Bill and Alma Visit Kiwiland
THE ROUTE
On Feb. 26, we returned to Melbourne after spending two glorious weeks driving around New Zealand’s South Island—certainly one of the world’s most beautiful and unspoiled places. In my opinion, the island’s western coast is more spectacularly beautiful than the Big Sur or the Amalfi coast. The fiords, which meander through steep, heavily forested ravines, are stunning. The massive glaciers take your breath away. The snow-capped mountains in the center of the island are majestic. We told the Kiwis we met along the way they are very lucky to have such a beautiful place. It’s beginning to be discovered by American, European and Japanese tourists, so we hope its pristine beauty doesn’t become spoiled by success.
We flew to Christchurch, rented a car and drove counterclockwise around the island’s coastline. To Kaikoura, a Mecca for wildlife enthusiasts, and to the quaint old port of Picton; the Marlborough wine country, where we visited wineries and had a fantastic lunch at one (Pinot Noir is NZ’s wine specialty—very good). To Nelson, which was chock-a-block with tourists but which had a nice Sunday market. On to the Tasman mountains and the first of a number of walks on great hiking tracks. Then down the west coast, savoring the views along twisting, winding mountain roads, to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. To Wanaka for peaceful lakeside walks and a great dinner; Queenstown, the extreme sports capital (where bungie jumping began) to Te Anau, the jumping-off point for Fiordland.
The boat trip into the fiords of Doubtful Sound was stunning, and the rain we had part of the day only enhanced the mystery and beauty of the fiords.
Then on to Dunedin, founded by Scottish settlers and very, very quaint, and up the East coast to Christchurch, visiting such places along the way as the once prosperous and still splendid Oamaru, which has grand old former banks and trading houses with Corrinthian columns that have other uses now, and Akaroa, which was founded by French settlers on a lovely peninsula and still looks a bit French in a way.
Here are the pictures:
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Alma tasting in Marlborough vineyard |
Bill in South Island lake country |
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Hamming it up in a whaling museum |
19th Century convict transport ship |
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We stumbled across this guy flycasting |
Hundreds of miles of coastline like this |
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Pancake Rocks—a geological mystery |
A great old hotel for lunch in Cardrona |
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Alma on a boat in Doubtful Sound fiords |
One of dozens of waterfalls in the fiords |
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In the fiords headed toward Doubtful Sound |
The mist shrouding Doubtful Sound fiords was eerily beautiful and very photogenic |
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We were joined by porpoises in this fiord |
We came across a seaside primary school where the kids’ play at recess was on a lovely beach |
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Overlooking Akoroa, a French settlement that still has a lot of French flavor left to it |
Bill feigning hypothermia in the Antarctic Center museum in Wellington, where many expeditions to the South Pole are launched |
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Another shot in the museum’s deep freeze room |
New Zealand’s South Island has two major glaciers, and this is one of them |
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Alma at the Dunedin Railway Station |
Bill doing his old falling-off-the-cliff gag photo |
