Wednesday & Thursday, June 20 & 21

Wednesday, June 19

Haast to Te Anau

We weren’t impressed with Haast when we saw it in the daylight. The land is primarily flat, no ocean within sight and mountains to the south.  But like most drives here, we quickly entered dramatic countryside that kept our full attention. The valley are obviously formed by glaciers, the bottoms rounded riverbeds that are lined with gravel and rocks. The valley floor is washed with grey-blue glacier water. Valleys cleave mountain ranges; clouds hang low in them.  Frost paints the grass on the shaded shoulder white and shimmery. These mountain peaks are frosted white and I wonder if it melts away in the summer, or forms a permanent tam for the peaks.

Right now the header reads “Haast to _________,” a typical title for this half of the trip.  We have three or four more things we’d like to see and know we’ve got ten more days to see them. We pick a point on the map, usually a bit farther than we typically go, enter it into the GPS and just drive. We stop to look at waterfall or investigate a coffee shop or eat lunch, or nap, depending on the day.

The unrelenting beauty continued.  The climb to Haast Pass was through a glacier valley.  We stopped for a little walk to roadside waterfall and nearly got blown off the road and turned into tourist-cicles.   The temperature was dropping quickly—it’s about 5 degrees C.   

The road crossed over a roaring glacier melt river, running over huge boulders and descending rapidly.  The grey-blue color of the water, the grey of the rocks, and the speed of the current all combined to force Jim to turn around and pass the river again.  In a very un-Kim like move, I asked Jim to stop of the one lane bridge so we could get some pictures.  If you know me, you’ll know why that was amazing!   

 We climbed, but trees and clouds hemmed us in.  The temperature dropped more and our first sighting of snow came.  At top of the pass the valley opened into grazing land and the snow looked to be six or seven inches deep, maybe a first or second snow for this area.  A little fuel and a little lunch helped us down the road and we watched as the temperature continued to drop to 2 degrees C. Just as suddenly as we came upon snow, it disappeared like we had crossed over the imaginary line. 

 

There are two lovely lakes within 1000 meters of each other, both formed by glaciers and filled with glacial water.  As we drove and drove and drove and drove to get past the first, we couldn’t believe that this lake didn’t beat Lake Taupo as the biggest lake. (Same thing goes for the beautiful lake outside Queenstown.)

The tourism radio has been fun to follow.  Once in a while we get some good advice on a place to check out.  Today it was the Cheeky Monkey in Waneka. How can you not fall in love with a teashop called the Cheeky Monkey? We stopped for tea and sweets; the tea was strong black tea served in a silver pot.  It was accompanied by a pewter pitcher of more hot water, as the tea was so strong it was good for another pot. A yummy slice of brownie with sweetened condensed milk and chocolate and a chocolate Turkish biscuit (cookie) rounded off this sweet stop.   

We climbed again, this time through more scrub-like growth covering the mountains.  As we came around the last curve before the descending, the world opened up to a green, lush valley way, way, way, way, way below.  This pass was going to be a problem.  I kept my head down and read while Jim expertly got us off the mountain, kindly not speaking so that I thought he was fully concentrating on the drive.

The trip into Queenstown from there was quick.  Queenstown sits on a huge lake, the color of which is hard to describe.  It’s grayish-turquoise with a hint of purple (I know Amy Moser will know this color immediately if I ask her). Even that description seems inadequate.  On our side the highway road up and down the mountain.  On the other side the mountains dipped their toes into the lake. 

We’re settled now in Te Anau, dinner done and bed calling.  Tomorrow we cruise Milford Sound.

Random Thoughts:

·      Why in the world does this country only have one way bridges?!

·      There are tons of elk farms on the south island.

·      Cheeky Monkey—say it three times and you’ll smile for 30 minutes.

Thursday, June 21

Milford (Fiord) Sound

Another great tour day.  There has got to be something said about sitting back, enjoying the scenery and letting someone else drive.  Ray of Milford Adventures picked us up at 8:30 a.m.  We’d been enjoying visiting with the lady behind the desk at Te Anau Top Ten.  She showed us live pictures of Milford and said that, even though it was cloudy and dreary in Te Anau, it would be a beautiful day on the water.

Our host and driver was Ray who looked to be in his early 70s, enjoying a part time job as a tour guide.  Later that day we discovered that he was probably around Mom’s age and that this was his personal business.  Ray was full of great information as we traveled to Fiordlands National Park and it seemed that he knew everyone.  We stopped at the park office, which was vacant but for one elderly lady watching the property for the winter.  Ray took her a bundle of kindling for her fire; in exchange she brought him 20 kilos of chocolate from the Cadburry factory in Dunedin. At our first hiking stop to see a beautiful waterfall, a Conservation Department crew was working on the trail.  We hiked a hard five minutes up the trail to the cascade but only after Ray had greeted each worker by named, hugging the ladies and slapping the backs of the men.

The first stop was just past the entrance to Fiordlands Nation Park.   

 

The field was dreary winter brown, but the mountains, the Southern Alps, were grand, with a healthy dusting of snow at the tree line and heavy snow on the peaks.  I didn’t wanted to walk into the field because I thought a fiord was a swampy wetland with fingers of ocean (like Milford Sound) carving into it.  Ray explained that a fiord is a u-shaped valley carved by a glacier and backfilled by ocean.  There was no ocean to be seen—I was safe. But the mountains were truly magnificent to behold.  We would spend the day driving below them in the u-shaped (unfilled by ocean) glacial valleys with streams, waterfalls and rivers running through them. I’ve tried all day to put into words the grandeur of what we were seeing and experiencing.  I am at a loss. Ray kindly offered to take our picture at every stop.  I’m sure he does that for all guests, but he particularly liked Jim’s camera and since we were his only passengers for the day, he took many great pictures of the two of us. 

Briefly after this stop, Ray pointed out a small sign that said “Latitude 45 degrees south.”  We were passing the point we were equidistant from the equator and the south pole. We moved on to Mirror Lakes, small oxbow lakes that functioned as accurately as their name.

 Knobs Flat was a restroom brake.  At the next stop he walked us up to the Cascades, beautiful tumbling water flowing from the mountain. 

 Lake Gunn as still shrouded in mist, but we enjoyed a fast stop there for another picture. From there We went into the Hollyford Valley and stopped at the Hollyford Camp. During the initial 10 years of construction on the road to Milford Sound, it served as a camp for the workers. In later years it was turned into a holiday park.  We stopped there for tea and muffins Ray and the care-takers.  The community kitchen already had a fire in the fireplace so it was a cozy place to sit and visit.

From there we stopped at the Chasms, a 5 minute return hike.  The water coming off the mountain has hammered huge round holes in the granite rocks.  Amazing!  Next stop the tunnel that burrows through the mountain, connecting east and west.  The original surveyor said that it would be the cheapest way to Milford Sound and would only be about 35 meters…I think Ray said that it was close to 2,000 meters long. The single-lane road is controlled by a traffic light in the summer. During the winter good driving controls traffic!  Through the other side, we stopped for another breathtaking view and descended toward Milford Sound.

Once we arrived at Milford Sound we immediately boarded our ship.  Jim and I found a seat on the upper deck in the sun and ate our lunch.  Peanut butter and jelly always tastes better outside!  The cruise got underway about 15 minutes later, traveling around the walls of the fiord.  There are beautiful waterfalls all around.  Miter Peak is the highest point in the sound; I think its in about every picture I’ve ever seen of Milford Sound. The tour even went out onto the Tasman Sea to view St. Ann’s point and the lighthouse there.  Down the other side of we stopped to view a group of young male fur seals playing in the water.  It was a beautiful and COLD afternoon! I had to go inside for a cup of tea just to warm my hands.

The return trip was faster, no stops, a little visiting and back at Te Anau.