Saturday 6^th December

Today we went at 10am to watch a half hour film on Fiordland which was very good. The photography was superb and ranged from great vistas to focusing on small things such as water droplets falling onto a pool.

I then went for an hour’s massage and then we had a bit of lunch at a café. We then met up with a guide who took us on a boat across the lake and then on a walk through the beech forest alongside the lake for three hours.

The weather wasn’t too bad and the rain was only light when it did eventually rain. Once back in Te Anu we relaxed until dinner which Gilly had very kindly offered to cook. We were going to have a barbecue but because it rained we ended up cooking inside but it didn’t matter at all and we had a great evening.

Friday 5^th December

Today started cloudy but by 10am the sun was shining and it was quite warm until evening. Our pickup was half an hour late but we eventually started up the scenic drive to Milford Sound. Having driven up the side of Lake Te Anu, the road winds up through open pastures and snow capped mountains. The tall, towering cliffs bordering the road are amazing.

We stopped at the Mirror Lakes and Knob’s Point for a comfort break as it takes a couple of hours to drive all the way up. Once at Milford Sound we boarded a boat for a three hour cruise up and down the Sound. It was quite cold with the wind even though the sun was shining.

The massive mountain faces, from 4-6,000 metres high, are covered in waterfalls and we stopped at a couple of the larger permanent falls.

Once back in the bus we had several photo stops along the way before reaching Te Anu where we were greeted with nibbles and a glass (or several) by Gilly before going out to the other Italian restaurant (to compare with last night’s).

Thursday 4^th December

We left Queenstown around 10.30am to drive down to Te Anu. We drove down the side of Lake Wakatipu, stopped briefly at Garston, an old gold mining town and picked up a hitch hiker at five Rivers, who was travelling to Milford Sound.

The weather was changeable – sunny one moment and showery the next. Having dropped the hitch hiker at The Key we diverted down a smaller road to Lake Manapouri where we had some soup for a late lunch.

We arrived in Te Anu about 3pm and had a lovely welcome from Gilly who owns the B&B we are staying in. She is quite a character and there is also an American couple staying here. Her husband, Brent, works away for 28 days at a time, so Gilly runs the B&B.

Having settled in we went for a wander around town and watched a couple of people windsurfing before having an excellent Italian meal in one of the three Italian restaurants in town.

Wednesday 3^rd December

After an early start we eventually got picked up by taxi as there was a cock up on the bus front but we were then driven to Glen Orchy along the scenic road at the side of Lake Wakatipu. The lake rises and falls by 20cm every 25 minutes which the Maoris say is because when the demon, who is now the lake, was killed by fire his heart was not destroyed and beats there still.

Many commercials and films have had scenes shot in this area including Lord of the Rings. We then boarded a smaller 4WD bus to take us further up the river bed where we had a short walk through a beech forest (not like European beech – misnamed and is now called the ‘False beech’ in latin) before boarding a jet boat for a ninety minute trip up the Dart River. This is a braided river system which means that the channels cut by the water through the shingly river bed vary frequently.

Each Monday they send a pilot boat up to check which way they should go and although the first part they can memorise, the rest changes so often that they just have to go on their experience of the water and ‘read’ the river to decide which way is best. They also like to scare people by swinging the boat around in tight turns and jet spins (where the boat turns through 360 degrees) - great fun. We had all been issued with large waterproof jackets and life jackets so I was warm enough (just) with my thick fleece and a jumper underneath. We didn’t get very wet and although the wind was fierce it didn’t rain.

Back in Glen Orchy we had time for a quick sandwich and a coffee before boarding the bus for the forty minute drive back to Queenstown. We then went and bought a new camera as mine has pretty much become too unreliable to use and I had a hair cut. Iain also managed to get a new watch strap so he was happy. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and went out to Arrowtown, an old gold mining town, for dinner (an excellent pizza and some venison ragout).

Tuesday 2^nd December

Today we drove to Queenstown. First we parked up near Dunedin railway station and went inside – a wonderful example of Victorian architectural splendour complete with pavement tiles and stained glass windows as well as carved wooden lintels, gentleman’s lavatories (and ladies) and ticket offices.

We then drove on a quiet country road for about 200Km and only overtook three cars! The scenery was pleasantly rural although not as spectacular as some places we’ve seen. Once in Queenstown we found the tourist information office to check and reconfirm our trip tomorrow on the Dart River before driving half an hour out of town to our B&B. We got a lovely welcome with a cup of tea and some nibbles which we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine in their lovely garden, which has a stunning view across the hills.

We drove partway back to Queenstown to check out where we are being picked up tomorrow at 7.50am and had an excellent, if somewhat expensive, dinner at a place called Gantleys.

Monday 1^st December

The weather was extremely changeable today – it was sunny when we got up but then rained during breakfast and was okay again when we set out from the Sandymount car park for a couple of short walks to Lover’s Leap and then the Chasm both of which had spectacular vertical cliffs. Lover’s Leap also boasted a sea arch and there was a sea stack near the Chasm. There was also a magnificent avenue of large pines leading to the path from the car park which sounded quite scary as they creaked in the high winds as we returned.

We then drove over the top route to get some petrol in Dunedin and back along the coastal road to Otakou for an hour’s boat trip. The weather was pretty wet and windy but they provided large fleecy waterproof jackets that we put on over our fleeces. They also provided us with binoculars and as there were only six of us we had plenty of room. The next trip had forty one people booked on it! We had some great views of various types of albatross and terns, giant petrels, shearwaters, lots of types of shags or cormorants and one blue penguin. The Great Southern and Royal Northern albatross flew very near the boat as did a White Headed Albatross that dipped and turned in the wind. We also saw a lot of fur seals and one very large one that I think might have been a sea lion.

We returned home for a short while and were then picked up at 6.15pm to go and see some sea lions and penguins. The trip involved a drive to a private beach area where we walked a long way down (and then back up!) onto the beach to see some young male sea lions who tend to come into the bay to have a rest or look for females. We walked right by them but they really weren’t interested in us – thankfully!

We then walked to an area of beach that is protected from stoats and rats and planted to encourage the blue and yellow eyed penguin to come and nest. We saw a blue penguin chick in its nest but the blues all tend to come into land together at dusk so we were too early to see them. The yellow eyed penguin is much more solitary and we saw several come into the bay singly and walk across the sand to the nesting area on the grassy cliffs behind. One came really close.

After another short drive we had another walk over the grassy sand dunes to see where some fur seals have their pups – very cute!

We got back about 9pm and were very ready for dinner by then! We had abalone (caught by Aidan the chef and Kyle, the owner) done in a couple of different ways as a starter followed by some excellent salmon...delicious.