Waterfall at Milford Sound
The title says it all: I am back and settled in the good ol' US of A. After a 12 1/2 hour flight "back in time" from NZ, leaving NZ 7:30pm June 16th, we touched down in SFO around 12:30pm on June 16th, just in time to continue my birthday celebration and extend the total hours to 43. That's right, a 43 hr b-day, but I sway from the point. The flight was great, and I really enjoyed Air NZ as an airline: Great food (for airplane standards), open bar w/ NZ wines and great entertainment (everyone has their own screen for movies, shows etc.) made the flight go by very quickly.
In between the end of work and this flight back, I had travelled by car for roughly 30 days in NZ. The majority of time, roughly 20 days, was spent covering a large part of the south island, and the rest up in the north island. Between the driving, sightseeing, lack of internet and procrastination, its been a few weeks since the last post.
In a quick Vacation recap: I took off from Blenheim, which is in the northeast corner of the south island, and headed all the way down the east coast to the south point of the island, with stops in Christchurch and Dunedin on the way. Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula (albatross and penguins!) were by far the highlights of the south island east coast, although I did enjoy wine tasting in North Canterburry and the Moeraki Boulders quite a bit too. After spending a short time in the Catlins, and the majority of time in my car due to rain and wind, I made my way to Milford Sound in the Fiordlands. On a stop in Invercargill on the way, I dropped by "kingfish" and ordered Monkfish fish 'n chips, probably a first and last... I was pretty excited about this, so I have to mention it. I also had some Scallops with it to. Now back to the traveling, next stop was Milford Sound.
Friendly Kea
Kea posing in front of Homer Tunnel
Kea on my car... apparently they cause lots of damage to people who park their cars in this area
Mitre Peak
The Encounter
Looking out towards Australia from Milford Sound
Seals at Milford Sound
Milford Sound was the most breathtaking part of the south island for me. Fortunately it stayed dry for me during my day day there... it had been so wet and stormy up to that point, and severe weather was in the forecast. As soon as I arrived, I wanted to stay for a lot longer than one night, but do to time restrictions and weather, I didn't. Its unlike anything that I have ever seen before, and lived up to its larger than life image portrayed in the travel guides... probably a bit more. The drive out there was nearly as impressive, and I stopped at least a dozen times to snap shots of the sheer snow capped alps crashing into the ground. I went out on Milford Sound in the Encounter, one of the many boats available to take you around and get you deep into the Fiord. I was in complete awe and went through about 4 battery changes and a gig of memory on my camera card. I also had a chance to get up close with a Kea, which is the worlds only alpine parrot.
Queenstown
From Milford I went to Queenstown for a night, and headed about 30 mins out to the Central Otago wine tasting region, where I spent the next two days, which I will talk about in another post. After that I was on my way up to pick up Amanda, with only one stop for some rest over the Haast Pass. I ended up having beers with some very friendly Maori Locals who invited myself and another couple over who were staying at the "holiday park". Boss and his friends were the friendliest folks, and showed us some great hospitality. This was definitely a random highlight of the locals I met... I wish I grabbed some pics with them, but unfortunately I didn't. From there I shot straight up to Nelson in one day, which was a 11hr drive, and made a couple of very brief stops at Foxen and Franz Joseph Glacier's.
Franz Joseph Glacier
That concludes my solo travels in a nutshell; I had a great time, met some very nice folks and saw some amazing things. I also spent quite a bit on petrol (between $1.7-$2/LITRE!). Next I'll talk briefly about our north island adventures and also about my wine tasting in NZ.
West Coast South Island
West Coast South Island
West Coast South Island
West Coast South Island
