Here, There, Everwhere

Our adventures continue and we have been on a motor boat, a fjord cruiser and a gondola since I last wrote. We had a lovely quiet drive to Te Anau where our cruise through Doubtful Sound was to begin and arrived on a sleepy Sunday afternoon - the sun was shining and after we checked in our quite quirky hotel we spent the afternoon watching the sea planes take off and land and walked the shores of Te Anau Lake. Its a small town so not a lot to do so after dinner we watched Netflix - Yay! Quirky our hotel was but it was up to date and I caught up on the couple of series I'm following and we started watching The Crown. Sadly its at the point now where we know the story of Diana and we know how it ends, so its very sad. I know its fiction but I have enjoyed it from the beginning and will watch the rest of this series.

After breakfast we set off to drive to Milford Sound - we last went there by helicopter in 2019 and our visit was very brief so I was looking forward to the drive over the mountains and I wasn't disappointed. We have been incredibly lucky on this trip with the weather which has been very settled with whatever rain has fallen has been at night so we had a perfect day for the drive and viewing from the lookout points. We had a drive through the Homer Tunnel https://www.milford-sound.co.nz/travel-info/highlights/homer-tunnel/ which made Milford Sound accessible by road in 1954. You can imagine how difficult it must have been to tunnel through the mountain for over a kilometre and I've said before that I am incredibly grateful to our road builders and maintaince for making some of the worlds most beautiful places accessible. We were entertained while waiting for our green light by the Kea birds - a really intelligent indigenous native - despite being discouraged to feed them, people were feeding them and because of that they have become real scavengers and they hang about the tunnel for that reason and for another reason - they like to play with the traffic cones! See here ......very clever creatures!

We had lunch at the sound and enjoyed walking the trail for a bit of the way and then headed back as we had to pack and be ready for our exciting Doubtful Sound overnighter. We booked with Real NZ and they couldnt have been more helpful and organised. The boat sleeps 50 people and we were all transported across the Manpouri River - itself a beautiful journey and then onto a bus over the very rugged terrain to the jetty. Our first glimpse of the fjords was exhillerating! The mountains literally drop straight into the water and again luck was on our side with the weather and our driver told us it was the best visibility he had EVER seen and worth stopping and getting out on the lookouts on the route. It took us about an hour to cover less than 2 kilometers with steep elevations of 1 in 5. Again we were quicky processed on to the boat and on our way in no time - already a big bunch of friends.

 Our cabin was quite basic but had everything we needed and we had been warned not to bring much and so glad that we didn't  - just a small holdall each with basics. The sailing was just beautiful with mountains both sides, small islands, blue skies, great visibility and a open all hours bar! There were some serious photographers on the boat and I took my 'big' camera but the scale of some of the lenses on board made mine look insignificant! They never stopped clicking and I smiled to myself as I have been that person - greedy to take all that scenery home with me but I limited myself and remembered Pine Pinaar's (my late photography guru) wise advice, 'See more - Take less.' but even I could not control my excitement as whales were spotted - a female and her calf but we could only get so close and I had serious lens envy! This was so unusual at this time of year that the crew all abandoned their posts and whale watched with us. One of the crew was a young Irish lad we had been chatting to from Rosslaigh and he had been on the boat just two days - thats the luck of the Irish! We also saw penguins, albatross and seals. We moored and scones were served with jam and cream while the energetic on board - everyone under 50 - went kayaking or on the small boats. Our dedication to scones shows no bounds and we stayed on board and scoffed! More sailing and then we dropped anchor for the night in a sheltered spot and a delicious meal was served - it was really good and how it was prepared I will never know as the galley was smaller than our cabin. We chatted to the young Americans we were sat with and shared travel stories and then it was time to sleep - it stays light until about 10.30 as we were as far south as you can get in NZ but I went out like a light as the boat gently rocked us to sleep!  
The following day was not so kind and the water changed colour from shades of blue to murky greens - there was a little rain too - that is the sounds for you - but nothing that kept us off the deck. Our nature guide gave a great talk on the geography of the area and he was very informed and then, as we cruised towards our starting point, the skipper took us to a quiet bay - cut the engine and the generator and asked for five minutes of silence - we were asked to put our cameras down and just be - it was wonderful! Not a sound in the sound and amazing refections - a real moment of wonder and gratitude for this amazing place and I think a special memorable moment to add to my collection.

Back to land, over mountains and over the lake and we were back in Te Anau by mid afternoon to buy groceries and head back to Queenstown. I will never forget Doubtful Sound - as close to Heaven as I have been. 

We had to be up pretty sharp the nexrt day as we had tickets for the races at Cromwell. We were not sure what to expect but we ended up in a marquee with about thirty others and on a table with some lovely people - all local Kiwis - and we shared a day of country racing. It was great fun and we left a little poorer but a lot richer for having been there. 

Another day out was an early start to Lake Tekapo to enjoy the lake and to view Mount Cook. We've done this journey before but not both ways in one day - we shared the driving and made it there and back with time for lunch - a great coffee stop at Tarras Country Cafe who have delicious treats - and plenty of time for stopping to enjoy the scenery. Thanks to the wonders of modern communication, I was able to have a video chat with Sean and Nadine in the USA while looking at Mount Cook - I wonder what Captain Cook would have said about that!

This last week has been quieter and we have just enjoyed lunches at the different vineyards and tastings - Gibbston and Mount Difficulty being our favourite. We have had a last visit to Glenorchy to say Goodbye to the lupins - I know I'm daft! We bumped into Tevor - again in the pub there - we are old friends now! We have been up in the Gondala to see panoramic views of Queenstown and we have driven over Coronet Peak for more special vistas.

Its almost time to say 'Haere ra or e noho ra' to New Zealand and leave a little more of our hearts here.

We will be crossing eleven time zones between here and our next destination when we will be saying 'Sawubona, Dumela, Hoe Gaan dit' on our arrival in South Africa