After Christian, my host from Melbourne and dear Friend has seen pictures from Lake Tekapo he has decided to come to New Zealand as well. Who wouldn’t? It was gorgeus! We talked about my itinerary and after few minutes he has decided to join me. We rented a campervan and went for an adventure into the Fiords!
What I need to mention at the start, Misty Mountains which you can find in the Tolkien books are the Mount Cook area in New Zealand. The reason why I chose this name is that it almost always rains in Fiordland, hence the clouds and mists.
We started our journey with Christian in Lake Tekapo (as I wanted for him to see it) and then we moved towards Queenstown, Te Anau and Fiords. Queenstown was nice but it somehow didn’t win my heart, athough it has lakes and mountains which I love. We spent there two hours, walked around and moved on to Te Anau. It’s also located at the lake, at some point you can think that New Zealand is all about lakes and mountains… and it kinda is, at least South. Yet you could spend in every and each place longer time and you wouldn’t feel you waste your time there. In Te Anau you can already see the fiords at the opposite site of the lake.
It’s really difficult to say which place in New Zealand is the most beautiful as there are any beautiful places. When you go by car, there’s a new “wow”after each turn and it’s really difficult to focus on the road when you’re behing the wheel. Especially in Fiordland!
It’s a really a pain in the neck, but because of only one reason. It’s so magical that you won’t know where to look and you’ll wanna see it all! And there’s lot to see. The most popular destination in Fiordland is Milford Sound, a tiny village at the end of the road leading to the Milford Sound (the bay). The village is all about the cruises to the Sounds, there are many companies organising them. There are also few places where you could stay (I think maybe 2-3 in total) and no grocery shops, so you have to bring your own food. It’s not a place where you wanna stay for longer if you’re not wwoofing as it’s megaexpensive and as in whole area doesn’t have phone coverage. You can buy some wifi allowance at the lodges but according to me they’re scams as they are super expensive (due to satellite internet) / example 50 mb costs 10$ and allows you to load two websites, and then it ends. So keep it in mind when going to the Fiordland and expect pure nature everywhere.
Free camping in the area is prohibited but there are DOC sites where you pay 6$ per person to stay overnight (with toilets). The system is basing on honesty which btw I don’t believe could ever work in Europe as people would simply misuse it. But here it works and you should really do it as it is worth it. Anyway, those views are worth any money. A tipp for backpackers> if you have limited time and money the best option in my opinion is to buy a trip from Queenstown on www.bookme.co.nz where you can find it already for 50$ including 20/30$ cruise in the Sound.
Any weather in Fiordland is perfect. Really. When it’s sunny it’s lovely because you can see all the mountains and go for trekking (and there are many tracks to go). When it’s raining, just stay outside. You will see plenty waterfalls running from every mountain! This is really something you don’t see every day! And don’t miss The Chasm!!!
PS: More pics when I get them from Christian 🙂
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