22nd February – 3rd March 2017
Before we left the UK, we would have said that New Zealand was one of the countries we were most looking forward to visiting. This was partly because neither of us had ever been before, but also the fact that no-one we had spoken to about NZ had ever described it as anything less than amazing. Many of those people had labelled it “the most beautiful country in the world”. We have to admit that during the first 3 weeks of the trip, that New Zealand had somewhat failed to live up to the hype in that respect. That all changed after we drove down from the Fox Glacier to Wanaka.
We left the glaciers and rain behind as we drove inland to Wanaka via the Haast Pass. The scenery was breathtaking; we must have stopped the car half a dozen times on the road down to take photos (none of which really did the views justice, but you can see some pictures below).
We stayed in Wanaka for 2 nights. Originally, we had planned to use it as a base to walk the Rob Roy Glacier, but we didn’t realise the start of the walk was at the end of 30km of unsealed road. 5km down the road, we turned back. We were slightly worried that Gandalf (our Toyota Yaris) was going to fall apart on the track, but we also didn’t fancy bouncing around for a couple of hours in the car. As an alternative, we considered climbing Roy’s Peak (just outside Wanaka) but we had left it too late to make a start on it, so went to complete the much shorter climb up Mount Iron instead. The views from the top were fantastic, and doing the shorter walk allowed us more time to explore Wanaka.
Wanaka itself is definitely worth a day or two on the itinerary should you be heading to the South Island. The lake is beautiful, and we enjoyed relaxing on the shore and exploring the town’s shops and cafes. Although often compared to Queenstown, it’s far smaller and quieter.
From Wanaka, we headed up to Lake Tekapo. The sole reason for this detour was so that we could visit the observatory at Mount John. The observatory is in a ‘dark sky reserve’ (apparently one of the best in the world) which means there is very little light pollution around, and so making an ideal location for viewing the stars. Although we couldn’t book on the Mount John Observatory tour, we visited the slightly smaller Mount Cowan Observatory instead (which is very close to it).
When the night to visit the observatory arrived, we looked to the sky and saw nothing but cloud. I’m generally quite optimistic (unlike Em, who is a true pessimist) but I have to say I thought our chances of viewing anything were slim to zilch. However, as we drove towards Mount Cowan, the skies miraculously cleared and when we arrived we were told there was 85% visibility (which is apparently rather good).
Our tour group headed off to the observatory in a minibus. The last part of the drive was done without headlights, which was to help our eyes adjust properly to the darkness (this can take about 15 minutes). We were told to turn off all mobile phones and not turn them on for the duration of the tour; looking at the screens for even a second can effect your night vision, and if you do it’s then another 15 minutes for your eyes to readjust once again.
When we arrived at out destination, we got out the van and looked up to the sky. There were a few exclamations of “Wow!” (and the odd expletive, but obviously not from Em who is too classy). I don’t think any of us had seen so many stars in our lives! You could easily see the bands of the Milky Way. The guide (an English astronomy graduate) talked us through what we were seeing, using an incredibly powerful laser beam to point at the sky. We saw Jupiter, the Southern Cross, Alpha Centauri (the nearest star to our Sun), far away galaxies that were mere pin pricks of light and loads of other cool stuff (ok, I thought it was cool). We got to use some of the telescopes, and the guide answered all our questions (even those that were probably a bit stupid) clearly and with good humour. We also learned how to navigate with stars, something I’d always wanted to know but never bothered to Google.
We both really enjoyed the experience. Although we were initially disappointed not to be visiting the larger Mt John Observatory, I don’t feel we missed out (our tour was about half the price too). I would have liked a bit of time to try and photograph the stars (something you are taught how to do on the other tour) but instead I watched a few YouTube videos to show me the basics and managed to get a quick snap before we headed back.
Although the plan from here was to head to Milford Sound, we stopped at Arrowtown on the way to break up the drive. We only stayed for one night, but we are glad that we did! Arrowtown was founded on the back of a gold rush in the late 1800s, but many of the buildings from the time are still used today. Walking down the main street is a bit like stepping back in time (well… it would be if the shops weren’t selling modern goods). We also visited the recreated Chinese settlement, where the Chinese immigrants moved in to when the gold rush started. All in all, we think it is definitely worth a day trip at the least.
From Arrowtown, we travelled down to Te Anau, which we used as a base before heading on to Milford Sound the next day. Our Airbnb accommodation was an old bus converted into a home stay, and although you only got 4 minutes of hot water in the shower each morning, was a fun experience!
We got up early the next morning to try and beat the coach loads of tourist buses in to Milford. We left at 8am, driving up to the start of the Routeburn Track. The track normally takes 3 days to complete, but we only had time to climb the first summit. We were glad we did; the views were incedible; some of the best we had experienced in New Zealand.
At Milford, we hopped on a boat tour of the Sounds. Although we would have loved to fly over them, we decided we simply couldn’t afford it, and instead went for the cheaper water based option. It was actually really good; we went with a company called Go Orange, which had advertised that their boats were less crowded than other companies (this turned out to be true) and promised free carrot cake (which also turned out to be true). Our skipper, Dennis, commentated as we sailed the waters of Milford Sound. He had a dry sense of humour (although many of his jokes seemed lost in translation with many tourists) and we enjoyed his banter as we went on. However, everyone was loving Dennis when he spotted the dolphins. This was the second time we had seen them in New Zealand, but this time the waters were a lot calmer so I could enjoy them without having to throw my guts up in a bucket every few minutes. We got a good 15-20 minutes watching them up close and personal before Dennis broke the bad news that we had to sail back to the jetty.
Our final stop in New Zealand was Queenstown, famous for its adrenaline activities and party atmosphere! We had booked 3 days in Queenstown; in hindsight this was probably too much, considering my party days are behind me and that Em isn’t exactly Evil Knievel.
Although tempted by hang gliding, we eventually decided to do some parasailing (I’d done a skydive and gorge swing previously, and neither of us fancied a bungee). Em psyched herself up for this, and was all ready to go… and then we found out it was too windy and it was cancelled! It was our last day on NZ, and with no chance to rearrange, had to settle for a refund. Although we were disappointed, it did save us some money, and we hope that we will be able to do it later on in our trip at some point.
The rest of our time in Queenstown involved doing some shopping and enjoying some of the seemingly endless cafes and restaurants found around the town. On our last night, we went to the famous Fergberger, a Queenstown institution. The queues at this place were insane; we ended up with a wait of about half an hour, and it’s like this pretty much 24/7. Was the burger worth the wait? We would say yes… just! It was pretty amazing, although 30 minutes is a long time when you are hungry…
We loved our time in NZ, and were quite sad to leave. We spent a month in the country, which probably wasn’t quite enough; we had to miss a couple of things out and it did feel a little rushed in places (another tip; get organised and book ahead; we really struggled to get accommodation in some places, particularly on the South Island).
We think 6 weeks would be about the right amount of time, although some people we met spent several months in the country! The bottom line is that although it is (very far) away, it is definitely somewhere that should be visited if you get the chance.
(Posted by Ben)
Emma & Ben... Far From Home 