This last weekend we crammed as much in as we could. We began our travels by driving early Saturday morning to Ivercargill to pick up a cheap backpack we purchased used online for Isaac (it has been a lifesaver). We accidentally drove right onto a beach, which actually happened to be the same beach Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins played him in "The Fastest Indian") challenged some teenagers to a motorcycle. It was flat and long for sure. If you haven't seen this movie, it's a must! From there we headed to Bluff (almost the southern most point in mainland NZ), mostly famous for its oysters and this sign (I swear you could smell Antarctica from there):
From Invercargill we headed nw along the coast and stopped by Gemstone Beach, famously known for the beautiful array of colorful stones washing up on shore. You can find Jade, garnets, and even gold, but it's rare. We saw a local panning for gold. We came away with an assortment of nice looking stones.
From there we traveled up north along side Fiordland National Park. We took a detour and went on a brief hike around Lake Manowai. The lake was pretty, but the hike itself was spectacular.
We then stopped at Tautepere, NZ's sausage capital. They are supposed to be amazing, but in fact just taste like bologna/hot dogs, much like all the sausages do here. We have vowed never to buy sausage here again. Bummer.
We made our way up to Te Anau, a small and beautiful lakeside town just outside Fiordland National Park. WE stayed 2 nights in a little holiday (vacation) home and met up with the Kellers again. When we rolled n they had tacos ready and waiting for us....yummy! The next morning we took off early and headed toward Milford Sound. The road is considered one of the most scenic alpine roads in the world. It was spectacular! so amazing, in fact, that no amount of adjectives could do it justice. It was neck-breaking and we had to stop frequently for pics. A-mazing! Here I am posing at the entrance into Fiordland and a shot of Homer Tunnel, a 1.2 long hand-carved one-way road experience.
Just outside the Homer tunnel the Kia bird is a nuisance. Really! They are a beautiful species of parrot, but are pesky and very brave (tienen huevos). The pictures of the sitting peacefully on the car is deceiving. I was freaking out because I thought they were going to peck through the roof and windows. They ate rubber on both sides of the car. Kind of reminded me of the Hitchcock flick "The Birds"
On the side of road was a little body of water called Mirror Lakes, which was aptly named for the mirror-like reflection of the mountains to our left. Crystal clear images on a beautiful morning.
Can you believe this is only a reflection?
More shots from our spectacular, neck-breaking views on our drive to Milford Sound
Now on to the bread and butter of our trip: Milford Sound. Nestled on the northwest corner of Fiordland National Park is this stunning fiord (yes, fiord, even though it was incorrectly termed a sound when first discovered - the difference is that sounds are formed by water, fiords are formed by glaciers). The sheer cliffs shooting right out of the water at times hang overhead and reach over a mile in height. If you jumped off one of these plunging cliffs it would take over 10 seconds to reach the water. Yikes! We decided to take a 2 1/2 hour nature cruise along this gorgeous fiord all the way out to the Tasman sea and back, stopping very close to fur seals basking in the sun, penguins taking care of their nests, and beautiful waterfalls where we got a little wet.
Yes, we got a little wet on this one. He put the bow under the water. Fun!
Fur seals and fiordland crested penguins (only found in NZ) love this area.
The boys LOVED our cruise (we loved it even more because all 3 of them were free!) The cabin was cozy, warm and comfortable, the deck relatively safe.
Mitre peak, the tallest point in Milford Sound
From Milford Sound we headed to some more beautiful hikes and overlooks. This is the chasm:
Here we hiked to Humbolt Falls, the second highest in New Zealand. It was 3-tiered and beautiful, although pics will never do it justice, of course. The bridges surrounding the area were crazy cool. This one pictured has a 5 person max (yes, all 5 of us were on at the same time). I saw a picture of a bridge where a man backpacking was tight-roping across on one cable (we didn't come across that one).
Off the beaten path and on the way to Humbolt Falls by a long dirt road we came across this little store with cabins for rent. At the store we purchased a bowenite necklace for me. It is a very rare form of Jade, and is in fact the only place in the world where it can be purchased (Mr. Gunn has a special permit/license). The only place in the world where it can be found: Milford Sound. Maybe I'll post a pic of it later. Also along this dirt road we saw a sign that read "historic grave". A quick jaunt through the forest and we found a gravestone (pictured below). It reads, "Sacred to the memory of Donald Keith aged 59 years native to Scotland who lost his way and died from exhaustion here on May 5th 1886". This almost adorable-looking gravestone overlooks the incredible scenery below, a crystal clear river with views of the mountains. Maybe he had a heart-attack it was so beautiful, or perhaps he just died a happy man. Regardless it was priceless.
The next morning we met back up with the Kellers and decided to see what the Clifden caves were all about. It was an hour drive and we were a little hesitant, especially because we knew it wasn't a place for kids. Neither of us wanted to pay $65 to see glow worm caves in Te Anau so we found a limestone cave that was off the beaten track, and therefore FREE. The drive was beautiful and when we parked the car on the side of the road we couldn't even see the entrance. It was so windy there it was literally blowing Noah away. :) With headlamps on Chip, Lindsay, Ethan and I went exploring. When we approached a point of no return for Ethan (we had to lower him down over boulders and through a small crawl-space) we turned around and let Jonathan and Noah have a go. While I was sitting in the car I was thinking about how jealous I was that our friends had been able to see and do so many more things than we, just because we have kids. I was getting a little sad about the situation we were in and just tried to shrug it off. Well, turns out the Kellers exited around 45-50 minutes later and urged us to go in with Ethan. The offered to watch the youngest two while we hike the whole thing. It was SO nice of them! We never though of this option, and I am not sure why. We never really like to impose our children on others and burden someone else. I feel so blessed we were able to experience this together, and with Ethan. It took us 40 minutes (1.2 K underground) and was very treacherous at times with Ethan because we had to carry him over pools, crawl up and down narrow ladders, squeeze my birthing hips through a few spots, and even crawl on our hands and knees at times. We were filthy by the end but it was seriously the most amazing limestone cave I've ever been in...and Ethan did great! It really gave me a quick insight into how much fun we could have with children of older ages. This limestone cave was great because no one was there telling us not to touch anything, keep our voices down, stay with the group, watch our heads,etc. It was AWESOME!!!! I am SO glad we hiked it and hope to come back and bring family to give it a try.
Ethan and I at the entrance and exit
We did it!
What an amazing weekend in New Zealand!
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