New Zealand, South Island: Tramping, Boating & Wine

The mist glistened in the bright sunshine of the day. Tiny droplets touched my face and felt refreshing. The day was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky. It felt like I was in some sort of dream. Directly in front of me were two radiant rainbows. Where was the pot of gold or the leprechaun?

We were in the Milford Sound on the south island in New Zealand. It is said that this area in the Fiordlands National Park is one of the wettest areas in the world with over 21 FEET of rain each year. Yet on this particular March day, the sun was shining. Who would have thought?

We had flown from Melbourne, Australia to Queenstown, New Zealand. Queenstown is the self-proclaimed adventure capital of New Zealand. It boasts of several extreme outdoor activities that you can do, including the world’s tallest bungy jump, the Ben Nevis. I considered doing this but we just couldn’t justify trying to fit it into our backpacker budget, as it was almost $300 USD for one person. Instead we opted to watch a couple of random strangers jump off one of the famous (but lower height) bungy jumping spots on a bridge. It was really entertaining to see their facial expressions and screams as they dropped head first off the ledge toward the river. It made Marissa happy the bungy jumps were out of budget for us!

We ended up spending 3 nights in Queenstown before we headed to the Milford Sound area, and fell in love with the town. It reminded us a lot of Lake Tahoe in California or Lake George in New York. The city center rests on the shore of a deep glacier carved lake and is surrounded by mountains. The water was crystal clear, and ice cold! The town caters to outdoor enthusiasts with heaps of outdoor adventure stores and cool bars and restaurants. We loved exploring the town and taking in all of the sites!

One of the days we spent in the Queenstown area, we decided to explore a few of the local wineries. First we headed to Gibbston Valley Winery. Their claim to fame is that they have the largest wine cave in New Zealand, and they conduct tours that take you into the caves for your tasting. We can’t miss a good wine cave so we signed up for the tour. They also had a delicious cheesery onsite where we were able to taste the locally made cheeses. Marissa and I both loved the cheeses, and got some for our dinner that night. After Gibbston Valley we headed to Chard Farm Winery, which was practically next door. To reach it you drive along a steep dirt pathway that sits 1000 feet above a canyon, with a roaring river below. The scenery of the winery was absolutely amazing. Living in California, and traveling Europe has blessed us with being able to taste some pretty amazing wines, and these didn’t quite stack up (insert wine snob comment here). We didn’t really like the New Zealand wines. Nonetheless, the wineries were beautiful and provided a great spot for our picnic lunch.

After enjoying Queenstown, we embarked on the four hour drive to Milford Sound. The scenery along the way was stunning. It was liberating having our own rental car and being able to stop off at viewpoints along the way to snap photos and have our picnic lunch. We arrived at Milford Sound in the afternoon (making it less crowded) and boarded a boat for a scenic cruise.

The boat ride was one of the better short cruises we’ve ever done. There is a reason why Milford Sound is the #1 attractions in New Zealand. It is absolutely beautiful with steep sheer rock walls surrounding the deep blue waters, and waterfalls everywhere you turned. I am so grateful that we were able to experience it in such amazing weather.

After the cruise we headed back toward Te Anau, which served as our base for the night before our multi-day trek the next day. The road was pretty desolate, and we only saw one car the whole way back…unfortunately it happened to be a car who was closely monitoring our speed, and we were forced to pull over and chat with the nicest police officer I’ve ever met. Who knew it was possible to get a speeding ticket in New Zealand where there is nothing but sheep and open road? I found out that it is NOT ok to go 119 km per hour (roughly 70 mph). I didn’t realize our ten-year-old rental car was even capable of such ‘high’ speeds… it was no SRT Dodge Charger – check out this sweet ride:

The ride: 2005 Colt

The Kepler Track

The next morning, we embarked on the Kepler Track, our first overnight backpacking trek. We were excited as we had done a lot of day hikes in the past but   never stayed overnight. What makes it slightly easier is that NZ has huts you can stay in along their treks so there is no need to carry a tent. You do, however have to carry sleeping bags (which we rented in Te Anau along with some cooking gear). The sleeping quarters are not heated, so we were really grateful we had them because it got very cold at night. Below are snapshots taken of our journey on Kepler Track, one of nine New Zealand ‘Great Walks’

Day 1: Kepler Car Park to Luxmore Hut (13.8 km)

Day 2: Luxmore Hut to Iris Burn Hut (14.6 km)

Day 3: Iris Burn Hut to Moturau Hut (16.2 km)

Day 4: Moturau Hut to Kepler Car Park (15.5 km)

We absolutely loved the extremely well maintained trail and were so happy we decided to embark on the 60 km hike! We walked (or ‘tramped’ as they say in New Zealand) through all season in four days, seeing sunshine, rain, wind, fog and snow. We took in every moment and all of the incredible sights along the way. Even though our feet got battered, bruised and contained too many blisters to count, it was well worth it! Afterwards we rewarded ourselves by going to Fergburger in Queenstown, which has the best burgers on the planet. We had to wait in line for a half hour, but they definitely lived up to their name were one of the best things we’ve eaten on our trip. It was a great way to end our experience on the South Island!