Milford sounds

After Wanaka it was back in the car as we headed for Te Anau, a little town where everyone stays before or after seeing Milford Sounds.

Milford Sounds is one of the highlights of NZ, or so they say, so we were a little worried when we got to Te Anau and it started raining. But we were quickly informed that the rain actually makes the waterfalls look better. Hurrah! So we set our alarm for 5.30am and crept out of the hostel in the darkness.

The drive to Milford Sounds is supposed to be stunning, so it was a shame we could only see about 5m in front of us! There was a heavy mist precluding us from appreciating any beauty we were passing. The mist was still present when we got on the boat at 9am, we were starting to wonder if we had done the right thing...but suddenly the sun came out and it was like being in another world. Milford Sounds is definitely worth seeing.

The drive back was beautiful, now we could see everything. You could be constantly taking photos but we had to head back quickly to get the car to Queenstown for 5pm, and we were also meeting Mr Forbes, which we were both looking forward to as we hadnt had a decent meal in ages!

Tiny boat, lots of mist

Still more mist...

But dont the waterfalls look pretty!

Here comes the sun, at last!

That's what it's all about

We passed this Lake on the drive back. It was actually visible this time round. It's called the Mirror Lake, you can see why!

Wanaka and the long slow countryside drive

We arrived in Wanaka to pretty bad weather which was a shame as the photos below don't really do the place justice - everything looks better in the sunshine! We checked into our hostel and found we were staying in what can only be described as a shed in the back garden! Luckily it was quite cosy but the large spiders were a little alarming.

On our second day in Wanaka we decided to go for a walk in the National Park which turned out to be a much longer drive from the town than we expected. When we got there it was raining and we were running on Empty so we decided just to turn round and go all the way back again, very slowly! It was a beautiful drive with loads of wildlife so we didnt feel like we'd missed out on too much.

We hiked up Mount Iron to get a good view of Wanaka. It must be the locals regular exercise haunt as we were passed by loads of people jogging up.

Another pretty view from up high

Main street leading to the lake

Cute cinema we spent a rainy afternoon in. There were sofas instead of chairs and huge cookies to munch on!

Lake Wanaka

And again

The drive to Mount Aspiring National Park...

The white hire car looks tiny in this picture!

We saw LOADS of sheep

These guys were being herded across the road right infront of us

Some very moody cows

we also saw LOADS of deer. Dont know what they do with them all as we didnt see any venison on restaurant menus.

Haast Pass

Driving through NZ is amazing. The scenery is so beautiful, there are constant Kodak moments! Here are some more...

The Glaciers

After the Moreno Glacier in Argentina, we knew the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers in NZ might not seem as impressive, but we still headed for Glacier County keen to see how they measured up.

As we thought, they weren't as impressive as Moreno which is in a class of it's own, but it was still great to see two different glaciers in one day.

Franz Josef glacier from afar

Approximately 7000 years old, and a remnant of a much older and larger glacier which originally swept right to the sea, Franz Josef Glacier extends 12 kilometres from its three feeder glaciers in the high snow fields of the Alps. Today the terminal face is a mere 19 kilometres from the sea and just 5 kilometres from the township.

Some crazy people tekking on the glacier

Waterfall at Franz Josef

Fox Glacier

Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 2600 metres on its 13 kilometre journey towards the coast. Named after an early New Zealand Prime Minister, William Fox, the glacier is 300 metres deep and its terminal face is just 5 kilometres from the township.

Pretty lakes at Fox

Pancake Rocks

On the way to the glaciers, we stopped at the Pancake Rocks, which were pretty amazing...

The West Coast Brewery

Westport doesnt really have much going on for it. I think most people just fill up withpetrol here and carry on, but we needed to break a long drive up so we booked into a pub/hotel for the night. With nothing much to do we amused ourselves in the local supermarket for a while and then headed back to the pub to eat lunch. After a bottle of wine we were searching through the Lonely Planet for something to do and realised there was a brewery in town (how we missed that I do not know!) and the bonus was it was literally 1 min from where we were staying!

The West Coast Brewery is a great little place -it produces organic beer which tastes great and there is a real homespun feel about the place. The locals rock up and fill their empty plastic bottles with beer straight from the taps, and have a few cheeky cups on the side! We ended up filling up an old 1.5l Diet Coke bottle with one of their beers which was delicious.

The different beers on tap. The tastings were HUGE, we got whole cup fulls of the stuff!

The Brewery

Tim buying beer and asking lots of questions

Bullers Gorge

One the way to Westport we saw a sign for the longest suspension bridge in NZ, so pulled the car in - any excuse to stretch our legs.

I had never been on a suspension bridge is such a pretty setting before

View from either side of the bridge

The White Elephant - a little bit of paradise

After all that hard work getting around the Abel Tasman we were so glad when we rocked up at the White Elephant, a beautiful hostel which was our lovely home for one night. If we had had any spare days in our intinerary I defo would have spent them here...

Beautiful old house with sweeping lawn

Back garden, full of different fruit trees and peacful little nooks and crannies

Tea time

Abel Tasmen

The Abel Tasman had amazing write ups so it was on list and when it came down to it we decided that kayaking round would be the best way to see it.

It was such hard work! The tide was against us most of the time, so we didnt get anywhere fast, and it meant Icouldnt last for that long at any one time. Tim was constantly chanting "one, two, one, two" trying to get us in time.

It was all good fun, sort of!


Getting everything together before we got into the water

A little oasis after hours of paddling

Time to dry a few things off

What a view...

The seagull enjoyed it too!



Off we go again after a quick stop for lunch

Yey, we made it!

Everyone else coming in and having to drag the kayaks over the sand as the tide was out so much.