Spectacular Queenstown

Our first day in Queenstown was marked by rain in the morning, so we had a lazy time sorting ourselves out, and then walking down into the town a little later when it had cleared up somewhat. We looked at the shops, booked ourselves a place at the Skyline dinner in the evening, did a bit of shopping and checked out the quayside, having a 'light' lunch in a pub there. We wondered about a boat trip, but in the end decided to go back and rest before our evening out. I went back first, as Hilary wanted to do a couple more things. The B&B is up about 500 metres of very steep hill, so it's not easy to walk up to, and by the time I arrived I was ready to flop! The Skyline restaurant is quite special. You go up in a cable car to the top of the first set of hills overlooking the town. We went early to catch the sunset, and the views were really beautiful. Then we went for a pre dinner drink, chatting to a New Zealand couple from North Island. We'd registered our arrival and been given a gizmo about the size of a drink mat, and when it suddenly burst into life with flashing lights and a buzz, we walked down to the restaurant itself. The food was fabulous: you could have a six course meal if you wanted. We both ate well, with a very good bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc. As we left, we asked the reception to order us a taxi to save that steep walk home, and it was waiting for us when we got down in the cable car.

Next day it was up early for our trip to Milford Sound. This is a very beautiful fiord, only about 40Km as the heli copts, but well over 200 Km by coach, a good four hour trip. However, the coach ride itself was worth doing: we stopped first in Te Anau, a small town on a pretty lake, where we bought sandwiches for lunch and had a coffee. There were several more photo stops, including one at The Chasm, a hugely deep gorge (in New Zealand, you just run out of superlatives!) and one at the Mirror Lakes, reminding me of the BBC4 signature picture. We boarded the boat at the Milford Sound terminal for a cruise in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I took about 100 photographs, but mostly sat and just enjoyed the beauty and peace of this glacier-made inlet (fiords are made by glaciers and sounds by rivers, we were told). Coming back, we were taken close to a waterfall and stopped by Seal Rock to see some seals playing. Words just can't describe the atmosphere of this place: such a shame it's so far from Newcastle!! We stopped again at Te Anau on the way back, and bought fish and chips for our supper at a mobile stall, to save going out at the end of the day. The coach took us right to the bottom of our road, so one last climb up the hill and we were home from a most memorable day.