Sounds marvellous

Since the glaciers we've headed south. First stop was Wanaka, an alpine township with a huge lake and numerous ski fields nearby. Not much snow at this time of year though, but the peaks were lightly dusted for that pretty scenic effect. We took some time out in Wanaka, booked some tours for further along the road and checked out the cinema. Run by a mad scotsman, it rates as the coolest cinema we've ever been to. Ever. We sat in a Morris Minor to watch the movie. Thats how cool it is. The movie was pretty good too, an indian 'art' movie about arranged marriage, death and the treatment of widows. Heavy stuff, but surprisingly absorbing. It is called Water, and comes recommended.

From Wanaka we headed to Queenstown, the self styled adrenaline capital of NZ. Originally we intended to bypass this town, but it's the one place in NZ I could do helibiking. Simply, you get one mountain bike, one helicopter and one idiot (me) and go to the top of a mountain. Then its down, all the way .......... or it would have been if I hadn't been done out of my trip by the weather. Apparently I can engage in this foolhardy pursuit near Mount Cook though, so fingers crossed. After two days of wasting time I called it quits and we made our way to Te Anau, and Fiordland.

Fiordland is a large national park in the SW corner of NZ, with lots of fiords. We got very lucky with cloudless skies for our day trip out to Milford Sound. We took a boat cruise along the sound early in the morning, avoiding the midday rush and were rewarded with stunning views and a pretty empty boat. On the way back out we enjoyed the sights of the 120km road at leisure, taking in the snowy peaks, valleys lakes and fields of flowers. The road included a 1.2km tunnel, called Homers tunnel. We decided it is named so because of a massive pothole you don't see until too late and exclaim 'Doh!'

After a rest day we had a tour on Doubtful Sound. It was also Christmas day! Doubtful is bigger and more isolated than Milford. It involved 2 coaches and a boat just to get us to the Sound itself. Unfortunately we ended up on a big tour boat, despite having booked with a small company. This spoilt the day somewhat, but the Sound itself was impressive. The clouds were low, giving it a mystical feel.

After Fiordland we headed west along the bottom of the island to the Catlins. The Catlins is an area of rolling countryside, green hills, waterfalls and scenic coastline. Once again we struck lucky with the weather, getting sun and blue skies when we visited Cathedral Cave, so we got some fantastic photos. We enjoyed wandering around, checking out the flooded falls in the area and generally having a good relaxing time.

Now we've headed up to Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula for New Year. Time to go now, sights to see, things to do, photos to take. Until the next time ...

posted by Matt, Saturday, December 30, 2006.