Tag: South Island

The Dart River Safari

Lake Wakatipu is the longest lake in New Zealand with a length of 80km. it is deceiving because it is a dog leg shape so you can’t see both ends at the same time unless you are looking from high above.

The Dart River flows into the northern end of the lake near the town of Glenorchy (population 380 people, 450 horses). The drive from Queenstown takes around 45 minutes and the views out over the lake are simply stunning. Just when you think that the view couldn’t get any better it does! Sunshine helps as the lake becomes the most beautiful colour.

Dart River Adventures provide tours of the Dart River and surrounding countryside; part by coach and part by Jet Boat. The coach takes you into Paradise which is the eastern side of the Dart River and was so named by the early settlers and you can see why. Agriculture here is mainly sheep and cattle farming but the area is probably famous today for its numerous appearances in films. The best known being The Lord of the Rings, where it was Fangorn Forest and Isengard, The Hobbit, one of the X-Men films and more recently the filming of Mission Impossible Six. There is even a hobbit chair in the woods, oversized to make humans look hobbit sized. It is a fascinating trip and you really get a sense of place, the tree covered in moss and lichens hanging down really do look like Ents. Perhaps they were!.

The Jet Boat, which itself is a New Zealand invention, was primarily designed to navigate waters that can be very shallow, just a matter of inches. They can navigate the shallow stretches of the river right up to the point at which it become un-navigable due to a huge landslip several years ago. The trip is exhilarating as the boat reaches speeds of 90km/hr at times and performs the occasional 360 degree spin. The pilot explains the scenery you are travelling through and gives ample opportunity its for photographs. In all you cover about 60km in a 75 minute tour of the river

An excellent way to spend an afternoon and the rain started just as we stepped off the Jet Boat. Perfect timing!

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is about 290km from Queenstown and the drive takes arouund 4 hours. The stretch between Te Anau and The Sound is New Zealand’s most dangerous road and visitors and tour operators are encouraged to travel there by coach to reduce the traffic and leave the narrow, twisting and turning roads to someone with the experience of dealing with them.

Milford Sound is located in the Fiordland National Park. At 1.2 million hectares it is the largest of New Zealand’s National parks. it was awarded world heritage stars in 1986. Much of it consists of temperate rainforest clinging to the sides of steep mountains. Much is uncharted, it is estimated that 75% of it has never been walked on by a human.

The journey into the park takes you past some incredible scenery and a series of lakes that are known to reflect the surrounding landscape hence their name, Mirror Lakes.

Technically speaking Milford Sound is actually a fiord not a sound as it was formed by glaciers. A Sound on the other hand results when a river valley is flooded by the sea. The early settlers to the region were perhaps not up to date with their geographical terms so the name stuck and has remained unchanged.

Milford Sound is the wettest place in New Zealand with an average of 250 inches of rain a year. It rains on about 200 days a year so you are more likely to visit on a wet day than a dry one. Our visit was no exception, it rained for the duration of our visit.

The coach from Queenstown arrives in the early afternoon and passengers immediately board a boat for a two hour cruise. The journey takes you along the sound and out into the Tasman Sea and back again, a round trip of approximately 30km. if you are lucky enough to do it in the rain you see the waterfalls, and there are many of them, in full flow. If its dry then you see the majesty of the mountain peaks but only two waterfalls. We got the former, most of the peaks were shrouded in mist giving the place an etherial, ghostly feel. Very atmospheric.

On our trip we were lucky to see a pod of Bottlenosed dolphins both on our journey out of the sound and again on our return. Indeed on our return one swam right alongside the vessel and you were able to see just how big this particular species of dolphin is. Seals were also in evidence, basking on the rocks and not very lively at all.

Despite its isolation a procession of coaches head into the national park every day. One can only wonder what the traffic congestion would be like if everyone went by car. In total it is a twelve hour round trip with a couple of breaks along the way. A long and tiring day but well worth it.