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Australia New Zealand, Travel

Journey’s End: Tekapo to Christchurch to Singapore

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Day 34-35  29-30th Nov 2024

All good things must come to an end. Our trip around the “Mainland” was nearing its end. We woke up to a wonderful view over Lake Tekapo.

After breakfast, it was time dump the waste water and empty the toilet cassette for the last time. Then it was off to Christchurch. The first part of the journey, over Burke’s pass to Fairlie, was reasonably pretty.

After Fairlie, we were back onto the Canterbury plains. So it became flat and boring, for the first time in a fortnight. We stopped in Geraldine, partly to get a cup of coffee, partly because we have a friend called Geraldine. We couldn’t find anywhere for a coffee. Nonetheless, we did manage to take a photo of the town sign to show that we had been there.

Target Practice?

The road from Geraldine back to Christchurch was very flat and more or less straight. Diane tried to stop herself from getting bored by taking pictures of railway crossing signs. The road and the railway run parallel most of the way.

We stopped for lunch in Ashburton at some place. I can’t remember its name, probably because it wasn’t a memorable meal. Then, it was back up SH1 to Christchurch and Maui Campers to return the van. That took a wee while. We had to wait for the branch manager to discuss the compensation for the water leaks. They needed to decide what level of compensation they were prepared to offer us. Compensation agreed we caught the Maui airport shuttle to our hotel.

The Sudima Hotel was the most boring of all the hotels that we stayed at on our trip. That said, it did its job. It gave us a bed for the night and fed us. You can’t really ask much more of an airport hotel. It did, though, lack a lift. Fortunately, they employed a retired second-row player to cart our bags up to the second floor.

The next day, we were up reasonably early for breakfast. We had a plane to catch at 12:00. Our brilliant time in Aotearoa was over. Next stop Singapore.

Checking in and going through security at Christchurch Airport was an absolute pleasure compared to Heathrow. Heathrow probably has more passengers to process in an hour than Christchurch has in a week, but never the less. Actually, landing in Singapore was similarly stress free. Everything was automated, and it worked. We hardly saw a single (official) person from leaving the plane until we were picked up by our car.

The flight to Singapore was pleasant. Because of the changes in time zones it was daylight all the way. We spent the flight watching Lord of the Rings films, trying to spot the places we had been.

Australia New Zealand, Travel

Milford Sound

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Day 29 Nov 24th

One of the main reasons for coming to Te Anau was its convenience. It provided a good jumping off point for a day trip to Milford Sound. We had looked at various options. Trips from Queenstown meant spending about ten hours on a coach. Booking the trip from Te Anau saved about five hours of the boring bit (from Queenstown to Te Anau). We booked our tour with Fjordland Tours. We were picked up from our accommodation about 08:00. The transport was a sixteen seat mini-bus. There was plenty of legroom. I found it very comfortable. Our driver/guide was a local woman, who knew the area intimately.

Our route took us up the eastern edge of Lake Te Anau. We traveled as far as Te Anau Downs. This is where you catch a ferry to the start of the Milford Track. You can walk to Milford Sound from there, if you want to. Other tracks are available.

Te Anau Downs

From there the route carried on up the Eglington Valley. This valley is featured in the Lord of the Rings. It continued to the Mirror Lakes.

Eglington Valley
Mirror Lakes
Mirror lakes
Mirror Lakes

The road climbed and twisted its way up to the Homer Tunnel.

Inside the Homer Tunnel

The weather was blue skies and sunny when we stopped for tea and cake at The Mirror Lakes. When we emerged from the tunnel the rain started. This was not unexpected. Milford Sound receives a mean annual rainfall of 6,412 mm (252 in) each year. This is a high level even for the West Coast. It is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Rainfall can reach 250 mm (10 in) during 24 hours.[14] The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls cascading down the cliff faces. It also results in several major, more permanent ones. Some waterfalls reach a thousand meters in length. Smaller falls from such heights never reach the bottom of the sound, drifting away in the wind.

We dropped down from the tunnel to Milford Sound, where our boat was waiting for us.

Our cruise was very scenic, very spectacular and very wet.

Waterfall
A Fjordland Crested Penguin

We saw a few Fjordland Crested Penguins. From a photographers point of view they are unfortunately rather small. The reach a maximum height of around 55 cm. Hence the not very clear photo.

Sometimes seals, dolphins and orcas are seen, but not today.

I should mention that Fjordland Tours provided an excellent packed lunch, which we ate while cruising the sound.

The cruise lasted about two hours, then it was time to head back to Te Anau. We were stopped, waiting to go through the tunnel. During this time, a Kea decided to try and take the rubber door seal of the van apart.

You didn’t really need that door seal
Kea

We stopped on the way for a walk up the first (easy) part of the Lake Marian Trail.

After that we drove back to Te Anau where we were dropped off back at the campsite.

Some people would have been disappointed that it was wet and misty. I think that it the rain and the cloud actually enhanced the experience. There are apparently only two permanent waterfalls at Milford Sound. The rest are only formed when it is raining.

It was a wonderful day out and one of the highlights of our trip.