Mount Cook from Lake Tekapo
Sheep Dog Monument
Armed with a fantastic amount of information, routes hints and tips from Pete and Joanna we set off on Sunday morning for our venture into "the land of the long white cloud", the Maori name for New Zealand.. We booked all our accommodation for the next two weeks in South Island, so we have a detailed planned route. We are staying mainly in Bella Vista Motels, which is a New Zealand company. Each motel is virtually identical and the rooms are well appointed and not too expensive. Booking in advance means we do not have to worry if we turn up late anywhere and as it is still the holiday season here and it saves any bother.
On Sunday morning we awoke to news that there was a tsunami heading to the coast of New Zealand following the earthquake in Chile. Jo's friend in USA telephoned her at 6.45am to warn her, knowing the house was close to the sea. On the radio there were warnings to keep away from the beaches and some areas were evacuated. However, fortunately, it all came to nothing and the panic was soon over. A number of freak and odd wave activities were recorded, but nothing serious.
We set off after breakfast and headed inland for Mount Cook. We arrived at lake Tekapo, which is quite a tourist stopping place. Overlooking the lake there is an unusual bronze statue of a sheep dog erected as a tribute to the important role played by these collie dogs in the sheep industry. We also met a middle aged English couple who were riding a BSA Gold Star motor cycle, attending a rally in New Zealand. They and 35 others had shipped their bikes in a large container ready for the rally. They were now touring the South island.
It was a glorious sunny day and Pete had advised us that if we couldn't see Mount Cook from Lake Tekapo, then it wasn't worth the 55 km drive along the Mount Cook Highway to view it. Well, we were in luck, for the sun shone and the view from the lake was so clear, we decided to go and see it closer. Lake Tekapo, like the others in the area is a very pale turqoise in colour, due to the rocks near by. All along the highway we kept stopping to take even more photos. In Mount Cook village there is one hotel, dating from 1895 and various hostels for the serious walkers and climbers. A statue of Sir Edmund Hillary is there near to the climbing centre named after him. Mount Cook is New Zealand's highest mountain and running close by is the Tasman Glacier, the largest in New Zealand. It was so beautiful to see and well worth the journey. We returned along the highway and then drove past a number of man made lakes which were constructed as part of a major hydro electric power works. We were practically the only car on the road for about 150km. We arrived in Oamaru at 6pm and booked into the Bella Vista.
In the morning we decided to spend some time exploring Oamaru, which is the main town in the North Otago region. It has a pretty port on the sea where there is a colony of blue penguins like those on Phillip Island. We also watched two separate colonies of cormorants perched on two rocks close to the land.
Oamaru was a flourishing commercial centre in the late 19th century as witnessed by the large number of beautifully restored stone buildings. The harbour area in particular has two streets just as they were originally built. And the nicest thing is,the buildings are, on the whole, still being used for their original purpose, such as the wool warehouse which was full of huge bales of wool for export. Some of the buildings had been converted in to small craft workshops and all were open to the public. Valerie was in her element with all this living history.
We then began to make our way to Dunedin, but stopped just a few km along the road to visit the Totara Estate where the first shipment of frozen mutton to England was processed in 1882 thus heralding the beginning of New Zealand's most important industry. The original farm buildings are still in tact and today are open to the public as another living museum, with many artifacts, tools and machinery. Again a thrill for Valerie, though Brian also really enjoyed the visit! Further along the way we stopped to admire the famous Moeraki Bolders which are something of a curiosity. They are large perfectly spherical rocks, up to 13ft in circumference found scattered along a 164ft stretch of beach. Apparently they were formed on the sea bed some 60 million years ago.
We arrived in Dunedin in the early evening and had decided to try staying in a B&B for a change, the Bella Vista having no vacancies. B&B's are everywhere but we had been told they were far more expensive than motels. Anyway we had booked earlier and found this one some way out of town up a very steep hill. The next street running parallel to this one has the Guiness record for being the steepest street in the world - even beating San Francisco.
Arden house B&B was run by an eccentric lady called Joyce and her even more odd 16 year old son, Louis. As well as the guesthouse, which was full, she has a separate hostel type building in the back where a number of students also reside. It seems some of them work for her in lieu of board. She invited us to have dinner with the other residents on the first evening. She said it would be a friendly gathering, and as we were very tired we accepted. There were 11 of us round the table including Joyce and Louis. Everyone was asked to say a few words about about themselves. A general conversation soon developed which really was very enjoyable. I am sure it is not your usual B&B.
We had a list of things we wanted to do in Dunedin and so we were up and away early. We took a tourist bus around the city and learned a great deal of its history. It was founded by Scots and the name is the original Gaelic name for Edinburgh. It contains many fine Victorian and Edwardian public buildings including the very ornate railway station, which is supposed to be the finest stone structure in New Zealand. Dunedin was obviously a very prosperous city, due to the 1860's goldrush, and became the centre of the country's commerce. We also visited the interesting Otago Early Settlers Museum and had our own private guided tour of Dunedin's "stately home", Olveston House. This beautiful Jacobean style mansion, completed in 1906 was left with its entire contents to the city by its spinster owner in 1966.
The 24 km Otago Peninsular lies across Otago Harbour from Dunedin and offers a great variety of wild life, but specialises in a colony of albatrosses to be found at the mouth of Otago harbour. We took the circular route around the Peninsular, going up the High Road to the mouth. The high road was just that. It was a very narrow scary road with many bends and sheer drops down to the sea, with no fences or barriers.We just couldn't bring ourselves to admire the scenery, both of us suffering from vertigo. We were, however, rewarded for our efforts because to see the albatrosses in flight was such a privilege. We returned along the low road skirting the sea at sea level! We decided to eat in a local retaurant.
Wednesday saw us heading for Invercargill, New Zealand's southernmost city. En route we stopped at Gore for Brian - Gore being his mother's maiden name. Gore is famous for its brown trout and for its annual country music festival. We travelled through much green rolling countryside, with sheep, cattle and deer in abundance. Although we were travelling along a highway, the road was empty of traffic. Travelling through the rural countryside the only signs of occupation are the mail boxes to be found at the beginning of a very long drive to a house. You can't usually see the house from the road. All along the roadside colourful wild flowers and plants mingle with the bushes. Bright blue agapanthus, scarlet red hot pokers and toi toi, which look like pampas grass, grow in abundance.
The day began sunny,but by the time we reached Invercargill the heavens opened. After booking in to theBella Vista we headed for Bluff. This is the southern most tip of New Zealand. The famous Bluff oysters had just come into season, but we couldnt find any to buy because of the rain. We had a photo shot at the signpost pointing to London and Brian did try to take some shots from the high lookout, overlooking the harbour, but was nearly blown off his feet, so we returned to the motel for a microwave meal and to have an early night.
On Thursday we travelled North West to Te Anau, from where the trips to the fjords begin. On arrival at the Bella Vista we were able to book a cruise across the lake to visit the famous glow worm caves for later that day and a coach/cruise/coach trip to Milford Sound on Friday. We had decided not to drive ourselves to Milford as we wanted Brian to enjoy the fabulous scenery too.
We also had to pay a visit to the local doctor as Brian has been suffering an ear infection. The anti biotic ear drops have already worked wonders.
The cruise across lake Te Anau was beautiful and the glow worm experience just amazing. Once at the caves guides take groups of 12 through the caves along stainless steel walkways where water is gushing down, above and below. After a long walk we reached a boat which we climbed in and were then taken through the black caves where the glow worms are found glinting like thousands of stars. This was yet another unique experience.
On Friday morning we were picked up at our motel at 7.30 for the coach/cruise to Milford Sound. We were so pleased we decided to do this as the driver was a wealth of information and Brian was able to click away on his camera to his hearts content. The coach itself was quite unusual. It was especially designed and built in New Zealand for the tour company. It had a glass roof, for viewing the mountain tops and the seats were set at an angle, diagonal to the side, so the aisle seat was slightly in front of the window, thus giving every passenger a full view out of the window. The two and half hour journey was again breathtaking. I am just running out of adjectives to describe all this scenery. We learned all about the formation of the fjords and glaciers. The road itself was built in the 1930's as a government scheme to provide employment during the Depression. We chose to take the Nature Cruise and were given more interesting information. We were very lucky to see a pod of Bottlenose dolphins enjoying themselves and a number of seals basking on the rocks. We started in sunshine and were told it is better if it rains as the waterfalls go into action. As we reaced the Tasman Sea at the mouth of the Sound, so it began to rain. Thus we enjoyed the best all conditions. The cruise lasted for two and half hours and yet another experience to notch up
The sun shone all the way back.
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