The Southisland – our journey 
Here you can follow our journey on the South Island
Link to the previous page nz-south island–eastcoast-e
Milford Sound
Finally arrived in Fjordland. In Christchurch, an unusually nice employee at the tourist information office had drawn up a map for us and marked the special places. This is a great help and saves us time. And this also includes a boat tour through a fjord. We booked a boat tour in Te Anau on the recommendation of a small agency with a lovely young lady who explained everything with so much dedication without being pushy. That’s what you want. She also recommended a few of the many sights along the way.
We had found a nice place to spend the night, but it was quite far from Milford Sound, so we had a long way to go. Instead we discovered a beautiful river and this interesting suspension bridge. Built in 1898/99, it has a span of 111m. It is now closed to cars, but free for pedestrians and cyclists. -G.)
Up early again, a 4-hour drive in the camper and then this incredible boat trip. But even getting there was incredibly impressive, as Petra was luckily able to capture while I was staring at the road. -G.)
We had the Ecotour and were told a lot of interesting facts.
Milford Sound is an inlet 16 km long and 3 km at its widest point. It is 300m deep at its deepest point. It was carved out of the surrounding rocks by glaciers more than 20 thousand years ago. After the glaciers melted, it filled with water. Milford Sound (first called „Milford Haven“) was discovered in 1823 by Welsh seal hunters after James Cock, among others, sailed past the entrance. Interestingly, there is a freshwater basin in the fjord, in which fresh water (sweet water) from the surrounding waterfalls is present on the surface and a few meters deep. Deeper down, it is salt water from the sea. The highest peak in the fjord is Mitre Peak at 1692 meters. Milford Sound is one of the wettest areas in the world with an average of 182 days of rain a year. The entrance to the fjord lies on one of the most active fault zones on earth. The Australian plate slides sideways along it and is pushed under the fjord land by about 36mm per year, so that plate rock is pushed up the mountains – the mountains grow. -G.)
We were lucky enough to see dolphins and New Zealand fur seals. Because of the latter, the trip was extended from 1 ¾ hours to 2 ¼ hours so that we could see the animals without disturbing them. I didn’t even know that there were also fur seals (not to be confused with the bearded ones from the „North Sea coast… -G.) and also elephant seals. Once again we were incredibly lucky with the weather – the sun accompanied us the whole time.
Lake Marian
Then we checked into the only (otherwise probably no one would go there) RV park nearby
( We had run out of color here, but black and white also corresponds more to the reality of this place… -G. )
because the next morning we wanted to go on a hike (we thought) to a waterfall and a lake. Nobody managed the tour in 3 hours, as indicated, and I gave up after 1 ½ hours when I realized that my attention was waning. Gerhard climbed on like a young deer. The path was a riverbed, all stones, all uphill and steeper and steeper. Then it rained the whole time, well what else, it was through the rainforest after all. The stones were slippery and occasionally there was clay soil, on which I slipped when I tried to cross a small hill bent over under a rock. I was lying on my stomach with my arms and legs in the air (the campervan must have felt like this when it was stuck on its stomach) with the rock above me. Although my right knee once again had to hold everything up, I carried on for a while. Gerhard later told me that from then on it was so steep that you had to pull yourself up.
The descent was then very exciting again, falling uphill, you don’t get far, but downhill can be quite long. Luckily there were hardly any people coming towards me, sometimes it was almost eerily lonely, but I could descend as I wanted, if I had to, on the seat of my pants without having to keep my posture (the old are much worse off than the young – THEY can do anything).
Gerhard came back after 4 hours, all tired but proud (he had every reason to be). But the mountain lake was a really worthwhile destination and experience even without sunshine – and now worth a selfie. -G.)
Cleaning the shoes then also took some time.
We wanted to make faster progress now, so we went through and over the mountains, past sheep, cattle and the further we got, the more deer breeders there were.
Around Queenstown is a well-known wine-growing region that produces one of the best Pinot Noir wines. We drive through incredible mountain landscapes again, past fabulous lakes in every shade of blue there is. NZ is criss-crossed by rivers and lakes, you just want to keep pressing the shutter button. Water, water, water shining like aquamarine in the morning, turquoise at midday and sapphire blue in the evening. And then there’s the water that comes from the glaciers……
After cattle, sheep and pigs
it’s the deer – it’s enough to make you cry.
They’re standing here in big herds now
so that they can be Sunday roasts.
Arrowtown
We drive along the Alpine Highway to Haast, stopping off in Arrowtown, a nice little town that could have come straight out of a movie set. Founded in the 1860s at the time of the gold discoveries on the Arrow River, the influence of the first settlers and the Chinese miners can still be felt today and adds to the charm of this place.
Franz Josef Glacier
In Haast we came back to the coast and the contrast on this great highway nestled between ocean and rainforest, winding up high mountains and then down again, away from the ocean it is guaranteed to be accompanied by a lake or river. We drove over tons of bridges in NZ, most of them 100 to 150 years old. In the beginning I often sent out a nudge prayer: please don’t collapse until we’re over it; slowly my confidence grew stronger. Today the roads are much wider than back then and to preserve the bridges there is a right of way system: a traffic sign indicates which side has right of way on each bridge.
Continue on the Glacier Highway.
We walked to the Franz Josef Glacier, always through the stony riverbed that the glacier formed many years ago when it still reached as far as the plain. We were allowed to look at it from a distance, but even that was an experience in itself.
The big advantage over a helicopter flight – you have time to linger and look – and don’t have to „buy“ the screwdriver for the 10-15 minutes. Although, of course, the view from above also has its advantages.
But you can’t look at these incredible rock formations. -G.)
We continued along the Alpine Highway towards Greymouth, which we only knew as the gray, rainy and freezing cold terminus of the TransAlpin Railway.
Pancake Rocks
Then came the Pancakes Rocks….. Should we? We already know everything….We’re slowly getting tired of sightseeing, we’re so stuffed…… But well, at least it’s not too far to walk. And then the unbelievable, where geologists still don’t know exactly how these layers came to be. The formations were lifted out of the sea by the movement of two earth plates. Huh? But that’s roughly how it should have been millions of years ago. So they were definitely formed under water, like all the other formations we have seen, sometimes the water was much, much higher, sometimes it was the ice or glacial water, sometimes the mountains or rocks were lifted out of the water or from sand that was formed into stones by water pressure. Sometimes they stand vertically, sometimes horizontally, sometimes at an angle, depending on how the earth has played along, they have tilted and when the layers of earth stand vertically it makes quite an astonishing impression.
Westport
One day before New Year’s Eve, we were finally in Westport on a nice pitch near the sea. Luckily we were there quite early, as there were still a lot of people who didn’t get a pitch. The hospitality in this place did us good. First everyone was invited to the New Year’s Eve bonfire on the beach, then someone from the town came and asked everyone if everything was OK and if they felt comfortable. Everything was okay and you felt comfortable.
After enjoying a delicious meal, we went to the beach. The beach is full of wood that has been washed ashore by a river that flows into the sea nearby. The wood is piled up like a wigwam, and although fire regulations have been observed, the fire spread to the other wood due to the strong wind that almost always blows in NZ, and because everyone thought it was so beautiful, they let it burn. It was a great atmosphere and we got talking to a few people. The fire department arrived the next morning and extinguished the rather large smouldering fire.
This was the first time we had seen Weka, birds as big as chickens and also flightless like kiwis and super cheeky. They are not shy at all, like the kiwis, and on New Year’s Eve they carried off two of my shoes, which I had trouble finding and could only get out from under the car with a long stick. At first we thought someone was playing a New Year’s Eve joke when we came back from a walk and one shoe was missing until we discovered the many prints in the sand. The next day they hid two of our herb pots under the camper.
In the afternoon, we were visited by a local with an old photo album, who gave us an insight into the history of the city and, at the age of 93, had had an eventful life himself. It was very entertaining and interesting and he does that to get in touch with new people – great. We had a lot of fun.
January 2nd is called Day after New Years Day (that’s right -G.) and is also a public holiday. Christmas, which is a big topic for weeks, is completely over on Christmas Day when everyone has their presents.
Ferry to Wellington (Northisland)
On January 2, we finally made our way to Picton. From Havelock we couldn’t resist a detour into the fabulous fjord landscape, although the time to the ferry was already quite short and we had to drive all the way back again. Man was convinced we could do it, woman was not, because like almost all roads in NZ, everything takes a little longer due to the huge number of bends on very narrow roads, geologically speaking. Luckily (?) all the RV sites on this interesting route were full and so we turned back in the evening and had to spend the night at the only place on the whole route where it was a bit wider because it was getting dark and it was almost impossible to drive on this route (the road is closed for entry at around 9pm! -G.). But since, as I said, there were no more cars anyway, we were very undisturbed. And so the next morning we still made it on time via the Victoria Highway
to get a spot at the only RV park near the ferry. The ferry left Picton at 9:00 the next morning and we proudly managed to be there at 7:35 to join the queue of cars already waiting.
The ferries travel the 96 km route from Picton (South Island) to Wellington (North Island) 4 times a day/night. The crossing takes approx. 3.5 hours, depending on the weather. „Our“ ship was built in Spain in 1998 and sailed under the British flag. 180m long, 25m wide, 6.5m draught and a total weight of approx. 7360 tons. Space for 550 passengers. On board there is a restaurant, a small store, a bar and two larger seating areas. Overall spacious and very comfortable. Depending on the sea state, the rocking is free of charge. It did a pretty good job on the open sea and deprived many passengers of their breakfast. Fortunately, we survived without any damage. -G.)
The crossing was in bright sunshine early in the morning (for the first time in weeks), no clouds, no fog, great and the 3 ½ hours flew by.
We then arrived safely in Wellington and continued our journey here with great expectations.
