Aoraki

We arrived at Aoraki (Mt Cook) to a gorgeous day with full view of the mountains. With the following day's forecast being for bad weather the time was now to do the walk to Mueller's Hut.
It's definitely the hardest walk I've done because really it's just a vertical climb all the way up.


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Cruising

In Australia we plan camping trips and long hikes to see beautiful waterfalls. Here in NZ and particularly at Milford Sound they are literally everywhere and with such great volume and height you nearly start to take them for granted.

Today we are cruising the fiord itself. This morning was quite wet and although we couldn't see the tops of the mountains the waterfalls were something to see. We came upon a discounted overnight cruise and it really has been fabulous to come and soak up the scenery. The weather cleared and so we can see the mountain tops. The cruise also has an option to kayak and we spent the most beautiful hour and half enjoying this area peacefully.

In between the cruises we did some short walks and this shot is of the tunnel on Milford Sound road with waterfalls all over it and the car is one of the dots in the foreground.








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This morning's view

We've had a night of steady rain and I have this misty view as I finish my morning's coffee. Every time I look up there's another waterfall.


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Location:Milford Sound Hwy,Fiordland National Park,New Zealand

Milford Sound

Today would have to be the best day I've had driving EVER! I was told the drive was beautiful but still I did not expect this. As Bernard's mum says, AWESOME! And we haven't done the cruise yet. Tomorrow is the cruise and we plan to do the Key Summit Walk tomorrow as well. Our pattern seems to be one day driving, one day 'tramping'.


We only did a very short walk today but the result was still gorgeous.


This is the Chasm. Again the photo does it no justice but the water is fierce, blue and clear.

Location:Milford Sound Hwy,Fiordland National Park,New Zealand

On our way to Milford sound

Yesterday was a 'rest day' at Wanaka, a very picturesque town on a lake's edge. We went for a bike ride in the morning and hiked to the top of Iron Mountain in the afternoon.



The destination of our bike ride.




The about to be newly weds on the hike.

Right now we're on our way to Milford Sound and having a quick wifi fix with lunch at the Fat Duck at Te Anau. Lucky Bernard and I spend a lot of time in the car together for talking time!

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The Perfect Drive

Friday: Franz Jozsef to Wanaka

Photos never do scenery justice, but yesterday (Friday) was just perfect. Winding roads, majestic snow capped mountain scenery with rocky rivers or turquoise lakes, and cloudless skies - there's no better combination for driving a sports car with the top down. It's heaps of fun to drive and I've been surprised to find that not only do you see the sky but you hear the birds in the area and smell the air: sometimes it's salty and humid, or fresh and crisp along with a pleasant earthy smell of whatever livestock is in the area.


I've added the brochure of where we hiked on Fox Glacier on Thursday. It's a deceptively huge area and seeing the Eiffel Tower graphic puts it on perspective. You can also appreciate how far up the glacier we landed and so we were the only people in that area.



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Seal colony

Today's a big driving day. From Karamea to Franz Josef it's 277 km but we expect it to take 5 hrs just in drive time! And there's plenty to see on the way. First, we saw the seal colony. We're resting up right now, about to see Pancake Rocks.






These are some of the Pancake Rocks, you can see why they're so named! Looking behind the rocks you can see the coastline that's typical of the West Coast of NZ: it's rocky, the ocean is so rough it's not surfable, and the mountains descend steeply, at times right to the waterline. This why this side of NZ is so often described as "wild". - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thurs: Glaciers

We went on a heli-hike today! The helicopter took us up the valley to Fox Glacier. The pilot hadn't been to this glacier, so he really took us from one side to the other to have a look. Once we landed, we got out gingerly onto to the ice, put crampons on, and walked around on the glacier for three hours. There were lots of features to see: the photo of me is in front of an ice cave and the photo with both of us has the upper part of the glacier in the background.

We spent most of the time at Fox then very late in the afternoon power walked to Franz Jozsef which is really spectacular.

Because we squeezed in a lake walk to we think we must have hiked a good seven km today in all. We will sleep well tonight that's for sure.


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B&B Farmstay

This is the view from our farmstay on the west coast of New Zealand. They have dairy cows and their milk is used for Ezi-yo





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Location:Karamea Hwy,Little Wanganui,New Zealand