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My final destination (I really shouldn't use that phrase when I'm waiting for a flight) is Queenstown. I actually stayed one night here en route to Wānaka, but I barely saw the place in daylight (and I also had to slum it in a dorm for once).
I only had time for one tour, so opted for a day trip to the world famous Milford Sound. It took nearly five hours to drive there, and unfortunately, our tour guide mistook us for a class of primary school children. I appreciate that you need to speak slowly and clearly so that non-native speakers can understand, but I'm pretty sure you can do that without sounding so patronising. Highlights included:
- Spelling out lots of words for us, as if there was going to a test at the end.
- Telling us that a specific mountain was one kilometre high - and then saying very slowly "That's the same as one thousand metres".
- Making us applaud her when we had time to make an extra spot at a local beauty spot.
- Calling us "team" all the time in every single sentence, and imparting such wisdom that cows, sheep, and pigs lived on farms.
It got so bad that a fellow passenger and I were actually looking up on our phones to find out how much it would cost to fly back to Queenstown, rather than get another five hours of the tour guide on the return leg. Unfortunately, it was going to cost more than $400, but thankfully she'd run out of things to say on the road home anyway.
Sadly, the weather was pretty grim the whole day, which meant greatly reduced visibility. One advantage, however, was in area called Hundred Falls which, when it rains, has loads (I didn't count to see if there was exactly 100) of little waterfalls appear in the surrounding mountains.
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Hundred Falls |
Milford Sound is a fiord and was described by Rudyard Kipling as being the "eighth wonder of the world". I wouldn't go that far, although it is very pretty (and would be even more so if it was pissing with rain). It takes an hour to navigate the sound where you arrive at open sea, then you turn round and come back again. We saw some seals while we were out, but sadly no whales or dolphins. It was lovely, but I wouldn't say it was any more picturesque than the ferry from the North to Sound island.
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On my last night, I met up with my Canadian pal Jackson, whom I met in Christchurch. Joining us was his friend from back home, Sean. We decided to have one last stab at winning a pub quiz, and were joined by an ever-increasing gang of folk from their hostel. And we came a very respectable second! Our "prize" for winning was a $50 bar voucher which was invested in 10 Jagerbombs, which went down like a cup of cold sick.
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| Yum yum, look out tum |
On my last day in New Zealand, my flight wasn't till the evening, and I realised I hadn't climbed any hills in a while. So I opted for this one, mainly because it was called Ben Lomond.
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There is a cable car that takes you to the top, but they were wanting an eye-watering £24 for the 10 minute journey (the one in Bolivia was only 30p!) so I opted for the tight-arse option and climbed the Tiki trail to the top instead. On the way up, there were several structures set up for zip lines, although I'm not quite sure of the purpose of the "Stairs to Nowhere".
The reward for reaching the top were some spectacular views of the surrounding area, which almost made up for the fact that I was drenched in sweat. Still, not my problem - the person I sat next to on the flight that evening might not agree though.
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