West Coast of the South Island

We left Christchurch and drove through Arthur's Pass to the west coast.  The drive started through in  pastoral, fertile scenery on a two lane road (rarely did we see 4 lanes on our whole trip).  At the actual pass there were a few commercial places but not many.  We stopped and had lunch which was very ordinary, English-blah...not that all English food is blah, this just was.

The highway after the pass was incredible and of course, just two lanes.

Our final destination for the day was Hokitika where we had our nicest hotel booked.  Right on the water.  On the way there we took a detour that should have taken us to Greymouth, a slightly bigger town than Hokitika but the road was closed.  When we did get to Greymouth we could have been somewhere on the Oregon coast, businesses trying to hang on with the tourists, mixed in with ones that catered to residents.  The virus was all over the news so but not desperate yet but the town felt desolated.  We had at this point, already rebooked our April 5th return flight for March 22nd which turned out to be fortuitous as NZ closed their borders the following day.

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The town of Hokitika was more quaint than Greymouth with more of a Cannon Beach vs Seaside, OR feel.  It was St. Patrick's Day and there was a bit of the ol' green to be seen.  The restaurant we had dinner had a tavern-feel on one side and patio-feel on the restaurant side.  Funny, every restaurant we ate at, we had to go and order our meal at the cashier.  Not sure if that is the NZ way or virus related.  We met a nice couple from Australia who recounted their virus-related stories.  Also, biggest news flash...I had the BEST beer of the trip here!

The Glow Worms are throughout NZ.  Right across from our hotel we walked up a hill, just after sunset and saw the glowing worms.  Kind of a green phosphorescence glow.  What are glow worms?

Queenstown - March 17, 2020

Queenstown is a resort town on Lake Wakatipu.  It is surrounded by mountains.  Trying to say what town it is like many places could come to mind but really it has aspects of other outdoorsy towns but is it's own place.
Rory's brother, John-Joseph (aka JJ) and girlfriend Annie live here.  The photo on the bottom right is a view from their house. Unfortunately while we were there both were talking about how long their jobs would last.  The closing of NZ borders was days away.  The restaurant we went to was closing in two days.  Bazaar was a high end buffet, made-for-you restaurant with a gorgeous backdrop of Lake Wakatipu.  The food was delicious!

Me, Ron, John-Joseph, Annie, Rory and Madeleine

Fun night...I like this photo better!

The streets were fullish but for a weekend day, in nice weather, it was typically much more crowded.  We got a burger at Fergburger.  Typically the queue was so long, Rory and Madeleine had never waited.  The queue was tolerable so we ordered and waited...still 20 minutes but not bad.  Delicious burger by the way!

We walked around the town when we arrived on Thursday night and again Friday morning.  I didn't capture the feel of it with photos but then again with the virus dominating the news it did not feel normal.  I'd definitely want to go back.  There's lots of outdoor sports that start from here.  There's a young person's vibe...that vibe to see the world and settle for a few months that the Commonwealth Working Holiday Visa affords.

These statues greet you at the Queenstown Airport ZQN
They are reminiscent of North American natives

Te Anau - Mar 20 & 21, 2020

Te Anau was our jumping off point to Milford Sound.  We basically slept and ate there.  Lots of people start in Queenstown and do Milford in a day.  (most people on our cruise had done that which makes for a really long day)

Te Anau, the town, is on a lovely lake with the same name.  We went on a short hike that overlapped with the Kepler Track (kiwi for hike or walk) it is a 60 km walk with a few huts along with way.  We also saw traps for stoats which have decimated the native song bird population.  At one of our stops we saw a song bird and our guide said that not that long ago one would never have seen this species so the trapping was working.  The part of the hike that we did, was an out and back on a fairly level trail.
The first night that we were here we went to a tavern and had great beer but opted not to eat there.  We started outside sitting on the patio, partially for social distancing but also, because it was a nice day.  While out there we met a dog who after conversation we discovered was the same breed as our dog.  But these people called Poppy a Spoodle.  Huh, I knew there was another name for a Cockapoo.  I think I prefer Spoodle.  (following #spoodle on Instagram and think that these tend to be big dogs than ours and also more pointed faces but that's just me...Is there a subtle difference?)

	Couper now known as a spoodle at his favorite farm/kennel not in NZ with us!

We had a really nice meal at Redcliff Cafe but (and here's my first Covid19 reference but not my last) there was sign that we had to present our passport to prove we had arrived in NZ before the mandatory 14-day quarantine.  This restaurant was a tavern in the front and dining in the back.  It was in a very small pass-thru that we had to sign in (they didn't actually ask for our passports).  It was very congested and impossible to social distance so I felt they were doing the big picture thing but NOT the basic small things.  In spite of the sign in snafu, it was a really nice restaurant and we all loved our meals.

Trip from Te Anau to Milford Sound

We took a coach with about 20 other people. They all got on in Queenstown so we saved 2 hours as we were picked up in Te Anau.
The trip could be done in less than 2 hours but ours took over 3 hours as we stopped 4-5 times.  The coach driver, Dave, had great commentary. The company we used was Southern Discoveries and we were happy with the whole trip.  On the way there Dave talked a lot but on the way back we saw a movie called The Hunt for the Wilderpeople by the now famous NZ director Taika Waititi.  He has a small part in it.  Excellent movie for a bus ride or anytime!

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We stopped at Mirror Lakes which had a board walk down to them and parallel then an exit.  Nice photo op.

The traffic to the Sound had issues.  One is the Homer Tunnel which is a very rough hewned tunnel that goes 1.2 km with a 10:1 gradient. The walls are rough rock with pipes and extra lights hung and two buses could not fit side-by-side.  I took a video as it was quite eerie then did a screenshot to get the 2 photos.  If you want to read more Homer Tunnel info . The other issue that in February there had been the storm of the century which resulted in flooding and destruction of the road.  It had been opened to two-way traffic 3 days before.  If we had gone a week earlier, they allowed traffic in one direction for an hour, with no private vehicles, then in the other direction for an hour. Lucky for us, we had minor inconveniences where short sections were controlled for less than 10 minutes. 

When we finally emerged from the tunnel we were met with the true beginning of the Milford area.  I It was name Sound but actually is a Fjord as fjords are formed by glaciers as this area was versus a sound which is formed by rivers. The many waterfalls were the results of suffering the rainy weather.  Apparently when it is sunny these waterfalls dry up very quickly.

A little further on and our last stop was at a small river that was beautiful with its rocks and an former bridge that now allowed tourists to stop and watch the rushing river.  A short drive later, we arrived at the terminal for the boats.

More photos of Milford Sound

When we got to Milford after our 3 hour cruise, we had time to explore the Terminal Building which had displays of the history and the typical route of the cruises.  

New Zealand's "marine" flag -  usual one has a blue background

From the terminal where all cruises begin and end, looking towards the Tasman Sea, up Milford Sound

Milford Sound - Sat Mar 21 2020

The one trip in NZ that we booked and paid for was the Cruise and Kayak on Milford Sound.  We were 4: Madeleine, her boyfriend, Rory (1st photo), Ron and me.

It was a very wet day but totally worth it.  The kayak part of the trip had been canceled a few weeks before and with hindsight we were glad.  We were soaked to the skin and the idea of getting in a kayak was not very appealing.  

Milford Sound is actually a fiord so had been misnamed.  Milford was formed by a glacier whereas a sound is formed by rivers.  Milford is an amazing place as I imagine all fiords are.  Being on the water with steep sides is quite amazing.  All around us on the "walls" of the fiord were waterfalls both large and small.  The clouds sitting on the top of the sides made for questions as to how high the sides were.  

We were picked up in Te Anau at 10 a.m. and transported with about 20 other people to Milford.  There were 4 or 5 stops along the way which made for a 3 hour trip.  There was a central facility where all the tour boats were dispatched with interesting displays of the history of the area and maps to show where we were headed.  Milford empties into the Tasman Sea which is the sea between Australia and New Zealand. 

**An aside but a real part of our trip was that this was our last tourist outing before we were leaving NZ due to Covid19.  Everyday the news was changing.  Everyday we were wondering if we were doing the right thing.  The cruise people were super cognizant of sanitizing and there were very few passengers so it was easy to do social distancing.  We flew out the next day and as I write we are in Day #8 of self quarantine.  Six more days to go.

PS.  I'm going to publish more photos but am going to do it as a new post as I am learning some HTML so that my photos can be side by side.  

My daughter, Madeleine also memorialized this trip with a fun, little video.. Mad's video of our trip to Milford Sound  If you like it, don't forget to subscribe.