World's Fastest Indian

2015-03-12

Invercargill is billed as the southern-most city in the British Empire.  The
name, Invercargill is a compound name.  Inver is from a Gaelic word for river
mouth and Cargill was the name of the first Superintendent of Otago.

We needed a down day to wash clothes and catch our breath, so we puttered around
the motel the better part of the day.  One thing I was keen to see in
Invercargill was Burt Munro's motorcycle.  Burt was a resident of Invercargill
and was known for rebuilding and modifying his 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle into
a racing bike.  He brought it to the United States and set several records with
it on the Bonneville Salt Flats.  The motorcycle is now on display at E Hayes
and Son's Hardware in downtown Invercargill.

Steven trying out the Indian

The World's Fastest Indian

An unmodified Indian

The city also has a nice park, Queens Park, complete with a museum, rose garden
and small zoo.

Milford Sound

2015-03-11

Wednesday, we took a cruise on Milford Sound for our departure day activity.  We
learned on the cruise that the sound is mis-named and should be called Milford
Fiord.  Sounds are river carved valleys and fiords are glacier carved.  Milford
is glacier carved and evidence of several glaciations can clearly be seen in the
geology.  Unlike the day before, the weather was a absolutely perfect.  Our
cruise guide told us the weather is rarely clear, so we felt fortunate for such
a nice day.

A beautiful day dawns in Milford

Looking across the harbor

That's my boat

A waterfall drains into the sound

The boys watch the wake

My lovely family

The Pacific Ocean and the end of Milford Sound

Heading back into the sound

Glaciers can slice through rock

Laura and a waterfall

On the way back to port the boat dropped us off at the Milford Sound discovery
center.  The center is a floating research and interpretation facility on the
sound.  It is constructed with a central cylinder that descends 15 meters or so
below the surface with viewports to see the sub-surface sights.

The kids get a great lesson

Milford Discovery Center

After the cruise, we set out for our next destination, Invercargill.

Plains of the Southlands

Evening tea, Queens park, Invercargill

Te Anau to Milford Sound

2015-03-10

Tuesday morning we headed out of Te Anau with a full tank of petrol and headed
north to Milford Sound.  The drive from Te Anau to Milford is purported to be
the best in the country.  It was a pretty drive but, like most days in Milford,
it was overcast and misty.

Eglinton Valley

Mirror Lake

We planned a day hike for the and settled on a three hour walk to Lake
Marian, in a hanging valley.  We passed some incredible water falls and traveled
uphill for a good two hours before reaching the lake.  The boys did great on the
walk and the lake was pretty, but "not worth it" according to Jack.

The hike begins

Jack studies the falls

Looking downstream

Taking a break

Are we there yet?

Made it!

Getting ready to head back down

Another break

We got back to the car and finished the drive to Milford Sound, stopping at a
couple scenic areas along the way.  The last obstacle to overcome on the way in
is a a one-way tunnel cut downhill through the mountain.  Delays can be upwards of
20 minutes waiting for opposite direction traffic to clear, but we got lucky on
the way in and out and only waited a few minutes each.

Milford tunnel entrance

In the room, at last

A lone sailboat in the sound

We spent the night in Milford Sound at the Milford Sound Lodge.  The room was
really nice, if a bit small for a family of four.  The three hour day hike
worked wonders getting us all to sleep.

Haast to Te Anau

2015-03-09

Monday was a great day of driving through beautiful alpine scenery.  The first leg
of our journey took us from Haast to Wanaka along the Haast river.  The route
through the mountains east along State Highway 6 is some of prettiest scenery
we've seen in New Zealand.  It's also a popular road with day cyclists and we
came across at least 50 bikes along the way.

After the mountains, the road turns south along the shores of Lake Wanaka and
then to Lake Hawea.  It's tough to overstate the beauty of these glacial lakes.

On the road to Wanaka

Waterfalls, some skinny...

...some fat

Lake Hawea

An Instagram moment

We stopped for a few hours in Wanaka and found some pizza to placate ourstarving children.  After lunch we spent a few hours at Puzzle World where Jack
was the only one to finish the challenging outdoor maze.

Holding up the Puzzle World clock...

...or pushing it over?

One more tower to go

Jack on his own in the maze

We continued the drive in the late afternoon across the highest paved road in
New Zealand.  The road was cut in 1967 but was only sealed 15 years ago.  It
would've been an ugly, dusty ride back in the day.

Crown Range Road

Descending into Arrowtown

Dinner by Lake Wakatipu

As we traveled south of Queenstown, we stopped for a picnic dinner on the shore
of another pretty lake, Lake Wakatipu. We finished the drive for the day at Te Anau, the gateway city to Milford Sound.

Greymouth to Haast

2015-03-08

Sunday morning, I was up early reading, as is my custom.  Our motel room was
near the road and cars and trucks were going past.  One truck seemed
particularly large as it shook our room when it went by.  Talking with our South
African friends later, I surmised that it probably wasn't a truck but a small
earthquake.  This quake seems to fit the timeline.

Outside our Greymouth motel room.

Tilted plates near Greymouth

The ubiquitous one lane bridge.

One lane, road/rail bridge. Gulp.

One of our reasons for trekking down the west coast was to have a look at a
couple cities we'd considered before coming over.  Westport and Greymouth were
both on the list.  We didn't make over to Westport as it was a number of
kilometers out of the way, but it was nice to see Greymouth.  Most of the west
coast towns are former mining settlements, Greymouth included.  We stopped at
another old mining town, Hokitika for breakfast.  Many of these old towns remind
me of the old mining towns in Colorado that have converted their economies to
the tourist trade.  Hokitika has gone the tourist route and seems a popular
destination for folks coming over on the TranzAlpine.

Downtown Hokitika

Straight roads and nice scenery.

Commemoration of the first solo flight across the Tasman.

We took it easy driving on Sunday and made our way south of Greymouth to hike
up to the Franz Josef glacier.  It was a pleasant walk with some great views,
but we couldn't get very close to the glacier.  There were some nice waterfalls
along the way and we posed for some silly photos.

Through the bush on the way to the glacier

Clear of the trees.

Watching the water fall.

Seven years ago, this spot was buried in ice.

Glacier carved rock.

At the boundary.

High five!

Don't push!

The second half of our drive took us into the mountains again and back to the
coast.  We ended the day near Haast Junction and spent a pleasant evening at a
small (4 unit) motel south of the village.  The boys were spoiling for a
pizza after the glacier hike, but none of the local dives had pizza on the menu.
We defaulted to dinner in our little apartment and went for an evening stroll
at a nearby estuary.

Looking north