Monday 1st August -Te Anau to Milford Sound and back again!

 

August already! An early start again as we wend our way up and down to Milford Sound. The weather does not look great as we drive through the countryside. We pass stunning scenery, lakes, waterfalls, rivers. Up into the mountains and then dipping down to sea level. We drive through several avalanche zones - (no stopping allowed!) and a  variety of weather! We pass through the Homer Tunnel which is the only road access through the mountains and arrive at the terminal building to find there is a problem with the Jucy boat which we had hoped to catch and that we had been transferred to Southern Discoveries Nature Cruise. 

Milford Sound is a deep, icy blue waterway running 15km inland from the Tasman Sea and is part of the majestic Fiordland National Park. Carved over time by glaciers, the deepest part of the fiord is 400m, surrounded by sheer rock faces rising 1,200m or more on either side. Milford Sound is the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world, with a mean annual rainfall of close to 7m, feeding the many waterfalls that thunder down cliff faces.Milford Sound (also known by its Maori name Piopiotahi) is a fiord of spectacular beauty and natural grandeur, named after Milford Haven in Wales.

 

  It was initially overlooked by European explorers, because its narrow entry gave no clue to its large interior bays. Captain James Cook bypassed Milford Sound for just this reason, because he was afraid of getting too close to the steep mountainsides and not having enough wind to escape.We are lucky enough to also spot a couple of penguins in a little bay and also some bachelor NZ fur seals just hanging out on a rock - appropriately named Seal Point. The scenery is breathtaking and our photos dont really do it justice

  

  

  We head home, the girls falling asleep on the way - only to find that Nicole has lost her beloved hat!

Sunday 31st July - Goodbye Omarau - Hello Te Anau!

Sadly it is time to leave Omarau – we have all enjoyed being in one place for a few days and it has given us time to catch up on journals, laundry and not be in the car! Unfortunately we have a massive drive ahead of us to Lake Te Anau where we will use as a base for our trip to Milford Sound.  We stop off at the Moeraki Boulders. A number of huge speherical stones found strewn along a stretch of beach. 

    

They have been exposed due to shoreline erosion from the cliffs that back the beach and were originally formed in ancient sea floor sediments some 60 million years ago. They weigh several tonnes and are up to 3 metres in diameter.

     

The girls collect shells on the beach  and forget their differences briefly– It is a long drive and a very long day and the girls cope well although cracks are starting to form and the atmosphere is strained amongst us at times.

We are covering such huge distances and spending a very long time in the car tramping across the beautiful countryside. We are realising that maybe trying to cover the whole of NZ was slightly over ambitious. Todays drive is 402 km and takes 5 hours.  Another "car picnic"  is needed and more driving to be done before reaching Te Anau and the Lakefront Backpackers. This has probably the best  kitchen we have had so far in NZ! 

Saturday 30 July - Dunedin and Sealions!

  

Another night in Oamaru- Hurray! Today we visit Dunedin going first to  Baldwin Street – the steepest street in the world. Nelly copes well with the climb up to the top which is 1 in 2 on some sections! David is not so confident about the brakes as we head back down though!

    

In town we take a mini tour of Cadbury World, (no photos allowed inside the factory) and the girls enjoy lots of freebie chocolates YUM! 

    

  

We learn about the process of making chocolate from the cocoa beans and get a chance to see inside the factory including climbing up inside the huge purple "crumb" silo - once used for storage and now just part of the tour. Crumb is the dried base mixture made from mik, sugar and cocoa solids which can be stored for long periods.

We also spend time in the visitor centre exploring some of the history of chocolate and of Cadburys both in England and NZ. There are interactive displays and a delicious smell permeates every room.

We also go to the pretty and well photographed Victorian Railway Station before our now familiar "picnic in the car" for lunch. We have a wander around the town but the weather is a bit dreary and there is not an awful lot to see, apart from the cathedral and a very large statue of Robbie Burns. We are all feeling slightly jaded and the regular, long car journeys are taking their toll.   

We drive across the bay onto the Otago Peninsular and to Sandfly Bay

the Lonely Planet guide book mentions it as a potential place to wildlife spot at dusk so we head off down the track and onto the breathtaking but steep sand dunes. We are immediately rewarded with a group of sealions far below us on the beach and as we carry on our tramp down the sandy slope we can see more lolloping out of the sea ready to find a safe spot to sleep and recover after a day at sea.  

  

 

Not sure how close we should go, we gradually  descend to within 50ft climbing and circling dunes. David and Tiegan venture up a dune and to our amazement nearly step on a sealion, already holed up in a grassy patch. We get within 6ft and just watch. We feel truly lucky! What an amazing trip "on the off chance" of seeing something we were able to get within touching distance of these amazing creatures. This is what this trip is about!

 

Friday 29 July - Omarau

We have made the decision to stay another night in Oamaru –   the beds are comfy, the welcome is warm and we could all do with some time in one place. We venture out into the town and visit the Whitestone cheese factory. We are able to watch the making process in the factory and enjoy tasting the finished producst in the little shop attached to the factory.
  

Oamaru has the best preserved collection of Victorian buildings in New Zealand. Most of these buildings are fashioned out of a gorgeous sand coloured local limestone and still used for the purpose for which they were intended. The Opera House was amazing. At 7pm each evening it put on a spectacular lightshow. The numerous fascia front windows were systematically lit in various colours.

 We spend time exploring the Victorian historic harbour and watching a limestone sculptor at work and then enjoy a rare treat of coffee, hot chocolate and cake "out".

We decide to try and find the elusive penguins in another spot and after lunch head further down the coast to Shag Point. Lots of sea birds, cormorants and shags, but no penguins. Very disappointed! We have been given several places to try so in the rapidly descending dusk and after a series of wrong turns up single track, very dodgy roads we locate the Moeraki Lighthouse and trek down the steep hill to a purpose built penguin hide. Very quietly we open the viewing windows and immediately are rewarded with the view of seals on the little beach below us and a handful of penguins hopping about on the rocks. They make a tremendous amount of noise as they head up the hill to their nests in the grass and bushes! 

Thursday 28 July - Tekapo to Omarau

   

The name Tekapo derives from Maori words Taka (sleeping mat) and Po (night).This morning we walk a little way around the lake – the smaller of the two in the locale – a beautiful turquoise blue. This is due to the finely ground rock flour in the glacial melted waters. It is the 4th largest lake in NZ. We stop briefly at the Church of the Good Shepherd built in 1935 to the glory of God as a memorial to the pioneers of the Mackenzie Country. 
The famous sheep dog statue on the lake’s edge is in memory of the hardy mustering dogs “without the help of which the grazing of this mountainous country would be impossible.”

         

After this we fulfil our “winter sporting” tickbox with a trip to Alpine Springs – where we could ice skate, snow tube and then sink into the hot spring pools at 36, 38 and 40 degrees. Tiegan and David had a whale of a time on the snow tubes, mounting the slope by the escalator slope complete with crash helmets and sturdy rings. Nicole remains unconvinced, with a headache and bruised bottom! Rowan was enjoying it until she was crashed into at the bottom of her third run by an incoming snow tuber. She then decided she had had enough – and after another  token effort final run was happy to hang up her crash helmet and watch from a safe distance.

   

   

The hot springs in the complex next to the ice and snow activities were divine. although the walk to and from the changing rooms was freezing and the size of our micro fibre travel towels did not compensate for this at all! They are efficient but not large!

 We continue our journey south, driving through the Southern Alps passing Mount Cook in the distance. At 3754 metres NZ's highest mountain is dazzling... or it should have been... Sadly its' peak was covered with cloud and so we had to content ourselves with the postcard in the visitor centre!

We pass through the Waitaki Valley and stop at Danceys Pass. Under an impressive limestone overhang on a hill with great views to the mountains, we find the Maraewhenua Maori rock paintings.The charcoal-and-ochre paintings date back several centuries, tracing everything from pre-European hunting to sailing ships,

 

At last we reach Oamaru.  We picked up a flyer for Chillawhile Backpackers when we were in Akaroa and go straight there. It is a hidden gem. A backpackers and art gallery and we are immediately made to feel like part of the family by Kelly the owner/manager. Oamaru is famous for its' yellow eyed and blue eyed penguin colonies and, after  dumping our stuff we head off to the harbour to hunt for penguins coming ashore to nest at dusk armed with a local map and insider knowledge. Apparantly they come right into the town and  nest under some of the Victorian historic buildings and can often be seen waddling up the high street. However, we dont see any!

We return to Chillawhile and are invited to share a  lucky pot supper with the other guests, "woofers" (Willing Workers on Organic Farms who work a couple of hours a day in various roles in exhange for free lodgings) and neighbours. There are 16 of us in total and each group brings a dish to share - we all have to introduce ourselves and our dish so we get to kinow everyone really quickly - Nina from Finland, Jacob from Australia, Jack from Hong Kong, Deano - a native who is travelling with his daughter, Saskia around New Zealand, a Turkish neighbour, Alfred and his friend from Malaysia, Chester - another neighbour, Kelly (our hostess) and her daughter Saol. It is a veritable feast and the girls settle down afterwards with new friends and watch a DVD together.