Queenstown to Milford Sound

I've just found out that you can see all the pictures in my blog on picasa. click here.

These google guys are smart!

We decided to go to Milford by coach. Although it's only about 30 miles from Queenstown, it's a 10 hour drive there and back. A few large mountains block the direct route.

Yet another World Heritage site.

The drive to Milford goes through some unique landscapes. Millions of sheep, red deer and cattle down to Te Anu. After that the country moves into more of a temperate rainforest. Trees grow on near vertical slopes by linking their roots into a great mat. When one falls, it creates an avalanche of trees, leaving bare rock behind. Two weeks ago one had closed the road ( the only road) for 4 days.

We went up through snow and saw the only alpine parrot as we waited 15 minutes for the red light on the single lane tunnel. Couldn't get a picture but we saw it!

Milford gets 21 ft of rainfall a year. It is the wettest place at sea level in the world.

Needless to say it rained. As it rains impromptu waterfalls start up and pour into the fjord.

These falls are taller than Niagara. The rim of the fjord is about 2000 ft above sea level. The boat at the bottom is about 75-100 ft long.

The water just a few feet from the shore is 1000 ft deep. The scale is just enormous. Because of all the rain, there is a layer of fresh water about 40 ft thick laying on top of the salt water, making the water look black.

We saw penguins, seals and dolphins.

We got back to Queenstown at 8:30 in time to go to the pub for ... what else? Rack of lamb. While we were there we were watching Pompey play Liverpool on the TV. It's a small world.

Cromwell to Queenstown

Leaving Cromwell, you go up the mountain pass, following the river to yet another range of mountains.

Roaring Meg, is a little stream with it's hydro plant on the way . This river was extensively mined for gold in the 1860's.

Queenstown is breathtaking like almost everything else we've seem in South Island. It is a cross between the outdoor activity of somewhere like Park City, with the beauty of the lakes in the Swiss alps.

It is the self proclaimed adventure sports capital of the world. Jump from planes, heli ski, jet boat up a class 4 rapid, you name it, they do it. We took a more leisurely alternative.

We went by 1906 steamer to a high country sheep station for afternoon tea and sheep shearing demonstration.
May not be terribly adventurous, but it was very enjoyable. The boat trip took about an hour.

The sheep station was about 150 miles by road from the nearest town, so boat was the link to civilization for all the people living at the station.






The fleece sells for about $20. Not much when you think about all the labor involved in rounding them up and shearing them. It took him about 10 minutes to clip the sheep. Each sheep gets shewn twice a year. In comparison a lamb sells for $100, so a lot of genetic research is going on to breed sheep that produce twins

The station was about 120 years old and the gardens were magnificent. A great spot for a destination wedding!

Lake Tepako to Cromwell via Mt Cook.

We had planned to go on a helicopter to see Mt Cook and walk on a glacier, but the wind was unbelievable. Strong gale force winds gusting up to 70mph. So we had to do it the old fashioned way – driving! The roads are very open and the wind made driving a bit like flying into turbulence. We stopped for lunch in a small town called Twizel. It had been built to house the people working on a nearby hydroelectric plant. When the plant was finished, a lot of them liked the place so much, they stayed. We went past two more remote glacial lakes to the town of Cromwell.
This was an old gold rush town also changed by hydro. They had flooded most of the original town, which is now a dive site, and only a few of the original buildings survive. The region is a big fruit growing area. The apples were superb. Now, however, grapes and wineries are the main crop from there almost all the way to Queenstown.



Mt Cook is impressive, not least by virtue of the two volumes of memorial tribute books to people who have died there. The last entry in the book was an American who died there in February.

T

Christchurch to Lake Tepako

Driving down the coastal plain south from Christchurch, we had glimpses of the ocean on our left and views of snow covered mountains on our right. It reminded me a bit of Colorado with the mountains rising suddenly from the flat country. Lots of sheep and fairly small farms.

We then turned inland towards Geraldine. Farms became larger and the landscape a little more barren.

Lake Tepako is beautiful and was the first of several glacial run off lakes we've seen. We climbed the mountain to see the observatory

and spent our first night in a Holiday Park. Dinner was a quiet affair, (since it was a public holiday) with the most astounding view of the lake and mountains.

The old church was built in the 1860's. It still serves as the towns Anglican, catholic and methodist church

The statue is a tribute to the sheepdogs that allow the huge sheep stations to operate.

AOTEAROA

Arriving in Christchurch from Fiji was a chilling experience. To make sure only the hardy survive to travel into the country, the domestic terminal in Auckland is a good 10 minute walk in a stiff breeze from the international one. After spending the night in an airport hotel, we picked up Jucy early in the morning. Luckily she's an automatic, since as in Fiji, she's right hand drive.

I'm OK driving on the left as long as I don't have to change gear. That's when I open the window and stall the engine.

Fiji Rugby

Fiji is rugby mad. Everywhere people are wearing Fiji national team rugby jerseys.











We went to Lautoka and there was a 7's competition on.

















At the same time in Nadi there was a 15's tournament. All this on a fairly small island. Fiji is also in the Rugby league world cup on in Australia at the moment.

Sun Sand and ......

The islands of Fiji are primarily volcanic, but just offshore the main island are groups of sandy atolls.











These are about 3-4 miles offshore and operate as party central for the back pack crowd of 20 somethings that are on the NZ, Oz, Pacific island leg of their world tour.

















They stay in co-ed dormitories, the reggae band starts at 5pm, and happy hour starts at 10pm.












It is also the location of the dive shop I was using.












This is a spotted sweetlips. The reef quality was disappointing. A lot of dead coral with a significant problem with crown of thorns.















and an oriental sweetlips. Visibility was variable from a high of 60-70ft to a low of 20ft – on the same dive! Below 60ft it was like diving down into a snow storm. Water temperature was 81 deg f.

Putting it in a Key Largo context, imagine Dove Key on Molasses Reef with a ferry to the reef and the dive shop on Dove Key. The cost of the dive with full equipment was about $80, but when you add the ferry, it's about the same as in the USA.

Native Fiji

Being intrepid tourists, we decided to visit a native village.










The village we visited had 70 people living in 11 families. The village was one of 3 under the control of a chief. The chief was the guy who had the idea in 1998 to sell village tours. He controls 12,000 acres of land, much of it leased to Indian farmers growing sugar cane.





The tour started with a walk up the river into the high forest. Past the “jungle wedding center”, through the site of the previous version of the village, and up to the water falls.

The vegetation was interesting – wild lemon and grapefruit trees, bread fruit trees, and wild pineapple everywhere. The villagers grow eggplant tapioca and harvest cava. Cava is a wild bush that after 7 years is cut , dried and pounded into powder. It is then mixed with water to form a mildly narcotic drink. Another wild bush that is used is the chilli plant. Little red chilli,s grow like small fruit on the bush. I tried it – it's amazingly hot.

When we got back to the village, the chief took us into his hut and prepared a cup of cava for us. It made your mouth feel like the dentist had just sprayed it with Novocaine. Then one of the families gave us lunch.. Lunch was surprisingly tasty. We had tapioca root, “spinach” (really tapioca leaves), fish and lemonade (from the wild lemons). The chief then jumped into his 4wd SUV and took us back to town. Talk about contrast! From 19^th century subsistence farming to a water front golf resort complete with 40 ft sport fishing boats in the marina in a ½ hour drive.An interesting day.

Traveling through time

Whatever the physicists say about time travel being impossible – they're wrong.
I can prove it. We left Miami on Sunday Oct 19^th and arrived in Fiji at 5:00am local time on Tuesday 21st. It took 5 hours to fly from Miami to LA, we waited in LA for 2 hours. It took 10 hours to fly to Fiji. So what happened to Oct 20^th? We traveled into the future! We skipped forward a day. Jean and I now know what's going to happen to you tomorrow!!! I'm certain that I can use this knowledge to significant advantage – I'm just not quite sure how yet.

The Anchorage

Fiji is seems to be the Aussie's Carribean – it's where they come for tropical islands. The climate seems strange to us. It's cooler than the Keys, yet the sun is stronger and we're closer to the equator (sunset is at 6:20). The queen is on the currency and they drive on the right side of the road. In many ways it reminds me of the roads and sugar fields in Barbados.The hotel's a bit out of the way as Jean found out walking from the airport. But once we got there it turned out to be nice.

They have a neat street lighting plan. Grow palm trees where you want lights, cut them soak them in oil and light them.

The grounds are full of franjipani and bougainvillea

A unique feature is the railroad running through the hotel just behind the pool

The pool

and restaurant. The food is quite good and the view is stunning.

Recovery

Well, it seems as if the problem with the dive trip in Australia is nearly sorted out. It looks like I'll be on this boat. It's 100 ft long with a 30ft beam. Carries 30 passengers and 14 crew. I"m not sure if it's full for this trip or not. You can see the full specs if you follow this link. Anyway, that's one issue sorted. Now it's back to the packing.....