New Zealand – Page 4 – Steffi & Gerry: Trip around the World

Milford Sound – Fiords, Sharks and a Hike

We joined a small group with Trips & Tramps. It’s a scenic drive to Milford Sound with some good photo stops, e.g the Mirror Lakes.

As written in the previous article, Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world (up to 9 meter rain per year!). Travel guides write it basically rains every day. Might be a bit exaggerated, but you get the idea. However, we had a warm and cloudless day and a wonderful time cruising through the fiords. After spotting some seals we wondered if we could also view some dolphins. Well… no, but even better. Even the captain and the tour guide were surprised, as a tresher shark jumped out of the water – multiple times. Hard to believe, but we have the footage. Gerry’s theory: the beginning of a Sharknado!

The ride back to Te Anau had to be earned. We did the Key Summit Trail hike and enjoyed New Zealand’s alpine region. Well, that was a day, even to our (now very high) benchmarks! Thank you, land of Kiwis!

Mirror Lakes
Milford Sound
Milford Sound
Jumping Tresher Shark
Jumping Tresher Shark
Milford Sound Waterfall
Milford Sound
Trap for stoats and weasels
Key Summit
Key Summit

Te Anau

A driving day to the Fiordland National Park, and an escape from the rain, too. Ironically, Milford Sound (our next destination) is the rainiest point of New Zealand! But forecasts are very promising… the sunset in Te Anau (pronounced similarly as the Italian “ti amo” just with an “n”) at least made us hungry for even more sun.

Curio Bay – Yellow-eyed Penguins

We had to skip Cathedral Caves, as this beautiful rock tunnel is only accessible at low tides, which we missed for that day, so we drove further to a campground at Curio Bay / Porpoise Bay. Sometimes, dolphins can be seen from here (missed them, though), a petrified forest and with some luck, yellow-eyed penguins. About an hour before sunset three penguins returned from the sea. This time, taking pictures was allowed. Check.

Petrified forest – penguins come here, too.

Nugget Point

Nugget Point is a beautiful, almost kitschy spot with a lighthouse and wild cliffs at the Roaring Bay.

Oh, and seals and sea lions.

On the way back to the main road we had picnic on a nice beach.

Our next neighbor was another seal. We also stopped quickly to take a picture of the famous New Zealand sheep.

Otago Peninsula

It was the description of a campground which took us to the Otago Peninsula, and it was worth the ride. Scenic roads through high hills and wild coasts with abundant wildlife. On the short hike “Seal Point to Sandfly Bay” we almost stepped over two big seals.

Dunedin

The touristy thing first: a walk up on Baldwin Street, the world’s steepest street according to Guinness World Records.

Dunedin (pronounced as Dah-nee-den, German: Daniiden) surely offers a lot – British / Scottish styled buildings (“Edinburgh of the south”), breweries, museums, chocolate factory and much more. We have to admit that we only stopped to buy an additional blanket for colder nights and left the busy city soon after.

Moeraki Boulders

Around 50 spherical boulders can be found at a beach a bit south from Oamaru. Some of them weight over seven tons. Their age is estimated to be around 60 million years.

Oamaru – Steampunk and Blue Penguins

We took the nice scenic route till Oamaru, a picturesque town known as the Steampunk Capital.

After dinner we watched little blue penguins returning from their hunt on sea. Unfortunately, filming was not allowed.

Little blue penguins – my illegal photo, taken via spyglass

But on the way back to our campground, we saw even more of those cute little fellas coming back to their nests. One nest was even within our campground.

Little blue penguin within our campground!

Christchurch

Christchurch is the biggest city of the southern island. It was hit terribly by a series of earthquakes in 2011, many buildings are still under maintenance.

A silent witness is the temporary memorial “185 white chairs”, in memory of the 185 lives lost.

185 empty white chairs – each chair represents a live lost

Nevertheless, it is still a very charming city with many nice buildings and locations and well worth a visit.

Hello New Zealand!

An early but comfortable flight to Christchurch, New Zealand.

First thing to do: get local SIM cards for our mobiles. It was amazingly easy, mobile internet was working before we even had paid. And we had provided zero personal data. Great service from Spark store at the Airport.

Next: campervan! The mandatory paper work as always, but still on time to stock up at Countdown (rebranded from Woolworths), checking in at the campground, going for dinner and finally making our vehicle a place to live for the next four weeks.