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Red-necked Pademelon

We collected our hired car at Picton and 500m up one of the mountains overlooking spectacular mountain scenery especially in
then commenced a 350km drive to our fi rst Queenstown where a fi ne restaurant awaits. the vicinity of Lake Pukaki where the Southern
overnight stop at Greymouth on the west coast. Sue and I decided to hike the steep 1,5 km trail Alps, with a blanket of cumulus cloud, provided
The next day we continued south along the up Queenstown hill and once at the top we had a stunning backdrop to the clear blue ice
only major road on the west coast to the Franz outstanding views of the lake and the town. cold waters of the lake. Christchurch suffered
Josef glacier, one of over 3000 glaciers in the major earthquake damage in 2011, signs of
Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs Milford Sound is a fi ord within Fiordland which are still visible today. An easy way to
the length of South Island. Situated in the National Park in the southwest of South see the city is to take the hop on hop off tram,
Westland Tai Poutini National Park, the Franz Island. It is New Zealand’s most visited tourist which takes about an hour to complete a full
Josef glacier is only a short walk from the road, attraction in spite of its remote location. From circuit. We visited the Bridge of Remembrance,
but regrettably shows very visible signs of Queenstown one can opt to fl y directly over dedicated to the New Zealanders who died
retreat up the valley slope, leaving wide bare the Southern Alps or take a four-hour drive via in war, the ‘cardboard’ cathedral built out of
stony ground along its former path. the small town of Te Anau. We had booked a recycled materials from buildings damaged in
tour bus, which departed from Queenstown the earthquake, Hagley Park, the Canterbury
Continuing south, the road twisted and turned at 7h30. The driver of the bus gave a very Museum and Cathedral Junction. Construction
as it followed the contours around the foothills informative commentary on New Zealand and of many new buildings was under way – the
of the Southern Alps. Dense forests lined the stopped en route at scenic spots to enable foundations go down 30m to bedrock, to
road for over 150km and giant ferns grew photos to be taken. Interesting NZ birds seen prevent the effects of liquefaction of the
among the trees giving a strange netherworld en route were Black-fronted Tern, South Island sandy ground on which Christchurch is built
appearance that provided an ideal fi lm Robin and South Island Tomtit. during future earthquakes.
backdrop to scenes shot in New Zealand for
Lord of the Rings and other similar fi lms. For the past few years there has been Birdlife around Canterbury is plentiful and at
a concerted effort to eradicate certain Brooklands Lagoon and the Avon Estuary we
After some 9 hours of driving, we arrived introduced mammals that have decimated noted among others, Bar-tailed Godwit, Pied
in Queenstown and booked into our motel indigenous bird populations. Hundreds of traps Stilt, Royal spoonbill, Paradise Shelduck, Indian
overlooking Lake Wakatipu and the ever- have been set in forest areas to catch stoats Peafowl, South Island Pied Oystercatcher and
present Southern Alps. The Queenstown and ferrets originally imported to catch rats. both Black and Mute Swans. From Christchurch
Botanical Gardens were established in 1867 Possums imported for their fur were let loose we fl ew on Air NZ back to Auckland and en
and lie on a headland jutting out into the lake. when the fur trade collapsed and added to the route had splendid views of the snow-capped
The gardens are extremely popular with both carnage of local birds. Often we came across Southern Alps, the Cook Strait, and the
visitors and locals as, apart from the very dead possums killed on the roads and were harbours of Auckland.
diverse fl ora, they cater for sports enthusiasts advised that they are considered fair game.
in the form of tennis courts, a bowling green, At Auckland we picked up a hired car and drove
roller skate park and Frisbee course. Birds At Milford Sound we boarded the ‘Milford 4 hours north to Paihia on the Bay of Islands
that we saw included Silvereye, NZ Scaup, NZ Mariner’ which then set off slowly down where we checked into a pre-booked timeshare
Lake Wakapitu, Queenstown Grey Fantail as well as many of the introduced the fi ord. Sheer walls of rock rising 1 200m unit at Club Paihia. The Bay of Islands is
species. surrounded us sometimes on one side only an archipelago of 144 islands off the north
and further along on both sides, and numerous east coast of North Island and is a popular
Queenstown is home to adventure sports and waterfalls cascaded down the almost vertical holiday destination. Our 40th anniversary fell
on Lake Wakapitu we watched as a high speed cliff faces. NZ fur seals lay on rocky outcrops during our week in Paihia and on that day we
jet boat powered its way across the lake then and Sue spotted a group of Little Blue took a boat trip to explore the islands. The
performed tight turns at speed, showering the penguins, which unfortunately for me dived tour company guarantees that one will see
raincoat-clad occupants with a heavy spray. into the water before I saw them. The boat bottlenose dolphins and indeed we saw plenty
Further out on the lake para-sails towed by continued to the mouth of the fi ord before surfi ng in the wake of the boat and occasionally
speedboats afforded the highfl ying occupants a turning around and stopping on the return leg leaping out of the water. We were fortunate
bird’s eye view of Queenstown and surrounds. at a few of the more spectacular waterfalls. to see a humpbacked whale very close to
Bungee jumps, zip lines and winter skiing the boat as well as numerous bird species
are some of the other activities available to The next day we left Queenstown and headed including Buller’s Shearwater, Australasian
the adventurous. A more sedate activity is for Christchurch, the largest city on South Gannet, and Black, Pied and Little Shags. The
a ride up the cableway that takes one some Island. The road wound its way through cruise took us to the island called ‘hole in the

Milford Sound Fjiord

Kyalami Estates • CONNECT • Issue 4 • 2019 21