Road Trip - South Island - continued

Our visit to Queenstown marked the half-way point in our trip.  After leaving Queenstown we drove south along the shore of the picture-postcard Lake Wakatipu surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range.  Next stop - Fiordland, Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound.

Beautiful Lake Wakatipu

Incredible Doubtful Sound!    

Driving to Milford Sound.....

                                               Mirror Lake - along the road to Milford Sound

                                                               Landscape near Milford Sound

                                                     Cruise leaving from Milford Sound

Leaving Fiordland, we drove back via Queenstown to Arrowtown, a quaint historic gold-mining town, with some of its original wooden and stone building - and cute shops.

 From Arrowtown we crossed the Southern Alps via the Haast Pass stopping at Lake Wanaka - destination west coast, Fox Glacier, and Franz Joseph Glacier - with a few stops along the way...

                                                                     

We had an interesting drive up the ragged, twisting, sometimes single lane roads of the west coast.  Had to hold my breath as we drove across a one-lane bridge shared by both motor vehicles and trains.  We stopped at the cities Hokitika (known for its pounamu "greenstone/jade" and craft shops) and Greymouth (known for the Monteith's Brewery among other things), Westport and Punakaiki (known for the spectacular Pancake Rocks).

More adventures along the way.......

                                        Yes - we did walk across the river on this swing bridge. 
                   Luckily, although the  bridge accommodates 15 people - no one else was on it at the time.

On our way to Nelson, we stopped to do some caving - emerging from the "inner earth" via a tunnel to a foggy "Lord of the Rings" type atmosphere. 

Lastly we visited Nelson and Golden Bay - planned on tramping the Abel Tasman or Queen Charlotte tracks - but rainy weather kept us away.

Beautiful scenery, amazing experiences and smooth sailing back across Cook Strait to Wellington - and on home to Wanganui!

Road Trip - South Island

Bob and I recently visited the south island of New Zealand on a two-week road trip.  Everyone in NZ told us we would see breath-taking scenery on the south island - and they were right!  Our photos just can't adequately capture the beauty of this place.  At times we really felt we had stumbled upon "inner earth".  Our trip begins in Wellington as we drive our car onto the Interislander Ferry for a 3-hour spectacular crossing of Cook Strait to "the other side" as they say in NZ.

                                                          Picton - "gateway to the south island"

Our first day on the south island was spent touring the world-famous Marlborough Wine Region around the city of Blenheim.  With more than 200 wineries in the area - there was no shortage of wine - especially savignon blanc. 

The next day we took a side trip to visit some artist friends that live on the Marlborough Sounds near the Queen Charlotte Track w/ its stunning coastal scenery and lush forest  We stopped at the tiny harbour town of Havelock (known as the Greenshell Mussel Capital of the World".  Bob just had to sample the Greenshell Mussels.

  

                                                          Yummy Greenshell Mussels!

                      Spent a day in Kaikoura (south-east of Blenheim), whale watching, and picnicking   on seafood at the beach (that's crayfish - not whale we're eating!)

 

Next stop was Lake Tekapo, surrounded by the southern alps, w/ amazing turquoise colored glacial water and crisp mountain air - and great trout fishing too.  We spent time fishing (Bob) and sight-seeing but the highlight was an Air Safari flight over Mt Cook and the glaciers.

 

On the road again...... on our way to Queenstown, known as the Global Adventure Capital w/ lots going on besides the beautiful scenery- skydiving, hang gliding, bungy jumping, rafting, jet boating and even Disc Golf.  Decided it was way more safe to be a spectator than participant of these sports.     

 

Queenstown marked our half-way point in the trip - so I'll stop this blog now and pick up at the start of our 2nd week in the next blog.