New Zealand Road Trip / South Island / Day 3 : Queenstown and Fiordland

Saturday 7th April, 2012

Along the lake and a glimpse of the Fiordland

State Highway 6 and State Highway 94; 282 km

The journey ahead, despite being with an incredible destination at the end, was not quite satisfyingly exciting! I wasn't sure if that was because of the high excitement from seeing the glaciers (albeit not from a satisfyingly close distance) yesterday. But since it was not a very long journey to make, we pressed on.


At eight-thirty in the morning, the sun was already up, nice, bright and quite warm. After enjoying the view of the very calm Lake Dunstan, we drove towards Queenstown, a city that I have always wanted to visit, said to be picture perfect. I was again wishing I really know how to take great pictures, I might be able to produce my own travel postcards from this visit to Queenstown.

Along the road just as we left Cromwell

Two hours on, we reached the world renown adventure city of Queenstown, nestled on the shore of stunning Lake Wakatipu. We took a break to walk around the city centre, and decided that no amount of hours was enough to enjoy the city that day. This city would also be great to be seen covered in snow, so we agreed that we will have to come back and do a proper holiday here in the future, preferable in winter. This camping trip cannot accommodate a longer stay, so we left after a couple of hours of window shopping.

Above: A bit of Queenstown, for now...

Below: Leaving Queenstown

About 40 minutes drive along the lake, we arrived in Kingston, and had a quick stop to see the vintage steam train, The Kingston Flyer. This was also only for a brief look, then it was time for lunch. Another sandwich lunch at the beautiful surrounding of the southern end of Lake Wakatipu.

The Kingston Flyer, ready to go. For more information, visit the official site.

The next part of the journey, with the view of the lake ended as we left Kingston, was more or less a blur, with me going in and out of my sleep. Fifteen minutes after three in the afternoon we arrived in Te Anau, and after stocking up our little fridge we went to our camping site where we will be spending the night. 


It was a bit of a disappointment when we got there. The lady at the counter was a bit rude when we asked for a site that faced the setting sun, overlooking a lake. She told us that the requested site was for "tourist" and that she would require an additional charges. I was wondering what did she meant by "tourist" and she said, "its for campers who did not make the booking online!" I had a feeling that she thought we were too stingy to pay the additional NZ$4.00 for the site. 


I asked her about the free internet usage that was included in our booking, and she gave me some sort of internet card with some credit value in it. When I asked her if we can use the facility on more than one devices, she said in a very unfriendly way that she didn't care how we intend to use the internet. I just thought that she just didn't have a clue that some travellers, even those going around in a funny looking little van, do have their Macbook, iPad and iPhone with them to access the internet! How rude!


I am very tempted to name the camping site here, but for now I will leave it at this, if anyone would like to know the details, do let me know. Another disappointment at this camping site was the kitchen facility. It was there, yes but it was not properly maintained with the best interest of client in mind. The picture of the barbecue below is just a small part of what I found. 

The late afternoon sun seem to help a bit with the situation and despite not being very happy with the camping site, I found myself cooling it down by soaking up the last bit of the heat from the sun. I was determined that that was just one of the challenges that you would have to face when you leave all the comfort of a hotel far behind when you travel. The best thing to do was to sleep it over and try to get as much rest as possible for more adventure tomorrow.

New Zealand Road Trip / South Island / Day 2 : Into the Glaciers

Friday 6th April, 2012

Hokitika to Cromwell with the glaciers in between

State Highway 6; 465 km


So it wasn't that bad, spending the night in the van. I was really tired anyway. Then again, with the very quiet surrounding, who will stir in their sleep?

It was suggested that a night in Hokitika should include a walk to the glow worm dell where you can see these unusual creatures from a distance of only a few metres away. I have seen glow worms before, in one of the caves in Mulu National Park, so I was not that excited about that here.

After breakfast, we began our second day at 8 am. This is going to be a long day and it seem like there are so many interesting places to see today. The day was fine, and the distance mountains visible from the road added to the pleasant start.

While the all yellowish brown autumn grassland and stoney hills views dominating yesterday's journey, today we were driving through a lush green forest. An hour into the drive, we arrived at Lake Lanthe. Early morning mists were still floating above the clear water of the lake, perfect for practising my photography skill, if at all. So here are a couple to share.

From Lake Lanthe, it took us about 45 minutes to get to what for me was one of the most spectacular destinations in our road trip, the Franz Josef Glacier, named after Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. To experience it fully, you just have to be there yourself. We chose what seem to be the closer and shorter walk to view the glacier. What we didn't know was that this would take us on an uphill walk right to the viewing platform, Sentinel Rock. With my basic DSLR camera, I only managed to capture the view from the distance. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the view, and for just being there. This was my first close proximity experience with a glacier, well as close as that lookout point allowed anyway, but it was amazing nevertheless!

Half an hour drive from Franz Josef Glacier, we arrived at Fox Glacier township, which offers an intimate 'village' experience than its neighbour Franz Josef. We stopped for a quick bite and coffee and before heading off to the glacier, had a quick look in small shop that was also an information centre. And like any eager tourist, I bought some souvenirs, too.

New Zealand is a place for outdoor adventure. It offers some amazing opportunities for nature lovers to enjoy the beauty of the country, tramping, cycling, hitch-hiking ... and whatever you do, it's always good to have a bar, or three, of chocolate in your backpack. Enough energy is important, whatever your excuse! 

Likewise, taking care of your skin is also important. Our skin can dry out easily when it is very cold. I found some skincare products made from the Rotorua thermal mud. I used the hand creme during the trip and it worked very well. I will try the other products when I get back to Adelaide and will let you know if they work just as well.

It was 3.5km from the village to Fox Glacier. We were still high from our first glacier, and driving into the car park area, we were immediately greeted by rushing rivers in between two imposing mountains. Silently, we decided that we will walk as close as we could this time. This one seem to be like an easy reach, from the car park we could see parts of the glacier, so off we went ... Our viewing point was a 20 minutes relatively easy walk. It was very satisfying. A guided walk on the glacier is recommended if you have the time and want to experience more.

Lake Matheson is 5km west of Fox Glacier. I read (and saw pictures) about the stunning reflection of Mount Cook on this one of the 101 Must-Dos for Kiwis destinations. Sadly to say, we missed the turn to the lake. I just had to mention it here because if you found yourself driving along this part of New Zealand one day, do not miss the turn!

After Fox, we didn't stop much except for a coffee break in Haast Village. A mobile cafe was closing up around 3pm, and that made it seem like the afternoon is slipping away rather quickly. Times flies when you're having fun!

Continuing on the scenic road over Haast Pass, the southern getaway to the West Coast, we arrived at the Blue Pools Walk, located within the World Heritage listed Mount Aspiring National Park. The drive to here was approximately one and a half hours from Haast Village. It is another must-see highlights in this wilderness region. It features a gravel path and boardwalks that wind through a native silver beech forest and lead to a swing bridge strung high above the Makarora River.

The above is not a scene of a natural occurrences, rather being made by visitors like me. Don't ask me why anyone would do that. I don't even know why I did my pile of rocks. I guessed we human being have some funny ideas about fun. Someone started it, and that late afternoon I saw hundreds of them standing silently on the river bed.

We left the Blue Pools to continue our journey south. From the map spread out on my lap I know there were at least two big lakes ahead of us. I was hoping that there would still be enough sun light for pictures.

Above and below: Lake Hawea. I seem to miss taking pictures of Lake Wanaka. Better luck next time, I hope!

We arrived in Cromwell around 7pm and it was already dark. I took this picture the following morning. So I missed the warm welcome at the entrance of this seemingly fruity town.

After asking for direction in a local shop, we found our camp site and since it was already dark, we decided to eat out. Or rather, in the restaurant within the camp site area. Though it was good not to have the hassle of preparing dinner in the smallest kitchen in the van, the dinner in the restaurant was not much to be desired. I had a fisherman basket, some over-fried seafood items that was tasteless. The service was slow, too. Anyway, I told myself that I was in a camping trip and the luxury of homemade food should not be expected, at any time. After dinner, I could only think about sleep and I did just that.

A part of Cromwell, from across Lake Dunstan, taken early the following morning.