Sunset on the South Island
My time on South Island is creeping towards its final day and what a time it has been. My month here has been magical and I will remember it for a very long time to come.
It's time to run through the rest of my road trip which covers off some more of the most spectacular locations I’ve set my eyes on. Queenstown, Te Anau, Fiordland & Milford Sound, a return to Wanaka, Aoraki/Mount Cook national park and an evening in Lake Tekapo is the hit list so let us get cracking.
Quality time in Queenstown
Queenstown plays host to some real classy shops and shows you the type of people who spend their holidays there. Despite this it was a place that I really enjoyed spending time.
The Flaming Kiwi was a great find, super super friendly hostel with loads of people that made me feel really welcome and by the end of the week meant I was very sad to be saying farewell. It’d be impossible to name everyone I crossed paths with in my 7 days here, but just know you are all very much in my mind writing this.
One of the highlights was going bracelet making with Sophie, Jodi, George and Zach. It was a really fun couple of hours which I will carry (literally on my wrist) for the rest of the trip and beyond.
Drop coffee was a regular stop during the day for me, popping in with a different person every day to grab a coffee. Chloe, I know for a fact you’re not reading this, but your speciality was the other highlight of my time in Queenstown and I'm glad I got you to write down your secrets to your coffee skills.
I popped along to Glen Orchy for a very short visit as it was a driech day that meant I couldn’t even see the mountain tops, which is a real shame as the views are meant to be top tier. Hey Ho, cant control the weather.
Views from Te Anau
The views from in and around Te Anau and the village just along the road, Manapouri, were ridiculous. Both are separated from Fiordland by their respective lakes meaning the mountains beyond rise up on the far banks like a mirage on the horizon.
Neither place is somewhere where you’d want to spend a lot of time if you’re doing the South Island like me, but I think Te Anau is definitely a great place to stop over for Milford Sound as it shaves off 2 hours (by car) from Queenstown.
I did get some cracking shots (well I hope I did, I haven’t looked at them yet) across to Fiordland. It was hard to not stop every 5 seconds to get out and take pictures.
Fantastic Fiordland and Magnificent Milford Sound
From the moment you enter Fiordland your breath is stolen from you and you’re in total awe at what is being presented before your eyes. It gets more and more and more spectacular the closer you get to Milford Sound.
But the real special stuff is the other side of the Homer Tunnel, which the Milford Sound Highway plummets through to get you towards the Sound. It’s 1.2 kilometres in length and at a gradient of 1:10 its certainly something when you’re driving through it. I actually was the lead car on my way back towards to Te Anau, and let me tell you it was a very odd experience.
The scenery on the Milford side of the tunnel is even more breathtaking than I’d ever be able to explain. Just spectacular (see Day 17 of my 31 days of 2024 pictures on Facebook or Instagram).
Milford Sound itself is amazing and definitely worth the time to go and see. You only really go if you’re going to take a cruise and let me tell you that it is definitely worth doing a cruise. It lets you appreciate the Sound for all its worth and gets you views of the landscape which encompasses you.
However $10 an hour for parking is criminal and I hope that money goes to preserving the environment around Milford.
Walking it back to Wanaka
I drove back but thats not point…
It was really nice to be back in Wanaka for 2 nights. Strangely enough I was in the same bed I was in first stint in Wanaka, weird coincidence.
It was a bit busier after a week and a half stint away, but it was still very chilled and just as quiet which definitely was nice.
The view was just as special this time round and even treated to me to a cracking sunset one evening which was a lovely surprise.
Absurdly striking Aoraki national park
When you turn off route 8 on to route 80 it takes a short drive for Lake Pukaki (yep thats its name and yep we all made jokes too) to poke its (turtle) head out from behind the forest… moving swiftly on, the colour of this lake is just otherworldly, its an electric blue colour which I can’t even think of the words to describe it.
If you are as lucky as I was you’ll be treated to Aoraki / Mount Cook on the horizon. It looks as though it is sitting in pride of place, a gem in the Southern Alps. I feel like I really lucked into seeing it and it was super impressive.
I headed for the visitor centre carpark and had a quick look at the hikes which were available, quickly excluding the multi day treks up Mount Cook itself left me with only 3 realistic options and had I arrived earlier in the day I would’ve probably opted to do one of the multi-hour hikes, but it was already after 14:00 at this point and I decided to pick the shortest hike which takes less than 20 minutes to get to Kea Point lookout.
The walk was a short one but I found myself alone on the path and it was a moment in which I found myself at peace, filled with so much love, happiness and gratitude that even thinking about it has my eyes welling up. Mount Sefton which rises like a wall in front of you from the moment which you enter the Hooker Valley is adorned by the Tuckett Glacier, both of which were basking in glorious sunlight when I was there.
I feel like it was the right place, right time on this one and I’m so glad that all the little decisions I made that day led me to see what I did, when I did. I even got to see the tippy top of Mount Cook from the viewpoint which is definitely something not many other could say from that day by the sounds of it.
I also headed to see the Tasman glacier which sits the other side of Mount Cook and while Tasman Lake now forms a large break between the viewpoint there and the glacier itself i’m still glad that I went to see it. Again the colour of the water was mesmerising.
The stars aren’t always aligned
I wasn’t paying £100 a night for a dorm room which I didn’t really plan on being in. But what was the plan, that is the question.
Lake Tekapo and the surrounding region is a designated an International Dark-Sky Reserve, which means you can get unbelievably good views of the night sky, even with just your bare eyes you can see the Milky Way.
With this in mind it was one of the big things I really wanted to do while in New Zealand. Now if you know me, or have spoken to me since I have embarked on this voyage you will know that I have avoided saying I really want to do x,y and z and I have very much gone with the flow. This is one of the few things which was excluded from that policy.
I knew from the start that there was a high chance that cloud cover was likely and it would probably result in the tour either being less that great or cancelled altogether.
Either way it was set as my final stop on my road trip. The final night I had my car would be in Tekapo where I hoped I would see the stars. I didn’t see any stars. It was cloudy, very cloudy.
These things happen and I have no way of controlling the weather so I cant be to sad about it, and I’m not.
For the benefit of Camping Enforcement… I didn’t sleep in my car, in a car park. I spoke to one of your colleagues at around 6AM and he’ll confirm that I was in the drivers seat getting ready to shot off, I just had to wait for the car to de-mist… must have been cold overnight…
I spent this morning working my way from Lake Tekapo towards Christchurch where I had to drop the car off. Stopping off from breakfast and 2 coffees on the way in a place called Ashburton, which other than the cafe, I cannot comment on as I literally drove through it. But breakfast was good, as was the coffee so thanks Dad for that one!
Closing off in Christchurch
I’m closing off in Christchurch where I have been taking it chill, picking up 1 or 2 things in the pre Christmas sales and visiting a new exhibition at the art gallery.
I head off on Wednesday for Wellington and the next stop on my journey.
A quick mention from our sponsor…
This will definitely be the last blog before Christmas and probably the last one before Hogmanay so I just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season and all the best for 2025.
I can’t thank everyone enough for the love and support they’ve given me in 2024.
Much love, Calum 💛
Toddy
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