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Great journey to Mt.Cook- drove alongside a lake with breathtaking mountain views ahead. We kept stopping to take photos of the great mountain! When we arrived we found superb accommodation at a greatly discounted rate. On entering the room we found ourselves looking out at one incredible mountain- Mount Cook was totally framed in the glass like a picture window. This must be one of the greatest hotel views in the world.( only problem-it did not look like the mountain that Brian had taken hundreds of photos of! This was the real thing! He had been snapping Mt. Sefton!)
We did 3 of the mains walks in the area. The Hooker Valley was the most challenging and most rewarding. It took us across dried up river beds, across 2 shaky suspension bridges and under the shadow of the mountains. We saw incredible alpine flowers.Finally we arrived at Hooker Lake which has been created by glacial melting- despite being the middle of summer there were still icebergs in the lake. The glacier towered menacingly up ahead. As we sat beside the lake recovering our energies, a lot of your people arrived.For some reason they kept coming up to us to ask questions as though they expected we would know the answers. Brian answered what he could and made the rest up-they all seemed very happy( We blame the education system for their ignorance- teachers have a lot to answer for!)
The weather was sunny for most of our stay and we were blessed with astonishing views. The day we left a storm was brewing and the mountains disappeared and the area took on an angry feel- not a place to be out in.( people had to be rescued from the mountains while we were there and sadly an experienced climber fell to his death the day before we arrived) The mountains need to be treated with respect as they change moods very quickly.
Next stop Queenstown- a tourist town set in a fantastic location- a beautiful lake surrounded by stark mountains. It rained on our arrival- in the morning the mountains were covered in snow- well it was a N.Z summer! We loved the location but not the town. But they do have a great cable car ride and a superb little nature park. The park was reclaimed from an old rubbish dump by a group of intrepid locals. A real labour of love. It is full of endangered species- they are part of a captive breeding programme which is attempting to reintroduce native species into the wild. Early European settlers brought a variety of animals with them- some like the stoat have become so efficient in their hunting that many local animals were in grave danger of becoming extinct. We saw our first Kiwi here! - they are wonderful little birds.We had heard them in the wild on North Island but this was our first chance to see them!
We moved on the next day to Te Anau and Fiordland in the south west of the island. Te Anau is an attractive little town perched on the edge of a lake and surrounded by native woodlands.Once again we got the last room in town! Forward planning has not been a strong feature of this trip. Later we moved to other accommodation and stayed on for 3 more days.
We took a boat trip up the lake to view the glow worm in their caves. Quite spooky travelling in a little boat in the dark deep underground to stare at little spots of life suspended from the cave roof- it is amazing what tourists will do.
We visited both Doubtful and Milford Sounds.
Doubtful Sound is such a serene and undisturbed wilderness.It made a last impression on both of us. Our journey started with a boat trip across Lake Manapouri in pouring rain ( is this where the lake got its name from?) On reaching the far shore we transferred to a coach that took us underground to visit New Zealand's largest hydro electric power station which lies deep under the mountain side. A strange place to visit, but it must rank as one of mankind's most extra- ordinary industrial achievements. It has a small maintenance crew but is operated from Twizel many miles away across the misty mountains.
On emerging from the deep dark hole we headed across Wilmot pass- a road hacked out of the mountains by intrepid pioneers and now only used by tourist buses and engineers for the power station.( for much of the year it is inaccessible except by 4 wheel drive vehicles.) After negotiating many switch back turns and steep hills, we arrived at Deep Cove which lies at the head of Doubtful Sound to board our boat. We felt that we had done a full day trip already and yet the day was only just beginning!
We boarded a fantastic new catermaran for Doubtful Sound- skies cleared, the sun came out,what beauty . Due to the heavy rain we had waterfalls everywhere we looked- the water cascaded off the mountain side in torrents,the wildlife and geology formations were brilliant- and then we headed out into the Tasman Sea! It was very rough. We saw lots of seals before heading back into calmer waters. Doubtful Sound got its name from Captain Cook who doubted that the water way lead in land. We sympathised with him- the entrance to the fiord is very difficult to spot. As we sailed back up the fiord we explored many inlets before stopping completely. There was complete peace and tranquility- it was such a special few moments, soaking up this beautiful natural wilderness- shivers up the spine stuff!
The return journey across Wilmot Pass and Lake Manopouri was great but paled into insignificance after Doubtful Sound.
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