My 2014 Adventure: Travels to Singapore, Australia & New Zealand: Saturday, May 17

There is only one road north to Milford Sound, a beautiful two hour drive along 119 kilometers of mountain, valley, and waterfall views. Along the drive we stopped to see Mirror Lakes where the mountains were reflected in tranquil lakes, as well as The Chasm where the Cleddau River has carved the rocks into interesting, rounded shapes. At Milford we took a cruise out to the Tasman Sea on the west coast of New Zealand. The area has about seven meters of rainfall annually, which cascades off the cliffs as waterfalls onto the sea water. Our guide said that there is about five meters of fresh water on top of the sea water of Milford Sound. The views of the mountains rising directly out of the sea were amazing. After our cruise, we found a perfect camping spot right on the beach at Lake Gunn just in time to watch the sunset.

We had planned on staying in Milford for a few days but the weather turned south with pouring rain all night. We packed up early and drove to Queenstown the next day. Queenstown is set on Lake Wakatipu, with brilliant blue water and snow-capped mountain views. Something that has really stuck in my memory about New Zealand is how clean their water is; from lakes to rivers, you can generally see to the bottom of the body of water, which is something you cannot relate to in the US. Our first night in Queenstown we drove on a gravel road out to Moke Lake for camping. The road had a bunch of cattle stops, an area of metal bars so that the animals cannot escape from their grazing areas. We had to drive through a field of sheep which were running free everywhere, even on the road. I’ve never been to Montana, but I imagine this is what it would be like.

The next couple of days we took our time to explore Queenstown. We took the Skyline Gondola up a ski lift to the top of a hill. Here we could get great views of the city, as well as ride a luge track (no snow, it’s like go-karts without engines) down part of the hill. We also walked around Queenstown Gardens and the lake. The evening it was nice to have a meal out down by the waterfront, with wine, duck, steak, and delicious sticky date pudding for dessert. On our last day in Queenstown we hiked Queenstown Hill, about 500 meters to the summit. To celebrate this feat of physicality, we promptly rewarded ourselves with ice cream from Patagonia, a New Zealand ice creamery.

That afternoon we drove to Wanaka, a town that is the gateway to Mt Aspiring National Park. It rained all night as we camped by Lake Wanaka. We were relieved in the morning when the sun came out and we were able to take a hike on the Rocky Mountain track (it was definitely true to its name). Although it was very difficult for me, it was very rewarding because to one side of the summit you could view Lake Wanaka, and to the other side you could see the snow-covered mountains of Mt Aspiring National Park. True to form, we rewarded ourselves after this 10 kilometer hike with a tasting at Wanaka Beerworks.