I visited the South Island of New Zealand 15 years ago as a young teen. I had fond memories of gazing out of the rear window of a tireless rental blue Corolla, taking in views of jagged peaks and wild west coast as my parents (and I suspect everyone before) drove over 2000km in a week.
Since then I have developed a love of hiking and kayaking and experimented with photography. I decided to go for a two week summer trip revisiting nostalgic sights and exploring new out of the beaten path locations.
I took a late Jetstar flight to Christchurch which was delayed by a further 3 hours. I exited the airport at 3:30am. In place of the rental Corolla my friend Jake picked me up in his old petrol thirsty Jaguar which we will be using for the first leg of the trip. We agreed that flying the 'Orange Gamble' didn't pay off. After a quick stroll in the Christchurch Botantical Gardens the next morning, we set off for Mt Cook Village via Tekapo.
There are thousands of glaciers in NZ but most can only be seen from a distance. Brewster Glacier is a rare exception which can be visited in a long day walk. The track crosses the freezing Haast River and proceeds to climb 1000m to Brewster Hut in just 2.6km. From there it is another 1.5 hour walk to the Glacier.
For a while the fog was thick but when it finally cleared the glacier came into view. Walking with crampons gave a very satisfying crunch. We even encounterd 2 keas which tried to take Jake's action camera.
Moving south we explored the goldfields near Queenstown. Following the Shotover River upstream Jake's Jaguar crawled along the infamous Skippers Canyon Road.
The road was hand cut by miners to access what was once considered the richest river in the world. We passed ruins of old pubs and an single lane section next to a 100m vertical drop into the river. It was challenging to move machinery to the largest gold town of Skippers and after years of petitioning the celebrated Skippers Bridge was completed in 1901. The single lane wooden decked bridge spands a 96m gap at 91m above the river and considered one of the most spectacular suspension bridges in the world. Unfortunately, by the time of its completion the best days of gold mining in the area had passed and it was seldomly used.
A small tributary of the Shotover, Deep Creek had a gold rush of its own. We waded up the canyon it carved and say over 50 trout, with some up to 40cm long in knee to waist deep water.
My single greatest wish for the trip was kayaking in Doubtful Sound. Accessible only by ferry it is far quieter than Milford Sound. I took an overnight cruise and then stayed behind at the Deep Cove Hostel, an experience shared by many South Island school children in year 8. Once the remaining building from the construction of the Manapouri Hydro plant, this hostel has been lovingly extended by a passionate not for profit group. To supply reliable power in such a remote location it even has its own hydro electricity plant.
Doubtful sound received between 8-18m of rain a year, making it one of the wettest places in the world. The mountains here are carved by glaciers and have very thin soil. After rain most freshwater drops straight into the sea, creating many waterfalls and a 2-3m layer of mostly fresh water on the surface. Kayaking the sound on calm days was a truly soothing experience.
With stormy weather closing in I fit in some sightseeing near Te Anau and Milford Sound. I liked the informative the sign at the Kepler Track bridge and the Gertrude Saddle hike. And that is all.
