12 Dec 2011 Frankton - Te Anau

I volunteered to cook the brekkie and M came to help me with some parts. We bade farewell to the owner. He told us Queenstown is having 32 degrees now. Warm.

I was a bit apprehensive that all the luggage cal fit into the car boot. K and I did a quick visual sizing and decided that J’s suitcase must be in the innermost compartment at all times. Then slowly one by one we put in ours and everything fit nicely. K and I snapped a mental picture on how we fit everything in and for the remaining days, the luggage will always be fit into the boot this way. With all the luggage in, the car pick up speed is affected. We let other cars pass us. 100km/h is the speed limit for most parts, till you come to town, where it reduced to 70 and then 50. The radio station in NZ always play soothing country and hit pops in between, and not the loud metals or raps so that makes listening such a joy, in addition to the scenic ride. I was apprehensive as we driving near Lindis Pass cos I accidentally mistook the winding trail up the mountain as the road that we must pass before getting to Queenstown, it turned out that it is a trail for the farm owner, the main road drivers need not go through it. Guess the horrid experience of driving at the passes in the UK lake districts still haunting me.


Kawarau river, hydroelectric plant can be seen:


With just one toilet stop at a roadside fruit shop, we managed to reach Frankton at 12 noon, which we thought was Queenstown. Which is a good mistake cos we could pump petrol here at Frankton, and the Remarkable Mall which most Queenstown people come to shop is just nearby. And we are on the way to Te Anau, everything suits up. Had our lunch at a Thai restaurant near BP, the fed the car to full tank at BP (got 4 cents off) and head to the New World Supermarket in Remarkable Square. Bought stuff for dinner and brekkie tomorrow for fear that there isn’t any shopping place in Te Anau (unfounded fear cos there is a supermarket in Te Anau!). Met the Singapore adventurer and his family at BP as well as inside the supermarket. Noticed that kiwis like to walk inside the supermarket barefooted, maybe the weather is warm enuff for them.

The drive to Te Anau is felt super long, partly because of the glaring sun. And the windy road. A stopping point to take Lake Wakatipu and you can see the winding road we were on:



I resort to tell stories in order to break the boredom also to ensure M awake throughout the drive, it works. They love the story. Finally we reached Birchwood Cottage at 6pm. The lady owner advised us on the route to Milford Sound the next morning and all. M is again busy with her laundry. The family next door also came from Singapore and have kindly shared the clothes pegs with M. Their itinenary baffled us though, cos it will take some to and fro within the South Island, wonder if they really plan it that way, or we have heard the sequence wrongly.

Birchwood is not as good as Parkhead, pretty dated. I still like it cos this time round, I gotto sleep in single bed (yay!) and need not share a bed with J. Get down to baking pizza since they have stove and viola, dinner is ready. (we are much more efficient this time after the long wait for dinner at Lake Tekapo heehee). We bought a roast chicken, just nice. After the dinner, went to town for walk, most shops already closed. There are a few Chinese restaurants around though. We walked to the jetty and took some photos before heading back to the cottage to dry our laundry. J shared the nougats he bought from the fruit shop with us, tasted quite nice.

13 Dec 2011 Milford Sound - Queenstown

Woke up super early today cos we have a cruise at Milford Sound to catch. The owner has opened up the garage so that we can leave our luggage there while we went North to Milford. We stopped at some places to take photos, roads get misty at some sections.






(Above 2 pictures by K)

Just before the tunnel, large patches of ice are found at the foot of the cliff. That’s how cold it can be. And we were still complaining about the sweltering heat we got while driving to Te Anau and at Te Anau itself. (South was having dryspell at that time while Nelson and North Island was lashed by heavy rain and flood).



Warning sign: Do not trespass!


We played with ice and once the traffic light turned green, we quickly got back to the car as it is our turn to cross the tunnel. It is pitch dark inside and since we were tailing some tour buses, their tail light was anything the but our source of direction.




Once we are out of the tunnel, we are quite near the jetty. There is a lovely boardwalk to the jetty as all cars must be parked 500m away from the jetty.



We made enquiry on the 3 hour Nature Cruise, which cost slightly more but the motel owner told us more worth it compared to the mere 1.5 hour Scenic Cruise.
Once we bought the ticket, we quickly went on board as the ship is sailing in 5 minutes time. There is a photographer taking pictures of people boarding the ship, you can buy them if you want to keep it as a souvenir.



Wind chill is killing, so cold. Mitre Peak and the waterfalls slowly appear one by one. Notice the same view under sunshine upon our return somewhere down this page, for contrast =P




Canoes:


The wind was so strong that the water from the mountain could not even flow down at the waterfall, was blown up by the wind instead. You can see the broken water stream in the photo. You can also see the video of the water stream being blown upwards in the following youtube link:



As you can see from the picture, the trees do not have their roots on the rocky cliff face. They are actually being supported or pulled by the trees above. So if the tree above give way, the whole domino will fall!


The scenic cruise in front of us:

We cruised along and finally making a turn at the sunny Tasman Sea, where few thousands km across would be Sdyney. Clear sky on Tasman Sea as opposed to the gloomy Milford Sound we came from.
The view of gloomy Milford Sound as I shoot the back of the ship:

As opposed to the sunny Tasman Sea 180 degrees straight ahead:


The captain set the sail up and cruise along Tasman Sea. The hills around Anita Bay grew at one of the fastest rate thanks to the techtonic plate movement.



We sailed back to the gloomy sound after we have enough sunshine at the open sea.



The little white dot in front is the same ship that was in front of us earlier. Since that ship was smaller and was probably a scenic cruise, they did not go to the sea.

We were treated to the baby seal colonies. The seals are seeking refuge in the sound to avoid the predators.





The ship needed a bath and we turned to the waterfall where the captain ordered those who prefer to remain dry to stand near the aft as the starboard side will get near to the waterfall.









After the baptism, we turned in to see if there are penguins at the Harrison Cove but to no avail.



I would say the scenery beats the three gorges in China as the cliffs are still high above the water, as opposed to the flooded gorge in Chang Jiang.
The sun has finally come out at the jetty side as well.



By now, we are all refreshed. Head straight to the car and went to a few scenic stopovers recommended by the owner.

The chasm is the first one. We managed to shoot a double rainbow at the chasm.



Second one is the Mirror Lake, renowned for its reflection of mountain in the morning. We went in the afternoon so…



We got back to Te Anau at 4pm. We went to a Chinese take away and ordered some food and ate outside the shop in blinding sunlight. I bought a cone of ice cream to keep myself chilled. Newspaper headline –Invercargill and the south is experiencing dry spell.

We went back to Birchwood and took our luggage and brace ourselves for the 3 hour drive back to Queenstown. Surprisingly, the drive back seems faster, probably cos everyone is laughing at each other stories and puzzles. A blink and we already at Frankton arm at 7pm. Went to Remarkables to stock up groceries again before we drove another 6km to Queenstown proper to find our apartment. Bought a tub of hokey pokey icecream!


It was a very steep drive up to Heritage Park Apartment. I almost thought the Camry could not do it with all the luggages but surprisingly it held UP. It is at the top of the hill as shown in this picture:




We were greeted by Aily’s son Valentine and he toured us the unit. My lucky number 14 and Valentine stays in 5, also my lucky number!





We were awed by the luxury accommodation that we only managed to book at very last minute when K finally confirmed his ticket. The apartment has 3 levels: living room, dining hall and kitchen are in the second level, washing machine, dryer and bed rooms are in the third level and all rooms have the lake view. The view is to die for. I took Queenstown photos at different times of the day every day and pasted them here for comparison. The whole Lake Wakatipu and the quaint township is within sight. The windows are placed such that you can watch TV while washing dishes, every mum’s dream.



We decided to leave the luggage at second level and not drag it up to the third floor. We were watching Alice in the Wonderland while eating a simple dinner we cooked ourselves. J, K and I decided to walk to town at 9pm. The sky is still quite bright at this time. New World supermarket is still opened, and according to Valentine, supermarket open till midnight. There are casinos in the town. The lake is pretty quiet in the evening. We saw an Indian restaurant Bombay Palace offering “all curry at $14 on Wed” and J said we should try it since Wed is coming. Queenstown is pretty much an adventure-adrenalin pumping town, the whole street is full of adventure shops.

We went back at around 1030pm, the walk back up was really tough to say the least.

Once we were home, another problem. If need to ventilate the toilet after business, one need to open window. But if open window, bugs will start to fly in. How??

14 -16 Dec 2011 Queenstown

14 Dec 2011 Wed



When I heard that familiar sound, I knew I can sleep till a later time. The familiar plat on the roof couldn’t be mistaken. It is raining outside. Might as well – the sun and the heat is killing. I have all the excuses in the world to just snuggle in. Aily called us and asked us to gather in her office, and she started like telling us the various activities available. The fun yakking is quite appealing, canyoning to J and skydiving to K. We sort of made up our minds but wonder if the weather will hold up.

Drove to Arrowtown and tour around the Chinese gold mining settlement.



I have no idea how the miners survived the harsh winter in houses like these. Even summer is already so cold!



I went to a community pool and the lifeguard Peter has kindly let me in and take a look. I realize I need a dip to cure the aching body, a result of squeezing at the backseat for days. Told Peter that I might come back on Friday, then realize it is actually quite a distance between Queenstown and Arrowtown actually.
We went on to Wanaka via crown range and the 120km turned out to be a long drive but the view from the top is all worth it.



Bravo cyclists actually braced themselves and went up this winding steep road – we cheered them on. The cyclists waved back to acknowledge.



(Pictures courtesy of K)

Reached Wanaka lake and it is drizzling again. Sail boats actually available for rent at 55/hr. Paddle boat and canoe also available. Not many renters though cos it is drizzly. There are two angmo gals who swam to the floating platform – isn’t it cold?


(Picture courtesy of K)


M and K had some food and we are good to proceed to Puzzling World.




The toilet is quite cute. I went in the toilet thinking that it was the male toilet. The sign indicated male toilet anyway. When I walked in, I saw ladies walking around and I freaked out! I quickly went out again to check the sign. Correct, male toilet indeed. I was tricked! The male toilet sign is just to trick you. The actual male toilet is further in haha. This is the common space shared by both toilets. The murals on the wall is very deceiving as well haha. People likes to sit on the toilet bowls on both rows and take photos.


(Pictures courtesy of K)

The entrance fee stopped us from venture further. We just sat at the common area playing some games, aimlessly. They got sell very funny 3D moving bookmarks though, interesting. Can see horses racing, penguins tip-toeing, elephant scratching butt on rock and so on.
There is this challenge to Psychic power at Puzzling World, which was unclaimed since 2004. If you are interested, feel free to try, NZD10k awaits.

We drove back via the motorway to save some time. Ended up in another New World Supermarket at Queenstown (this one really open till 12 midnight, while the one at town centre opens till 930pm). Did the usual groceries/brekkie shopping and drove to Bombay Palace to have our 14-dollars curry. We love the food. K loved their Massala tea, a drink he love to drink ever since he first tasted it in Singapore.

J like this sweet shop very much and bought quite a few stuff from here.

(Picture courtesy of K)

Icebar:

(Picture courtesy of K)

Once we went back to the apartment, K started to show the movie 3 idiots that he kept telling us about. M and her daughter was very keen cos they already watched it twice but love the show. I wasn’t quite impressed at first but grew to love the show. It is a very meaningful show and everyone should watch it.



15 Dec 2011 Thu





Today gotto wake up real early, all except K as his skydiving only starts in the afternoon. Funyakking shuttle service will leave from Info Centre at 730am so we have to leave the apartment and walk down around 7am. We ended up at Info Centre at 715am and I asked the counter lady whether I could join last minute. J and M were surprised that I decided to join them last minute. On the way to Glenorchy, the bus stopped and let us take the reflection pictures. One could see as far as Mount Aspiring from where we stood (across Mount Aspiring will be Milford Sound). Those pictures taken turned out to be one of the most scenic shots I made in this trip, which was a surprise cos I didn’t feel very impressed at that point in time, perhaps due to waking up early.







The shuttle bus continue and before long we were already at the office. Briefing and then we all changed into wet suits and get onto the Jet Boat.


The driver drove us for some spins before letting us off at somewhere head stream. That’s where the ladies have to do their business in a makeshift toilet while the guys have to do it at the bush, after taking off the wetsuits and lifejacket and what have you. The thought of stripping everything made one hesitant to answer nature’s call, no matter how urgent. Knowing myself, I decided to do it nonetheless less I pee in the wetsuit (yuks).

Rosy explained the principle of fun-yakking to us and two-to-three in a team and off we went. The first challenge was the roller coaster ride, which we gasped in horror on how M and Rosy went through: up and down and up and down! And then when we went through it, it wasn’t as rocky as we thought. So we remember the rules: if you see are merging into streams or see rocks, flash ur bums. Front person row, behind person is the captain and is supposed to control direction. After some fun yakking, Rosy asked us to stop at the shore, get down, drag the kayak up to a small little stream whose water is clearer in colour and rest the kayak at the shore of this smaller, clearer stream.


(This picture was taken by J)

That’s where we are going to have lunch. Wading in the cold stream water is a numbling experience, I couldn’t imagine people who actually thrust their bodies down in the water flat to take picture. According to J, it is f**king cold inside the water. Duh!?

The crew lay down a few tables and put the buffet spread on the tables and we helped ourselves to the food. Hungry but in good spirit. The sun shone down generously, gone were the gloomy days. I took out my wet-boots and let it dry under the sun.
One of the guide explain the significance of the rock Pounamu to us. One is supposed to buy pounamu and give it to someone they love dearly and not for oneself.



After the lunch, the crew inflate the kayak and we went upstream to see the chasm. The colour of the water is so pristine.

We sang the birthday girl Hazel a happy birthday song. She was from Wellington/Auckland(?) and the hubby decided to celebrate her birthday in the South Island by treating both of them to the fun-yakking. So sweet of them, the flame never grow old =)


(This picture was taken by J)


(This picture was taken by J)

Our excited guide Rosy:

(This picture was taken by J)

After we came out of the chasm, we tied our kayak with Rosy’s and row for a short distance downstream and had a few more scary moments intended for thrill effect before we finally landed on Paradise.


(This picture was taken by J)

Yes, Paradise.

That’s the place where they shot Lord of the Ring. And many other films like Wolverine. For a fee like 10k a day. Remember the shot where the trees started to walk and helped the hobbits to fight a losing battle? It was filmed there.

We washed up the kayaks and deflate it and move them to the trucks. We went up to the bus. After 30 minutes or so, we reach the adventure office and returned all our gear. We managed to get some drinks to hydrate ourselves before our next part journey back to Queenstown.

We texted K and he happened to be at home, said he will join us. It turned out that he didn’t get to dive today due to strong wind condition. He already all dressed up but the instructor just stopped the flying.



(Pictures courtesy of K)

Managed to find a Chinese restaurant to pack my fried rice for dinner. Bought a pair of sandals at Kathmandu (not because it is cheap but a pair of sandals is convenient during the trip). J and M went down to town to buy fish and chip at PJ's and so coincident that someone tapped M shoulder and asked if she remembered her. M's mmory buffer doesnt allow storage more than 1 day, so she gave this lady a panda do-i-know-u look. This lady apparently was M's schoolmate back in NUS and she affectionally refer M as Caroline (another classmate of M is Caroline TML, same first name as M, God saves all MLs!!!), while M trying very hard to recall her name but failed. This lady was also buying fish and chip with her family at the same outlet. J watched the whole scene in disbelieve and thoroughly amused. At the name Caroline as well as at M's inability to recall the name even after she got back to Heritage. I guess half of Singapore have flocked to NZ.

Walked back to the apartment, this time we discovered a shorter route to the apartment, but still need to walk up to the same height, pant pant.

At night, a damn funny and crude and lewd commercial came up while K, me and M’s daughter were watching TV. At first we didn’t know how to react cos the commercial is about push up bra and the plaster that reduce fats near the thigh area but the graphics is damn lewd and in very bad taste. After the whole commercial was over, we all laughed uncontrollably, to the amazement of J and M, who now came to see what happened in the living room. We couldn’t quite explain ourselves and the damn commercial never really came on again. But I still laugh whenever I thought of that commercial and recall the expressions of K as he tried to explain the commercial details to J and M.



16 Dec 2011 Fri



Today is back to gloomy drizzly day again. J went for his canyoning. We were sitting in front of the Tv and saw people hanging to the tree branches that was washed by torrents. The headline said: Nelson devastated by flood. Isnt Nelson where we supposed to go after fox Glacier? Now that it is flooded heavily…

The few of us decided to go to Frankton pool today. A fully heated indoor pool is all that we need at the moment. Before going into the pool, I went to try out their gym instead. An additional $8 needed on top of the pool entrance of $8. Had a good workout before I went for the pool and hot water soak. It was a very good experience I must say. Their pool allowed pad and flippers and I got to try on those thanks to a friendly chap who let me try his. They are supposed to increase the resistance, not lessen it, so that you have a good workout.

We went back to town. K and I had a walk in the rose garden and the botanical garden. Ice skating rink is closed for good till next winter. We met up wit J at the Info Centre and he told us his canyoning was cut down to half day cos of drizzly weather.

We went back to the apartment and started cooking dinner again. Watched Slumpdog Millionaire.

Before we leave this page, I will put together the view of Queenstown as seen from our apartment balcony at different times as a wrap up for this piece:

First day when we just arrived in the evening, when the sun is about to set:


Drizzly morning on a second day:


At 7am on the third day before we went out for Fun-yakking:


After dark (around 1030pm) on the last night:


Just before we set off on the very last day, with some clouds to don the sky:


K’s video to show the lovely town from day to dawn, from his window:

Anyone interested to own a piece of property in Queenstown?? They published a whole tabloid of real estate ads, and the view of Heritage is lovely isnt it??

You have probably reached the end of the page. But thats not the end of our adventure. Please click the Older Posts link below on right hand side to continue reading.