Visiting New Zealand
The Routeburn Track, Queenstown and Christchurch
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Having visited Australia previously this year, I should have remembered that New Zealand is located terribly far away from Japan. Traveling to New Zealand for one week's vacation was rather silly, but we still managed to have a great trip. Unless one plans for a crazy schedule of leapfrogging all over the country, seeing much of New Zealand in seven days is impossible. With that in mind, Yuka and I decided to focus on a fairly small part of the country. |
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| Since this was my first trip to New Zealand, I decided to focus on the Southern island and on Queenstown in particular. With a population of fewer than 10,000 people, one would imagine Queenstown to be a minor and sleepy city. One could not be more wrong. While in Queenstown, we stayed at Brown's Boutique Hotel, an intimate hotel of only ten rooms. The breakfasts were great, and you get free wine and beer to your room every night! | Real estate is said to be location, location, and location. While New Zealand unfortunately is located in the middle of nowhere, it is easy to understand why foreign tourists are flocking to Queenstown. Built around an inlet on Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown has has spectacular views of nearby mountains (The Remarkables). |
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| The food in Queenstown is great as well, here from the "19th Restaurant Bar & Cafe" on the the Steamers Wharf. In addition to cooking excellent seafood, they also provide discounts to American Express card holders. | Many tourists combine a visit to Queenstown with a trip to Milford Sound, which is located on the south west corner of New Zealand's South Island. This picture is of Mirror Lakes (located between the village of Te Anau and Milford Sound), which on a fine day can provide a picture perfect reflection of the Earl mountains glisten in the water. Unfortunately, we did not get to see that. |
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| It is a fairly long drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound. The village of Te Anau is located approximately midway between Queenstown and Milford Sound, and from Te Anau 119 kilometers wait before you reach Milford Sound. This is taken in front of the Homer Tunnel, which links Milford Sound to Queenstown and Te Anau. | Another picture from the same location, and Yuka is visibly happy to have made it so far. The 1,207 meter long tunnel emerges into the spectacular Cleddau Canyon on the Milford Sound side. |
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| Milford Sound is part of the Fiordland region of New Zealand. As Wikipedia explains: "The name "Fiordland" comes from the now-common variant of the Norwegian word "fjord". Fiordland features a number of fiords (often misnamed sounds), of which Milford Sound is the most famous, though Doubtful Sound is even larger and has more and longer branches". | "Milford Sound runs 15 kilometers inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1200 meters or more on either side. Lush rain forests cling precariously to these cliffs, while seals, penguins, and dolphins frequent the waters. The natural beauty of this landscape draws thousands of visitors each day". |
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| Before visiting Milford Sound, I was wondering if it would be very different from the fjords that I have seen in Norway. However, I quickly discovered that Milford Sound could not offer anything new. The fjords in southern Norway and northern Norway look almost identical to the New Zealand fjords, though Norway has many more fjords to offer. | With exception of Greenland's Scoresby Sund, the world's longest fjords are all located in Norway. Seals, penguins, and dolphins frequent the New Zealand fjords. With the exception of penguins, I think you can catch all of these in the Norwegian fjords as well. |
More Pictures From "New Zealand"
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