Milford Sound, New Zealand

The bottom end of the South Island is known as Fiordland and has some of New Zealand's most spectacular landscapes. A fiord is a former glacial valley that is now filled by the ocean. It is a long narrow inlet between steep cliffs. Fiordland is home to Milford Sound, one of New Zealand's most famous tourist destinations.

On our second day in Queenstown, we arranged to join a bus tour and cruise to Milford Sound (to give Sam a break from driving). On a map, Queenstown looks quite close to Milford Sound, except in reality there is a big mountain range that stands in the way of the two. That said, there is no direct route from Queenstown to Milford Sound, except to go around the mountain ranges and that takes about 5 hours by bus. The route took us around beautiful Lake Wakatipu, to the town of TeAnau where we stopped for breakfast. It was then on to the Fiordland National Park and through spectacular glacier sculptured canyons on The Milford Road (the scenic highway to Milford Sound). Some of the most breathtaking scenery that we saw was in this region. Our 5 hour bus ride to Milford Sound was made very enjoyable by our bus driver, who talked non-stop on our way there. He had so much information to share on New Zealand and kept us entertained with his interesting, informative and witty commentary. On the way back, we were treated to a movie on the in-coach DVD system, which helped to pass the time. All in all it was a great day and tour.

Mirror Lakes
We made a stop at Mirror Lakes, where we got a picture perfect reflection of the beautiful surrounding Earl Mountains in the crystal clear and still water. It was a breathtaking sight !

Homer Tunnel
This 1.2 kilometre tunnel, situated 945 metres above sea level was completed in 1953. It is an engineering feat as it pierces through sheer rock to allow access to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is the only fiord that can be accessed by road.

Cruise on Milford Sound
We arrived at Milford Sound after noon and boarded a boat for a 2 hour cruise on the fiord. Milford Sound is really stunning with steep rocky cliffs and blue waters. The boat's captain did a great job of pointing out things of interest and he gave us some insight into Milford Sound's abundant flora and fauna, and sea life. Soon after we left the wharf, we were in plain sight of the spectacular 1692 metre high Mitre Peak that rises above the sound (seen on many postcards). For an area that gets a lot of rain, we were fortunate to have a dry sunny day with clear blue skies. When it does rain, there are many cascading waterfalls to be seen, fortunately even though there was no rain, we did see some. Along the way, we also saw seals, penguins and some interesting trees on the rocky cliffs. The boat took us past the mouth of the sound to the Tasman Sea, about 16 kilometres from the wharf. After the enjoyable cruise we boarded the bus and headed back to Queenstown.

Queenstown to Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

We left Queenstown after spending two enjoyable days there. Our next destination was Aoraki / Mount Cook in the Canterbury region and along our way we made a few interesting stops.

Bungy Jumping at Kawarau Bridge
In 1988, AJ Hackett developed the first commercial bungy site at Kawarau Bridge. Located at the gateway to Queenstown, this is the only bungy jump in Queenstown where the jumper can choose to "land" above the water, touch the water or get fully immersed. On the morning we were there, it was very busy and we got to see many people bungy jumping (not a cheap adventure thrill at $ 175.00 New Zealand dollars per jump!).

Chard Winery
There are many wineries in the Queenstown area and the one that was recommended to us was Chard Winery. The setting makes this winery especially beautiful. On the one side there are amazing mountains and on the other side a deep cliff leading to a gorge with glacier blue waters. We made a short stop here to visit the winery and take in the amazing views.

Cromwell
Cromwell is known for its great farms, vineyards and orchards, and as a result has some great eateries too. Cromwell is also affectionately referred to as the "fruit bowl of the south". We stopped here to try some fruit ice cream. The ice cream was made to order and we could make up our own flavour by selecting the different fruits that were on offer....delicious and very refreshing!

Sheep, sheep and more sheep
On our way to Aoraki / Mount Cook we saw more of what we had seen all throughout our travels around the South Island - more sheep ! It was hard to avoid seeing sheep, as their population in New Zealand is about 40 million! This time we stopped to observe them and take in the strange noises that they make (and it isn't exactly baa!). It was also funny to see them following each other in a line - now we know where that saying "Follow like sheep" comes from !

Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park
We traveled through the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park (a World Heritage site) to get to the alpine village of Mount Cook. Of the 27 New Zealand Mountains over 3000 metres high, 22 are in this park. The highest of these is Mount Cook at 3754 metres, the tallest peak in Australasia. The closer we got to Mount Cook village, the more overcast and foggy it became. The weather in the Mount Cook area was so different to the weather we started out with in Queenstown that morning. At Mount Cook village we stayed at a lodge right at the base of Mount Cook, but unfortunately it was overcast and we could only see half the mountain (the peak was completely hidden under the clouds and fog). We hoped it would clear up the next day for a better view. That afternoon we walked around the small village and visited the Sir Edmund Hilary Alpine Centre. Sir Edmund Hilary is regarded by many as being the greatest New Zealander and a statue has been erected in his memory.

Aoraki / Mount Cook to Christchurch, New Zealand

When stayed overnight in the Aoraki/Mount Cook village and hoped that visibility of Mount Cook would be better the next morning. Unfortunately we were out of luck - we woke to a very grey and overcast day, with Mount Cook completely covered with mist and fog. Visibility was so bad, that we couldn't even see the base of the magnificent mountain. That said, we were so glad that we saw Mount Cook a few days earlier from the Fox Glacier side, and that we took the helicopter ride over it. Without getting the view of Mount Cook that we had hoped for, we left the village and decided to make a stop at the Tasman Lake. However when we got there it started to rain and we did not have the right clothes to withstand the rain and the twenty minute walk to the lake. With the weather not cooperating, we decided to leave the Canterbury region and head back to Christchurch earlier than planned.

Church of the Good Shephard
The Church of the Good Shephard was built in 1935 as a memorial to the pioneers of the Mackenzie County. It is situated on the shores of Lake Tekapo and is one of the most photographed churches in New Zealand. On a clear day it is a picture of perfection, with the church in the foreground and the lake and Mount Cook in the background. Unfortunately when we got to the church, Mount Cook was still not visible.

A little further along the shore we came across the Sheep Dog Statue, which was erected on a large boulder in 1968. It is a monument to all the Collie dogs that worked on the farms in the Mackenzie County.

Akaroa and The Banks Peninsula
On our way back to Christchurch we decided to make a detour and go to Banks Peninsula, situated 83 kilometres south east of Christchurch. Banks Peninsula and the surrounding hills were formed by two giant volcanic eruptions. It was a another weaving road over mountains down to the peninsula, but the views were great (pity we did have clear blue skies). We were especially keen to visit the historic town of Akaroa. "Akaroa" in Maori means "Long Harbour" and is the site of the country's first French settlement. Descendants of the original French settlers still reside here and there is a strong French influence all around the town - French street names, French flags and French eats. After our short visit to Akaora, we headed back to Christchurch along the narrow and winding road up the hillside. As we were on this road (with very steep cliffs on one side) a really thick fog started to roll in from the ocean and visibility was reduced to a few feet (driving became quite difficult, but fortunately for us, there weren't too many other cars on the road). Once we passed the mountainous area and were back inland, the fog lifted and we had a relaxing drive back to Christchurch.
We spent one more night in Christchurch and then returned our rental car at the Christchurch Airport the next day. This concluded our trip to New Zealand. Overall we covered over 1600 kilometres while traveling around the South Island and it was a great experience. From Christchurch we flew to Auckland and then on to Bangkok where we stayed overnight, and then flew back to Singapore the next day.