So after a quick check of our shoes and answering some questions, we were free to go out and start exploring this beautiful country. A quick shower at the hotel which was 10 min away from the airport and we were lying in a real bed - at last, such a pleasure. Of course we fell asleep right away, even though the difference with Bulgaria is 11 hours :) On the next morning after a short 2 hour flight we landed in Queenstown and there is a small red Ford waiting for us, automatic transmission. Now is the time to praise Rudy for his driving as he managed to get used to driving at the other side of the road right away and he did not go in the wrong direction on the roundabout even once, while i was looking at both sides when i had to cross a street as i never had any clue in which direction the cars are going
Queenstown is a small town with only 28 000 people, but it has ski slopes, a lake and also quite a few downhill biking tracks as well as hiking trails so it is considered to be a year round tourist place.We managed to walk around in about an hour and then spent the whole afternoon on the beach by the lake where the locals were drinking beer and wine. Actually this was the only place where we saw people drinking outside on the street, in most of the cases it was forbidden.
The view from the beach
The time needed to go to Milford Sound was supposed to be 4 hours but had not taken into consideration the beauty around and the multiple stops for pictures we would make. In this part of the island it is raining on average 280 days per year so everything is lush green, the flowers and the trees are huge and there is a waterfall jumping out of every rock. We were really happy that we rented a car as we could stop on each and every viewpoint and admire the beauty and so before we knew 6 hours passed when we finally parked at Milford Sound Cruise Terminal. There were about 5 different cruise operators but we chose to buy tickets for one of the smallest boats and this actually turned out to be a great choice. The guide was really funny and was telling us a lot of interesting things and as the boat was small, the captain took us literary under the waterfalls which was insane :)
Milford Sound is one of the most popular attractions of New Zealand - this is actually not a sound but a fiord that is really barely noticeable from the Tasman sea and that has been overlooked twice by Captain Cook. It has been discovered by a fisherman who has been trying to escape a storm and who was the first to enter the fiord. Milford Sound is 15km long and has 2 permanent waterfalls but as it has been raining a lot we saw a lot more. The cruise is about an hour and a half and goes all the way out in Tasman Sea as during the trip we saw awesome views, incredible waterfalls going down directly into the sea and a lot of lazy seals just resting on the rocks. The beauty can be seen also from the shore and we did a short walk called Milford Foreshore Walk before heading back towards Te Anau
Mirror Lakes - very original sign
I should definitely mention a parrot that is living only in New Zealand called Kea. This is a huge very bossy bird that is so used to people that you cannot scare it away. By unknown for us reasons this Kea liked our car a lot and especially the rubber parts. It climbed on the car and started eating all rubber parts it could get. We tried to scare it away with all kinds of sounds we could think of but it did not pay any attention and just kept own tearing down the car. Finally we decided that it would fly away if we move the car and luckily after the second circuit around the parking lot it went away so we literary ran away :) Meanwhile a bus with tourists was having a lot of fun watching all this struggle :)
Te Anau is a town even smaller than Queenstown. It is also located on a lake but it took us not more than half an hour to see what it has to offer. We had the intention to sleep in a tent in the Holiday park we saw there but even if it was December and it was supposed to be summer the temperatures dropped to about 5 degrees so we chose a room with WC. It turned out a great choice as it started raining during the night. Camping rules in New Zealand are very strict. Free camping is forbidden meaning you cannot place your tent wherever you want but you have 3 options - the cheapest one is about 6$ per person and the place is marked with a sigh showing you can tent there as there is a toilet but nothing more. The second option is at DOC camping (department of conservation) where besides the toilet there is running water as well and the most expensive option - about 15$ per person is Holiday Park. You have toilet, showers and kitchen you can use and even internet for 5$ extra for 24hours. We slept mainly in the holiday parks as they had the best views and as the weather was changing so quick it was a good option to be able to upgrade to a room if it gets too cold :)
Te Anau Holiday Park
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