New Zealand - Queenstown and beyond

Our first port of call in New Zealand was Queenstown. Queenstown airport must be the most well appointed airport in the world as we flew in on a clear day over snow capped peaks and crystal blue lakes. Its a small town/ ski resort in a valley surrounded by Coronet Peak, Cardona and of course the Remarkables (other wise known as "Mordor" to Lord of the Rings fans). Michelle did a ski course for 3 days on Coronet Peak and had great fun while Sanch checked out all the local amenities in town. Local temperatures in Queenstown hit highs of 5 degrees during the day - you can imagine how cold it got at night in a hostel with a plug-in rad !! (Queenstown, Bob's Peak)



We have hired a car for this leg of the trip and are currently to be found spinning around the South Island in a white Toyota Corolla with a dodgy radio and a strange rattle ! (Coronet Peak Ski Resort)


From Queenstown, we travelled south to Te Anau and spent a day out on Doubtful Sound - gorgeous scenery again, a little overcast and very cold of course. We also took a trip from Te Anau to see some Glowworms ! we were taken into a set of caves (only 12000 yrs old), from there we got into a boat and in darkness (not to freak out the glowworms) we moved around the cave and saw all the worms light up on the ceilings and walls of the caves.

The following day we drove out to Milford (2.5 hrs drive over a mtn pass) where we boarded a catamaran to cruise around Milford Sound. Unfortunately the rain continued all day as did the mist and fog but it was still very impressive place - just a lot nicer in the sunshine ! (Milford Sound)

Our latest location is at Franz Joseph - location of a very impressive glacier, we also checked out its neighbour Fox glacier (20 kms down the road). Our plan was to head off this morning moving north again but yesterday afternoon we watched the Australia v New Zealand rugby match in the pub, met up with some fellow travellers and locals and basically made a night of it ! (Fox Glacier)