On day 6 of the road trip (Monday 30 March) we left Queenstown and headed for Te Anau in Fiordland, a place very well known to myself and Giigan by then, since this was to be our third visit to the region. Giigan was the driver for the first hour of our journey, but as we'd cleared most signs of human habitation and only the stray possum was in any danger of becoming overrun, the driver seat was relinquished to Juuso, who had expressed his interest in experiencing what it's like to drive "on the wrong side of the road".
Later on, the steering wheel was commanded by Eeva, who didn't want to miss the opportunity either. For the second time since buying our green Bluebird, Giigan and I found ourselves in the back seat! We could have gotten used to it.
A slightly confused Eeva.Arriving in Te Anau we quickly checked in to our hostel, the Rainbow Downs Barnyard Backpackers, which has become our usual place to stay in that region of NZ. We had a nice lunch at the Sandfly Cafe (luckily devoid of the little buggers) before having a competition at the nearby minigolf course. The loser had to buy a round of beer at the opposite Red Cliff Cafe (which contrary to its name actually is a terrific restaurant), and if memory serves right, the drinks were on Juuso. While enjoying the cold beers in the sunny weather we took the opportunity of playing petanque in the court at the back of the cafe. With an almost crushing victory, team Eeva/JBB disillusioned the cocky arrogance of team Juuso/Giigan. Högmod går före fall, as we say in Swedish.
In the evening we came back to the Red Cliff Cafe to have dinner, and what a dinner it was (we had dinner with Giigan's parents there too and it was just as good)! The Red Cliff serves delicious, distinctive food and possesses a warm, cozy atmosphere as well. No wonder some of the stars of the Lord of the Rings movies liked to dine there too!
Day 7 saw us going on a day trip to Milford Sound. Juuso and Eeva went on a cruise and afterward we all shared a picnic in the fantastic scenery and late afternoon sunshine.
Is there a better place for a picnic than this?The next day we got to admire another fantastic fjord: Doubtful Sound. Giigan and I went on a day cruise, while Juuso and Eeva went on an overnight cruise. Both cruises depart from Manapouri, which is a small town 20 km south from Te Anau, and start with a cruise across the island-studded Lake Manapouri. At the Manapouri underground hydro power station you board a coach, which takes you on the Wilmot Pass road to Deep Cove. The day cruise includes a tour of the underground power station before the coach trip. The power station is very impressive. The coach drives down a spiraling vehicle access tunnel which is 2 km long until you're 200 metres below the surface of Lake Manapouri. The machine hall is deep inside the mountain and looks like something from a James Bond movie. There are seven generators each providing 121,5 MW of electricity. If you're interested in reading more about this fascinating hydro power station, go here.
After 22 km along the Wilmot Pass road we arrived at Deep Cove, the head of Doubtful Sound, located 40 km from the open sea. There we boarded our vessel for the three hour cruise on the fjord, which is about three times longer than Milford Sound. Doubtful Sound is in fact the second largest of the 14 fjords in the Fiordland National Park (Dusky Sound is the largest), and as we soon discovered, completely different compared to Milford Sound. Nonetheless immensely beautiful, but in a another way. Whereas the water of Milford Sound is surrounded by sheer, at times even vertical cliff faces, the overall look of Doubtful Sound is a lot more round and undulating. The fjord is also a lot broader and has three arms. Comparing the two fjords is, however, like comparing Salma Hayek and Ksenia Sukhinova. Sure, both are very beautiful, but a verdict can be nothing but subjective.
On the Doubtful Sound cruise.The following day (Thu 2 April) we picked up Eeva and Juuso as they returned from their overnight cruise of the fjord and headed back to Queenstown. We had lunch at the Arrowtown Brewery in the former gold mining town Arrowtown just north of Queenstown. This time we stayed at the Garden Court Apartments in Queenstown; an option on par with our apartment accommodation in Wanaka.
Friday 3 April marked the 10th and last full day of our road trip. To honour this we played a round of golf at what has to be one of the most scenic golf courses in NZ: the Queenstown Golf Course located on the peninsula Kelvin Heights, which juts out into Lake Wakatipu. It was absolutely amazing, and I think I speak for all four of us when I say that was one of the most pleasant games of golf I've ever enjoyed, despite the results which aren't worthy the light of day. The perfect day was topped off with a home-made farewell dinner á la JBB & Giigan. We finally got to uncork the bottle of sparkling from the Christchurch hotel too.
JBB teeing off at the Queenstown Golf Course.Saturday was a day of goodbyes. Juuso's and Eeva's flight left in the morning and the two of us were left wondering what to do next. The past 10 days had been so action-packed that we were suddenly at a loss of what to do with ourselves. The process of getting back to everyday life, meaning not living in comfy motels and apartments and eating gourmet food, had to begin.
We had the most amazing time together with Juuso and Eeva, and are looking very much forward to them visiting us in Australia too. Thanks for not choosing a pacific island resort! :-)
Juuso and Eeva enjoying a massage before the ~35 h flight back home.MORE PICTURES are available here.
See a VIDEO CLIP of a remarkable dawn over Queenstown here (during an earlier visit to Queenstown on 26.2.2009).
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