Ok, let me pick up where I left off in yesterday's post by detailing our overland coach tour picking up after our breakfast yesterday in Queenstown. Paul, our guide/driver, kept telling us that the second day would be an even bigger "WOW" day than the first day was. I felt that would be hard to believe but he was not joking.
We were all back on board the motor coach at 8:45 and heading out of Queenstown. Our scheduled time to depart was 10:00 am but Paul asked if anyone minded moving the time up so he could show us more of his country. Of course, no one objected. As a crow flies Milford Sound was only about 50 miles away but there is no direct road to the the mountain range in between. So we headed south on route 8 on the banks of Lake Wakatipu, the longest lake in NZ. This river valley was carved out by a glacier thousands of years ago. There were mostly sheep and diary farms with some beef cattle also. Not really any crops being grown as they needed hay to feed cattle during the winters and the area is too hilly for crops. At the southern end of the lake was the town of Kingston. In the early 1900's the train line ended here and brought in supplies for all the gold mining that was done throughout this whole region of NZ. A lot of gold was taken out from here. After the road we were traveling on was built the train shut down. After a little over an hour we turned onto route 97 which took us to Mossburn and route 94. This road would take us to Te Anau where we had a delightful light lunch and on the Milford Sound.
We passed by countless thousands of grazing sheep and diary cattle on our way to Te Anau. Farmers in NZ and Australia are called "cocky's". Paul explained how this came about but too long a story for here. So far today the land has been rolling to flat as this area used to be a huge lake bed thousands of years ago.
Lunch was at the Distinction Hotel in Te Anau which is located on the southern shore of the largest fresh water lake on the south island of NZ. The lake's name is also Te Anau. After lunch we traveled around the shores of the lake into the rugged valley of the Eglinton River. Ahead of us now we can see the jagged, immense mountains in Fjordland National Park. We will be crossing through them viewing the rainforests with moss covered beech trees. The forests were covered with thick undergrowth that would make walking through them impossible, however some deer and wild hog hunting is done here. We made several photos stops and walked some short trails to view the amazingly beautiful scenery. You will see that in my photos. The mountains along the west coast of NZ are over 7,000 feet high and most have shear drop off faces. There are 7 fjords in Fjordland National Park and around 400 lakes of various sizes. The mountains are snow covered during the winter months. There are three kinds of avalanches in these mountains: snow, tree, and rock. We saw examples of all three.
We finally passed through a nearly mile long, single lane tunnel and descended down to Milford Sound. We arrived there at 4:45pm and loaded our luggage and ourselves on a tender that took us out in the fjord where our ship was waiting on us. To add some excitement to our tour experience, at our last photo stop about 10 minutes prior to our arrival at the Milford Sound cruise terminal, our bus would not start. We had to be at the terminal by 4:45. Paul luckily talked a big park maintenance truck to tow us up a small grade. They unhooked the tow line and Paul got the bus to start as we rolled down the mountain. Whew!!
Milford Sound is actually a fjord that is 20 miles in length from the Tasman Sea inland. Seals, dolphins, and humpback whales frequent the NZ fjords as the top 6 or so feet of the water is fresh water (not salty sea water). They come in the fresh waters as it kills the parasites living on the fish so it cleanses their bodies.
As we boarded our ship the crew presented us with glasses of champagne and carried our luggage to our rooms. I immediately started downloading photos while we cleaned up for dinner. We had a drink in the suite while getting ready.
Here is the link to yesterday's photos. There are 160 of them. I hope you have figured out how to view them WITH the captions I have written on most of them. You will not want to miss seeing these photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/6LE81d5UvPhAHYke9
OVERLAND TOUR SUMMARY:
The past two days of our overland tour was definitely the high point of our world cruise so far. We got to view the different terrains and landscapes of the South Island of NZ. Thanks to our knowledgeable and humorous guide, we also learned so much about its economy, culture, and history. It was one of the best excursions ever. We are so glad we had the opportunity to do this. Friends on board have asked us how we liked the tour. It is hard to explain to them just how much we enjoyed it.
WHAT WE DID TODAY:
We turned out clocks back an hour last night. I told Rebecca we would sleep in longer this morning so had her breakfast delivered at 8:00 am. I got up and started downloading photos immediately as did not finish doing it last night. I showered and went to the coffee connection for my coffee and a blueberry muffin. At 9:00 I went to the interdenominational church service. Since then I have been working on this blog post. I did go have a piece of salmon for lunch. Rebecca is having her hair color highlights done this afternoon. I called my parents just before leaving for lunch to make sure they were ok.
I have some emails to write and send after finishing this post. This evening we will have cocktails on Stars Lounge with Susanne and then dinner in Compass Rose. We have requested the chef prepare some green lipped muscles for our appetizer this evening. YUM YUM! Probably go hear the female Australian singer performing in the theater after dinner.
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