After a long drive along the coast we hit some very windy roads that took us up into the mountains. We stopped in Waheka, where we planned to go glacier walking on Fox Glacier. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to poor weather (thunderstorms and hail!), so we attempted a walk around nearby Matheson Lake…until the thunderstorms and hail arrived!
Early the next morning the weather had cleared meaning we were cleared to go glacier hiking!
The only way onto the 13km long (but retreating) glacier was by helicopter, which was an awesome experience. The glacier travels down a mountain to the coast and is surrounded by lush rainforest-the views were like nothing we’ve seen before. The walking was challenging, but felt very safe with our guide and crampons on our feet to stop us sliding around.
Another amazing experience of nature doing its thing, and one we won’t forget!
After a hot chocolate stop we drove on further, through more beautiful scenery (backed by the snow capped mountains we’d been walking in), along the Haast Pass to Wanaka, a very pretty lake side-alpine town.
Here we relaxed a little, before spending the day walking down flower-lined rivers, around Wanaka lake with its surrounding gardens and up the hillside to a vineyard offering some wine tasting. The sun also came out and it was finally warm again! Here we found a great speciality chocolate and ice team shop called Patagonia-yum!
We ate in a village outside of Wanaka called Cardrona, which has the oldest building in New Zealand and is a fully functioning gastro-pub. Price Harry visited here not long ago for some bangers and mash.
We can’t believe how recently our ancestors came to live in NZ – just 3 generations ago (before which it was inhabited by Maori tribes) but we were regularly reminded of it, once by a family tree displayed in an art gallery showing just 3 lines of ancestors!
We next drove south past Queenstown to a town set next to a lake called Te Anau. This was our base, allowing us to drive further into the south east Fiordland to the very remote Milford Sound.
It was a rainy day for our drive to Milford, but still spectacular particularly because the rainwater created hundreds of waterfalls flowing down the sides of the mountains! We took a cruise on the Milford Sound (glad we didn’t end up booking the Kayaking in the rain), which took us deep into Milford Sound and past some beautiful sights. We were amazed to see a tectonic fault line (a giant crack) through the middle of a mountain, caused by previous earthquakes.
Our final stop was Queenstown, where we stayed in a room at a local couples house. Their house was on top of a huge hill overlooking the city and lake below. They also owneed a very affectionate cat called Kiddy.
Queenstown is a small city in a beautiful setting. We enjoyed the food here, the long walks up into the surrounding mountains and browsing the art galleries. The people here (and across our trip in NZ were all very friendly)
Our next stop (just in time for Xmas) was Melbourne…not before New Zealand left us with some spectacular views of its scenery on our flight out, and another chance to purchase New Zealand’s wines via the in-seat screen:
We are loving all of the fantastic photos, thank you xx