Cycle Touring on the South Island of New Zealand

by Susan Otcenas

Sunday, January 2nd, 2005 - Milford Sound to Queenstown

Distance: 4.7 km
Average speed: n/a
Time in saddle: miniscule
Max speed n/a
Departure n/a
Arrival n/a

The hostel redeemed itself by serving us a great breakfast with muesli, yogurt, peaches and croissants. I'm always happier on a full stomach.

We coasted the final 2km to the end of the road at the Milford Sound boat terminal, chained up our bikes, and boarded a Real Journeys boat for a trip along the Sound.

The Milford Mariner

Overcast morning in Milford

Once again, the morning started out overcast. We followed the Sound all the way to the Tasman Sea. The ocean was very calm (nothing between us and Antarctica!) yet we could still feel the gentle ocean swells.

Milford Sound

The Tasman Sea

As we cruised back in towards Milford, the sun came out, revealing all the high peaks around us. The "Sound" is actually a fjord, carved by glaciers. In their wake, the glaciers left steeply sloped mountains spilling over with waterfalls plunging down their height. The boat captain nudged out boat right up to the base of a 500ft waterfall, delighting us with the spray shower.

Sunny skies in the Sound

waterfalls

Mitre Peak shone in the sunshine and allowed us some stunning photos. I would highly recommend this boat trip to anyone contemplating a trip to Milford.

Mitre Peak

We had pre-arranged our bus transport to Queenstown with Real Journeys. The company was aware we had two bikes, and charged us an extra fee to carry them. A logical person would thus assume a) the driver is expecting the bikes and b) the bus company has sufficient resources for carrying them.

Not so. The driver scratched her head, and then suggested we shoehorn them under the bus into the luggage compartment along with everyone else's baggage. We were incredulous and rather irritated. But once again, the Bike Fridays proved their worth. We folded the bikes in half, I removed my suspension beam, and we managed to wedge them in. There's no way we could have done that with full-size bikes.

The bus

Our bikes, folded in the luggage compartment

The bus ride to Queenstown is 4 or 5 hours. I was positively green (car-sick) for the first 2 hours, as the driver careened down the roads we had pedaled up the day before. Yes, I know these people do this same route day in and day out. But that's no reason to drive like a maniac and scare the passengers. The final ½ hour approach to Queenstown twists and turns up and down the shores of Lake Wakitipu, and I feared for my life. The passengers swayed left and right as we zoomed around the corners. The honeymooning Australian couple to my left commented nervously on the lack of guardrails, thus reassuring me that I wasn't alone in my fear.

On the road to Queenstown

Queenstown was the first real town of any consequence we'd been in since leaving Invercargill. And certainly the most prosperous. Movie stars and celebs from around the world visit Queenstown on vacation, staying in posh exclusive resorts, or in their own vacation homes. A walk past a real estate office on the main drag confirmed that Queenstown would not be a town the average joe could easily afford to retire in.

Queenstown

Lodging prices are all over the map, but as we were quickly discovering, the backpackers (ie. hostels) can be a great value and a great place to stay, if you know what you're doing. The key for us was in asking for a "double". For NZ$40-50 per night, this gets you a private room with a double bed, linens, and a small dresser. One must still share a bath, but most of the hostels had multiple baths, so it was rare to find them all full when in need. We stayed at the Alpine Lodge, a funky little backpacker with a helpful staff.

There's no shortage of restaurants in Queenstown either. Be it Thai, Turkish or Italian, there's a restaurant to satisfy your hunger. We ate dinner at the delightful Avanti Italian Restaurant, which served up the best meal of our entire stay in New Zealand. I had New Zealand green-lipped mussels cooked with white wine, garlic and tomatoes. Mouthwatering. Jeff had lamb shanks in a light, red wine sauce. We also had a few pints of Speights a tasty New Zealand beer that reminded Jeff of Fat Tire Ale. In keeping with our desire to try new foods, we also ordered "sticky date pudding" for dessert. To me "pudding" is a cold, creamy dessert like a custard. What we got was a warm, moist, date-flavored cake that was scrumptious. It pays to be adventurous!

NEXT PAGE: Rest Day in Queenstown