So after a few days of carnage onwards we went to Lake Wanaka with Niamh and her friend Debbie in tow this time, the company was great. It was all a bit surreal seeing Niamh again, I can only imagine what it will be like seeing the rest of the clan, nuts springs to mind.
That morning when we woke up Roz's cat had mysteriosuly died over night. It was dead in the driveway,no obvious signs of trauma. It was a bit sinister, very sad too. She was the cutest little thing whom we had all fallen in love with over the three days prior. Myself and Niamh and Ilena were huddled around her in our pj's with our mouths open wondering what had happened.
I then opened my cards and presents! I love birthdays. I'm never one to shy away from birthday celebrations and was very much looking forward to our stay in Wanaka.
James had been to Wanaka before and had very much sold it to me. On the drive there I was psyching myself up to doing a skydive and as it was the first building practically on the way into town we pulled in, only to be told it was too windy. We re-scheduled for the following day but it was not to be, windy conditions prevailed.
We stayed in the YHA aka purple Cow, which I highly reccommend to anyone heading that way, it is not your average hostel and suited to any age group really. Rooms one and two come with a view and seeing as it was my birthday we all splashed out and took the two best rooms. From there it was on to a bar near the lake front, cocktails in the mexican restaurant and dinner in a restaurant called Reef, I highly recommend the surf n' turf if you should ever go there. It is divine!
It was however a Monday night and so after dinner we were homeward bound as all the pubs were closed. Another very memorable birthady however, in another beautiful place.
We drove via Arrowtown the follwing day to Te Anau (gateway to Milford Sound) We stopped en route to do the Shotover Jet which I know some of you have done! It was great fun, we felt it was the best way to ease ourselves into the adrenaline fuelled fun that is on offer in Queenstown. Those jetboats only need four inches of water to operate over. They zoom in and around the rocky gorge bringing you within a hairs breadth of the rock face, or so it seems. Lots of 360's and screams!
We stopped in the picturesque Arrowtown after for some lunch/ dinner before heading onwards to Te Anau. We stayed in the Lakefront backapackers there. Ours was a 4 bed fully self contained unit so a nice little set up.
Milford Sound
We set off before 7.30am the following day. That time of the morning is too early for the tour buses so traffic is light and you have the road to youself almost. The mist was still lifting from the meadows as we drove. It was really, really beautiful. That road between Te Anau and Milford is the most avalanche prone road in the world apparently. It costs the New Zealand government over NZ$1 million a year annually to keep it open. It is the one of the highest highway in NZ and it rises 940 metres above sea level at its´ peak. Tree avalanches are a common occurrence too. A certain type of tree (whose name escapes me)wrap their roots around each other for support so when one dies it lets go and tends to bring the others with it. A recent one they had there made the road impassable for 7 days! It basically causes a big landslide as it falls downhill.
We intended to drive straight to the wharf and do our stopping and photo taking on the way back. I do however advise any future visitors to stop at the Mirror Lakes in the morning, the sun is on the right side, there ain´t no mirror in the afternoon. It´s 120km drive and takes two hours at that hour of the morning.
We took a cruise with Red Boats at 10.30 for two hours. We went out along the south side of the sound to the Tasman sea and back in along the north side to the wharf. There was plenty of stopping at points of interests, mostly waterfalls. We were incredibly lucky to have a sunny day and blue skies. Nine days without rain is considered drought in Milford. There is in fact a lot of mineral wealth to the area, all protected due to it´s World Heritage status. Iron ore, copper and gold seams can be seen on some rock faces. Lots of waterfalls, Stirling being the most famous. Mitre Peak rise 1692 metres from the sea level. It´s quite an impressive sight. Mostly what is so stunning is the sheer beauty of the surrounding landscape enveloping the sound.
Techinically it´s a fjord we learned. A sound is a u-shaped valley filled with ocean cut by a river, and a fjord is a u-shapd valley filled with ocean cut by a glacier. It is the kind of place that you can´t stop taking photos, at every turn is more stunning views. I had to stop myself from viewing it all through a lens and just experience it too.
On our way back in we saw some fur seals sunning themselves on the rocks. The boat we were in was small enough that the captin gets it right up to the sheer rock faces of the surrounding mountains which is great. Interestingly enough there is up to 6 metres of freshwater on top of the seawater in the sound from the surrounding rivers pouring in, so it makes for a pretty diverse marine environment. At it´s deepest the water is almost 300 metres!
The overall experience that morning was fantastic. Indeed the weather played a massive part but the sheer enormity of the landscape is as much of a draw as anything else I reckon.
So anyway after that we drove to the start of the walking track to Lake Marian. This is about half an hour back along the road to Te Anau. I had been told about this place by a guy in a shop where I bought a rain jacket in Wellington! James and I were really keen to do some kind of hill-walking/ trekking in the fjordland area, but hadn´t really any of the right gear and were reluctant to buy some (extra baggage). So this guy told this walk was great, and we could do it unguided so it sounded perfect. I did some research and the photos further sold it to me.
He did however omit that is quite a steep incline on the way up to the lake. It´s pretty much an uphill climb for an hour. Personally I love the challenge and it makes the view at the top that bit more rewarding. The walk up is all through rainforest and covered for the most part. At the top you emerge into a large glacial basin where Lake Marian is sitting in the middle surrounded on all sides by mountains with snowy peaks. Breath-taking. Nothing I could say would do the view justice. At different times of the year the levels of the lake vary and so sometimes it can be right up level with the clearing. There is a waterfall coming down from one of the nearby mountains too. Another surreal moment where I wonder to myself at the amazement of the place. We didnt meet many people on the trail or up there. There´s no chance the grey army would make it up that hill and the Chinese coach tours don´t stop there! So you can easily find a patch of grass to plonk down on and relax. Which is exactly what we did.
We toasted that day back in the room over a cooked dinner, followed by some more drinks in the local ´Moose Me´. We were challenged my the locals to a game of pool. Team Morrin stepped up to the mark and did Debbie and I proud. They very narrowly lost but not before Niamh could show the lads up with some killers shots!
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