way was the Puzzle World in Wanaka. We had a lot of fun there with the
maze, and also with the rooms with visual trickery.
We were lucky to have booked the campsite in advance, as it was a very
busy weekend in Queenstown with a concert by the Doobie Brothers.
As we came to Queenstown, it was already pretty late, but we wanted to
make the most of being in a city, so we decided to go out for a meal
in the evening. We did our research and found a restaurant to our
liking, Fishbone. It specialized in fish, and it had lots of Asian
patrons. We had a great chowder and good fish and lamb, definitely one
of the best meals out that we had in New Zealand.
The day after we had booked a Jucy Cruize trip for Milford Sound. It
is a quite long way from Queenstown to Milford, but we felt that we
were starting to run out of time, and we still really wanted to see
the fiord landscapes. The bus journey started at 0830 in the morning.
It was really nice to not have to drive on our own. We got to Milford
at around two o'clock and cruised on the sound for about two hours.
The nature on the bus ride, as well as the cruise was stunning. The
scenery is very dramatic with very steep mountains and waterfalls. It
really felt like we had come to the end of the world, quite a similar
feeling as you get when you go far up the valleys in Switzerland, like
Vals. After the nice cruise trip a long bus journey back awaited us.
We were really happy when we came back to Queenstown late that
evening. In retrospect it was not ideal to travel all the way from
Queenstown to the fiordlands, but since we were lucky with the weather
we definitely couldn't complain, and felt that the trip was worth it
all in all.
Our next day in Queenstown, we decided to spend time in Queenstown
itself. We started by going down to the arts and crafts markets, which
had lots of interesting items on offer, and provided a good
opportunity for people watching. After that we caught the skyline up
to the mountain top above Queenstown. Think Uetliberg and a little bit
higher, plus lots and lots of mountain bikers, and a luge, and you
have a fairly good picture on how it was. Up at the top we went for a
small walk, where we saw many paragliders. Some were taking it easy
and doing scenic viewing in tandems, while others where driving with
full adrenaline just above the treetops and then bomb dived down to
the landing zone in the town. Coming down from the mountain, we went
for a fergburger lunch. That was probably the most busy burger place
we ever have seen, and we had to wait for 20 minutes before the burger
was served. However, the food proved to be worth the wait. We shared a
really big tasty burger (we had the tropical swine). We did some more
viewing of the city and the shops, and then continued to our next
destination, Cromwell.
Cromwell was a big contrast to Queenstown. It is not very far away,
only xx kms inland, but a lot less busy from tourism. We checked in to
our campsite and went for a very windy run and had a look at
Cromwell's historical quarters. The campsite was a nice contrast to
the Queenstown one. In Queenstown the camper vans where parked almost
next to each other, whereas in Cromwell each wagon had a lot more
space to itself.
For the morning after, we had an activity booked that Henrik was
looking forward to a lot. We had rented bikes to go along the Otago
rail trail. The trail is an old railway, from which the tracks have
been removed. It makes for some great cycling conditions away from all
traffic and with "Wild West" landscape all around it. We got to Clyde
and picked up our bikes from the rental shop and got on our way. Soon
enough we arrived in Alexandra and decided to continue further. Before
reaching the next town we decided to turn back and head for Clyde
again. The heat and the sun were really strong on the trail, but we
were happy to be well prepared with big water bottles and lots of
sunscreen to slab on. In total we biked about 43 kms, and it was a
very enjoyable experience. Although we had done a considerable amount
of driving in similar landscapes, we felt that we were able to take it
in better on the bikes, and stop wherever we saw something that caught
our interest. Definitely worth recommending and something we would
like to do more of. It is possible to go for multi-day trips and get
the baggage forwarded between the lodgings on the way.
In the afternoon/evening, we decided to make a push and get to Oamaru
to watch the penguins come in for their nightly resting period. We
managed to get there, found our campsite and headed down to the beach
for the penguin viewing. Photography was strictly prohibited, so we
can't put any pictures on the blog, but it was really great to
experience the penguins and see them make their way ashore. The were
little blue penguins, just about 30 cms tall and weighing about one
kg. They were really cute, getting splashed ashore and waddling up the
beach to find the hatchings. As the official viewing had finished, we
were lucky to find two stragglers, that almost walked on top of our
shoes to their nests (they were not shy at all for humans as long as
everyone kept quiet and still).
Another quick, but really nice stop on the south island east coast was
Moeraki boulders. It is an interesting geological phenomenon, where
big round rock marbles are released onto the beach. Checking the
boulders out, we saw something even more interesting. In the bay, some
Hector's dolphins were playing. They were jumping and making flips,
and also, what was most fun to watch; they were surfing the waves to
get into shore. It was a really amazing experience seeing the dolphins
play. They seem to have so much in common with us humans.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar