New Zealand: South Island - Milford Sound

We set off early from Queenstown for Te Anau, which would be our base for our day trip to Milford Sound.  On the way, we found ourselves in the middle of a cattle drive.  There were so many cows that we had to completely stop the car and wait for the cows to move.  

Cattle Drive

In Te Anau, we shopped around for a place to stay and ended up at a holiday park just a short walk away from Lake Te Anau, the second largest lake in New Zealand.  Before the rain started, we had a walk along the lake shore.  That evening, on recommendation from the receptionist, we joined the locals for a Sunday roaster at a steakhouse, treating ourselves to lamb and cider.  This was one of the only times we ate out in New Zealand.

Lake Te Anau

Lake Te Anau before the rain

The following morning we set off for Milford Sound.  It is 144 miles from Te Anau to Milford, but the journey is fantastic.  Milford Road takes you into Fiordland National Park through the Southern Alps.  The road passes by lakes, waterfalls, through rain forest, and over snowy mountains.  Since it had just rained (and snowed in the higher elevations) hundreds of small waterfalls cascaded down the sides of the cliffs we drove alongside.  At the highest point of the road, we drove through Homer Tunnel, which took almost 20 years to complete. 

Snowy Milford Road

Approaching Homer Tunnel

Temporary waterfall down the cliff alongside the road

Raging waterfall next to the road

Once we reached Milford, we booked ourselves on a cruise around the fjord.  (As explained to us on our cruise, Milford Sound is inaccurately named and is actually a fjord.)  Milford Sound is absolutely breathtaking.  It is surrounded by sheer rock faces, some of which jut straight up over a mile high above the water.  Since it was winter, we had very cold weather to deal with, but had the benefit of a fairly empty cruise boat.  When we set out, we had some blue skies, but throughout the two hour cruise we also experienced rain, sleet, and hail.  The weather was constantly changing, which just added to the mystique of Milford Sound.  Clouds drifted over the snow covered mountain peaks, fur seals lounged on the rocks, and a few dolphins even swam by.  Another benefit of the rainy weather was the waterfalls.  There are only two waterfalls that flow year round, but because of the wet weather, there were hundreds of temporary waterfalls running down the cliffs.  It is impossible to capture the beauty of Milford Sound in pictures, but we certainly tried.  We both agreed that it was one of the most amazing places we have been on our trip. 

Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls from below

Find the cruise boat to get an idea of the scale

Simon and I with Bowen Falls behind us

Blue skies peeking through

New Zealand: South Island - Queenstown

We had yet another beautiful drive on the way to Queenstown.  As we drove inland through the mountain passes, we stopped twice to see waterfalls that were accessible  by walking just a few minutes off the highway.  On the other side of the Southern Alps, we drove alongside lakes for miles.  Snow capped mountains were always in sight.

Fantail Falls

Thunder Creek Falls

Lake Hawea

Bungee Jumping and Skydiving are popular activities in Queenstown, but there was no way Simon was going to talk me into either of those.  So, we enjoyed the town, which was quiet since it was out of season, and took in the views.

Simon by Lake Wakatipu

View from Queenstown Hill

New Zealand: South Island - Glacier Country

From Greymouth, we continued our drive down the west coast to see the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.  The glaciers are easily accessible, making them popular tourist attractions.  They are unique in that they descend from the Southern Alps through rain forest and end only about 300 meters above sea level and about 12 miles from the Tasman Sea.  The face of Franz Josef has become unstable so walking on the glacier now requires a helicopter flight.  However, we could still walk to the face.  As we walked, the massive cliffs towering over us made us feel like we had entered Middle Earth and should be looking for Frodo.

We also walked part of the Alex's Knob trail through lush rain forest to reach higher ground, hoping for a different view of the glacier.  Unfortunately, as we climbed, the clouds settled in over the top of the mountains and we couldn't see much.  The forest was so dense that when it did start to rain, we hardly felt it.

Beautiful view as we walked to the glacier face. 

Terminal face of Franz Josef Glacier

Me next to one of the many waterfalls.  

Simon in the rain forest

We visited Fox Glacier, which is about 12 miles south of Franz Josef, as we began our drive to Queenstown.  It was only a thirty minute walk to the terminal face of Fox Glacier.  Along the way, posted signs constantly warn you to stay on the marked trail due to potential falling rocks, ice, and even flash floods.  Even though we didn't walk on either of the glaciers, they were incredible sights to see.  

Simon in front of the terminal face of Fox Glacier

No Stopping for 500 meters

Safety First

In the glacier area, we also stopped off at Lake Matheson.  Also known as, "mirror lake," Lake Matheson is famous for its reflections of the nearby Southern Alps.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy when we visited and the mountain peaks were not visible.  The reflections, though, were still perfect.

Clouds reflected in Lake Matheson

New Zealand: South Island - Picton to Greymouth

From Picton, where the ferry docked, we drove straight on to Nelson.  We took the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive and had some gorgeous views of the Queen Charlotte Sound, Pelorus Sound, and various bays.  As we headed inland, we were greeted with rolling hills and farmland.  We did not expect much from Nelson but found it to be a nice, quaint town.  The hostel owner definitely qualifies as the friendliest owner (and possibly friendliest person) we've met on our trip to date.  He never stopped smiling, was really happy to chat, and swore I'd stayed there before.  Nelson claims the geographic center of New Zealand, which is on the top of a hill in the Botanic Gardens.

Gorgeous View from Queen Charlotte Drive

Nelson's South Street - The oldest preserved street in New Zealand.  Cottages dating from 1863.

Me standing at the geographic center of New Zealand.

View from the Center of New Zealand

After one night in Nelson, we moved on to Greymouth.  The best part about Greymouth was getting there.  We made two stops along the way (in addition to several stops for pictures).  The first was at Buller Gorge in Murchison to cross the longest swing bridge in New Zealand.  For $5 NZ we walked across the bridge then followed the path on the other side of the river for a fifteen minute walk that took us past the White Creek Faultline of 1929, where a 7.8 earthquake created a 4.5 meter high cliff face.

Me crossing the Buller Gorge Bridge

Once we again reached the Tasman Sea, the views were spectacular, even on a cloudy day.  We stopped several times just for pictures.

Our last stop before reaching Greymouth was at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki.  The Pancake Rocks consist of an area of eroded limstone on the Tasman Sea.  The layering of the limestone gives the rocks their name.

Simon at the Pancake Rocks

Greymouth itself was, well, grey, and there was really nothing of interest to us there.  The hostel though was probably the most unique one that we stayed at.  Noah's Ark, a converted monastery, had animal themed rooms and various animal paintings throughout, even in the bathrooms.  We slept in the "giraffe" room.

New Zealand: North Island

By a stroke of luck we got to fly business class to New Zealand.  Initially we were scheduled to fly directly to Christchurch and were going to do a circuit around the South Island.  Plans changed when JetStar kindly changed our flight from one arriving in Christchurch midafternoon to the middle of the night.  We weren't thrilled with arriving at 12:50am.  After some back and forth with JetStar, we cancelled the flight and booked a new one through Aerolineas Argentinas to Auckland.  What started out as an annoyance ended up working out well as we got to see a bit of the North Island and, as a bonus, we were upgraded for the three hour flight.

We only spent one night and the next morning in Auckland but did not feel like we missed much.  Our impression was that it might be a nice place to live, but is not that exciting for visitors.  It may not have helped that it rained while we were there and the hostel we stayed in had the dirtiest bathroom of anywhere we stayed in all of Australia and New Zealand.  We did have a walk down to the harbor and also took a look at the famous Sky Tower, the tallest man made structure in New Zealand.

Sky Tower

On day two we picked up our rental car - a bright blue Subaru Legacy ("Blue Sue")- and started our road trip.  Throughout our journey, Simon drove and I navigated the maps.  Neither was too taxing since there was hardly anyone else on the road except right in the cities and for the most part, the only navigated needed was just just getting us headed in the right direction.  At times we would go more than half an hour without  seeing another car.

Simon with "Blue Sue"

Our first stop was the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.  Local Maori people give guided tours of the cave every half hour daily.  Since it was low season, and I suppose we were a bit lucky, we were the only ones who happened to show up at the particular time and so enjoyed a private tour.   We were told the caves can have hundreds of people in them during the busy season, so we really appreciated the rare opportunity to view them on our own.  Obviously, the main attraction of the caves are the glowworms.  The glowworms are only about an inch long and just their back end lights up.   One part of the tour consisted of a boat ride through the "glowworm grotto" in complete darkness.  Thousands of the glowworms could be seen throughout the cave, mostly on the ceiling above.  It reminded me of fake stars on an amusement park ride - just thousands of tiny lights dotting the "sky."

Outside the Glowworm Grotto

Glowworm Caves Brochure (No pictures are allowed inside so this gives and idea of what it looked like.)

From Waitomo we continued on to Taupo, where we spent the night.  Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand. In the summer, it is apparently full of activity, but at the end of May, winter was approaching and It wasn't exactly "lake weather" so we mostly just had a walk by the lake.  We also managed to find the spot along the lakeshore where the water is boiling hot due to geothermal activity.

On the shore of Lake Taupo

Me as a honeybee

On the way out of Taupo, we stopped at Huka Falls and The Huka Honey Hive.  Huka Falls is a beautiful set of waterfalls on the Waikato River.  The volume of water often reaches 220,000 litres per second.  The Huka Honey Hive, a store based entirely on honey products, is just minutes away.  It has an educational center as well as a working hive.  We sampled more varieties of honey than I knew existed, as well as treated ourselves to some samples of some nice honey skin care products.  My hands smelled like honey for the rest of the day.
 

Huka Falls

After our night in Taupo, we journeyed to Napier.  Napier is known for its art deco architecture.  In 1931, an earthquake destroyed most of the city center.  It was rebuilt in the art deco style of the time and beginning in the 1990s many of the historical buildings were protected and restored.

Municipal Theatre

Soundshell Stage

Pretty Pink Bike

Our last stop on the North Island was Wellington.  Again, we had just one night in Wellington.  Wellington is known for being very windy, but we were greeted with a calm, brisk day.  We spent a few hours in the Te Papa Museum (Museum of New Zealand) and then walked along the harbor before heading to the pedestrianized Cuba St. for some savory pies for dinner.  Aside from the quite cold room we were in, we enjoyed our quick visit to Wellington.  In the morning, we scraped the ice from the windshield, drove to the ferry terminal, and got in line to board.  Another calm, clear day brought some beautiful views as we crossed Cook Strait to Picton on the South Island.

Wellington Harbour

Wellington Sunrise

View from the ferry

Australia: Sydney

We had a really enjoyable time in Sydney.  On our first day there, a friend of Simon's family picked us up and treated us to breakfast at a lovely restaurant on the bay.  We watched the sea planes land as we enjoyed our breakfast sandwiches.  After breakfast, we took a short hike to the barranjoey lighthouse for some magnificent views encompassing both Broken Bay and the Tasman Sea.  We strolled back to the car along Palm Beach.

Later that day, after saying our goodbyes to Penny, we had a walk around "The Rocks", the oldest area of Sydney.  We then stopped in at the Museum of Contemporary Art to view a bit of Christian Marclay's "The Clock."  The Clock is a 24 hour video comprised of thousands of movie clips each representing a particular time of day.  The movie clips have been put together so that they are synchronized with real time.  After being kicked out at closing time, we walked around Circular Quay and I had my first "up close" view of the Sydney Opera House.

On our second full day in Sydney, we set off for Blacktown and the Featherdale Wildlife Park, just 45 minutes outside of  the city by train.  This was obviously the most exciting part of our trip to Sydney for me since I got to pet koalas (holding them is illegal) and feed kangaroos.  We also heard the kookaburras laugh,   I held an owl, and we watched the cute Little Penguins gobble down their morning fish.

In the afternoon, after Simon pulled me away from the animals, we headed back to Sydney and caught a ferry to Manly.  The scenery was magnificent as we cruised across the the harbor and got views of both the Harbour bridge and the Opera House.  From Manly, we walked 9.5 km along the Manly Scenic Walkway to Spit Bridge.  Once we arrived at the Spit, we caught a bus back to the ferry terminal and cruised back.

After a good night's sleep, we got up early and took the train to the Blue Mountains.  We spent several hours hiking through the very green and damp vegetation, taking in some great views, and passing a few waterfalls along the way.

On our last day in Sydney we took it easy.  We strolled through Darling Harbour and visited the Maritime Museum.  We then walked around Circular Quay and through the Royal Botanic Gardens.  In the gardens we spotted a whole flock of cockatoos hanging around in one area.  We took a closer look and saw that you got the most attention from the cockatoos if you had something for them to eat.  I broke up a piece of granola bar and held it out.  I was quickly swarmed.  It wasn't until we were leaving that I saw the sign warning not to feed the birds because "they bite."  Finally, we strolled over to a grassy hill close to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair and watched the ships cruise in and out of the harbor as the sun went down.

Before moving on to our next adventure, a quick note about our accommodation.  Since rooms were pricey in Sydney, we stayed in a four person dorm.  For the first few nights, our roommates were a couple who looked like they had been living there for weeks.  Their things were spread out all over the place and they had massive suitcases and boxes packed full.  Each time we came back to the room they were cuddled on the bottom bunk watching Japanese tv shows (at high volume) on their lap top.  The first night, they kept the lights on until 1am.  One afternoon we came back and they had completely cleared out.  Talk about fast packing...That night we thought we had the room to ourselves, but in the middle of the night someone came in.  He then left again before we got up.  That was our ninja roommate.  Our next roommates were a pair of 20-something guys. As we were settling in for bed one night, a cell phone started to ring.  We quickly learned it belonged to the guy on the top bunk as we heard a SLAM as he fell to the floor.  I don't think he was injured by his fall.