New Zealand Travel Diary Part IV

The next couple of days saw us heading south-east, ending up on the Otago Peninsula just east of the city of Dunedin. On the way we stopped to see the wondrous Moeraki Boulders. They lie on a beach at the tide line, and their creation process dates back sixty million years, when they were part of the sea bed. When the coast lines eroded they popped out and that’s how you get to see them now. They reminded me of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland in that both look completely manmade but are not.

Further south, the road from Dunedin onto the Otago Peninsula snakes along on the level ground, hugging the coast line very closely, which can be a bit dizzying, but quite breathtaking as well.
We had hoped to be able to visit an albatross colony, but unfortunately the birds were nesting that week, and all tours were off. Oh well. We ended up spending a lovely chilled-out shopping day in Dunedin town, which has the most beautiful train station I have ever seen. The name of Dunedin comes from the Gaelic name for Edinburgh, and the Scottish influence is unmistakable – even if we did end up having lunch in an Irish pub called Craic…

From Dunedin we headed west, towards the Fiordlands region. Given the weather in this area, we were trying to decide whether it would be worth our while going up to Milford Sound or not, or if we would be better off spending more time somewhere else. We ended up going for it. The Fiordlands is the 2nd rainiest area in the world – 6 m per year on average.

There are many fiords in the Fiordlands, but only two of them are currently accessible, and only one of them by proper road (Milford Sound – the other one is Doubtful Sound). The road goes from Te Anau for 2,5 hours along some of the most stunning scenery – which says a lot, this being New Zealand. This mountain looks to me like someone put flour on top and then blew on it.
In Te Anau, we had booked ourselves on a 1,5 hour cruise of Milford Sound, which was really great, although, once you got out further into the fiord, the wind picked up considerably. The landscape was majestic, sort of how I imagine the Norwegian fiords, just without all the lush vegetation. Waterfalls, waterfalls, waterfalls everywhere. We did see some blue sky in between the light showers, so our weather luck did not desert us. Yay!

We headed straight back towards Te Anau after we got off the boat, and ended up camping at Deer Flats halfway, at a gorgeous location in a little forest near the Eglinton River. But I think this is a story best continued in Part V……