Let's start with some geography, which we know Americans are notoriously bad at. We can't even point to every one of the 50 states on a map with only shapes, let alone name seven countries in Africa or say where New Zealand is, even in relation to Australia. Probably, most would say it is next door - true, but how close of a neighbor? Would you believe three and a half hours flying and two time zones from Melbourne??? It's true. ( over 1,300 miles...SS)
The flight was boring as any good flight is, with no turbulence or other issues. But the landing was magical as the plane came around, over and through the mountains and into tiny Queenstown. No photos to share from the plane since we always opt for two aisle seats across from each other but I could peek out the window easily for amazing views.
Another silver rental car, only one wrong turn and we were headed out of town and to Te Anau (Tee-Ah-No, more or less said fast and slurred together). I guess I really fell down on my research or didn't take to heart the immediacy of the NZ (which they say as En-Zed here) beauty, even though everyone who has been here has raved. I guess I just didn't expect it to be so awesome so soon. But as close as the airport rental car lot, you could look up and see the Remarkables - looming, clear, vibrant mountains.
The two and a half hour drive to TeAnua was easy one lane roads, much of it flat, all of it beautiful. We had a map that showed about five or so towns we would drive through, of which one would normally be a quick stop for a soft drink, a snack and an ATM. But every single one was not even a one horse town...three each had a pub, all closed, one had nothing at all and the last had a small souvenir shop with drinks and toasties and took credit cards,no minimum! I am not sure we even passed one open petrol station the whole way.
Te Anau is a small town but a real tourist stop because it is halfway between Queenstown and Milford Sound, a BIG destination in these parts. Some people simply stay in Queenstown and do a day long tour to Milford, which is fine, except the drive each way is four hours or more. So since we are traveling independently, we decided to get two hours under our belt right away.
The town sits on a very large and beautiful shimmering lake with tidy, clean motels and a three block long town with restaurants and shops catering to the mostly Asian tourists.
We pulled up to Radfords on the Lake, a motel and a NZ top winner for 2015. Shelly at the desk was young and perky and I am betting a very typical Kiwi. She talks fast, funny, and friendly. After about five minutes of being very helpful with the room, dinner reservations and what to do when, I realized that I had never known what a NZ accent was. The only way I can describe it is a bit of Aussie with twang and something of a Northern Exposure unique cadence. And if you thought we shared some unusual Aussie words, well, the expressions here are something Jed Clampett would have said if he was a Kiwi!
We actually had a really nice Italian dinner, guess you can have that almost anywhere, a few blocks walk along the lakefront at a place where the owner and all the staff were from Italy, the pasta was homemade and the pizza was wood fired and crispy. And just like Italy, we simply had a carafe of house red to wash it all down. At nine o'clock, walking home, the sun was not only still brilliant in the sky, but the light and the colors felt like it was maybe 10:30 in the morning.
We were still needing to wear our sunglasses! Remember, we are pretty close to Antarctica, at the 45th parallel, so the sun doesn't set until well after 10pm and is up by about 5am- nice if you want to pack a lot into each day.
We were still needing to wear our sunglasses! Remember, we are pretty close to Antarctica, at the 45th parallel, so the sun doesn't set until well after 10pm and is up by about 5am- nice if you want to pack a lot into each day.
We, or rather I, had decided that Steve was going to be doing so much driving in NZ that we should book a small group tour to Milford. Pick up was set for 8am and we were hoping for good weather which is frequently not the case. The van and driver Jacqui arrived on time as we circled the town to pick up another nine passengers. The sun was shining but not for long.
As we headed out of town, the scenery was beautiful with lakes and streams and huge fields of wild lupine, considered an invasive species here. It only took about twenty five minutes for the drizzle to start but when you only have one day to go to Milford, not only do you do it regardless of weather, you still make every scheduled stop for lookouts and walks.
As we reached the beginning of the mountain range, the clouds got lower, the rain a bit worse and we could only hope that after we went through the Homer Tunnel, the other side would be bathed in sunshine.
Not so! The bad news is we couldn't see the top of the very high, steep, sheer mountains; the good news - the rain made the waterfalls incredible. We arrived at Milford Sound, a large marina full of tour boats, and boarded our small vessel, darting between the raindrops with our pre-packed picnic lunches in hand.
Although this is called Milford Sound, it should actually be called a Fjiord by definition. The difference is Sounds are created by water and Fjiords by ice. Either way, as they are carved by nature, the land formations are like clasped hands where the fingers are pulled mostly apart forming a body of water in between. And the mountains left are almost completely vertical, like cliffs, and high, rising directly up almost 5,000 feet (spared you having to do the meters to feet conversion this time ). The waterfalls are numerous and while they may not be wide like Niagara, they start at the top and catapult the water straight down with a roar.
Our boat was small enough to tuck into the little nooks and crannies from hovering at the pointed rock crop full of seals to heading directly into a waterfall. For most of the trip up the Sound, we could hardly see across and the rain kept coming. But as we turned back, it started to clear, the rain ended and we could take in the breadth of the size and beauty of this place. And on our way home, even the sun shone. Better late than never and we got a great walk to the Chasm and felt the power that water has.
A pub kind of dinner tonight, nothing special because this is not a town of special food. Tomorrow will be packing and heading on to Queenstown with hopefully sunny, warm weather. But, if not, we will still see it all because today we learned that weather can't ruin the beauty of New Zealand.
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