Wanaka & Queenstown
We woke up with the sunrise and rode to Wanaka, a town in the southwestern portion of the Island. Downtown sits right on Lake Wanaka, with a backdrop of alpine mountains. The city has a certain feel to it – friendly faces, adventurous people, and great coffee shops. Reminds me a bit of Boulder, Colorado.
After a good cup of tea (and purchasing some warmer socks for camping) we headed towards Queenstown. Much larger than Wanaka, Queenstown has a busy city center buzzing with tourism. Not too far are sandy beaches next to the beautiful Lake Wakatipu.
Sheep, Sheep and more Sheep!
Continuing on, we headed through the countryside to Te Anau (pronounced very similar to Keanu, as in Keanu Reeves, except starting with a “T”).
I cannot tell you how many sheep we saw on the way. Black sheep, white sheep, baby sheep, mama sheep, old sheep, young sheep, woolly sheep, shaved sheep…you get the point, sheep!
I spy…a sheep...no, two sheep...no, hundreds of sheep! The New Zealand countryside is filled with sheep!
Ironically, the man who worked at a gas station we stopped at told us of his son who moved to Minnesota. “Why?” we asked. “To become a sheep farmer.”
Every now and then we’d come across a pasture of cows, llamas, goats, or even deer. But the sheep stole the show – hundreds upon hundreds of sheep dotting the rolling hills at the base of the mountains.
As a Michigan girl, I do find it interesting to see deer on a farm. For me, deer roam around our cottage “up north” and you try to avoid hitting them with your car!
The Smell of Lavender is in the Air
After searching for a bit, we found a great campsite between Te Anau and Milford Sound. We were in a valley surrounded by mountains in all directions, and we just so happened to get the campsite where wild lavender was blossoming.
The scent of the wild lavendar outside our tent made it easy to fall asleep.
We set an alarm for 2:00am to look at the stars. They were stunning. A clear night allowed us to see so many stars, a few planets, and the Milky Way. And while there were surely many neutrinos coming from out there, I'll have to wait for the South Pole to see them.
Milford Sound
We finally made it to our intended destination – Milford Sound. Here we took a cruise through the fjord all the way to the Tasman Sea.
A waterfall descending into the fjord at Milford Sound. This waterfall is approximately 50 stories tall and supplies the local town with fresh water and electricity.
One of the few places in the world where you can see a glacier, rainforest, and fjord at the same time! Milford Sound is a special place.
You may wonder, as I did, how the trees grow on such a steep cliff made of rocks. It turns out that first moss attaches to the rock. Then, a few trees, called anchor trees, root themselves in the moss and in one or two cracks in the rocks. From there, other trees attach their roots to the roots of the anchor trees, forming a network. Interestingly, if an anchor tree breaks loose, all of the trees attached to it also come loose causing a tree avalanche. I’d like to see that!