Farmland and fjords

After the rain and gales overnight we woke to a damp morning. Getting ourselves organised, grateful to Aurum Winery for leaving their toilet block open, we headed on, driving mostly on the southern scenic route which cuts a lazy arc from Queenstown to Te Anau, Manapouri, Tuatapere, Riverton and Invercargill. We’ve covered approximately 564km the last couple of days!

Glenorchy

The road out of Cromwell took us along the SH6, through Kawarau Gorge and across the Gibbston Valley, past numerous vineyards and wineries.

These vines in Gibbston Valley are certainly not as far on as Cromwell

The not very impressive “Roaring Meg” a turbulent stream that drives a hydro-electric power station and merges with the Kawarau River

Dropping down in to Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu lay before us. The plan was to stop off in Queenstown and have a look around but parking is at a premium in the town centre and when you are driving a bus ……. maybe next time! We had already decided to stay out at Glenorchy, which lies at the head of the lake, 46km outside Queenstown. The road to it skirts Mount Crichton and Mount Larkins along the side of Lake Wakatipu. The views were just stunning.

We had booked in to Camp Glenorchy Eco Retreat without knowing it was one of Time Magazine’s 2019 World’s 100 Greatest Places to stay.

Camp Glenorchy Eco Park is 100% self sustaining. It produces more energy than it uses, harvests all the rain water falling on site and reuses all of its grey water. It had amazing communal accommodation

Kitchen area – which was fully equipped with every utensil you could think of

The dining area – where we spent a very pleasant evening with Bridget from Germany who was on week six of eight of her NZ trip (a housewife who travels without her husband) and Aidee Walker, a New Zealand actress taking part in a drama being filmed at Paradise. Google her……!!!!

The only thing I wasn’t so sure about were the composting toilets! Didn’t really like looking down a long dark hole when I opened the lid and the draft it blew up my oxters……

Promise…. It is only a photo or two this time!

The town of Glenorchy is an honest little town nestled at the end of the lake and surrounded by majestic mountains. General store, couple of restaurants, it has provided the backdrop for many films, including The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Glenorchy is still recovering from the flood of November 1999 when 350mm of rain fell in the lakes catchment area over three days.

After a wonderful evening, good night’s sleep we headed off down the road again….

It was our intention to stop in Queenstown but the rain came on! We will be back, so third time lucky!

Despite the rain the road towards Te Anau was very picturesque…. It clung on to the side of The Remarkables before opening in to plush farmland

En route we stopped for coffee at Garston – the most inland settlement in New Zealand!

Te Anau

Te Anau is nestled on the edge of Lake Te Anau the largest lake in the South Island and second largest in NZ. It is the main visitor base for the Fiordland National Park.

I’m sure it is a great spot but as the rain came on about an hour after we arrived and stayed on, I really can’t comment! It had been our plan to drive down to Milford Sound early the next morning but the road has been closed for a number of days from 5pm ish until mid morning. Instead we booked ourselves on a tour to Doubtful Sound.

Doubtful Sound

Doubtful Sound is only accessible by boat and in order to visit you need to drive (or take a bus) to the town of Manapouri, join a cruise across Lake Manapouri and then get a bus over Wilmot Pass to Deep Cove to join a cruise on Doubtful Sound.

On the north arm of the lake there are excellent examples of “spider rock” – where molten rock has burst through pre existing rock!

Manapōuri is the largest hydro power station in New Zealand, and is located on the edge of Lake Manapōuri’s West Arm. It has seven 122 megawatt generating units, and an operating maximum station output of 800 megawatts. Manapōuri generates enough electricity each year for about 619,000 average New Zealand homes! The hydro power station is located underground, with the station’s generating units housed in a cavern excavated from rock 200 metres below the surface of Lake Manapōuri.

On arrival at West Arm we were out on to buses for the journey to Deep Cove, the head of Doubtful Sound. The road was created to accommodate the supplies needed to build the power station. It was commenced in 1963 and took three years to build. Our driver for the day was John Lockie, a retired forester with a very dry sense of humour but an amazing commentatorday on the follage and history of the landscape.

One of the many rivers cascading down the mountainside

Sometimes called the ‘Sound of Silence’ Doubtful Sound is the deepest (421 metres) and second longest (40 kilometres) of the South Island’s fiords. It was named Doubtful Harbour by Captain James Cook, who didn’t sail into the inlet because he was doubtful winds would blow him back out to sea again.

Doubtful Sound has some splendid waterfalls, particularly during the wetter seasons. In the Hall Arm, the Browne Falls cascades 619 metres; Helena Falls at Deep Cove tumbles 220 metres.

We went out to the end of the fjord to the Tasmanian Sea in the search of penguins, dolphins etc but to no avail!

Fabulous trip and great weather for it.

To Invercargill

Milford Sound is closed again so we decided to head south to Invercargill and Bluff! Compared to the mountains behind us the road was wide open pastures with cows, sheep, alpacas and lots of deer….

This is a common sight in NZ – one lane bridges! One side has right of way and the other gives way – save a fortune in construction costs!

How fab is this rock formation? The overhang is deep enough to store a digger underneath it!

Clifden Suspension Bridge – was built in 1898-99 to replace a punt which had operated since the early days of settlement. It is 111m long and was originally used by horse and cart traffic and later by vehicles. It remained in operation until 1978 when a new bridge was built 130 metres downstream to cater for traffic to and from the Manapouri power project. It was the longest wooden suspension bridge in New Zealand when built.

The bridge also has a plaque to remember those from the area who died in the Great War

The port town of **Bluff** was previously known as Campbelltown and is the oldest European settlement in New Zealand. It is thirty kms south of Invercargill, is home to the iconic Bluff Oyster Festival and is the gateway to Stewart Island.

A must see at Bluff is Stirling Point. It marks the southern end of State Highway 1, which runs the length of New Zealand, and has a fingerpost displaying distances to major cities in the world – New Zealand’s Land’s End

Close to the fingerpost is a chain sculpture which symbolises the Maori belief that Stewart Island is anchored to South Island; a similar sculpture in Rakiura National Park represents the other end of the chain.

Invercargill (Waihōpai) was founded in the 1850’s, and is New Zealand’s southernmost city. It has wide streets in a gridded layout – great for finding our way about! Though the town is undergoing extensive redevelopment and restoration there is a lot of evidence of grand Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco heritage including a number of listed buildings….

Alexander Buildings – Three-storied, brick, Queen Ann-style category 2 listed building

Did you notice the train crossing in the above photograph …..

**St. Mary’s Basilica** is a Catholic Church in designed by the celebrated New Zealand architect, Francis Petre and opened in 1905

Since we decided to come this far south Paul had one stop he wanted to make in Invercargill and that was at E Hayes & Sons Hardware Store! The reason being they have over 100 items of motoring memorabilia including the actual motorbike that Bert Munro broke the world speed record on (the world’s fastest Indian).

This part of our journey, unplanned, was very windy and a tad wet at times but very enjoyable and again lovely people from the girl at the petrol station to Chris at the pub where we had dinner! And the lovely girls at PaknSave – remember yellow pack at Stewart’s supermarket????