The South Island of New Zealand showed us the last week of our trip. It started off by views from the sky that easily took my breath away. I recently read that the North and South islands are converging, moving closer together. Mother Earth is so fascinating.
We flew from Wellington to Nelson. The northern tip of the South Island is home to the amazing Abel Tasman National Park where we hung out for a couple days.
We rented a car and parked it for a couple days to jump on a boat that took us to our remote lodge. It was winter in New Zealand but it was a beautiful warm day when we arrived. The ramp “arm” that came off the boat was a first for us and made the luggage shuffling super easy. Our captain made sure we could open our beers for the ride as we had to bring our own. Super cool guys.
The boat ride itself was full of beautiful landscape and lots of kayakers. The Abel Tasman is full of kayaking and hikers. There is a coastal walking trail that takes about 5 days where people walk, kayak, swim and camp on the trail.
The best part of our 1.5 hour boat ride was seeing this huge male seal tear apart an octopus. Crazy, crazy wildlife going on in Abel Tasman.
When we arrived at the Awaroa Lodge we thought we would see a walking bridge to the lodge but there had been a typhoon earlier in the year that took it out. The lodge picked up our luggage but we had to a do a short walk from the beach to the lodge. We saw interesting birds and beautiful landscape along the way.
The lodge was authentic with gorgeous interiors. A modern outdoorsy feel with natural landscaping a patio to die for. They offered a full menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner and we saw large groups come in from the boat just to enjoy the food.
Our room was nice and spacey with a living area and a patio that overlooked a marsh where there were vocal birds heard throughout the day. I spent our last afternoon on the patio reading a book in the sun. Heaven.
Once we got settled in we explored the grounds where we found hungry, strange eels in the marshy water. The lodge provided some sort of meat for them eat. Totally creepy.
We had scheduled a day on out on a catamaran and of course it was the only day where the sun didn’t shine. You can’t control Mother Nature so we made the best of it . . . which was not hard. The beach in front of our lodge was dreamy and the views got even better while we sailed around. The boat and it’s captain had such an interesting past, the skipper sailed the boat from South Africa to New Zealand. Crazy.
The captain knew exactly where to take us. We took a short hike up a mountain side, through thick vegetation to find the most breathtaking views. He educated us on the animals, or lack thereof, in New Zealand. He told us stories about how rodents got to the islands and the havoc they have created. We saw traps on the trail that were for ferret-polecat hybrids. Tame ferrets were bred with polecats during the voyage to New Zealand so that they would be better at surviving in the wild. Unfortunately it worked! Now New Zealand has the world’s largest population of wild ferret-polecat hybrids! The traps are an attempt to preserve ground-nesting birds like kiwis and penguins.
We got in the dingy to a couple different times to get up close and personal to the mama seals and their pups. I hope someday to make it back there in the summer, the water is so clean and inviting. The captain took us into the Love Cove, famous for its private shallow waters where people love to swim when it’s warmer.
The cove was full of seal pups swimming around us, teasing us and playing.
Check out these little pups. The captain discouraged us from putting our hands in the water, they are cute but they are wild and do bite!
Jersey and I enjoyed the sailing, even in our full clothes. The captain offered us beer and wine and he encouraged me to try the hammock that swung out into the water. It was a bit intimidating but so worth it.
After a couple days in the Abel Tasman we moved on to Queenstown. It was a cozy little ski town with crazy mountain views and a deep cold water lake. Our hotel room had a Breckenridge vibe that we loved. The views of the lake were right outside our windows. We spent one night in the hot tub outside enjoying the stars sparking off the lake in the cool air. We were in no hurry to get home to the desert heat.
On our first full day we took a tram up the mountain and we were in awe. I honestly believe these are the most beautiful views I have witnessed. It was breathtaking. At the top there is a restaurant and bar. After enjoying the views over a few beers and the best dumplings we ever had, we rode back down and spotted one of the feral goats famous for roaming the Queenstown area. I’m showing you these pictures in full size because it was so incredible.
Walking around Queenstown was like walking in a fantasy world. Everything appeared so clean and vibrant. Along the boardwalk was restaurant, bars and shops. We had a little bit of rain and the air was cool. It was a great way to end our trip before heading back to the hot dry desert.
One of the primary reasons we came to Queenstown was to see the Milford Sound. We made plans to get into the sound in a chartered Cessna so the weather had to be perfect. I made reservations for Saturday and we were to begin our journey home on Sunday. Well Saturday’s weather didn’t cooperate with our reservations. Jersey thought Sunday’s flight into the Sound would be cutting it too close. So it was stressful. I really wanted to go regardless. But we made the best of our Saturday by sleeping in and taking the TSS Earnslaw out for an afternoon. The boat is powered by a steam engine, we actually watched the guy below the deck add coal to the engine.
The scenery from the boat of course was jaw dropping. The cruise offered a stop at a farm that had a garden and some animals as well as a restaurant. The boat had large windows you could open to feel the cool mountain breeze and we never complained about the rain. Not once.
The Earnslaw had a piano on board and they passed out song brochures for sing-a-longs. It was really entertaining. LOL. Check it out.
The final day in Queenstown was spent in the Milford Sound which as I mentioned was a big draw for us to come to the south end of the South Island. The Milford Sound is a fiord known for towering Mitre Peak, plus rainforests and waterfalls that plummet down its steep sheer sides. The fiord is home to fur seal colonies, penguins, dolphins and rare black coral. You can drive to the Sound from Queenstown in about 5 hours through windy roads but we opted to take a plane in. A small Cessna was our ride. It wasn’t a first being in a small plane but it was first taking over mountain tops and “floating” into the fiord.
We had front row seats for the trip and our pilot had a calm, cool and collected demeanor. The air was thin up there and this little plane was like paper. There was a moment of turbulence as we headed into the canyon where we dropped … feet where I saw my life flash before my eyes. I had a death grip on Jersey while the pilot didn’t seem at all phased as I watched him turn little buttons that had our lives in their hands. He later apologized for the turbulence . . . as I wanted to vomit everywhere!
I’m sure the drive the to the Sound is beautiful, how could it not be? But seeing it from the air was definitely on the top 10 things I’ve done in our travels. We got see the highest waterfall in the world. See the blue water peeking out. Crazy.
Once we arrived we jumped on a boat to see things up close. It was a canyon full of water with waterfalls everywhere you looked. We saw a group of dolphins and experienced the waterfalls from the top of the boat. We took the boat outside the fiord and the ocean water was full of big and wild waves.
The waterfalls in the Sound are known to bring youth and beauty. Some people actually went out and got soaked. I definitely did not want to be that cold.
New Zealand was an experience of Mother Earth’s magic. You can hop an hour flight to find new landscape and climate. Queenstown was definitely our favorite, watching people enjoy nature doing all sorts of crazy things like bungee jumping, hang gliding and taking shark rides? #seetheworld
Weekly Inspiration
“I’m all for going even deeper into debt for a travel experience and great meals. This is something you’ll remember for the rest of your life,” he once told a young student. “It is a life-altering experience that you will never forget that will change the whole way you look at the world and understand events around you.” – Anthony Bordain
