In August, Mark and I were very blessed to take a 9 day trip
throughout New Zealand’s South Island.
We arrived in the evening of August 17 in Christchurch and from there drove to
Kaikoura, Fox Glacier, Te Anau, Milford Sound, and, finally, Queenstown - where
we departed from on our way back to Singapore the morning of August 26. We did a variety of activities in each of the
cities where we stayed for different lengths of time. For the sake of organization and so this entry
doesn’t end up 10 pages long, I’ve broken it down by city and by drive (as the
driving was also a highlight), giving a brief rundown of our time in each place…
Christchurch: Mark and I arrived in Christchurch the evening
of August 17. After collecting our bags
and rental car we proceed to our hotel without a hitch. I included the “without a hitch” part because
given the fact that we (Mark) were driving on the opposite side of the road, I
was a little surprised at how smoothly it actually went. While in Christchurch we stayed at The
Classic Villa that we both loved for its “homey” feel and great service; and
that I loved because it was pink!! Our first night we walked the city where we
saw not only some beautiful views but also the devastation from the 2011
earthquakes that had hit the Canterbury region.
In fact, the stores were quite unique, located in cargo containers as
the shopping mall had been badly damaged.
That night we ended up at the Christchurch casino which is Mark and I’s
favorite casino to date! It’s all non-smoking
and they have a Texas Hold ‘Em table with a $100 buy in which is pretty unheard
of, at least in this hemisphere. We
played poker for hours with a really nice group of local guys who play every
Friday night. They gave us some great pointers
for our travel and we tried not to take too much of their money (totally
kidding, we’re both losers). We departed
mid-day on Saturday, August 18 but not before seeing the Botanical Gardens and
the Canterbury Museum which had a great exhibit on the recent Earthquakes.
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| The Classic Villa - and its pink!!! |
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| A store at container mall |
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| Headed to play some Texas Hold Em! |
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| Chilling on a branch at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens |
Christchurch to Kaikoura drive: What was supposed to be a
2.5 to 3 hour drive took us a little bit longer. We drove slowly
to take in our first views of the New Zealand country-side and mountains. And I
also had to take pictures of nearly every sheep we passed. We planned our route to pass through the
winery region where we stopped for a small wine tasting and a delicious lunch.
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| One of my hundreds of sheep pictures but these are babies!! |
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| View of the vineyard at the winery |
Kaikoura: We arrived in Kaikoura in the early evening of
August 18 and checked into our B&B, Austin Heights, which we HIGHLY
recommend to anyone visiting the area.
It wasn’t at all lavish or stylish but the owners were a husband and
wife (and a sweet cat named Oscar) who very warmly welcomed us into their home
for breakfast each morning and answered any questions we had. The husband was actually a retired semi-truck
driver which I was VERY impressed by given New Zealand’s winding and
mountainous roads. Anyways, the B&B
also had amazing views of Kaikoura and was just a short drive from anything you
needed. During our 2-night stay in
Kaikoura, highlights included: visiting the seal colony and seeing lots of
seals ranging from babies to adults, going on a whale watching trip where we ended
up spotting 5 Sperm Whales and had 3 sightings of the Blue Whale(!!), and
visiting a local pub, The Whaler, where they served a daily $15 special of
steak, fries, and salad. I’m a little
embarrassed to say that it was so good that I got it for dinner both nights but
considering a good steak starts at around $100 in Singapore, I don’t feel that
bad. All-in-all, Mark and I both agreed
that there was just something about Kaikoura and it was one of our favorite
stops!
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| Entering into Kaikoura |
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| Austin Heights B&B |
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| At the Seal colony |
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| Seals at the colony. These guys are cute but they sure are stinky! |
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| Sperm Whale blow hole |
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| Whale tail, sperm whale |
Kaikoura to Fox Glacier drive: We departed in the morning on August 20 to
make the projected 7 hour drive to Fox Glacier.
It actually ended up taking us closer to 9 hours due to stops and slow
driving but passing beautiful mountain ranges on the way will make time pass
pretty fast.
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| Sheep and mountains, classic New Zealand (sigh) |
Fox Glacier: Late evening August 20 we checked into
the Sunset Motel, cleaned up, and headed straight for dinner which was pretty
much all we had time for that night. We
woke up early on August 21 and took a helicopter ride up to see Fox
Glacier. It was our first helicopter
ride and it was amazing! I rode upfront
next to the pilot on the way up to the glacier with just Mark in the back as it
only had 4 seats. Shockingly, I managed
to not have a freak out! We flew over
the glacier for about 10 minutes to get lots of different views and then landed
on the glacier for some beautiful pictures and more views. Then changed seats
for the 10 minutes flight back. To date,
this is one of the most memorable things Mark and I have done together. After the ride, we decided to do get a
different perspective and did the approximately 1 hour Fox Glacier Valley walk
which went over some pretty rocky terrain but lead to the mouth of the glacier
which was a pretty cool sight. Fox Glacier
has the distinction of being one of just a few glaciers to feed into a
rainforest. Following the walk,we
grabbed some sandwiches for the road before leaving mid-day August 21.
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| Morning view from Sunset Motel |
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| Mark riding in the copter |
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| View of Fox Glacier from the helicopter ride |
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| Perched atop Fox Glacier |
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| Another view with the helicopter in the background |
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| Mouth of the Glacier, view from Glacier Valley hike |
Fox Glacier to Te Anau drive: Clocking in at about a 7 hour drive, this was
one of the most scenic drives as there was a lot a beach and cliff views
involved. Very beautiful!
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| Not sure what was up with the stacking of the rocks but we saw this a lot. |
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| Gorgeous cliff view on our way to Te Anau |
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| Very true. |
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| A little hard to tell from the picture but those are venison |
Te Anau: With such a long drive, we didn’t arrive in Te Anau
until late on Tuesday, August 21. With
it being so late and such a small town, there was only one establishment open
after 9pm for dinner so it was an easy choice.
After dinner we went back to the hotel with plans to start the next day early
so we could fit in a trip to the glowworm caves before we headed to Milford
Sound. When we woke the next day we went
to the tourist office to do a little more investigating on the cave tour and agreed
to pass on this particular excursion and instead head towards Milford Sound to
spend more time there.
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| In front of Te Anau Lake |
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| Taking in the scenery |
Te Anau to Milford Sound Drive: The drive from Te Anau to Milford Sounds was
short and sweet at just over an hour. It
was also breathtakingly beautiful with one of the sights being Mirror Lake.
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| The stunning mirror lake |
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| Another view of Mirror Lake |
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| And yet another view. I liked Mirror Lake, can you tell? |
Milford Sound: Upon arriving to Milford Sound mid-day on
August 22, we check in for our 2-night stay in a chalet at the Milford Sound
Lodge, one of the very few places to offer accommodation in Milford Sound. Our first day/night we took a walk around the
lodge, took in the view from our chalet (only briefly as we started to get
attacked by sandflies), had dinner at the Blue Duck Café & Bar (one of the
only restaurants in this town), and took a night time stroll on a glowworm
trail. On our second day we took a cruise
of the Milford Sounds which is actually a Fjord. It was overall a wonderful experience of
great views, wildlife, waterfalls, and complete with a rainbow. We were so happy to have such nice weather,
although our Captain told us since it was so dry, we weren’t seeing about half
the waterfalls but I’m a glass-half-full-kinda-girl so the weather was
beautiful.
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| Mountain and creek view from our chalet deck |
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| HCBW of a Milford Sound waterfall |
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| Us. |
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| Just in case the day was pretty enough - a rainbow! |
Milford Sound to Queenstown drive: We left late morning on August 24 to start
our 3.5 to 4 hour drive to Queenstown and I don’t think it’s been mentions yet
but I drove too...In a foreign country…On the opposite side of the road…And we
lived to tell about it!
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| Hillside sheep |
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| Lookout NZ!! |
Queenstown: Our 2-night stay at the Hilton in Queenstown included
an in-room fireplace, talk about cozy!
While in Queenstown, we enjoyed walking the city center, the views of Lake
Wakatipu, a night out on the town, and bungy jumping (from the Kawarau Bridge, the first commercial bungy site)! Well, Mark enjoyed the bungy jumping while I
just paid to jump then became crippled with fear and turned into a ball of
emotions. (Have I ever mentioned my
phobia of heights? Why would I have ever thought this was a good idea?) Anyways, after my panic attack on the ledge
(which by-the-way, I will have nightmares about), it was suggested that I watch
someone else go first. Who did I have to
watch go? A 12 year old girl who was jumping for her second time. Yikes, talk about feeling like the biggest
loser ever! When it was all said and
done I paid $180 for an embarrassing moment that Mark will quite possibly never
let me forget.
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| Headed to the bridge to bungy |
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| This would be a lot more funny if I hadn't actually chickened out |
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| Mark ready to take the leep! |
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| He didn't even hesitate! |
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| View from the Kawarau Bridge | | |
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| Queenstown |
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| Best. Invention. Ever. Cookies and Milk bar! |
When left Queenstown early morning August 26 to make our way
back to Singapore, we knew our trip was nothing short of amazing and I remain
convinced that New Zealand may very well be the most beautiful place on earth.
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