NZ Part 11 - On the way to Catlins

From Te Anau, we headed to Catlins, passing by Manapouri and Invercargill on the way.

Manapouri is a serene small town, a launch off point to visit Doubtful Sound, which is much less commercial than Milford Sound. We only had enough time to stop for a while, run down to the lakeside, wet our feet in the very cold waters, took some pictures, then went on our way.























next was Invercargill, the southernmost city in NZ. it is an ah-beng town (in nz, ah bengs = racer boys), kind of rough. didn't take any photos there - scared to take! we avoided eye contact with anyone, had quick coffee at starbucks and left in one piece.

on the way to Catlins, passed by the beautiful landscape of Southland. rolling green hills and sheep and cows here and there. don't be fooled into thinking the yellow flowers carpeting the hills are lovely. it is actually an aggressive weed, Gorse.

















we stopped by at Clifden suspension bridge not because it was lovely (it was not) but there were no toilet stops for a long way and it seemed to have great potential for having a toilet!





















after great relief, we headed towards catlins, stopping by at Te WaeWae bay, straining our eyes to look as far as we could, hoping in vain to catch a glimpse of Hector dolphins, the world's smallest dolphin - no wonder we couldn't spot them. very windy and cold here!

NZ Where to Go

some places i enjoyed (in random order):

south island
-> Te anau - do the glowworm caves tour. very magical experience
-> Otago peninsula - visit Penguin Place, a conservation reserve where you can view yellow-eyed penguins up close. will be good idea to also stay overnight there - they have a backpackers hostel there with beautiful views of the fiord, has a cosy living room and is equiped with small kitchen. if you're lucky, you'll get the whole hostel to yourself cos so few pple know about it. before dusk, head to Taiaroa Headland, a short drive away from the hostel. you can see NZ fur seals and sometimes sealions in their natural habitat - the rocky shore. can walk up close, right next to them. at dusk, blue penguins come up to shore. needs a lot of patience as they are wary and get startled with slightest sounds and wait till it is all quiet and safe before coming up to shore. it gets crazy cold at night.
-> Catlins - can see Hooker sealions frolicking on the beach, swimming around. best to go to the catlins tourist info centre to ask where and when is best time to view the sealions. they give very good advice. i saw the sealions at Surat Bay at their most active in the morning - swimming around and running about on the beach. Also check out Nugget Point - best time to go is sunset. View of the Lighthouse at sunset is stunning. At dusk, head to the hide/shelter (short drive away) to view yellow-eyed penguins coming up to shore.
-> Catlins - Curio Bay - you can see fossil forest/petrified forest here, looks just like rocks though.
-> Catlins - a number of small but beautiful waterfalls - McLean Falls, Matai Falls, Purakaunui Falls. Not to be missed is the Niagara Falls.
-> Franz Josef and Fox Glacier
-> West Coast - Maruia Falls, Charming Creek, Fantail Falls, Thunder Creek, Blue Lagoon, Lake Matheson (best viewed in early morning)
-> Mount Cook. Can do a short trek, pack your lunch and picnic by the river.
-> Queenstown - touristy place with many touristy activities to choose from - skydiving, whitewater rafting, jetboating etc.

north island
-> rotorua to see geysers, boiling mud pools. check out the Waiotapu geothermal park

NZ Part 10 - Milford Sound

from queenstown we headed to te anau and spent new year's eve there. there was a potluck party which we decided not to join cos we were being selfish. we figured these young backpackers staying in the hostel wouldn't be very capable of cooking up some gastronomic delights and we would be at losing end if we contributed our delicious chicken curry. very kiasu.. hahah...

we monopolised the space in the kitchen, cooked up a storm, seemingly for the potluck party, but then secretly carting all the cooked dishes back to our private room, which came with an attached dining room, kitchenette and balcony overlooking the lake. we had our selfish private new year's eve party, ate to our heart's content and all felt very pleased... by the way, we checked out what was offered at the potluck party and were very convinced that we made the right decision.

we joined the gloworms cave tour on our first night at te anau and it was a fantastic experience. the tour included a cruise across the Te Anau lake to an obscure location where the cave was. in the cave, there were waterfalls and whirlpools - the lighting was done beautifully to highlight these. the main highlight of the tour was taking a short boat ride through the dark grotto, surrounded by hundreds of gloworms. the experience was surreal. no photos allowed though.

the following day we headed to milford sound. there was only 1 way to get there and it is via the Milford Road, a one-lane road. we had to set-off early to avoid the hordes of tourist buses headed there. along the way, we passed by Mirror lake (which is really just a very still pond with a fancy name), a big field of vibrant-coloured lupins, and a stopover point called Kea point (for a reason). At Kea point, we had some encounters with alpine parrots called Keas, one of which tried to attack/eat my car and i had to shoo him off. he dropped a feather on my windscreen in the face-off. it was pouring when we got to Milford sound and we decided not to take the cruise cos the views would be obscured by the heavy rain. we had coffee then headed back, stopping mid-way at the only clean flush toilet stop along the 2 hour Milford Road route. I have attached the picture of the toilet stop so you can recognise it and not have to hold your water for 2 hours.

NZ Part 9 - Queenstown

we stopped for lunch at lake wanaka then headed to queenstown. arrived at the YHA youth hostel in queenstown in the evening and were miffed that they gave us a shared bunker room. we kicked up a big fuss becos we booked private rooms. we managed to cancel the rooms without paying any cancellation charges and headed off to the next door Rydges Hotel. it was even cheaper than what we would have paid in YHA! becos they had a 4-bunk bed room in the hotel - surprise surprise.... the room had carpark view but at the rate they were charging, no complains.

we went whitewater rafting at shotover river the next day. lovely scenery and water was so blue - different from rafting in southeast asian waters which was usually brownish water.

we were planning to do skydiving in queenstown but weather was not good. pity. the other touristy thing we did was the luge. had to take a gondola up a hill, where we could get a bird's eye view of queenstown. very touristy but view was spectacular.

NZ Part 8 - Haast and other West Coast delights

we arrived at Haast so late (becos of the Bee Farm incident) that the hostel gave up our room! we were not able to contact the hostel cos there was no phone signals. so in the end, we took a smaller room with 4 beds and put 1 mattress on the floor. ah well.... btw, i found a picture of the bee farm.




















and the lonely west coast road devoid of traffic, such that we could not flag down any help...

















anyways we did get to haast eventually, in one piece. haast is a good stopover place to rest before heading off to explore the waterfalls, rivers, lagoons in the west coast.

the thunder creek falls























































passing through the gates of haast where a gorge rages below
















































































































































































































fantail waterfall, i s'pose named after the fantail bird cos it flares out like the bird's tail?





























a dead tree installation getting in the way of a good picture.






















santa's helpers here to remove it















































having a cold dip















































































walking though temperate rainforest to get to the Blue lagoon.


































































for those collecting bonz's funny shots, here's one of the best. to prevent sandflies (very ferocious in this area, worse than tropical mozzies) from biting the tummy.
























that's all of west coast pics. now heading off to lake wanaka. some miscellaneous shots along the way.

NZ Part 7 - Lake Matheson, Gillespies Point & Fox Glacier

On the way to the next rest stop at Haast, we stopped over Lake Matheson, Gillespies Point and Fox Glacier. What a busy troop we were...

Lake Matheson
This is a must-see on the tourist checklist. On a clear day, s'posed to see Mt Cook in the background. As you can see from the picture, it wasn't a clear day for us. But a mesmerising view nevertheless.














The platform that allows people to jump into the lake.
















but before you do that, check out what lurks beneath... long-finned eel! this guy was right under the platform, waiting quietly for unsuspecting tourists.














Gillespies Point
Next on our to-do list was to search for seals at Gillespies Point. Apparently there is a seal colony there according to our map.

where are the seals??
















a huge expanse of nothing... just sea and multi-coloured rocks. unless you're a rock fan, suggest to give this place a miss. btw, even though it looks sunny, the waters were too cold for swimming, in case you were wondering.
















Fox Glacier
One last destination on our checklist, before we head off to Haast - Fox Glacier. I found this glacier more dramatic than Franz Josef, and much less touristy. Plus, we could walk right up to the terminal face and lick the blue ice. We were happily posing for pictures at the terminal face when a sudden loud rumble sent all of us running for our lives. turned out to be a false alarm and we had a good laugh afterwards.

NZ Part 6 - Franz Josef

was telling ber today, how lazy i am to blog nowadays cos it just takes too blody long to upload photos. and there are gazillion nz photos so i've to be very selective, otherwise it would take 10 years to upload all of 'em.

anyways, enough complaining. back to nz.

along the way to franz josef, we had a little mishap due to our eagerness to take photos of the astounding ocean views along the west coast. we unwittingly drove into a bees' farm off the highway, got stuck in there cos the exit dirt track was very steep and offered no friction to my car's wornout wheels. we got out of the car to look for some logs, while being very afraid of mass attack by bees. you would think that it would be easy to find some logs lying around in the very forested south island west coast, but no! the area we were trapped in was all bush, no trees (it's a bees' farm, remember?). the sun was setting, our mobile phone was not receiving any signals, and we were getting quite desperate. so we tried to flag down the cars that were whizzing by along the highway. very luckily, weiloong and george, whom we were sposed to meet up with in franz josef, came along. george managed to get the car out - so thankful! we reached franz josef safe and sound, without any bee stings.

at franz josef, we trekked to the terminal face of the glacier. it rained the day before causing the river level to rise. there were huge ice blocks swirling around in the milky river, resembled milo ping. check out the pictures below.

NZ Part 5 - Hokitika

the plan was to stay the night at Franz Josef and meet up with the rest of the gang there. Along the way, we made a detour to Hokitika gorge. Was a long detour, maybe around 40 mins off the main west coast highway, winding through farmland. the long detour drove our expectations up so it was quite a disappointment when we finally got there and it was not as jaw-droppingly beautiful as we had expected. i think we spent not more than 10 mins there.