NZ roads are different, allow extra time...

Maggi: 'Don't drive so fast!'

Richard: 'I'm going 80.'

Maggi with a concerned look at the speedometer: 'Well, ninety...'

Richard: 'I'm aging my age. I've aged quite a bit in the last few minutes.'

Ah yes, New Zealand roads are tough. Either people are speeding like crazy, or they're driving... well... slowly. Paved roads suddenly turning into gravel roads out of nowhere, narrow winding roads along steep mountain slopes, not to mention the many one-lane bridges that are ominously announced with huge letters well before the poor soul at the wheel reaches them. And everyone deals with them differently - some with daring overtaking maneuvers, others... drive 40.

Well, anyway, we thought we had plenty of time for our trip to 'Milford Sound', one of the fjords in the northern Fiordland... We didn't. At least that's what google maps told us when we calculated the route (of course, only after we had a leisurely morning). Well, those who plan ahead are clearly at an advantage... (it wouldn't be the first time something like this happened to us). And we still had to get gas! So we raced like crazy to Te Anau, which had a gas station and luckily was on our way. At the outskirts of town, a sign informed us that Milford Sound was still 129 km away (great) and underneath, in small letters and parentheses: 'allow 2 hours' (not so great... to be precise, pretty bad). Apparently, the 'most scenic' highway in the country is also the windiest. We had exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes left and, OF COURSE, it was pouring rain. But we didn't give up, we stepped on the gas instead!

But why all the rush? Since the 'most popular tourist attraction in the country' (so popular that it even made it onto our water bottle, as I just noticed) is supposedly better admired from the water, we had spent quite a bit of money (despite a juicy bookme discount) on a boat tour that we didn't want to miss. And it seemed like everything was going well and we had a relatively clear drive (thanks in part to some hair-raising overtaking maneuvers by the driver), until... fate tripped us up and we ended up behind a car from the New Zealand car rental company jucy (which is why we have now become self-proclaimed jucy racists and secretly curse every one of those said cars).

But somehow we still managed to arrive at the parking lot 3 minutes before the departure time. We ran the last kilometer to the dock, getting lost in the process. When I finally arrived at the pier completely out of breath just in time for the departure, I was informed by a captain who happened to be there that our boat had already left.

Shoot.

I quickly explained my situation to him and also mentioned that I didn't know if my friend was on that boat. 'Come on, let's find out.', the good man said to me and escorted me to the main building. Fortunately, I ran into Richard there, who had already purchased tickets for the next tour. Phew, that was close. And lucky for us, the New Zealanders aren't too strict about punctuality.

In fact, this boat trip is one of the absolute highlights of our trip so far and we wouldn't have wanted to miss it for anything in the world. Because when it's raining, the rainwater flows down the rocks in long waterfalls. Thus, hundreds of small waterfalls are formed, creating a breathtaking natural spectacle.

On the way back to Te Anau, we were able to devote more attention to the 'most scenic highway' in New Zealand and made stops here and there to explore the surrounding landscape on foot. So we visited some lakes, took walks through rainforests, and marveled at The Chasm, a gorge formed by the work of water and small stones. Until we could finally embark on our journey to the famous West Coast...

But wait! Before our nerve-racking drive to Milford Sound on our third day in the Fiordland, we naturally did some other activities, as there was no shortage of hiking trails. Since we had decided at the last minute not to hike the full 'Kepler Track' (a four-day hike in the Fiordland National Park), we decided to try out at least the beginning of the track. To summarize the trail roughly: 90% forest and 10% views. Since we wanted to see something other than just forest (although it was a very beautiful forest, by the way), we actually managed to reach the first hut (6 hours one way). After a short picnic, where the wind blew the imaginary hats off our heads, we decided to head back soon. And although we made considerably faster progress on the way back than on the way there, we couldn't completely outrun the darkness. After all, autumn is approaching quickly here, which means that the lights go out at 6 o'clock. And then, to top it off, our phone, our only source of light, died (just as Richard said, 'Well, the phone still has 30% battery left.'). So we had to cover the last kilometers of the forest path in complete darkness. But finally, we emerged from the never-ending forest and even found our car again (although it was more by chance).

The next day, we naturally wanted to take it easy and decided to visit some Lord of the Rings filming locations in the area. As we also visited a few important pilgrimage sites for Lord of the Rings fans on our way to the West Coast, I have summarized our little journey through Middle-earth here in pictures and words:

'Anduin River'

Thanks to the website of the 'Department of Conservation', we found the approximate spot where Merry, Pippin, Legolas, and Aragorn meet 'Gandalf the White'.

'Ithilien Camp'

Frodo and Sam observe as a force of Haradrim (evil men) along with Oliphaunts (giant elephants) on their way to Mordor are attacked by the Rangers of Gondor (the good men).

'Isengard'

This spot in Glenorchy was used for some of the Isengard shots. Unfortunately, the exact spot is private farmland and you can only catch a glimpse from a distance.

'Anduin River: Part 2'

The Fellowship of the Ring ends their journey on the Anduin at this spot on the 'Kawarau River', after passing through the Argonath (those two big statues). The statues depict the human kings Elendil and Isildur and indicate that the realms of men begin here.

Our journey to the West Coast took us through Queenstown once again. And with Queenstown, we still had some unfinished business. During our first visit here, we noticed the long line of people waiting outside a burger joint called 'Fergburger'. Since we really wanted to find out what was so special about these burgers, which apparently are so popular that the shop even sells its own t-shirts and other souvenirs, we joined the line of waiting people and I can tell you... IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!

See you soon,

Richi&Maggi, Tuesday 9th May 2017, Westport 3:05 pm