South Island (Part 1) - New Zealand
Thursday, 4th January 2007 and we start our campervan adventure departing Christchurch just before lunch time. We head off across the Southern Alps, using Arthur's Pass as our way through this massive mountain range that runs north/south. We get our first view of snow on mountains in what is the Kiwi Summer as well as the most wonderful display of wild blue lupins, native tree ferns, foxgloves, buttercups and dandelions in profusion - and more than anything else we notice that all the roadside verges, even in the middle of nowhere are beautifully mown. It is like driving through some of our botanical gardens at home.
We make it across the mountains to the west coast and start our meander down in the direction of Franz Joseph Glacier, Lake Matheson and Fox Glacier. Sadly this is where our poor weather starts, but it doesn't dampen our enthusiasm. We don't care if the clouds are grey and the waterproofs we have carried half way round the world with us have to be unpacked and used on a daily basis! The scenery is absolutely stunning.... it's difficult to say more than that and below we have given a good selection of the photos we took to represent the many, many wonderful places and new experiences - some of them really quite challenging for us old biddies!
Arthur's Pass
Franz Joseph Glacier and again with Doug. Diane was really excited because this is the first glacier she has ever seen.
Lake Matheson, which is famous for its reflection - which way is the right way up in these two photos? We were also hoping to see Mt Cook for the first time... no luck the clouds were too low!
Just some of the fantastic vegetation we saw on our lovely walk to
Lake Matheson.
Diane at Fox Glacier - 2 glaciers in one day! 
Then we headed inland via some really picturesque and sometimes dramatic mountain and lake scenery as well as the Gates of Haast, a deep chasm where the river tumbles over seriously massive volcanic rocks.... 
all this through really dismal rainy weather, but we turned a corner at the top of a pass to look down on Lake Hawea which runs parallel to Lake Waneka, our next destination, and the sun shone for a few days for us.
A couple of views of Lake Waneka
Next stop Queenstown, via Roarin' Meg.... another raging torrent.
Queenstown is situated on Lake Wakatipu with The Remarkables Mountains behind the town.
D
oug managed to get his adrenaline pumping by taking a place on one of the Kiwi's Americas Cup boats - New Zealand 14. His comment on return - "we were really flying" - and I always thought you did that in planes....
We went up in the air on the gondola ride to look at the view of Queenstown from above... and Doug took the opportunity to have a go on the luge - I chickened out because it meant a ride on the ski chairlift - and I had already done my bit for the day on the gondola - no head for heights and no nerves left!
We hung around in Queenstown waiting for the weather to break and whilsy we considered the best way to head out to Milford Sound. we went for a drive up to Glenorchy at the to of the lake... pouring with rain again, but we found a little village at the end of a magnificently scenic drive, which included a stop at a lovely little waterfall and time for a quiet moment or two on our own.
Fjordland is renowned for its rain and low cloud and is a 12 hour round trip drive, which we didn't fancy much. But we then found out you could take a light aircraft in - so each morning we waiting for a call to say the weather was good enough for us to fly - and eventually it came. What an experience! Not just flying over the mountains but imbetween them too! Followed by a flight out to the Tasman Sea and back up Milford Sound to the landing strip. This was followed by the iconic cruise up the fjord. Fantastic! We even saw seals and rare Hector's Dophins. Apparently Milford Sound is named after Milford Haven, but somehow donkeys years ago it got corrupted to Milford Sound. 
This is a selection of the shots from the plane and also on the cruise... as well as one of us back on terra firma beside our little 8 seater aircraft!
Then on our last half day in Queenstown we went to their city park for a leisurel walk. It was a nice, gentle way to finish up in adrenaln city - a gentle plod around parkland set beside the lake. Beautiful, ancient trees and fabulous flowerbeds which were so colourful - including this gorgeous iris. The only hazard being dodging frisbees - apparently you throw the frisbeen at this thing - instead of a little hole in the ground - kinda frisbee golf. Farewell Queenstown.
We make it across the mountains to the west coast and start our meander down in the direction of Franz Joseph Glacier, Lake Matheson and Fox Glacier. Sadly this is where our poor weather starts, but it doesn't dampen our enthusiasm. We don't care if the clouds are grey and the waterproofs we have carried half way round the world with us have to be unpacked and used on a daily basis! The scenery is absolutely stunning.... it's difficult to say more than that and below we have given a good selection of the photos we took to represent the many, many wonderful places and new experiences - some of them really quite challenging for us old biddies!
Arthur's Pass
Franz Joseph Glacier and again with Doug. Diane was really excited because this is the first glacier she has ever seen.Lake Matheson, which is famous for its reflection - which way is the right way up in these two photos? We were also hoping to see Mt Cook for the first time... no luck the clouds were too low!
Just some of the fantastic vegetation we saw on our lovely walk to
Lake Matheson.
Diane at Fox Glacier - 2 glaciers in one day! 
Then we headed inland via some really picturesque and sometimes dramatic mountain and lake scenery as well as the Gates of Haast, a deep chasm where the river tumbles over seriously massive volcanic rocks.... 
all this through really dismal rainy weather, but we turned a corner at the top of a pass to look down on Lake Hawea which runs parallel to Lake Waneka, our next destination, and the sun shone for a few days for us.A couple of views of Lake Waneka
Next stop Queenstown, via Roarin' Meg.... another raging torrent.
Queenstown is situated on Lake Wakatipu with The Remarkables Mountains behind the town.
D
oug managed to get his adrenaline pumping by taking a place on one of the Kiwi's Americas Cup boats - New Zealand 14. His comment on return - "we were really flying" - and I always thought you did that in planes....We went up in the air on the gondola ride to look at the view of Queenstown from above... and Doug took the opportunity to have a go on the luge - I chickened out because it meant a ride on the ski chairlift - and I had already done my bit for the day on the gondola - no head for heights and no nerves left!
We hung around in Queenstown waiting for the weather to break and whilsy we considered the best way to head out to Milford Sound. we went for a drive up to Glenorchy at the to of the lake... pouring with rain again, but we found a little village at the end of a magnificently scenic drive, which included a stop at a lovely little waterfall and time for a quiet moment or two on our own.
Fjordland is renowned for its rain and low cloud and is a 12 hour round trip drive, which we didn't fancy much. But we then found out you could take a light aircraft in - so each morning we waiting for a call to say the weather was good enough for us to fly - and eventually it came. What an experience! Not just flying over the mountains but imbetween them too! Followed by a flight out to the Tasman Sea and back up Milford Sound to the landing strip. This was followed by the iconic cruise up the fjord. Fantastic! We even saw seals and rare Hector's Dophins. Apparently Milford Sound is named after Milford Haven, but somehow donkeys years ago it got corrupted to Milford Sound. 
This is a selection of the shots from the plane and also on the cruise... as well as one of us back on terra firma beside our little 8 seater aircraft!
Then on our last half day in Queenstown we went to their city park for a leisurel walk. It was a nice, gentle way to finish up in adrenaln city - a gentle plod around parkland set beside the lake. Beautiful, ancient trees and fabulous flowerbeds which were so colourful - including this gorgeous iris. The only hazard being dodging frisbees - apparently you throw the frisbeen at this thing - instead of a little hole in the ground - kinda frisbee golf. Farewell Queenstown.
posted by Doug and Diane at 6:03 PM
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