Check out from Nomads was 10 am. Leaving time for the bottom bus tour was at 10.30. Nearly missed the bus due to a skype call from home, and trying to book flights to Sydney. Made our way from Queenstown to Dunedin, which is the home of Speight’s brewery and Cadbury World. Soon after leaving realised, we were missing few items, but after getting into contact with one of the girls from Manchester on the tour, Giulia, - our guardian angel :-) -crisis was averted, as she got the items for us, from reception, as someone had handed them in this morning after we had left. After a 5 mins toilet stop in Cromwell, we head towards the east coast via the massive Clyde Dam. At the Clyde Dam we stop at the lookout point to have a look and photo op. Further down the road we stop for a picnic lunch in the sun in a small town called Clyde with the snow-capped mountains in the background. The last stop before Dunedin was in a tiny town called Lawrence, for an ice cream stop, cheap and omg so tasty, also first town with free public WI-FI throughout the town. When we entered Dunedin, the bottom bus brought us on a tour of the city seeing the highlights of where the Speight’s brewery, the new all-weather Forsyth rugby stadium, University of Otago, the old railway stadium, Catholic and Protestant Cathedrals and Baldwin street – the worlds steepest street according to Guinness book of world records, now that was challenge and struggle to get to the top don’t mind back down! The Bottom Bus dropped then off at our accommodation, the On Top Backpackers, which cost 26 dollars a night for the dorm room and 20 refundable deposits for the key. Once we got settled, we went to the public library literally across the road, to use the free WI-FI, to organise a few things.
After which we went on a walk about the city, starting at Cadburys World, felt like been a kid, the smell of chocolate alone was making me hungry. A short walk from there, we came to the old railway station, if I didn’t feel like a kid already I did here, up close, you can see why the building is the most photographed building in Dunedin. Myself, Niamh and the a german girl on the tour Susanne, were having a laugh walking around Dunedin in the twilight, one of the highlights after the railway station was at Spleight’s brewery, who had built into the wall a beer barcel, brilliant photos were taken. Along the way back to the hostel, we saw the St. John Catholic and St. Paul Protestant Cathedrals. After dinner, well done Niamh, a very tasty meal, went to try and book our hostels for Sunday and Monday on Hostelworld for Queenstown, sneakily on our iphone / ipad in the end outside McDonalds, was interesting in the cold but got there in the end.
Bottom bus collects us from the backpackers at 8 am saturday 22nd for our trip down to the far south. The Catlins which is probably furthest south, we probably will ever go unless we somehow make an expedition to Antarctica. The Catlins also home to some amazing and rare wildlife including yellow eyed penguins and sea lions that have re-colonised on beaches on that coast and been in particular unique has been rarest member of seal species left on the planet. The adventure into the Catlins started with panoramic view from Nugget Point, hold on as the Southerly wind can sometimes make it seem a lot closer than the 4800 km to the South Pole. The first stop of the day after leaving Dunedin is at Kaka Point at 9.45 am for a 30 mins coffee break, the scenery of beach and surrounding area is breath taking especially on such a sunny warm day. Short drive up the hilly trek we arrive at Nugget Point scenic reserve at about 10.30.We stroll the 150 m to the cliff top viewpoint to see the view of nearby Dunedin and Kaka Point. On the way to the lighthouse we sight 1 year old fur pup seals which have been kicked out of home. Then walk the remaining 600m to the lighthouse and its viewpoint, where you see the Catlins coastline, cliff edge and see and hear the soaring seagulls. From here we stroll the 900m back to the bus. The toilet facilities in the Kaimatital car park are limited using a toilet system called vault toilet, in my eyes posh way of saying long drop toilet. We leave Nugget Point area at about 11.15 towards scenic route which about 8km from Kaka Point. We arrive into Cannibal Bay at 11.45 to see sea-lions, up close and personal, though there a 10m rule to stay away from the sea lions for your own safety, so they won’t charge at you as they can get up to 25km and definitely don’t get between them and the sea. A casual 20 min walk brings to False Islet close to male New Zealand’s Sea lions on Surat Bay, one of the rarest species. Unbeknownst to me I almost bumped into of the smaller darker sea lions, lucky he was asleep and I was warned.
Then we got to see the bigger lighter black male wadding into the sea and smaller one pruning himself. About 12.30 we gradually made our way back to the bus. On the trek back we saw the bigger male on a different beach, at Cannibal Bay. Left Cannibal Bay at 1pm, to make our way to our lunch stop, where we arrived into a town called Owaka, which means place of the canoe in Maori at 1.15. The café In the town called Catlins café, quite tasty food. Left Owaka at about 2pm travelling further down south. We stop at about 2.20 at Purakanui Falls for a roughly 20 min bush walk. After that we continued our journey south. We stop for quick photo at 3.15 at Florence hill lookout over Tautuku beach, Tautuku peninsula, Rainbow Island & spouting cave and Long point. We drive a min up the road to Lake Wilkie to check out the local flora and fauna for about 30 mins leaving just before 4 pm. We stop for few mins at Niagra Falls NZ at 4.30, a settler named it, who seems had a sense of humour. We continue the 8 km from here to Curio Bay. We park between Curio Bay on the left and Porpoise Bay on the right at about 4.45, lovely sight of the 2 Bays. We stop for a pitstop and a milkshake at Porpoise Bay at stop called Curio Bay Holiday Park, where read a story about the case of the missing penguin, an interesting story. From here we drive 400m to Petrified Forest and walk to the lookout. Once we get down to the shoreline, we see two yellow eyed penguins up close.
We left Petrified Forest for the final stretch to Invercargill at about 5.45. On the way we happened to make a very quick stop about 47 km from Invercargill, because of the weather was perfect to see Stewart island on the left and Buff Hill on the hill in the horizon and see one hell of a sunset. Our bus driver Don, said it been the best weather for weeks. We arrived into Invercargill at 7, which is New Zealand most southerly city with a population of 50,000, stayed at Tuatara Backpackers which cost 29 $ for a 4 dorm room.
We headed out of Invercargill nice and early, Sunday 23rd, so that we could meet up with the Milford Explorer at Five Rivers. By finally getting all some not fully awake heads onto the bus, we departed by 7.45 from the backpackers. First stop of the day was a quick photo stop about 9.30 at Lake Manapouri. After which we stop further down the road for a toilet break. From here we continue to Te Anau, to meet our connecting Kiwi Bus. On route we sight sites of where Lord of the Rings was filmed including Anduin River and Fangorn Forest. Our bottom bus driver, Don shows us around Te Anau, as he lives here. We arrive here at 10 am. Te Anau only has a normally population of about 2,000 but in summer overnight population can reach near 10,000. Lake Te Anau is NZ 2nd largest lake after Lake Taupo, with 500km of Coastline. We have our morning coffee break stop here till 10.30. We leave Te Anau and get onto highway 94 and head towards Milford Sound. The construction of this Milford highway began during the great depression 1929 and took 25 years before completion, opening in 1954. This highway regarded as one of the most scenic drives and over 110 km to Milford Sound. Jamie our Kiwi driver has been one of the most hilarious, dirty minded and sarcastic drivers and had us in stitches laughing from the off. We drive through the Fiordland National Park which is the biggest National Park of the 15 in NZ, with a size of 1.4 hectares and 14 fiords in the park. It’s been a national park since 1952 and is a world heritage site. We stop in the park for a photo op, at 11.20, to see the snow-capped mountain range which goes up 2k and the forest stops about 300m from the top. Then just up the highway, we stop again at Mirror Lakes for a ten min walk through the lakes to the other end, indescribable mountain range.
We drive past 45 degrees latitude in the beechwood forest in the park, which is half way before the equator and the South Pole. Which means Fiordland Park has a temperate climate, therefore has rain every 2/3 days. Further into the park we stop for the only toilet break before the cruise at a place called Knob’s Flat. From Knob’s Flat it’s 45km to Milford Sound. As we drive through the park we pass Lake Gunn, Lake Fergus, and The Divide of the Southern Alps which brings us to the West Coast and roughly 80km from Tasman Bay, Lake Hollyford which had originally in the past been the 15th fiord, river Hollyford, and Falls Creek. We stop at Monkey Creek at 12.30 for a photo op and to fill our water bottle from the creek it’s about 24km to Milford Cruise. We drive past a patch of highway that was closed for 3 days last week due to 3 different avalanches. After this we drive by Gertrude Valley. About 12.45, we start driving through Homer Tunnel, which was created using 100 tonnes of dynamite, has 200m of slope and is 1.8km down. The other side is commonly known as valley of 100 waterfalls. We arrive down at the wharf about 1pm and get ready for the Milford cruise which departed at 1.30. as we got off the bus, Jamie the driver gave us 3 passes, - Boarding Pass, Meal Pass, and Discovery Centre Pass. On the cruise there a buffet lunch, hot and cold, included. We cruised casually around Milford Sound on a boat called Spirit of Milford and into the Tasman Sea. The cruise must say been some boat trip as when we entered the Tasman Sea, it got bumpy and windy which it seems is unusual. Seems it’s not normally this dry or sunny as its usually has high rainfall. Now we see why they say it’s a must do In NZ. We arrive at the underwater observatory discovery centre at 3 for a look around for roughly 45 mins before heading back to the wharf.
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