We arrived in Tekapo! My main reason for coming to Tekapo was to go on the Earth & Sky observatory tour. Tekapo is part of the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve which regulates light pollution at night (among other things I'm sure) in order to have perfect star gazing conditions. We've heard on a clear night it isn't a white spots on a dark sky, but dark spots on a white sky because the stars are so bright.
Lake Tekapo
Our observatory tour wasn't until our second night, and at one in the morning at that, so we headed out the next day for a hike.
Hooker Valley Hike
The Hooker Valley Track is a popular 10K hike that starts near Mt Cook Village, and winds it's way to Mueller Glacier Lake. From the lake you supposedly have an amazing view of Mt Cook, that is on a nice day :) Our hike day was a bit moody...
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| Three swing bridges along the way |
About an hour, and roughly three miles later... we made it to the glacier lake! Being summer, there were just two lonesome icebergs hanging out. You can see the glacier on the mountain side though. Mt Cook was hiding today.
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| Glacier! |
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| Moody, moody NZ... |
The weather facing the carpark on the way back was a stark contrast to what lay behind us!
Driving back, we stopped to take pictures of Lake Pukaki, and a shy Mt Cook.
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| The water really is this blue... The Mackenzie region is gorgeous |
Lake Tekapo
Back in Tekapo that afternoon, we took a nap and stayed up until 12:30AM when we were supposed to check into our observatory tour. Unfortunately, once we got to the office we found out it was too cloudy and the tour was canceled :( Not only that, usually they'll do a tour of the professional telescopes instead but they were all in use that night. Sad times... but it just gives us a good reason to come back to NZ someday!
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| Lake Tekapo, same color as Pukaki |
Justin took some pictures of the famous dog statue and the Church of the Good Shepard. These are dedicated to the pioneers of the Mackenzie region, including the collie dogs.
Mt John
Despite the Mt John observatory tour being canceled, we decided to head up on our way out the last day to check out the views.
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| Lake Tekapo from Mt John |
The clouds were pretty wild looking in the distance... no wonder they call it the land of the long white cloud!
Road to Queenstown
After saying goodbye to Tekapo, it was time make our way to Queenstown.
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| Lake Dunstan, where we stopped at a produce stand |
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| Kawarau River |
Our first airbnb in Queenstown was in a suburb about 15 minute from the main town area. We had a really nice host who had converted their garage into an airbnb. We took them up on a dinner offer, and had a nice dinner of slow cooked lamb with her family. It was really nice getting the local perspective on everything. Queenstown is a town of 20,000 locals, with over 2 million tourists visiting each year. Kind of crazy! Anyway our host also mentioned New Zealand is the only country where the top flavor of ice cream isn't vanilla or chocolate, it's a flavor called Hokey Pokey (a kind of chocolate stick dessert). So of course, the next day I had to get it! Gelato is the BESTTTTT.
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| Hokey Pokey on bottom, Fruits of the Forest on top |
Road to Milford Sound
After our three nights in Queenstown, we headed out early to get to Te Anau and later that afternoon, to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is part of Fiordland National Park and is referred to by some as the eighth wonder of the world. The road to get there is also mentioned as one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand.
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| Another moody day in NZ... |
I'm really starting to appreciate cloudy, moody days. Well, depending on the activity that day of course... but if it doesn't cancel things the clouds really add complexity to the scenery. And in Milford's cause, kind of create an even more magical setting in a way...
On a still day you can easily see where Mirror Lakes gets it's name. Right after we took these pictures it started drizzling. But, that was pretty too.
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| Upside down, but right-side up |
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| Pretty rain drop ripples |
While crossing a bridge we noticed a beautiful waterfall right by the road, so we got out to get a closer view...
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| The water is so clear! |
The road to Milford takes you through the Homer Tunnel, a tunnel with barely any lights and about .75 miles long. I expected it to be flat but it was downhill inside, to the other side of the mountain!
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| Scenery from the tunnel line |
Our next stop was a place called Cascades, which our airbnb host recommended. The parking lot Kea was there to greet us :)
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| Two Keas saw us out :) |
Milford Sound
Through the tunnel and down the mountain then leads you to the beautiful Milford Sound. The thing to do here is a 2 hour cruise, and I chose one of the smallest boats.
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| Our boat in the back |
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| Views from land |
Going in the late afternoon, and being on a small boat, meant we only had 18 people on our tour! Lots of space to spread out and not block other people's pictures.
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| Lion Rock, can you see it? His mane is on the left, tail on the right |
It was a bit chilly, but the rain really added to Milford's atmosphere. Waterfalls of all sizes were everywhere.
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| Dark bottom layers are tiny mussels that submerge at high tide |
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| Seals! |
As we turned around at the halfway point in the Tasman Sea, our caption mentioned that if you continued in the direction we were headed you'd hit the eastern coast of Australia! Probably around Brisbane. So Justin and I had to take a picture in that direction... we love NZ but our hearts are definitely in the sunburned country...
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| Looking towards Australia |
As we approached the waterfall on the right in the next photos, the captain told everyone to go the bow of the ship. He then said only stay out there if you want to get soaked, but not by just any water... glacier water! He advertised it by saying you would be the first person in the world to have that water touch you lol. Well, of course Justin and I couldn't turn down standing out there looking ridiculous and getting fully soaked.
Approaching the waterfall... I really was thinking we would just get sprayed a little by the water... but the boat kept getting closer haha.
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| SO COLD. |
So much fun! But, we so didn't plan for the future... we spent the rest of the cruise trying to get warm by staying inside and drinking tea :) Worth it though.
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| Blue sky on a cloudy day... so beautiful |
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| Till next time, Milford! |
Milford was absolutely gorgeous, you definitely get the feeling you are in a special, other worldly type place. It really was magnificent, and yet so peaceful. On top of that we did see one dolphin for a split second!
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| Looking back towards Milford from the entrance to the tunnel |
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| Another view of Eglinton Valley |
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| Te Anau Downs on the way back |
Queenstown
Back in the adventure capital of NZ!
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| View from our airbnb deck in Frankton |
Helicopter Tour
Our airbnb this time around is right next to the airport, again in a suburb of Queenstown. With all of the helicopters and low flying planes taking off just outside our door, it got us thinking that would be a good way to see Queenstown. New Zealand and Australia have this website called bookme, which is kind of like groupon, and I saw a deal for a Milford Express helicopter tour. We were both wanting to see Milford again in the sunshine, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity!
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| Take off! Everyone ready? |
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| Plains of outer Queenstown |
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| Shotover River that we'll be rafting with Justin's dad! |
This tour was advertised as a Milford Tour, but as we took off and soared over the southern alps... I realized it was so much more than that. This really is the best way to see New Zealand.
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| Justin had to get a pic of the controls |
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| Flying over glaciers... simply breathtaking |
Well Milford, you look a bit different from the other day!
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| The waterfall that drenched us |
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| It's hard to take pictures from a helicopter, but here's Milford! |
After passing by Milford, we took a different route back, and were able to land and get out.
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| Overlooking Glenorchy |
Back on the helicopter and the pilot let me sit on the far right for some better views!
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| Frankton and the airport, our airbnb is somewhere down there! |
It was an amazing, amazing day. So glad we decided to do that, I think it's the best way so far to really grasp the complete beauty of the South Island. Especially of the southern alps. The landscapes of the Otago region are incredibly varied, and it was cool to see how one transitions into the other. What a beautiful world we live in! Also, between this and our very first helicopter ride almost 6 years ago to the Grand Canyon, Justin is officially hooked. He might be getting his helicopter pilot license in the near future!
Afternoon in Queenstown
Another day, another bookme deal LOL. I bought one for entry to an ice bar with a cocktail, and then one for cast iron nachos with a pitcher of beer. The second one had Justin written all over it. It was a fun afternoon out! The ice bar was pretty neat but of course a little touristy :) It was like -20 Celsius in there (about -4 Fahrenheit).
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| Even the glasses were made of ice! |
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| Ice hockey! |
We lasted about 20 minutes in there... it was really only my fingers that were cold. But our drinks were also empty, so.... back outside we go.
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| The Skyline with a gondola going up to it |
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| If I had to pick a dish to represent mine and Justin's relationship, it would be this LOL |
Queenstown is a vibrant little city, there is so much to do here in terms of tours and also free things like hiking. One night we even did a stargazing tour on top of the Skyline, which was a lot of fun. Neat to learn about the Southern sky and stars we can't see from the Northern hemisphere! Now I feel like I need to do a Northern hemisphere tour. In case you wondere, down under Orion is doing a handstand :) And we also saw Jupiter!
The Otago region and Fiordland are just breathtaking really. I mean just being in a suburb of Queenstown and looking out of anyone's window you can see the Remarkables mountain range or Lake Wakatipu. Tomorrow Justin's Dad and his girlfriend join us for more Queenstown exploration, then we travel up the west coast of the south island. On the west coast I think we'll encounter an even more rugged and remote landscape, including more glaciers and lakes. The stories really are true, everywhere you look in NZ is beautiful, I can see why people visit Queenstown and never leave. There's even amazing ski slopes in the winter! It has it all I guess, except it hasn't had much of a summer this year. We've gotten lucky and been here during the one week of summer so far, and now it's technically fall here!
Thank you for following along! Wanted to write about this part of our trip now because I'm pretty sure the rest of our time in NZ will fly by. I'm so grateful we are able to do this, and some days still can't get over the fact we're in New Zealand.
Sarah
"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware"
~ Martin Buber
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