My Poor Feet

We have covered 24km today and my feet are pretty sore. Anyway it is time to go and have a curry and a beer. Sweet As.

Random Animal Pictures #20

Friendly bird who approached us on the way back down the Routeburn trek at Routeburn Flats. I think it got fed up when it realised it wasn't getting any food.

Harris Sadle

We reach Harris Sadle at 12:50 - Not bad going - The views from here are awesome. There is a shelter here so we consume our lunch - we can hear a bird of prey calling but can't quite see it. The snow capped mountains across the valley are sweet. It is time to make our way back down the same way back to the car and then to Queenstown.

Routeburn Landscape View

This footage was shot by the lake at the highest point of the Routeburn walk - It is just before rounding the corner and reaching Harris Saddle

Routeburn - Part 3

Part 3 is the section from Routeburn falls up to Harris Saddle. The change in landscape is dramatic as we are totally out of the temperate rainforest and now in a sub alpine one. It is hard to believe when we look down the valley how far up we have come in such a short space of time. When we get out and can see the surrounding mountains it makes the effort worthwhile - it is truly beautiful up here. It is a bit intimidating when we try and see where Harris Saddle is located as it seems miles away (actually only about 4km but a difficult 4!). We wind our way up and can see the streams that feed the Routeburn falls - As we near the highest point there is a huge crystal clear lake there. We both want our Indian tonight so we press on!

Picture (Left) - View back down the valley we have travelled - you can see the stream winding its way (Right) - The lake near the top with the path snaking its way along the side.

Routeburn Falls

Just above the Routeburn Falls hut (funnily enough) We get to see the Routeburn falls. The trees have thinned out pretty much now so we are bathed in sunlight which is cool - it is T-shirt weather when you are walking. The falls aren't that spectacular in themselves but are still cool - there is about 3 different linked falls that run into each other. The water looks really inviting but would be a bit chilly!

Pictures - Both of different parts of Routeburn falls - note the clear water in the pools.

Routeburn - Part 2

Part 2 is from Routeburn Flats up to Routeburn Falls. This takes us about 40 minutes to do - The rainforest thins out a bit as we get higher and we cross over an area where there was a huge landslide in 1994. We get some spectacular views down the valley - we are climbing quite quickly and we reach the Routeburn Falls shelter which is 1000m above sea level.
Picture - View of Routeburn flats from the climb

Routeburn - Part 1

Part 1 is the tramp to Routeburn Flats. This covers 6.5 km and the first part of the walk is through temperate rainforest and crossing streams on swing bridges. The path is a bit undulating but not too tricky, We reach the flats after about 1hr 20mins and then head off for Part 2.

Pictures (Left) - View of a stream from the path. (Right) - Routeburn Flats and the mountains surrounding them.

There and back again - A day on the Routeburn track

Apr 30th. We have heard on the weather forecast that rain is due for the 1st May but that today should be fine. We decide to head off and do a days walk on one of NZs great walks - The Routeburn track. Normally the walk takes 3 days and covers 32 km. We have only one day as we aren't going to camp and do the walk so we shall see how far we get in 1 day. The incentive for us is to reach Harris Saddle (The highest point on the tramp) and if we do this we will go out for a curry later on today. We start from the East side of the trek at 9:40am - This is the Routeburn Shelter on the right hand side of the map.

Click here to view a route map

The Luge

One of the reasons for heading up the Gondola is to have a go on 'The luge'. This involves a gravity powered go-kart on wheels and you whizz down corners, tunnels and a few dips. Then jump on a chair lift and do it all over again. Really good fun - I didn't crash at all but did get onto 2 wheels as I was a bit quick into one of the corners.

Skyline Gondola

Queenstown is surrounded by peaks and lakes - there are numerous ski resorts less than 30km away so the town is busy all year round. I hop on the Skyline Gondola and head up to the top of a hill which offers great views of the lake and surrounding mountain ranges. In the picture the range in the background is 'The Remarkables' with the two peaks in the middle known as the 'Double Cone'. I didn't get too close to the edge though! A great opportunity was missed on the way up - some fluffy white sheep were munching their lunch on the steep hillside. Sorry Random Animal fans.

Jetboating in the Shotover Canyon

We arrived in Queenstown and took only 10 minutes in booking our first activity - Heading down a canyon in a Jet powered boat. We get picked up and drive over to the place and get our wet weather gear on and life jackets. The boats do 360 degree spins and whizz you through a tight canyon getting close to the walls. It was lots of fun but I never really felt scared and that we were going to hit the walls or anything. (Some may say this is a little odd to say but I want to pay money to be scared sh!tless and I wasn't). We race up and down the river for 30 minutes and thankfully don't get too damp. A cool start to our time in Queenstown.
Pictures - To follow

The Road to Queenstown

Apr 29th. We say goodbye to Te Anau and head off to Queenstown which is the adrenaline capital of NZ. It is overcast and cloudy as we set off but once we leave the valley that Te Anau sits in, the weather clears - At one point on the drive you can clearly see the cloud trapped by the mountain range with blue sky on the other side. Queenstown sits on Lake Wakatipu and we have to drive along the east side of the lake till we reach queenstown. This gives pretty spectacular scenery and some nice chicanes to drive through.
Picture - View from the road of Lake Wakatipu.

Moooove out of the way

Some random bovine action on the road as we travel to queenstown. At one point we were circled by the soon to be burger type animals.

From the Fiordland Focus

Hot off the Press - Here is a sample of the 'On Report' section from this local paper which serves the local communities of Te Anau, Manapouri, Milford and Doubtful Sound (Population about 600).

2 April - Burglary at Manapouri Motors
3 April - Minor Car Crash at Sunny Creek Bridge, nil injury
6 April - Wapiti Statue on the entrance into town was damaged
7 April - Mailbox was stolen from the Hillside Road area
8 April - Medi Vac for a female who had fallen down a bluff while climbing
9 April - Shed at Ivon Wilson Park was damaged by tagging
10 April - Another burglary at Manapouri Motors
13 April - Theft of 2 chainsaws from a vehicle
15 April - Motor vehicle crash on Weir road.
16 April - Real Estate sign damaged 1 km from town. Report of 200kg of bagged barley stolen.
19 April - MP3 Player found in city centre
21 April - Car Crash at the Nine Mile Peg

When is a Sound not a Sound

When it is a Fiord (or Fjord depending on what part of the world you come from).
Milford and Doubtful Sounds are not in fact Sounds - A Sound is formed by a river, a Fiord is formed by a Glacier.

Milford Sound

We reach Milford Sound itself and board our vessel for our 2 1/2 hour cruise. Milford Sound itself is only 13km long but the sides and mountains are well over 1200metres tall. In fact the tallest cliff face is here - One side of the Sounds rises up to 1600metres high. Big! There are waterfalls dotted around and the weather is perfect again (We are so lucky again) - We cruise out of the Sound and into the Tasman Sea again and then head back. Lots of pictures were taken again - here are just a couple. One waterfall is 400 metres high but looks tiny as the mountain behind it is 1200 metres. An american stubbornly refused to believe that this waterfall was twice as high as Niagara falls.

The Cheeky Kea

Meet the Kea (Or Arctic Parrot if you prefer). These cheeky chappies get up to all sorts of mischief and like nothing better than mucking around with anything and everything due to their sense of curiosity. There were 2 Kea's at the car park before the Homer tunnel and both ended up landed on top of a camper van and were merrily chomping something sticking up on the roof and chucking the bits over the side. It provided something cool to watch while waiting for the lights to change.

The Road to Milford Sound

Apr 28th. The weather begins a bit cloudy but looks like it will brighten up which is cool. We begin the 119km drive to Milford Sound and stop off at various places along the way to see spectacular views, rivers, chasms, valleys etc. It is really good fun to drive and we also go through the Homer Tunnel which is a one way tunnel with traffic lights that wait for 15 minutes before changing.

Random Animal Pictures #19

Cat that lives outside the YHA in Te Anau - Note - the cat is not allowed inside.

Doubtful Sound Animal Encounters

We see little Blue Penguins, lots of sea birds but the real treat is some more bottlenose dolphins. We see a large pod of them in the distance mucking around in the water - the boat stops as we aren't allowed to disturb them but all of a sudden a couple of them come right up to the boat and say hello. We can hear them underwater as the sounds are coming through the hull. They are magnificent creatures. Also at the Tasman Sea end of the sound we see a colony of NZ fur seals. All in all it has been an awesome day. Tomorrow we head off to the Milford sound. Sound.

Doubtful Sound

I have taken lots of pictures of the cruise - the whole thing was spectacular - I don't know if I have seen anything quite like it. We cruise the sound for a couple of hours and have a few encounters with some animals (see later posts) and head out to the Tasman sea end seeing as the sea is so calm. Everything is jaw droppingly beautiful - Come to NZ and come to Doubtful Sound.

Pictures (Left) - View into Crooked Arm - Check out the reflection, (Right) The Start of the Sound

View from Wilmot Pass

This is the view we get from the lookout just over Wilmot Pass - The weather is good - there are a few clouds but we get an amazing view of Doubtful Sound. Stunning.

Doubtful Sound Cruise

Apr 27th. Well - the weather is certainly Doubtful as we set out - it is grey and overcast - there is a glimmer of hope as some blue sky is sighted but things don't look too promising. We board our ship and whizz across Lake Manapouri - It is cold and raining but some sun does appear. As we reach the other side of the lake we get off the boat and board the coach which takes us on a quick tour of the Hydro electric plant there - We drive down 230 metres below the ground and see the main turbine room. Then we exit the power station and it is brightening up and it looks like the weather is going to play nicely. By the time we head over the Wilmot pass and onto the other side of the mountains the weather is looking sweet.

Te Anau Glow Worm Caves

After sorting out our tours for the next few days to Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound we head off to check out the Glow Worm caves that are on the other side of Lake Te Anau. I am a bit sceptical about this and think it will be a bit rubbish but it turns out to be pretty good. We venture in about 300 metres in the cave seeing a couple of waterfalls and a whirlpool, then we get into a boat and head in to the cave itself. It is pitch black except for thousands of tiny bright blue pin pricks of light from the glow worms. It is like looking up into the starry sky.

For more info, glow worm fans, these are the boys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnocampa

The Road to Te Anau

Apr 26th. We depart Stewart Island at 8am and thankfully the crossing is smooth so nobody loses their breakfast, we return to the car and make our way on the Southern Scenic highway west and north till we reach our intended target of Te Anau. We stop off at various places along the way including Monkey Island (No there are no monkeys - it is named after the monkey wrench that was used on it), McKrackens Rest (views of Te Waewae Bay) and Lake Hauroko (NZ's deepest lake). The weather is grey and overcast and it rains periodically. The drive to Lake Hauroko is 20km on gravel road and ultimately is a bit of a waste of time as it is cloudy on the lake and you can't see anything. Shame as there is a good walk to a lookout offering stunning views - maybe next time.

We carry on till we reach Te Anau early afternoon.

Pictures (Left) - Cloudy Lake Hauroko, (Right) - View from McKrakens Rest.

Mount Doom - Note for Jim

The real location of Mount Doom from LOTR isn't Mount Cook - It is seen from the Tongariro crossing walk on the North Island - The Central Plateu of Taupo. We will be doing this walk later on.

Ulva Island

After the excitement of the dolphins we paddle the couple of kilometres to Ulva Island having first made sure there were no rats in our packs (This is deadly serious - there are no predators on this island which is why certain rare bird species are thriving). We are greeted by the Waka bird which comes right up to us and pecks around - it even jumps into the kayak. They are wild birds though so we leave him alone - The Waka bird is actually the top of the food chain on the island - it is flightless and will eat reptiles, insects and other small birds. We spend a couple of hours walking around various trails seeing Fantails, Tui's, Stewart Island Robins and lots of other birds that we have no idea what they are. We bid farewell to our new friend the Waka bird and kayak back to the boat house. The water is slightly choppy in places and our arms are a little sore at the end of it but we have had an amazing day.

Pictures (Left) - The Waka bird, (Right) - a Tui bird

Bottlenose Dolphins!!!

The splashing turns out to be a group of about 5 bottlenose dolphins. We paddle frantically to get close to them and are lucky enough to have them pass right in front of us (maybe 5 metres away). It is absolutely incredible - they are really big and graceful how they jump in and out of the water taking big gulps of oxygen as they surface.

Thanks to Liz Cave who was our guide and had her camera to hand to capture the dolphins.

Sea Kayaking

Apr 25th. We have booked ourselves a days kayaking - we are having a couple of hours guided tour with Liz first before heading off on our own. We are given a smoke flare 'Just in case!'. We see some little blue penguins in the distance which is cool and the water is pretty clear as well. Thankfully it is lovely and calm and not raining. We are heading along the north of the Patterson Inlet and we are going to head over to the Bird sanctuary Ulva Island after morning tea. After our tea we see some splashing and investigate it . . . . .

Picture - Martin and I in our kayak gear.

The Local Pub

On Stewart Island there is only 1 pub so we head there for a drink with a cool American couple who are staying in our B&B (Lois and Susanne from New Orleans). Naturally we get on to talking about sport and it gets slightly interesting when we try and explain the rules of cricket to Lois and also start to broach the rules of rugby as well before deciding to have another pint instead. Prior to this we had dinner at the Koi Kart which is a fish and chip shop, We ate in and it was the nicest Cod I have had - the chips were only OK sadly.

Acker Point Lighthouse

At the end of our walk, we reach the Acker lighthouse - there is a group of sea birds diving and fishing in the sea which is quite good fun to watch - There are some Stewart Island shags who are good divers. (Shame on all of you who are sniggering)

This boat wasn't messing around and ploughed straight through the flock. If you zoom in on the picture you can see them taking flight. Some of the ones who were underwater may have a headache.

Random Animal Pictures #18

Feed the Goat . . . . . . .

Seen on our Stewart Island walk

Random Animal Pictures #17

Very friendly ginger cat we saw on our Stewart Island walk. Possibly a long lost relative of Fudge.

Views from Observation Rock and Ringaringa Beach

We head off to Observation Rock which overlooks the Patterson Inlet on Stewart Island - There is a quite nice view of various Islands that are located in the Inlet and we can see Ulva island which is basically a bird sanctuary where there are no predators. We continue on and see Ringaringa beach which is pretty rugged. The weather is holding out nicely for us - Stewart Island is reknown for its rain but we are able to walk in T-shirts.

Pictures (Left) - Ringaringa Beach, (Right) - Iona Island in the Patterson Inlet

Stewart Island

Apr 24th. We leave the 'wonderful' town of Invercargill and drive off to Bluff which is the ferry port for Stewart Island. This is the island that sits off the south coast of NZ, it is 1 hours ferry ride. We arrive there and go to our quaint B&B and then head off for a walk around the local area. We tried to book a trip to go Kiwi spotting but the person who runs it wasn't available - bit gutted as this basically means that we won't see any (unless we were really lucky). So the picture is probably as close as I will get to a Kiwi bird.

Going Kiwi Spotting

For the next couple of days we are going to Stewart Island which is the Island off the South of NZ (About 1 hours ferry journey away). It is pretty isolated and has a population of 351 people. There are 20,000 kiwi birds there so we are going to try and track them down and see them in the wild. I will be out of internet contact for a few days so I will keep you posted when I return (and hopefully will have a picture of a kiwi bird too).

To Invercargill

The only town that I know of that ryhmes with Arthur Scargill. We finish off the Catlins section by Waipapu point - This is the scene of NZ's worst maritime disaster where a ship sank in 1891 with 131 lives lost. There is a reef 1 km from the shore which you can see - 3 years later a lighthouse was built on the point. We also stop at a place where you can see the wreck of the ship 'Eno' at low tide. This is the worst shipwreck at low tide that I have ever seen - all you can see is a few poles sticking up. We carry on and end up at Invercargill and check in to our hostel.

Picture - Waipapu Point

Catherdral Caves

We drive back on ourselves a bit to get to the Cathedral Caves - This is only accessible for a couple of hours either side of low tide. There is a walk through some rainforest and then a stroll along a windswept beach till we get to the cave. The tide has gone out enough but still water is pooled around and some large waves that come in just about reach the entrance. The cave has 2 entrances and we walk inside and look to exit the other way. The tide retreats just enough to let us out of this other entrance and we make our way back to the car.

Pictures (Left) - The main Cathedral entrance, (Right) - The 2nd exit with water there.

Curio Bay Fossilised Forest and Lake Wilkie

Right next to where we were staying is the best example of a fossilised forest in the world. It is 180 million years old (It doesn't look like much I know) but getting up close to it you can see the trees clearly. I walk around the rocks in the hope of seeing a penguin/sealion. I think I may be on to something and close in camera at the ready. It turns out to be a rock with some bird sh!t on it. Never mind. We continue on the route and have a walk through some rainforest to check out Lake Wilkie.

Pictures (Left) - The fossilised forest, (Right) Lake Wilkie

The Cottage by the Bay

Apr 23rd. Porpoise Bay is where we were staying for 1 night - We had our own little cottage that nobody else was staying in. Martin had fun building a fire and we went out trying to see some sealions and penguins. If we were lucky we would see some Hectors dolphins in the bay. The bay is a huge sweeping bay with an enormous beach along it. We didn't see hardly any wildlife except for a couple of penguins. When it was morning the view was cool as it was a gloriously sunny day. This is a great place to stay for a while and relax.

Pictures (Left) - The view from the cottage in the morning, (Right) - The cottage

Rosemary's Lookout and McLean Falls

We stop off again at the top of a hill with a great view overlooking a fantastic bay (Sorry I can't remember what it is called but have it written down somewhere!). Then we drive further along the route and walk 20 minutes into the bush to see McLeans Falls - Another large waterfall and cool. That is us done for today - We have been in Japanese tourist mode - Stopping at places for 5 minutes, taking photos and then driving off somewhere else. It has been a really good day though.

Purakaunui Falls and Mattui Falls

Continuing down the track we wind our way round farmlands, hills and then head to see some waterfalls. Purakaunui Falls is the most photographed waterfall in NZ and if you are a waterfall fan you will like this 3 tiered effort. Mattui Falls isn't quite as spectacular but still pretty good as far as these things go.

Pictures (Left) - Purakaunui Falls, (Right) - Mattui Falls

Nugget Point and Cannibal Bay

We stop at Kaka point first and then carry on down to Nugget Point. This is so called because there are rocks in the sea that look like Gold Nuggets. There is a walk to the lighthouse which we do and the wind makes it a bit chilly. We do spot some Hooker Sealions mucking about at the base of the cliffs which is cool. We then have a look at Roaring Bay and then head off to Cannibal Bay. This is reputedly the best place to see some Hooker sealions in the Catlins. We arrive at the beach and look around but don't see anything on the rocks - we start to stroll along the beach and then realise that what we thought were driftwood actually are sealions asleep on the beach. We approach carefully and can get quite close (but respecting them as they can run faster than we can - and bite). It was really cool to see these wild animals close up.

Pictures (Left) - Nugget Point, (Right) - Hooker Sealion at Cannibal Bay