The Bottom Bus
The next part of my trip brought me the furthest South you can go before reaching Antartica! The first day we headed from Queenstown to Dunedin. The road conditions were pretty treacherous from all the snow, but we made it there alive, if a little late. This area has a lot of wineries.
Dunedin is the largest city in NZ and it really is beautiful. It is named after Edinburgh but apparently looks nothing like it, even though the town planners tried to copy the street layout. The city also possesses the worlds steepest street, Baldwin street.
Next it was on to the Cadbury's factory for an afternoon of binging!!!
Unfortunately I could only spend one night in Dunedin, but it is definitely a place I would like to go back to. It's the nicest city I have seen in NZ to date.
The following day we did a tour of The Catlins. This area is full of rock formations which were caused by the Australian techtonic plate going under the pacific plate and pushing the pacific plate up at a slant. This was clearly visible from Nugget point.
From here we went on to Surat bay to see some Hookie sea lions and I have to say that the male was the ugliest looking sea lion I have ever seen. It would remind you of an Orc from The Lord of the Rings!!
Then onto Curio bay where we checked into the hostel (a dive) and went on a walk of the area to see the Yellow eyed penguins and the Fossilised Forest. It was very interesting. This area is also know as Porpoise bay due to the frequent visits from the Hector dolphins. There are 31 waterfalls in the Catlin area. It is a beautiful area and really reminded me of home. You only realise when you are away how beautiful the walk from Portmarnock to Malahide really is.
The following day was spent mostly driving to Te Anau, with a short stop in Invercargill to visit a sheep shearing museum and then to a farm to actually shear some sheep.
Din would be so proud, but I definitely don't think I'll take it up as a profession, even if it is one of the best paid professions in the world - bet you didn't know that now did ya?! It is also a recognised sport and there are world championships held every year, with the champion at the moment coming from NZ.
Te Anau, is also a lakeside town, and is very beautiful. Again this was a short stop before heading to Milford Sound the next morning.
Milford Sound has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is not actually a Sound but a Fiordland. The only Sound in the country is the Malborough Sounds at the top of the South Island. We drove through the Homer Tunnel on the way which was literally cut through the mountain and has no supports at all! At the entrance a Tikea parrot flew onto the bus and amused us all for a while!
I must have taken at least a hundred photo's of Milford Sound, and none captured it, but there's not much I can write about it so I suggest you look at the photo's to get an idea of it. Our boat trip lasted 3 hrs and then it was back to Queenstown unfortunately! This was another brilliant day.
Dunedin is the largest city in NZ and it really is beautiful. It is named after Edinburgh but apparently looks nothing like it, even though the town planners tried to copy the street layout. The city also possesses the worlds steepest street, Baldwin street.
Next it was on to the Cadbury's factory for an afternoon of binging!!!
Unfortunately I could only spend one night in Dunedin, but it is definitely a place I would like to go back to. It's the nicest city I have seen in NZ to date.The following day we did a tour of The Catlins. This area is full of rock formations which were caused by the Australian techtonic plate going under the pacific plate and pushing the pacific plate up at a slant. This was clearly visible from Nugget point.
From here we went on to Surat bay to see some Hookie sea lions and I have to say that the male was the ugliest looking sea lion I have ever seen. It would remind you of an Orc from The Lord of the Rings!!Then onto Curio bay where we checked into the hostel (a dive) and went on a walk of the area to see the Yellow eyed penguins and the Fossilised Forest. It was very interesting. This area is also know as Porpoise bay due to the frequent visits from the Hector dolphins. There are 31 waterfalls in the Catlin area. It is a beautiful area and really reminded me of home. You only realise when you are away how beautiful the walk from Portmarnock to Malahide really is.
The following day was spent mostly driving to Te Anau, with a short stop in Invercargill to visit a sheep shearing museum and then to a farm to actually shear some sheep.
Din would be so proud, but I definitely don't think I'll take it up as a profession, even if it is one of the best paid professions in the world - bet you didn't know that now did ya?! It is also a recognised sport and there are world championships held every year, with the champion at the moment coming from NZ.Te Anau, is also a lakeside town, and is very beautiful. Again this was a short stop before heading to Milford Sound the next morning.
Milford Sound has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is not actually a Sound but a Fiordland. The only Sound in the country is the Malborough Sounds at the top of the South Island. We drove through the Homer Tunnel on the way which was literally cut through the mountain and has no supports at all! At the entrance a Tikea parrot flew onto the bus and amused us all for a while!
I must have taken at least a hundred photo's of Milford Sound, and none captured it, but there's not much I can write about it so I suggest you look at the photo's to get an idea of it. Our boat trip lasted 3 hrs and then it was back to Queenstown unfortunately! This was another brilliant day.
posted by Alison at
11:13 PM
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