Scenery Land!

Me at Lake Gunn

Malcolm at our lunch spot...

...looking the other way.  Just off the road but only one other car pulled in.

waterfall by the road

typical view through the bush

Milford Sound

...looks like a Pacific Island

 

Malcolm and view

...more view

...it was all stunning

kea

An Asian guy was feeding them bread on chopsticks

Hmm - where to next?

Freshly shorn mob on the road near Te Anau

When the sun is shining and the mountaintops are in view the scenery here is stunning!

Today we drove the Milford Road, stopping at lots of the viewpoints and DOC areas and other points of interest.  Fed some keas by the Homer Tunnel and took lots of photos of Milford Sound - it was so beautiful there and Mitre Peak is so iconic.  We also drove up the Hollyford Road past Gunns Camp to the Humboldt Falls which drop in 3 sections.  Malcolm took a movie clip but I don't think I can post movies on the blog.

It was a big day - about 9 hours - but it takes more than 2 hours non-stop from Te Anau to Milford Sound. And we certainly weren't going non-stop.  Had a coffee in a cafe at Milford - not the best ever but what an amazing view!

Queenstown etc

Bobs Cove - evening stroll

Bobs Cove on left after track went uphill!

All action - Queenstown wharf

SS Earnslaw and statue of William Rees, founder of Queenstown

Freedom camping spot at Kingston

view from the bus

Giant takahe in Te Anau

You never want to go the....

 

The evening before we went to Queenstown we went on a walk to Bobs Cove which was near where we were parked.  A lovely evening even if the walkway went up a steep hill!

Queenstown seemed crazy since we have been so used to peace and quiet and little traffic.  We parked up that afternoon at Kingston and the next day went to Te Anau.  Bit of a grey day, didn't do much.

Walk to the Invincible Mine site

afternoon view from the bus window

view on the walk up to the mine site

remnants of gold mining days

near the gold mine

I'm standing where we sat for picnic lunch...

...that view was amazing...

just the birds, us and silence

view the other way - near the old mine entrance

on the way down

on the way down

 

in the forest near where we did the walk is this 8 metre mining artifact

near the end of the Rees River valley

braided river and snowy mountain

 

Another beautiful day.  We did a walk through beech forests to the remains of the Invincible Mine which is about 1 hour uphill.  The views up there were really nice, we sat for ages looking down the Rees River valley to the snowy mountains beyond.  We actually had morning tea and lunch up there!  Then we drove to the end of the road/valley before returning to the bus for a lazy afternoon.

We go to Paradise

view down Lake Wakatipu

 

...and the road to Glenorchy

 

lakeside

 

wetlands walk at Glenorchy

 

..beautiful day for reflections

 

me and a bird

 

 

road to Paradise

 

LOTR country

 

 

 

 

café at Kinlock

 

view from the bus

We go to Paradise... and Glenorchy and Kinlock.  Today - in the shade of the mountain we are tucked in beside - it was still only 5 degrees at 9.00am.  Then the sun rose (for us) and we've had a scortcher, I forgot the sunscreen so I'm a bit red!

We took the car along the Glenorchy - Queenstown road (stunning views down Lake Wakatipu) to Glenorchy and did the wetlands walk there, that takes about 1 and 1/2 hours.  We had a picnic lunch by the wharf shed then drove through Paradise to the end of the road.  This is where the Rees Dart Track starts and is also where lots of the LOTR was filmed.  All round this part of the South Island actually.  This road was surprising because although most of it is open paddocks there were some areas of beech forest which the road wound through.

Then we drove back through Paradise towards Glenorchy but took the bridge over the Dart River and went down to Kinlock.  To my surprise there was a cafe there so we checked it out.  Then we drove some more dirt roads looking at the scenery.  Back at the bus it's a beautiful evening - probably be another cold one tonight though!