Chapter Nine - Land of the Dinosaurs

The sun is shining as I leave Dunedin..... houses and farm land give way to rolling hills. I am driving along roads so straight the Romans would have been proud! There are very few cars to interrupt my views and car karaoke. Every now and then I get a wave from a fellow Wilderness van driver probably due to shock of seeing another human on the road.

After a couple of hours the snow capped mountains of the Southern Fiordlands appear on the horizon! This is the part of the Southern Island itinerary I am most excited about!

I am entering Dinosaur country..... I’m sure in the dense forest pre-historic life still exists.

After a long drive I’m ready to stretch my legs and opt to walk a section of the Kepler Track (normally a 3-4 day walk). I park at Rainbow Reach car park and follow the clear markers for the track. It twists through forests of beach trees adorned in lichen and different types of moss. I later learn that these trees were the inspiration for the ‘walking trees’ in the Lord of the Rings. I reach Shallow Bay on the shores of Manapouri Lake..... stunning views, peace and quiet and time for a cheese and pickle sandwich........cool!

Manapouri will be my base for a couple of nights and I find a lovely camp site over looking the lake. It has the feel that this is what a NZ camp site was like 40 years ago. There were only a handful of guests so I had the pick of the pitches. Talking to the elderly lady who runs the site the make up artists who worked on Lord of the Rings stayed here!

When in Fiordlands you take a cruise so I departed for my nature cruise into Doubtful Sound....... boat across Lake Manapouri, coach across the Wilmot Pass and then on to the boat that cruises around Doubtful Sound. Our coach driver was a very enthusiastic newbie..... his job was to drive the coach and give nature commentary as we went along the 21km route....... he tried so hard and clearly was loving his new job. He laughed at his own jokes, couldn’t find the oldest tree he was looking for, clicked the window washers rather than the indicators and stalled the coach on the 1:4 hill we were climbing. All in good humour, I think it added to the fun.

The views on the cruise are amazing, jaw dropping.... water cascaded down the cliff face as if someone had left a very large hose pipe on..... they get up to 11 metres of rain per year......220 days of rain! No rain for more than 4 days is considered a drought and trees start

sliding down the cliff as the moss their roots are clinging to dries out. They take out everything in their path leaving huge scars on the cliff face...... it takes 100+ years to re-establish itself fully. We also encounter a pod of Bottle Nosed Dolphins and the worlds rarest penguin...... the Fiordland Crested Penguin.

Wednesday is the drive from Manapouri to Milford Sound. This is billed as one of the most scenic drives you can do. Its 140km and takes 2hrs to drive PLUS photo stops so at least 3hrs. I have another boat trip booked for Thursday so will stop over night at Cascade Creek so I have the full day to enjoy driving, walking and views. First up is me indulging my inner child. In New Zealand they have something called Walkwires.... sort of thing you'd see at Go Ape but on a normal walking route. It is basically 3 wires that you use to cross a stream/river or something but with no safety harness.

I find the start of the walk at Earl Mountain track, walking 20 minutes through the forest until I reach the walkwire. Beyond excited! I climb up the ladder and on to the wire and pretend to be a tight rope walker in the circus as I cross over the river! WoW....... and then back again.... double WoW.... maybe I have found my new career! These would NOT be allowed by HSE in England!

On to the waterfalls at Marian Lake. Bombay Sapphire Blue water crashing over rocks. What's not to like. The Department of Conservation (DoC) have put in a handy viewing platform too so not much effort is required to take in the view.

To make up for this easy walk next up is a section of Routeburn Track (a 2 - 4 day tramp billed as the 'Ultimate alpine adventure'). The section I walk is 2km up hill to an elevation of 919 metres. Puff, pant, wheeze...... the track was lovely but mostly vertical. Walking through the trees was pretty but as you rose above the tree line the wind whipped up and it started to drizzle. The clouds rolled in over the mountain tops which is dramatic but somewhat obscures the view I was hoping for. Even with all the exertion I was now cold but happy I had 'summited' so headed back down which was not surprisingly much quicker!

Off to Cascade Creek for some Wilderness Camping along with at least 40 other camper vans....... The site can hold 120 vans + tents so a quiet night. It was cold and I wake to ice on the windows and the frost warning on the dash. At 7.00am a convoy of white boxes on wheels files out of the site and heads on to Milford Sound.

The drive is everything the guide book promised. Huge mountains rising up all around, glacial rivers, winding roads, bridges, steep climbs and breath taking views! I can see why they say it takes so long to drive this 140km!

I board my cruise boat, there is not much else to do, and soaked up the views of Mitre Peak, pass Fur Seals sunbathing on a rock, a couple of rare (!) Fiordland Crested Penguins and staggering waterfalls. They get 8 to 10 metres of rain here so a drought is declared after 6 days with out rain. The tourist trick for this boat is to

put glasses on the bow of the ship and gently maneuver under the waterfall to fill the glasses so peeps can drink 'glacial water'.... a very skill full bit of skippering!

What makes the Milford Sound cruise different was the opportunity to visit the Milford Discovery Centre which is an underwater observatory. You descend 64 steps in to a viewing area with windows all around. Because of the unique environment deep water species are found in about 5 - 10 metres of water here (our English Marine Biologist guide did explain but it was too tricky for my tiny brain!) In particular it has Black Coral which are actually white! I pressed my nose up against the glass mesmerised by the fishes.... this was as close to diving I would be getting on this trip.

Southern Fiordlands........ tick! Now on wards to the adrenaline fueled Queenstown!