Southern Beauty Adventurers
Location: South Island, New Zealand
Introduction:
Spectacular is the best we can do to describe the South Island of New Zealand. We first came here in 2008 and had a great time Skydiving and Jet Boating. However, our trip was incomplete as we never made it to Milford Sound. So, that was our primary objective this time. It usually rains there. So, we were obsessive in monitoring the weather forecast before we arrived. The 2nd day of our visit consistently looked good. Thus, we drove all day the first day so that we could head out on the 1st boat the next morning. To our delight, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The waters were calm and Milford Sound did not disappoint. The Fjord was magnificent.We had to pass through Queenstown to get there. This is the adventure and adrenaline capital of the world and while it wasn’t in our original plans to return, we were drawn back in by the town’s incredible beauty. Once again, we were inspired to push the limits of our comfort zones. (more on that later). The countryside here is quite scenic with green grazing pastures filled with sheep, cattle and elk, mountains, lakes and vineyards. It’s springtime with daytime temperatures mostly in the low 70’s. The days are long with the sun rising at 6am and not setting until 9pm. It also helps that there’s no language barrier making it often feel like home. We already can’t wait to come back for more.
Sites Visited:
Christchurch, Te Anau, Milford Sound, Queenstown, Central Otago Wine Region, Mount Aspiring National Park, Fox Glacier, Lake Matheson Rain Forest, Franz Josef & Arthur’s Pass National Park. The 4-hour drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound is about as good as it gets and the 2 hour boat tour of Milford Sound is even better. The scenery is breathtaking with steep cliffs, waterfalls, sea lions and penguins surrounding the sound.
The trekking in the area is world famous with the 4-day Milford Track being the most renowned but you need to book well in advance unless you’re willing to pay up for a high-end outfitter. We enjoyed a modest local hike in Te Anau instead where we discussed the magnetic pull of Queenstown and decided to spend a few days there.While neither one of us has ever felt the urge to go bungy jumping, we both agreed that if we were ever going to do it, Queenstown would be the place. In 2008, we visited AJ Hackett’s Kawarau Bridge Bungy Jumping and watched others jump but we lacked the desire or perhaps the courage to attempt it ourselves. This is ideal location for bungy jumping for several reasons.
1. It is where commercial bungy jumping originated.
2. It is a beautiful location.
3. This month (November 2013) was the 25th anniversary of bungy jumping off this bridge. (These guys obviously know what they’re doing if they’ve been in operation that long.)
4. The young, unassuming hostess who checked us in at the Hilton where we stayed had just bungy jumped 5 times on the same day earlier in the week. (We asked ourselves: How could we not find the nerve to jump just once if she did 5 in a day?).
5. Kawarau Bridge is one of the few places that offers “Tandem” jumps. This would allow us to take the plunge together, which was rather appealing.
So, sweaty palms, pounding hearts and all, we set out that same afternoon. We confronted our fears and somehow found the courage to take the leap. We’re not going to say that it was easy or fun as it was scary as hell. But, it was exhilarating to overcome our fears and have this amazing memory to treasure forever. The people running the operation were fantastic. They even offered us a really deep discount to do it again but once was enough for us. We’ll gladly check that one off the bucket list…thank you!
On our first visit, we missed out on the west coast of the south island where the “Southern Alps” are located and visiting them was another objective for this trip. It rains a lot there creating an unusual combination of rain forests and glaciers. We lucked out with good weather and explored both.
On our way back from the west to the east coast, we did a hike in Arthur’s Pass and the 360 degree view from the summit we climbed was phenomenal.
Accommodations:
We enjoyed a variety of places to stay and mostly winged it by selecting places when we reached a destination. We arrived after midnight at M&Y Guest House in Christchurch for a one night stay and just needed a place to rest our heads. The place was vintage 1950’s but immaculate. The owner had us take off our shoes when we entered reminding us of Japan. When he showed us our room, we got a good laugh when we saw that we’d be separated in twin beds across the room from each other.In Te Anau (2 hrs from Milford Sound) we landed on Explorer Motor Lodge as it had the most room and a full kitchen. After that, we found a good deal using our Hilton points and stayed in a new and modern 1-bedroom apartment at the Hilton Residences in Queenstown. This place was so nice that we were tempted to stay longer. We even used the kitchen to make a home cooked meal. Then, we moved on to the west coast and looked at 5 places in Franz Josef before selecting the Glacier View Motel, which was also vintage 1950’s and immaculate with a decent kitchen. We spent our final night at Cranford Cottages & Motel in Christchurch and had a really sweet cottage with a kitchen. Interestingly, most places did not have air conditioning and it worked out just fine as it really cooled off at night.
Food and Drink:
We know that there’s good food and wine in NZ from past experience. Yet, we saved some money by eating in each night and even cooked a proper meal. We did eat out for lunch a few days and really liked our meals. We drove by several vineyards but we’d been to many of them previously and chose not to stop. But, that didn’t stop us from enjoying the local wines. NZ is especially known for their Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir and that’s what we stuck to. Prices were good with a first crush bottle of Kim Crawford’s 2013 Sauvignon Blanc costing just $8 US and tasting great. Rich sought out the Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc that we can’t find back home and it was as good as ever. We found ourselves frequently stopping at a café for an afternoon coffee. Similar to OZ, the coffees are espresso based and named the same. We’d usually order a “skinny flat white”, which is similar to a skim latte. The other thing that is really good in NZ is the water. It tastes great right out of the tap.
Transportation System:
Public transportation is not really an option in NZ. There are lots of bus tours but we prefer the freedom that a rental car provides. We had another Toyota Corolla from Avis that served us well. We logged close to 2,000 km.There are several differences in NZ driving.
1. They drive on the opposite side of the road down here with lots of roundabouts like Australia.
2. The highways are just 2 lane roads with no shoulders, one in each direction requiring the need to pass in the oncoming traffic lane making things a bit more interesting.
3. Many of the bridges are just 1 lane. A few will have a traffic light to manage the flow but most just have a sign showing which direction has the right of way. So, the driver really needs to pay attention.
4. NZ is very sparsely populated (except for sheep) with the west coast having the fewest people and thus the fewest fueling stations. We reached the west coast with a quarter of a tank of gas and saw a gas station but figured we’d wait for the next one. When the fuel light came on an hour later, we had our fingers crossed with no civilization in sight. We finally found a town with 1 gas station, which was 175 km from the first one that we saw and we gladly paid the $100 it took to fill up the empty tank.
5. The biggest challenge driving in NZ, however, is keeping your eyes on the road as the constantly changing scenery is just incredibly beautiful.
1. They drive on the opposite side of the road down here with lots of roundabouts like Australia.
2. The highways are just 2 lane roads with no shoulders, one in each direction requiring the need to pass in the oncoming traffic lane making things a bit more interesting.
3. Many of the bridges are just 1 lane. A few will have a traffic light to manage the flow but most just have a sign showing which direction has the right of way. So, the driver really needs to pay attention.
4. NZ is very sparsely populated (except for sheep) with the west coast having the fewest people and thus the fewest fueling stations. We reached the west coast with a quarter of a tank of gas and saw a gas station but figured we’d wait for the next one. When the fuel light came on an hour later, we had our fingers crossed with no civilization in sight. We finally found a town with 1 gas station, which was 175 km from the first one that we saw and we gladly paid the $100 it took to fill up the empty tank.
5. The biggest challenge driving in NZ, however, is keeping your eyes on the road as the constantly changing scenery is just incredibly beautiful.
Shout Outs:
The team of people working at the AJ Hackett Bungy Jump at Kawarau Bridge were just awesome! We interacted with various staff members at check in, jump zone, raft recovery and video/photos and they were all great people contributing to an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime experience. We also want to call out the “Accu Weather” mobile app for nailing the forecast of a perfect day in Milford Sound.
For Your Amusement:
A number of the motels we’ve stayed at have had trampolines on their properties and Elizabeth’s been tempted to give them a try and finally did. She says it’s not as easy as it looks. Take a look…
If you’re interested in seeing us take the plunge off Kawarau Bridge, here’s the video:
Highlights:
NZ’s natural beauty kept us in awe throughout our visit. We saw so many majestic lakes, mountains and shorelines that we stopped snapping pictures of them or else that’s all we’d be doing all day. We hope to return to Queenstown for more adventures someday. We’re thinking maybe paragliding off a mountaintop next time. Can’t wait!
Next Up:
Hawaii. We’re actually moving on to South America. However, the airfares from NZ to South America are ridiculously expensive. We found good deals from Hawaii and that’s also where me first met. So, that’s where we’re headed for a few days of R&R and travel planning.
More great pictures. It looks like a beautiful place. The video of Elizabeth on the trampoline made me LOL. I think because I heard Rich laughing. From the pictures of the area to the food, so fun to read and see the pictures.
Well you’ve made it through a quarter of a year on the road and it looks and sounds like things are great. Welcome back to the Western Hemisphere!
Do the paragliding at Queenstown…I loved it. We also enjoyed Puzzle World on the way from Queenstown to the glaciers.
Wow! The bungy jump video was impressive. I’m enjoying your travel blog. Great pics and videos.
Received your postcards from Japan and New Zealand. Thanks for remembering me.