Where is Darran?

The Milford Sound bus operated by Kiwi Experience departs from Queenstown in the morning. Because we spent the night just outside Milford Sound in Te Anau we got to sleep in and catch the bus headed from Queenstown. Vincent and I had breakfast overlooking Lake Te Anau.

On the way to Milford Sound

When you gotta go….

Some pictures from Milford Sound

You can see a plane viewing the sound in this one.

Relaxing while waiting for our boat to return.

We also go to visit an underwater observatory in the sound. This gave us an opportunity to see some of the underwater wildlife up close.

Vincent and I went out with a few others, but had a quiet night for Queenstown.

I arrived back in Austin on February 8th, 2010 around 6 PM CST. Everything was very smooth and I have been settling back in. Currently, I am residing at my parents house in Northwest hills. There might be a post on how/why I ended up leaving New Zealand, but for now I am going to carry on writing up the daily travel log from the New Zealand tour with Kiwi Experience. It has been dragging out and I would like to finish it before things get busy. It’s good to be back.

-darran

Today started with a Subway sandwich for breakfast and a visit to the Tuatara exhibit at the Southland Museum.

The next stop was at the Fiordland Paua shell factory in Riverton. Here we got to see how they turn a natural Paua shell into a finished product for jewelry and other items.

New Zealand is full of super sized items that make for tourist stops and picture opportunities. Of course there is a massive Paua shell at the Paua shell factory.

Here are few other things the Kiwis have put out for people to enjoy

New Zealand longhorns

Obligatory McCracken’s Rest pic

A good day in the Southland

We also stopped at a bird sanctuary outside Te Anau

Te Anau is a beautiful town that would be a great place to spend a few weeks to relax and get away from things. It is just outside Fiordland National Park. I would love to get back down here and spend some time tramping and relaxing.

Vincent and I had dinner at The Ranch because we got some free drink tickets from the bus driver. We then went to the grocery store and picked up some snacks and beer. Afterwards, we spent the rest of the evening playing games, eating snacks, and drinking on the back garden patio that was attached to our room.

Tour progress so far:

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I don’t know if I have said this already, but I reckon this was my favorite day for sightseeing. It was full of things to see and do.

The day began with a short ride to the World’s Steepest Street, Baldwin Street.

Next, it was off to a nice bar and restaurant at Kaka Point for some breakfast. A nice fire was going, a friendly dog was mucking about, and some delicious toasted sandwiches were quickly served.

After Kaka Point was Nugget Point. Here we were able to see some rock seals playing in some tide pools and resting on the shore.

Keeping busy because there was lots to see we headed off to Cannibal Bay to hunt for some sea lions. Tired from being out at sea we were able to get up close and amongst them resting on the beach.

A stop for lunch and then we stopped at the Florence Hill Lookout.

We stopped to look for a cave and then went on a short bush walk(OZ)/tramp(NZ)/Hike(US) to a waterfall. Seeing the waterfall wasn’t enough, we had to climb to the top of it.

Not many get to these parts, but if you have the time get down to the Catlins. Next, we were off to hunt for some Hector’s Dolphins. Building upon our previous luck, we were able to spot some Hector’s Dolphins out in the wild!

Still not satisfied, we went down to a local beach and spotted some sea lions fighting over territory or a female maybe.

Next, it was off to find some Yellow-eyed Penguins. Again, we were successful and caught the penguins coming in from the ocean to nest in bushline.

I know the word epic gets thrown around a lot these days, but this truly was an epic day of the tour. A quick recap of the highlights:

World’s Steepest Street
Breakfast at Kaka Point
Seals at Nugget Point
Sea Lions at Cannibal Bay
Waterfall Hike
Hector’s Dolphins and Sea Lions at Porpoise Bay
Yellow Eyed Penguins at Curio Bay
Dinner at Speight’s Ale House
…oh yea, according to what I wrote I also had a milkshake sometime during the day, but I don’t really remember it

Tour progress so far:

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Today was the first day on the Bottom Bus. Because the majority of tourists don’t visit the very south of New Zealand there is a separate bus system for these parts. The Kiwi Experience labels their service Bottom Bus. That out of the way, the first stop with the Bottom Bus is Dunedin. The drive to Dunedin was pleasant and uneventful. Dunedin is a major university town and was one of my favorites. Dunedin hosts many architecturally unique old buildings that have been well kept. One of those such buildings is the Dunedin Railway Station.

It is a quick stop. Make sure to check the Railway Station out. Next, we dropped our bags off at the hostel, On Top Backpackers. The hostel is on top of a pool hall and a bar. Definitely a place you could spend some time at if you were looking to relax and mingle. The rooms were good and the bathrooms were really nice. The hostel had some backpackers, but seemed to be more inhabited by students.

We got lucky and their happened to be a Rugby game the same day we were visiting Dunedin. Otago vs. Auckland. It was a good game, but the home team, Otago, lost. There is a lot of pride in Dunedin and the local crowd here seemed more vocal than the home game I saw at Moore Park(Sydney) on Australia day. Neither games compare to the Stateside college football experience.

After the game we went back to the hostel and then started a search for some food. We settled on a recommendation by our driver, Noodle Canteen. Well supported by uni kids, Noodle Canteen serves a variety of tasty dishes in a friendly and simple setting. Would definitely go back. I polished off my food and then finished off Vincent’s.

For a quiet day we sure did keep busy. After dinner we ventured out again and took a tour of the Speight’s brewery. The tour is quite lengthy and takes you not only through the history of Speight’s, but also through the history of beer. There is plenty of detail in the Speights brewery tour and the guide was very knowledgeable. Like the Monteiths brewery tour, the Speight’s brewery tour has all you can drink/pour beer at the end. If beer isn’t your thing, Speight’s provides a free tap outside their building serving deep spring water to the public free of charge. It is very good.

A great day already, Vincent talked me into a few games of pool and then we crashed.

Tour progress so far:

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