We're back in Christchurch, where our tour of the south island started!
After leaving Lake Tekapo (reluctantly), we headed to Wanaka. Wanaka was a nice place to chill out, but we only used the place as a brief stop to break up the journey to the Fiordlands. We left Wanaka to head to Te Anau, which was to be our base for our trip through the moutains and into the fiordlands. It took about two hours to get to Milford Sound, which lies at the very northern part of the Fiordlands. The drive was spectacular as we meandered through the windy roads up and over huge mountains.
We arrived at Milford Sound early in the afternoon with a plan to take in the sights, then take a cruise the following day. However, being the spontaneous duo that we are, and given that the sun was beaming down, we decided to seize the moment and do the cruise straight away. As soon as we set off, the sun disappeared, and it turned exceptionaly cold. Nevertheless, the views of the mountains that suddenly rose from the waters edge were magnificent. Now and again, huge waterfalls cascaded from the mountain tops, some of which travelled Miles and Miles before falling into the water hundreds of metres below. We also saw our first fur seal colony of the trip, a group of about 10 lying on a rock, aptly named seal rock (genius). Once back on land, we headed back to Te Anau, where we stayed the night before heading further up the west coast to see the glaciers.
We arrived at Haast late in the afternoon on the 15th, and it felt deserted (and slightly creepy)! Not keen on the place, we ate our fush and chups and headed further north to Fox Glacier. It was already late, so we parked up beside a lake and slept in the little Diahatsu. By 'sleeping' we mean lying horizontally listening to the rain bounce off our little red tin, whilst the wind rocked us side to side. With the rain beating down, we decided to go a little further north to Franz Josef, where we checked into a hostel and waited for the rain to stop. Two days later, we were still stuck in the hostel, partly due to the fact that it hadn't stopped raining, and partly due to the road north being washed away (there was ALOT of rain). On the morning of the 18th, we woke up to clear skies. Knowing it wouldn't last long, we jumped up and headed for the glacier. With one of us being slightly impaired with a knee injury, we took a short scenic walk to view the glacier from a distance. It was impressive to see after only being able to read about it for the last two days.
With the glacier being ticked off our never ending list, we headed north to Abel Tasman, the most northerly national park on the south island. We arrived late at night, and after nearly taking the car off a cliff, we decided to find a place to sleep. We 'slept' down a little country road in the car, which was great. The weather was getting better now, and we decided to head to the beach for the day. We underestimated the distance to the beach, and we drove for hours before finding out that the last 10km were on an unsealed road. The Dihatsu wasn't scared though, so we persevered. When we reached the openings in the trees, we realised it was well worth it. The colour of the water was reminiscent of Thailand, and the sand was bright orange. We walked up the beach before having a picnic on a huge piece of driftwood.
Surviving the drive back to the city, we headed straight to Kaikoura, the place to do the whale watching. It was a long drive, and like most long drives, it ended with us sleeping in the car again. It was a night of rain, and first thing in the morning we checked into a backpackers hostel, which was run by a couple from Manchester. We had to put the whale watch on hold as the weather was awful, making the sea rough as a badgers backside. We kept ourselves busy by driving to the Peninsula to see a large colony of fur seals. We visited them a few times a day, so often in fact we started to name them all. They were local wildlife that were vicious if you got too close, but amazing to admire from a distance. Another past time was visiting the local winery, where we sampled some fine wine with amazing views of the coast.
The following morning, we rose before dawn. This was the big day, we had booked the whale watching trip in hope that the weather would be ok. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and as we arrived at the whaleway station, the sunrise was beautiful. We were told that the day before, no whales were spotted, and we were reminded of our tiger safari in India. We set off and after an hour, we hadn't seen any whales. The captain was using some sonar equipment which we thought was just for show. But, to our surprise, he used the underwater signals to locate the sperm whale as it appeared on the surface from its deep water dive. It was on the surface for just short of 10 minutes, and it was remarkable and stunning. Its size and presence was overwhelming, and everyone on the boat was in silence in awe of such a huge but graceful creature. We took our photos, and before heading to land, we also saw the dusky dolphins!
After leaving Kaikura, we got back to Christchurch to return the car. We spent two days couchsurfing before checking into a hostel near the city centre. Tomorrow we're heading to the north island, where the next stage of our trip starts!!

Much love,

Kav & Sara

written by  Kav & Sara on April 24, 2009 from Christchurch, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Round the world trip!!
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