point and pour by the time we arrived in Queenstown. We were able to stop at two very large lakes along the way, Lake Wanaka and Lake Howea. There was definitely a big difference between the lakes. Lake Wanaka was still green and slightly tropical whereas Lake Howea was dry and desolate. The mountains also changed from rocky and lush to rounder and dry. Lake Wanaka had a decent size resort town at the head of the lake which we stopped at for a pizza lunch.
Lake Wanaka
Lake HoweaWhen we finally arrived in Queenstown, we ate dinner at the famous Fergburger. It is suppose to be the best burger place in New Zealand and it came highly recommended. Although the burger was delicious, I don't think it compares to the best burgers in America. At least we can say we had the best burger in New Zealand!
The next day we spent some time in and around Queenstown. We decided to start the day off right by partaking in some wine tastings and lunch at a couple local wineries. We tried wines from Amisfeld and Chard Farm Wineries. While the wine at Amisfield was better tasting (to us) than Chard Farm, Chard Farm had wonderful views of the surrounding area. In order to get to Chard Farm, we had to drive along a very narrow and steep gravel road on the side of the mountain (not a good place to drive when several people in the car are deathly afraid of heights!). If anyone happens to see wine from the Otago Valley in New Zealand, I highly suggest sampling some of their wine!
Pictures from Chard Farm Winery:
Since Queenstown is the Adventure capital of the world (and the inventors of bungee jumping), across the street from the winery was a famous canyon that has one of the original sites for bungee jumping. Of course we had to stop by and see what it was all about. Luckily for us, someone was about ready to jump as soon as we arrived. What I thougt was neat about this location was you jumped off a really old bridge into a river that is situated in a canyon. The water in the river was very cloudy blue similar to the water in Hokatika Gorge. Additionally, when you jump, the cable is slightly longer so your head actually gets submerged into the water! Although bungee jumping is not for us (at least not today!) it was cool to watch someone else jump off the bridge!
Here are some additionally pics driving back into Queenstown. It is cool to see the palm trees next to the snow capped mountain!
After wine tasting and lunch, we decided to drive to Glenorchy. For those of you that are serious Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fans, this is where several scenes from those movies were shot. Even though we are not the biggest fans, it was still a one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. For those of you who are fans, you might recognize some of the background images taken from Glenorchy. This information is taken from a New Zealand tourism website:
From the village of Glenorchy, at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu, you can see the north-western slopes of Mount Earnslaw, which featured in the opening sequence of The Two Towers. From Glenorchy you can also discover Lothlorien - the beech forest on the road to Paradise.
After Glenorchy, we explored downtown Queenstown and Queenstown Botanic Gardens. The Botantic Gardens are located in a peninsula along the lake. There were gorgeous views from the alking path along the perimeter of the park. Along the way, we also encountered another family from Cincinnati (small world!) Downtown Queenstown was also lovely. It is a very small resort town. The metro area of the city has only about 30,000 people. Although it is small, there was still a lot of small stores and restaurants to explore.
After the walk downtown and the Botanic Gardens, we finished the evening by taking a gondola up the mountain and eating dinner overlooking beautiful Queenstown. It was beautiful to see the sun set over the city and the mountains and the whole experience was great!
While eating dinner, I happened to see this sign on the bathroom stall. I thought it was funny, especially with all the signs seen from Sochi during the Olympics.
Our last real day in New Zealand (the following day is all driving), we drove down to Milford Sound and took the Milford Sound Cruise. Although this drive is 5 hours one way, it is rated as one of the top drives in the world. It was beautiful but even the beauty cannot take away from 10 total hours of mountainy one lane roads! Despite the hilly, curvy roads, we also passed the only two stoplights we have seen outside of Christchurch! The first stoplight was crossing a long one way bridge outside of Queenstown. The second stoplight was entering a one-way tunnel that cut through the Southern Alps.
Another unique feature about the roads in the South Island is how often the road goes down to one lane. The signs do a somewhat decent job of at least saying who has the right of way but often the one way section is so long or curvy that you cannot see what is on the other side! Most of the time it was hoping that no one else was coming from the opposite direction.
This is the entrance into the tunnel.
Along the way we say Mirror Lake which reflected the mountains perfectly in the water! It was neat to see in some of the pictures, you can see the tops of the mountains reflected in the water but you cannot see them in the picture.
We also stopped to see the Chasm. This is one attraction where the pictures do not do it justice. The Chasm is a river that flows strongly through a deep narrow canyon.
Once we arrived in Milford Sound, we had some time to kill before our cruise set off so we did some sightseeing along the inlet. No one except the few workers live anywhere near this part of the country. In fact, the only road anywhere near this is the one road we took in (in which the nearest town with literally anything from food to gas is about 2-3 hours one way away from Milford Sound). It was so peaceful to be in a part of the world that is so remote from anywhere else!
As for the cruise itself, I think the pictures speak the most about the experience! Round trip, it was about 1.5 hours through the fjord out to the Tasman Sea and back. It is famous because it is one of the steepest fjords in the world. Along the way, we were able to see seals resting on the rocks and jumping in and out of the water. Additionally, we saw many waterfalls streaming out of the cliff face. Apparently, it usually rains often in the fjord (luckily for us it was an absolute beautiful day!) and you can normally see a lot more waterfalls. It was cool to see palm trees with snow and ice capped mountains in the background again!
On the way home, we saw this beautiful sunset!
Our last day in New Zealand was driving back to Christchurch from Queenstown. It is a 7 hour drive. To break up the trip, we stopped at two popular lakes along the way: Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo.
Lake Pukaki has a spectacular view of Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in the Southern Alps) in the distance. It was our favorite of the two lakes.
Lake Tekapo is only about 20 minutes from Lake Pukaki. Although the views from this lake were nice, we did not like it as much as Lake Pukaki. This Lake was situated in a very touristy little town that was not very nice. We thought it was similar to a truck stop in America. What makes this Lake famous is The Church of the Good Shepherd which is apparently one of the most photographed churches in the world. In photographs we took, I think the church looks really cool but it was still situated near this touristy town which really takes away from the experience. It was still neat to see though.
That evening, we finally arrived back in Christchurch. We spent our last night there and flew back to Sydney early the next morning.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip that we will never forget!
