Mountains, Lakes, Cruising and Boozing.
Post time again! Sorry once again it has been so long. I can't believe my last post finished with my time in Wanaka as so much has happened since then but I will try and catch up this week while I have a bit of time so be prepared to see a few posts!
Despite planning to go Mountain Carting down the snowless ski slopes in Cadrona on our way to Queenstown, the weather was against us when we left Wanaka and our fun was postponed. Instead we ended up having a drive in the rain through a few fjords up the glacial valley to Rob Roy Glacier just north of Wanaka but not before we ran into a serious bit of luck to pick up our day! While we were parked in Wanaka getting the ourselves sorted a car of other travelers pulled up next to us and started chatting. Albeit a bit taken aback we chatted to them for a few minutes only to find out they were on their way to the airport and were looking to offload a crate of beer, cider and another box of assorted food! Talk about good luck! Being the good guys that we were we obviously took the burden off their hands and after they left were delighted to find a load of vouchers for free Dominoes Pizza and free drinks in various bars in Queenstown for when we arrived! Buzzin!
Luckily the bad weather did not last and we woke in Queenstown the next day to a clear blue sky. After spending the morning wandering around the town and planning the next leg of our travels we booked on to get the Gondola up the mountain and to try our hand on the luge. Anyone else travelling through Queenstown must do this! Although it was probably designed with kids in mind, it's a downhill gokart track with some seriously tight bends and steep stretches! After a few runs we ended up getting a little competitive against a couple of big American guys and after some seriously sketchy driving Great Britain came in 1st and 3rd while the US claimed 2nd (he was a big guy and had a lot more speed on the downhill!).
That day also happened to be Will's birthday and so after our adrenaline rush had subsided we spent a great evening cashing in our free vouchers around town on pizza, one of the Ice Bars and a couple of the other bars. All in all a great day!
The next day we decided to walk off the hangovers (mostly Will's) by doing a peak on the other side of the lake that we had been recommended. Although not quite as well known as some other peaks around Queenstown I would thoroughly recommend Albert's Peak. The trail had received a lot of damage in recent months due to bad weather but this just made it all the more fun as we ended up scrambling over fallen trees, up and down steep banks through the woods and finally up a scree slope for the final stretch. It was over a 1000m ascent in the end and very steep but the 360° views from the top were spectacular - so much so in fact that it ended up getting dark before we got back to the bottom. This turned out to be a bonus though as it was a
beautiful cloudless night which would allow us to try and get a shot we had been discussing for a while and get a reflection of the stars in a still lake. Little did we know that we would get more than we bargained for as I ended up getting my first shots of the southern lights that night over lake Moke (a huge relief to me when I realized what they were as I thought my camera had just broken).
The next few days in Queenstown were a bit more leisurely after so many late nights and after a while we moved on towards Te Anau where we would spend the night before checking out Milford Sound. Unfortunately the weather was particularly wet the day that we did the Milford Sound cruise, however, this did not dampen the mood as we were still able to see dolphins, fur seals and more waterfalls than most people will see in their entire lives. Even with the rain the scenery at Milford Sound is magnificent and I cannot begin to adequately describe to you the sheer size of the mountains and how humbling it is to stand beneath them as they rise so abruptly out of the water at almost 90°.
Due to the weather we did not hang around Milford Sound and Te Anau and returned to sunny old Queenstown for the night before we would finally get to try our hand at the previously cancelled mountain carting at Cadrona the next morning. This involved little off-road go-karts that you skid, slide and bounce down a track cut into the snowless ski runs. Needless to say it was another real adrenaline buzz and after a few runs and a couple of close shaves myself and Will had just about nailed drifting around the sharper corners. After an hour and a half or so our 2 hour session was cut short by high winds - something we would have been sad about had it not been for the fact that they gave us a full refund as a result! Fantastic!
Fun over we then settled in for the long drive from Cadrona to Maoraki where we hoped to get some good photos of the ancient Maoraki Boulders the next morning. Luck was with us again as we witnessed a stunning sunrise featuring some of the most intense pink colours I have ever seen. I will put more of the photos on the photography page of this blog and and can only ask you to believe me when I say it was as pink an rich in colour as they make out and they have barely been tweaked in Photoshop! It was definitely one of the more magnificent sunrises I have witnessed although I have there have definitely been a few contenders since (stay tuned for more on that :P).
That same morning I also got to do a bit of wildlife photography as the local lighthouse was a hotspot for fur seals and even the odd penguin which was great to see. We spent a good hour or so here watching them all and trying to see the penguins before eventually giving up and driving north to Oamaru for the night. Not
hanging around the next day, we then braved the wet weather cyclone Debbie was throwing our way and headed inland towards the bluest lake in NZ, Lake Pukaki. If you want to see quite how blue this lake is just google maps Lake Pukaki in the satellite view and compare it to the others and you'll immediately see the difference.
Unfortunately cyclone Debbie was not to be ignored and the weather got worse for the next 3 days grounding us in a hostel just outside of Twizel where we only braved the odd day trip to Lake Ohao, the Clay Cliffs and the Hooker valley trail. Our patience was eventually rewarded however when the weather cleared up again just in time for the Mueller hut hike near Mt Cook. The Mueller hut sits on the Sealy mountain range at 1800m and involves a 5km steep uphill climb to the top where you get stunning 360° panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. We had booked in to stay overnight and spent several hours scrambling around the rocks on Mt Ollivier looking for the best shots. Unfortunately I was not able to adequately get many good shots of the stars that night due to the nearly full moon that was out but this provided its own unique waxy kind of light that showed the hut quite nicely.
The next morning we were up early for the sunrise too which was probably the other major contender against my Maoraki boulders sunrise. We sat on the edge of the mountain range overlooking Mt Cook village for several hours that morning taking in the low cloud that swirled in the valley below and the immense silence that you can only find on top of a mountain. I say silence but that is except for the occasional avalanche that would shatter it every now and again with defining cracks and booms to announce a cascade of snow and ice plummeting down the opposite cliff face (as cool as it sounds to watch). We could not have asked for better weather and it is definitely up there with the highlights of my trip so far.
After descending the mountain and going for a swim in a small lake/pond on the side of the mountain on the way down, we carried on around Pukaki, now in the glorious sunshine and looking a lot nicer, and on towards Tekapo where we had a hostel booked for the night. Another 4am start for some night shots of the milky way and a trip up Mt John for the nicest carrot cake I have ever tried (no seriously it's great!) started Will and Erika's last day on the road. We meandered our way back towards Christchurch for most of the way but not before detouring to show them Castle Hill. The cave stream was just as fun as the first time I did it and I still can't believe it is free (anyone in the area - brave the cold water and do it! It's awesome!).
Back in Christchurch, we separated all of our stuff from the car again and had a little explore of the city before going our separate ways - Will to Asia, Erika to Australia and then Hawaii and myself to go and catch up with some friends in Christchurch before my parents would arrive for 2 weeks travelling in a campervan. I'll leave it there as I am very aware that this was a longer post than I intended but these have been some of the best experiences of my trip so far and I hope it was worth the read.
All the best to everyone back home.
Tom