Would you believe this is summer?

It rained very hard all day and night on the 7th and we woke up on the 8th to crisp blue skies and tons of snow in the mountains. Not so uncommon for around here since it rains so much, but it's still a little weird to see snow in the summer. The locals said it's all part of the Weird and Wacky Weather of Fiordland which makes this place pretty unique.

Here are some parting shots of this amazing place:

From our apt. balcony

View from the Te Anau marina

View over Lake Te Anau

We thought these clouds were amazing

We walked all along Lake Te Anau getting various views of the mountains

Just can't get enough

We're off tomorrow to continue venturing south and east around the very bottom of the South Island. We'll be traveling, with infrequent internet, until Jan. 19th when we fly back from Auckland to Tel Aviv, arriving on the 21st. Again, stay tuned!

"Sounds" right, but it's not

OK, here's a question for you: What's the difference between a sound and a fiord? Give up? A sound is a body of inlets formed from flooded valleys, like Queen Charlotte Sound. A fiord is a body of water created from glaciers splitting apart mountains. So the Milford and Doubtful Sounds are mis-named and are really fiords and it's just too late to change them. You're now ready for Jeopardy.

We had another great day going to Doubtful Sound. This one is really remote and required a full day of transportation: We drove 20 minutes to Lake Manapouri and picked up a ferry that took us on a 50-minute ride across the lake to a bus. The 45-minute bus trip took us across Wilmot Pass to the beginning of Doubtful Sound. We then boarded a large boat that took us on a 3-hour tour. No queasiness this time!

Crossing Lake Manapouri

Typically, the day was very rainy and overcast. Just like at Milford Sound, the guide assured us this is really Fiordland at its best with tons of water in the waterfalls. In fact, he kept pointing out temporary waterfalls that wouldn't be there on a dry day. They get about 7 meters of rain a year in this area and it's considered one of the wettest places on earth.

We just loved it, of course, and here are some grey and dramatic memories:

Doubtful Sound

Multiple waterfalls

We learned that the trees and moss that are growing on the shear sides of the granite cliffs are really only attached by roots of a few trees growing in the cracks of the rock. The rest have intertwined themselves holding on for dear life. Therefore, during an earthquake (there are many in this area), it's not uncommon for a whole section of the foliage to fall down the mountain together, creating an avalanche.

This shows new growth after a tree avalanche exposed the rock

We were lucky the sea was calm enough for us to get close to this fur seal colony

Before getting on the ferry back across Lake Manapouri, the bus stopped at Manapouri Power Station which was the biggest engineering project in NZ history. Built in the 60's, a few hundred meters under ground beneath the mountain, the hydro-power supplies 14% of the electric power of all of NZ. The turbines are driven by water draining from Lake Manapouri to Deep Cove in the Doubtful Sound of the Tasman Sea, about a 180 meters below the lake.

Manaopouri Power Station tunnel

Glow little glowworm, glimmer, glimmer...

On Monday we took a 1/2 hour boat ride across Lake Te Anau to see the Glowworm Caves. (Actually, the "worms" are maggots, but as the guide said, if it was called Maggot Caves, no one would want to see them.)

On the ride over to the Glowworm Caves

With a guide you walk inside caves that have gushing rivers running beneath the walkway and then we got in a small boat. The guide told us we had to be silent and he pulled the boat by way of a rope overhead in the complete darkness. Above our heads were countless tiny blue/green lights, like constellations of stars in the sky. These are the glow worms shining lights out of their rear ends attracting bugs. (Unfortunately, the worms are sensitive to sound and light, therefore no pictures were allowed.) It was a serene and lovely activity.

In the afternoon, we drove about 10 minutes from Te Anau and walked 3 hours return along the bottom of the Kepler Track which follows Lake Te Anau and meanders through a forest. (The other end of the track is at the top of one of the mountains and we may get to that hike, too, via a helicopter ride.) The weather was gorgeous, the sun shined through the trees, there was no wind...absolute heaven.

At one end of the Kepler Track

Lakeside view from Kepler Track

Mossy forest along the track

Working our way south...

On Jan. 2 we left Wanaka and first stopped at Arrowtown, an historic gold-mining town that today is quaint and charming with B&B's, cafes, up-scale shops and historic sites. We walked around for about an hour (Miles got GREAT licorice) and continued on to Queenstown.

Main Street, Arrowtown

Queenstown is really the headquarters for all the adventure sports you hear about: bungy, kayaking, tandem skydiving, horseback trekking, jetboat trips, tramping (multi-day hiking), etc. The place was teeming with people of all ages and there was even an arts & crafts fair, a farmer's market and lake cruises. Busy, busy, busy. It's a particularly fun and popular place for young backpackers. We enjoyed walking along the harbor, ate our lunch (Turkish kebab roll) by Lake Wakatipu and the weather was spectacular.

Queenstown, on Lake Wakatipu

The Earnslaw, a coal-powered cruise boat in Queenstown

We then left and drove the Kawarau Bridge and watched people bungy jump. This is the bridge where bungy jumping began back in 1988. It was fascinating to watch from the viewing platform and NOT JUMP. Miles was tempted to try it though, and they assured us the cord was 100% rubber and the bounce was gentle. He went to sign up and found out he had to wait 3 hours for his turn and he passed on the opportunity. In retrospect, he realized his testosterone had clouded his thinking since even coughing can throw out his back, so a "gentle" bungy jump would have been really stupid.

Bungy!!!

We arrived at Te Anau and settled into our comfy motel room, complete with a full kitchen and balcony with a view of Lake Te Anau. We're going to be here a week and do lots of day trips in Fiordland and it's nice not to have to live out of our suitcase. It's a beautiful setting and the weather...ahhhhh.

Lake Te Anau

You can see the water in the background

As luck would have it, we woke up on the 3rd to pouring rain which shouldn't have surprised us because we should know by now that NZ weather is always changing. We had a big day pre-reserved to go to Milford Sound and thought, "They do the cruise rain or shine, so let's go!" Well, we had the BEST DAY EVER!!! It turns out this weather is normal. It rains in this area at least 200 days a year and because of the amount of rain today, there were countless waterfalls that wouldn't be there on a dry day. Blue skies are over-rated, anyhow. Even on the 2-hour drive to the boat terminal, we passed huge rock cliffs that had numerous waterfalls pouring from the tops. The drive alone was worth a trip with jaw-dropping beauty. We had to walk to the boat from the parking lot and got completely drenched even though we had rain jackets and umbrellas, but we soon dried out. The boat trip didn't disappoint, either. There was lots of rain, the water was choppy (we both got a little queasy), but the visibility was good, each waterfall different, some gushing powerfully, others thin and delicate. I suppose all the pictures/postcards you see of Milford Sound are taken in the winter, when it's drier, with blue skies. However, I think we got the better deal to see the numerous waterfalls pouring out of the enormous mountains.

Waterfalls along Milford Sound





Amazing wildflowers in the meadow on our drive back to Te Anau

Haast Pass and Wanaka

We had an unbelievably beautiful ride from Haast to Wanaka on the 31st. We passed huge snow-capped mountains, grey/green rivers, green meadows...just wonderful. We stopped on the way at various waterfalls, look outs and scenic reserves. Here are some of what we saw:

Roaring Billy River

View from the road

Gates of Haast

Thunder Falls


Lake Hawea

We spent New Year's Eve drinking a bottle of bubbly, watching the year in review on NZ tv and just staying in. We loved it.

On Jan. 1, we had a SPECTACULAR day. I know I've said this before, but this time, I really, really mean it. We drove about an hour from Wanaka to the Rob Roy Valley Trek. We walked over fields that were incredibly windy, including a daunting walk over a swing bridge and then walked another hour and a half through forests, along a rushing green/gray river to the Rob Roy Glacier. We sat there on rocks looking at the most incredible sight I think I have ever seen. It was something out of National Geographic. There we were, gazing up at a glacier over our heads across a valley. There must have been about 15 waterfalls underneath the glacier, some of which were spouting upwards because of the strong winds. The glacier was white/blue and looked so pristine. Awe-inspiring, for sure.

Very windy swingbridge in Rob Roy Valley

River Rocks

View of Rob Roy Valley


Blue ice of Rob Roby Glacier

Strong wind causing a waterfall to rise instead of fall

How many waterfalls can you count?

Part of the way to our hike was over a hour drive on a gravel road with 9 places where we had to ford through water. We only have a Nissan rental car, not a 4-wheel drive which probably would have been helpful. Oh well. That's what insurance is for.

More Good Stuff

Tue. Dec. 29: We drove from Abel Tasman to Motueka and took a side road (recommended by our lodge host--a great idea) through Tapawera to the main motorway. It was a very scenic and serene drive past beautiful pastureland.

We then stopped at the Buller Borge Swingbridge which we walked across. They claim it's the longest swing bridge in NZ and was quite "swingy" over a rushing river. Not for those who are afraid of heights! We returned walking over instead of taking the Superman harness, flying over the gorge. Looked like fun, but...

Swingbridge over Buller Gorge

Miles on swingbridge in Buller Gorge

Our next stop was at Cape Foulwind (don't know why it's called that--rather off putting--the air smelled fresh to me!) We saw a fur seal colony with many little pups and walked an hour to the lighthouse.

Fur Seal Colony in Foulwind, Westport
On the way to the lighthouse near Cape Foulwind

Next stop was Punakaiki which is a very well-known place on the coast famous for the Pancake Rocks. These are limestone structures that have eroded over time to form pancake-like towers. Just beautiful. And depneding on the surf and tide, there are blowholes that spray water.

Views of Pancake Rocks

We stayed that night at an unusual "tree house" set in the forest. This was a 4-unit building built right amongst the trees and had a balcony, very quiet and serene and we felt like Swiss Family Robinson.

Treehouse "motel" in Punakaiki

Wed. Dec. 30: We had a big driving day ahead of us: about 10 hours including stops (see below).

We left our wonderful tree house "motel" and drove to the Pancake Rocks one more time. The weather was a lot clearer and everything looked even better under blue skies. Another favorite place.

We then drove to Arthur's Pass summit (half way to Christchurch) and turned around and returned to Kumara Junction near Greyouth. (Our plan is to continue south and see Christchurch on the way up the east coast in a couple of weeks.) The pass was wonderful: we passed very high mountains, some with snow, waterfalls, rivers...visibility was great and we just loved it. There is a train trip through this pass that goes from Christchurch to Greymouth and it's supposed to be one of the world's greatest train trips. We can certainly understand why.

Arthur's Pass

At Kumara Junction, we headed south and stopped at Franz Josef Glacier. We walked about 10 minutes from the car park and there it was. The glacier is beautiful white/blue ice and the air crisp and clear. It was so refreshing. We then stopped briefly at a lookout to see the Fox glacier, too, but didn't have time to walk in.

Franz Josef Glacier
Fox Glacier

We arrived at our Haast Motel about 7:30pm, Haast is the last town before we get to Fiordland where we will really see some dramatic stufff. Stay tuned.

Knight's Point near Haast