Travels, Pt. 5

And so we come to what I hope will be the conclusion of our holiday in New Zealand. Amongst the Australian things that I have neglected to mention while blabbering away about New Zealand for the last few weeks are a very posh night out at Valete, my continued disappointment in ANU’s teaching ability, Oktoberfest, and my forever evolving plans to travel Australia. Oh, and the conclusion of assignments this term, leaving me just 3 exams away from freedom.

But onto part 5! The drive to Milford was truly stunning, and Denise had the honours of the drive. It really is the scenic route from Queenstown, almost trebling the length of the journey. Driving through stunning ranforest-esque scenery is amazing enough, but when it falls away to reveal huge glacial regions and mountain roads, it gets even better. No chance to stop here though, as avalanche warnings were in place. Then, through the Homer Tunnel to the stunning Milford region. We stopped soon after to admire The Chasm, where nature showed just what it was capable of.

Meanwhile, I proved to our non-native English speakers that I am definitely not capable of explaining what “chasm” means.

Milford Lodge would push very close for being the smartest hostel we stayed in. As the only place to stay in Milford, it also functions as a high-class hotel, and a supermarket. Arriving too late on the first night to really see much of the area, we chose to take a short walk to the nearest lake, before settling down with board games. The next morning though, we were up bright and early with our plans. Stephan and Chris elected to view the sights with all the intimacy a sea-kayak allows, while Denise, Emily and myself opted for the cruise, which, while it can’t get up any of the creeks of Milford Sound, does have a roof. Given the weather, I feel that was a wise choice indeed.

For those who don’t know, Milford Sound is the name given (erroneously!) to the fjord in Milford. I can only imagine Milford Fjord sounded too silly to use, so they went with Sound. It is the only Sound/Fjord in the whole of Fjordland, New Zealand to be readily available as a tourist destination.

With the weather as it was, the captain of the “Pride of Milford” was delighted to point out the waterfalls of the region, as without the heavy rain, there are usually only two permanent waterfalls. As it was, there were hundreds. The mood was very relaxed despite the weather, with the captain more than happy to invite you into the cabin to chat with him, or just for a better look out. We learnt how five seperate ice ages contributed to the formation of the area, how the trees lock their roots together to survive in the few inches of soil on steep valley sides, how fur seals were almost hunted to extinction, but are now thriving, and that we shouldn’t stand too close to the waterfalls.

And there were a lot of waterfalls.

The boat then dropped us off at Milford Deep, a unique floating museum about the history of Milford, connected to a viewing room 60 feet below the surface. Unique geological factors make this water particularly dark, which has the effect of tricking animals and plants into thinking that at this shallow depth, they are actually several hundred feet below water. This allows the growth of rare black coral (I know it’s white, but it’s “skeleton” is black). After a time spent looking round here, we returned to the mainland, and back to the Lodge, where a very wet Stephan and Chris eventually joined us. Their journey sounded very different, having encompassed a smaller area, but in much greater detail, and the ability to travel up small inlets more than making up for the heavy rain and dodgy rudder.

We had one final journey in Milford, the Lodge boasting a glowworm trail immediately next to it, which was both eerily interesting, and hilariously problematic as we fell over every tree stump, slipped in every puddle, and very nearly landed in the stream.

The next morning, we headed South bright and early, and pleased to see that the avalanche threat was now “low”. Then, it was East, straight across the entirity of the island to Dunedin, the home of Speights, so naturally, we had to partake. With a metre pizza, and a flagon each, we enjoyed a fine meal at Ratbags, and had just enough time to look around the pleasant city of Dunedin before we were off again.

Never forget Dunedin though. A metre pizza, and local beer, easily despatched. (Also, the pizza had duck on it! Duck! So posh…)

Our final destination was earthquake-victim Christchurch. A fine city, but one tarnished by closed streets and collapsed buildings. Our long drive meant we didn’t arrive until late at night, so our main time to view the city also marked our final day in New Zealand, and although you might expect us to rush about to view everything, we were firmly bitten by the New Zealand bug by this time. Taking our time to meander through the botanic gardens, the exotic plant houses, and then finally, the city market stalls, we were as relaxed as possible. Which was handy, as what followed was a lengthy wait in Christchurch airport. From there, it was a long journey back to Canberra via Sydney, and the end of spring break.

All of these people are amazing.

I promise that next time, I’ll let you know what’s been happening in Australia since I got back. After this weekend though, I have to revise for exams, so don’t expect any posts too soon!

And finally, I leave you all with this, a warning about Australia…