Day 7 - Te Anau to Queenstown

Left Te Anau at about 9:30 this morning.  It was not a very early start as the drive today is only a couple of hours to Queenstown.  The drive was very leisurely, and  very spectacular, with mountains and lakes everywhere you look.  Queenstown is a resort town famous for skiiing in the winter and bungy jumping, jet boating, white water rafting, paragliding and a whole heap of other adventure sports in the
summer. We arrived in town at about 12:00pm, so we thought we go into town and have some lunch and a look around before checking into our accommodation.

We entered the information bureau, and saw advertising material all over the place for every activity possible!.  There sure is a lot of stuff happening in Queenstown, and we couldn't decided what we wanted to do.  Josh was not keen on Bungy Jumping, and Daniel wasn't all that interested in a canyon swing.  Eventually we decided on a Gondola trip up the moutain followed by a couple of luge rides down, and a trip on the Jet boat.  Even the Jet boat decision was a difficult, as there are about 5 different options to choose from.  We grabbed a handful of different brochures and headed out, deciding that we would do some research over lunch, and then book something for tomorrow.  

After a quick bite to eat (and a milkshake from Starbucks), we decided to see if our accommodation was ready.  Lucky for us they had another apartment that was already available, so we were allowed to check in early.  We walked inside and were very impressed with our accommodation.  The apartment is situated on the lake and has views across the lake to the mountains across the other side, which were lightly dusted with snow.  Its also a very comfortable apartment, with all the comforts of home.  Mazz says she is very impressed and would be happy to spend the rest of the holiday here gazing out at the view across the lake.

After making ourselves at home (code for spreading our junk everywhere!), we reviewed the tourist brochures and decided that the KJet was the jetboat ride for us.  The appartment is about 1km out of town and the day was clear and sunny, so we decided to walk into town and make a booking for the KJet.  The walk was also spectacular, beside the lake, through a park and across a river.  By chance we came across the main pier where the KJet leaves from, and the day was so clear, that we decided to ride the KJet today, rather than wait till tomorrow, as who know what the weather would be tomorrow.

After a short wait of 30 mins, we donned raincoats and life jackets and climbed onboard the big yellow jet boat along with approx 12 other people.  The jet boat ride was exhilarating and exciting, and lasted approx 1 hour and covered 64 kms.  It included 360 degree spins, swerving turns near the river bank and weaving in and out of trees and submerged branches.  We arrived back at the dock very wet, a little wind burnt and with crazy hair styles, but with big smiles on our faces.

After making our way back to the apartment, Paul and Daniel enjoyed the 30 degree heated swimming pool while Mazz and Josh went shopping to get some items for dinner.  Mazz says she will have to check the earthquake statistics, but if everything is clear she may have found her new favourite holiday destination.

Day 6 Milford Sound

This morning was an early start- 7:30am. Today we have a 2 hour drive to Milford Sound for a boat cruise. Milford Sound is in the Fiordland National Park and according to Rudyard Kipling he considers it to be the eighth Wonder of the World.

The weather for today is rain, rain and more rain and only 12 degrees maximum. The drive wasn't as spectacular as we hoped as it was misty, cloudy and raining. We are hoping it will clear up when we return to Te Anau. We reached the Homer Tunnel which is only a one way tunnel, so you have to wait until the light is green.The tunnel,which is cut out from solid granite, took nearly 20 years to complete. From the beginning to the end it measures 1270 metres. It seems very old. Mazz was very happy to get out of there.

Once we arrived to the boat terminal, we waited for about 10 minutes until it was time to board. We had read prior to coming to New Zealand to go on an early boat cruise before all the tourist buses get there. Glad we did as there were only about 12 people on board the boat. Because it had rained so much and was still raining (Milford Sound is known as he wettest place in the world and rains 200 days a year) you could see many temporary waterfalls running down the steep sided rock faces. It was so spectacular! Also along the way we stopped at two of the permanent waterfalls Lady Bowen and Stirling Falls. The boat got so close you would get wet by the spray, but because it was already raining and cold, we didn't stay outside too long to get wet.


We also got to see seals swimming around and lazing on the rocks. We eventually got all the way out to Dale Point where the mouth of the fiord comes out to the Tasman Sea where is began to get very rough. We didn't stay out there too long. Once turned around we headed back to the boat dock and the weather had nearly cleared up. 


Back on the road we were able to stop at some of the sites we missed out on on the drive up. We stopped at the Chasm which is a spectacular waterfall where the Cleddau River has scoured its way through solid rock. Its pretty freaky when you aren't quiet sure what you are looking at until you look down under where you are walking and there it is. We then stopped at Mirror Lakes- on a still day you can see a perfect reflection of the Mountains.The scenery is just breathtaking. We can understand how it could be considered the eight Wonder of the World. 

 

Once we got back to our motel, we just chilled for the rest of the day. Dinner was "fsh and chps"- Aussies make them better and our entertainment for the night was the rest of the Lord of the Rings Movie.

Day 5- Dunedin- Te Anau

We left our excellent accommodation in Dunedin and headed south west towards our next stop, Te Anau.  Thanks to the hospitality of Jane and Logan, we had a bucket of Cranberry and white chocolate "Cookie Time" cookies to munch upon as we travelled.  Cookie Time cookies are a New Zealand icon, and very enjoyable too!.  At the suggestion of our host from Dunedin, we deviated from our planned route to visit "Nugget Point" a coastal site with particular rock formations and also home to a penguin colony.  Nugget point was "nice", but not spectacular, and there was not a penguin in sight, so we jumped back into the car.

We had a slight disagreement with our GPS upon returning to the car. She (The GPS), wanted to take us across some unsealed roads, but we wanted to stay on the bitumen.  After a short discussion we decided to trust the GPS and headed onto the unsealed roads.  50km later, we were finally back on sealed roads, and a town we recognized on the map.
We are still not sure if we took the long way, or the short way, however one of the benefits was that we got to travel through more of the countryside, fields of rolling green hills, herds of sheep and even a rabbit or two.

Shortly after lunch we arrived in Te Anau, a town of approx 2000 inhabitants in the Southern Fiordland.  Te Anau is situated on the shore of Lake Te Anau, the second largest lake in New Zealand.  Te Anau is also a major starting point for many tourist activies in the Southern Fiordland, treks along the milford or other walking tracks, and boat trips along Milford or Doubtful sound.  Its a beautiful town, so before dinner we went for a walk along the shore of the lake.

In summer, there is accommodation for up to 4000 tourists, and no less that 24 different motel or hotel chains.  Some of these are up for sale, so Mazz has been busily reviewing the business opportunities and costs associated with each busines, after all, the Sakovits family might be in for a change of occupation in the near future.

Day 4 Dunedin

This morning we had a little bit of a sleep-in,  we are still not use to the time difference here. Once up and ready to go we headed into down town Dunedin to Cadburys Chocolate Factory for a tour. Because it is nearly Christmas the factory wasn't running but we still got to see a 1 tonne of chocolate pour out like a fountain in one of the silos. We also had a bag of samples given to us and a little cup of melted chocolate. The tour wasn't great but the shop at the end have chocolate for a good price. We just had to buy some Jaffas for where we were about to go next.

Baldwin St in Dunedin is the steepest street in the world according to the Guinness book of records.  Every year,as part of the Cadbury chocolate festival, 20,000 Jaffas are released from the the top of Baldwin Street to see which one will make it to the bottom first.  Looking up the street, it doesn't seem to be all that steep, but once you start climbing, you sure feel it.  We climbed to the top of the street (our fitness workout for the day!), complete with our bag of Jaffas.  We took it in turns to roll Jaffas down the street - It sure is hard to get them to roll down the middle of the road without bouncing into the kerb.  It was a closely contested event, but in the end we think Daniel might just have come out in front.

After Baldwin St, we headed back into down town Dunedin and had subway for lunch, followed by a trip to the Cinema to watch The Hobbit part 2 - The Desolation of Smaug, (We were actually in Cunema Sux!) The movie was pretty good, and we all enjoyed it more that the first Hobbit movie.  It's not exactly true to the book, more like a Peter Jackson "re-imagining" of the Hobbit story.  Either way, it was a quite enjoyable.


After the movie, we headed back to the apartment to freshen up, before heading out to Dinner with Logan, Jane, Grace and Chelsea, friends from Dunedin, who spent some time in Adelaide 18 months ago on a work assignment.  We had a lovely dinner and an enjoyable evening.  It was nice to catch up on what's been happening and to share a laugh.

Day 3 - Twizel to Dundedin

After a a leisurely sleep in we checked out of our motel to await for the mornings entertainment. - Having three boys who are Lord of the Rings nerds , and a patient mum/wife,  we had booked ourselves on the two hour "One Ring" tour.  At 10:30 we were picked up in a minivan and were taken on a tour of the local Twizel area that had been used for filming some of the battle scenes from LOTR, in particular the "Battle of Pelannor Fields"

(For you non LOTR nerds, thats when the huge Orc army, complete with "oliphants", is attacking Minas Tirith", and where Eowyn slays the witch king of Agmar!"  Our tour guide Dawn was very enthusiastic and very passionate, and explained in great detail what shots were taken where, what camera angles were used and also provided us with lots of great film trivia. e.g. Sir Ian Mackellan (Gandalf), never rode a horse!, approx $6M worth of make-up was used to make the horses brown / black.  The grass was "spray painted" to make it look greener, and "spider cam", now used on many sporting fields was first used for Lord of the Rings.  One of the best parts of the tour was that we got to dress up and "recreate scenes from the film.  Daniel finally got to be a Hobbit (and a Dwarf), Josh got to be a Ranger, and Lady Eowyn (Marilyn) got to slay the evil Witch King.

Tour guide Dawn was also an extra in one of the Hobbit movies, but she couldn't tell us too much as the movie hasn't been released yet.

After the tour we set off on the drive to Dunedin, about a three hour drive from Twizel.  Once again, the scenery was absolutely spectacular.  Snow-capped mountains in the background in all directions, and mountain lakes which were an unbelievably bright blue.

On the way to Dunedin we stopped at a place called the Elephant Rocks, a series of unusually shaped formations, (which interestingly were also used in filming the final scene from "The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe"

We left the Elephants rocks and continued on our way to Dunedin.  The sky was overcast and very grey.  A light drizzle soon became heavy raindrops which were then replaced by a flurry of hailstones.  The hail was so thick at one stage that we almost had to pull off the road as visibility was down to a few metres.  We were even worried that the windscreen was going to crack and that the car would be covered in dents.  Soon enough the hail stopped, but large piles of hail could still be seen along the side of the road.

We  finally made it into Dunedin around 5:30, and with the help of the GPS, located our accommodation, Apartments at St Clair.  Were all quite tired, so it will probably be a quite night in, eating Pizza and watching Lord of the Rings to see if we can recognise any of the locations.

Day 2- Christchurch to Twizel

This morning Paul got up early to go back to the airport to pick-up our rental while the boys slept in and Mazz just chilled. We are all feeling
a bit tired because of the time difference but am sure it wont take long for us to adjust. Paul got back with the rental (a white RAV4) and we packed the car and began our journey. It's not the nicest of weather today-rain, rain and more rain and a temperature of 11 degrees.
We drove for about 2hours until we decided to take a look at the amazing view near a town called Fairlie. We took a few photos and then stopped at a coffee spot for some lunch. It is so green here!

Next stop was Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo lies in the heart of the Mackenzie Country and is the second-largest of three lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin.  Situated on the shores of Lake Tekapo is the Church of the Good Shepherd, which was the first church built in the area.

The church would have to be one of the most photographed in New Zealand as there were quiet a few tourists there. The church features an altar window that frames stunning views of the lake and mountains. Very spectacular!

We then headed another 50km to the town Twizel. We booked into our accommodation, unpacked the car, had a short rest then it was back on the road again. We headed up to Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park so we could see Mt Cook. Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, reaching 3,754 metres. We couldn't see the top of it very well  because there was a lot of cloud cover. BUT there was snow still on top of the mountains.  You can't go up the mountain unless you go by helicopter. We decided to drive to Tasman Glacier.

After a 15 minute walk, we came over the hill and saw the glacier. So spectacular! Its about 27 kilometres  in length and as much as 4 kilometres  wide and 600 metres thick. There were parts of the glacier floating in the lake where they had broken off. Very cool. After some photos, we walked back and then took a detour down to the actual lake. Paul wanted to see how cold the water was. It was very cold! After a pleasant drive back it was time for dinner and watch Lord of the Rings before bed.

Day 1 - Adelaide to Christchurch via Auckland

Well, the trip is officially under way.  We all woke up this morning, (before the alarm clock!) and after our showers, breakfast and a small amount of fin some bad news that one of Paul's Uncles in Hungary had passed away the previous night.  Not a nice way to start the holiday and a reminder just how precious life is.


We arrived at the airport at 9:30, checked in, and awaited the the two hours to our flight to Auckland.  We had two very excited boys and one very nervous Paul, pacing up and down the airport like a cat on a hot tin roof! Soon enough we were in the air and travelling on the way to Auckalnd.  The flight was about 4 hours long (and uneventful thank goodness).  Auckland is also 2 and half hours in front of Adelaide, so we arrived at about 6:30 local time.

After a short stopover in Auckland, we were once again on our way.  This time we had a one hour flight from Auckland to Christchurch.  Again, an uneventful flight, but we were not impressed as there were no inbuilt TV screens on the flight.

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Finally Arrived in Christchurch at 9:30. Found a taxi and made our way to our hotel.  Cant believe we are so tired and we have't even done anything just yet.  The adventrue for the evening wasn't over yet however.  It appears that Mazz has forgotten the combination to her suitcase lock, so she is starting at the bottom. 001, 002, 003 etc.  Hope she gets there soon or it could be a rather smelly trip for the rest of us.