Our alarm went off at 3:55am in Cairns to wake us for another full day of travel. We quickly packed up and said goodbye to the first AirBnb of many on our trip. Despite the early hour, I was buzzing with energy. Today was a big day – yes we were traveling to New Zealand, but more importantly, would I be seeing my phone again for the first time in four days?
Indeed I do.
Our original driver who dropped us, Mizanur or Mizan for short, was a man of middle-eastern descent and English was not his first language. Here I was the typical dumb American, who had lost her phone and texting incessantly about trying to retrieve it. He easily could have said “Sorry Charlie”, but instead, he continued to answer any text I sent, confirming he had the phone, confirming the pick up location and time. We even offered cash as a form of thank you, to which he said “No thanks, that goes against my code of honor.” This wonderful, kind man drove back to the airport and handed my phone back to me with a large smile on his face. I couldn’t say thank you enough times.
Technology provided essential tools to locate my phone, but human kindness was what returned my phone. I’ve since looked at my phone with a great sense of gratitude for the ease and convenience it brings, but I also now consider it a non-essential item to life.
And so the saga ends. Back to our travels…
We’re on cloud 9 as we depart Sydney International Airport and head towards Queenstown, New Zealand. The country greets us with a beautiful sunset and towering mountains rising up towards us.
We land safely, make it through customs easily, and pick up our rental car. Now comes what we thought would be the biggest challenge (the phone now wins that competition) on the trip. Driving on the other side of the road.
I would consider myself a good driver (my friend Erica definitely disagrees with this statement), but sitting on the right hand side of the car with the steering wheel in front of you on the left hand side of the road, I felt 16 again. White knuckling the steering, unconsciously holding my breath with every car that passes right next to me. The short 9 minute drive to our hotel felt like 30, but we did it. Exhausted, we go straight to bed, preparing for another early morning.
Our alarm goes off at 5:55am Sunday morning. Today, we’re making a 4-5 hour drive to the gorgeous Milford Sound, a fiord featuring beautiful waterfalls and mountains. The weather is nice fall chill in New Zealand, in the 50s. Wearing a couple of layers and now a jacket (it was in the 80s in Australia), we set out once again on the left hand side of the road. Spoiler alert: all goes extremely well on the drive to and from Milford Sound.
By the way, the picturesque landscape does not stop the entire drive. It varies from golden hills aside a lake, to wide spread valleys filled with sheep, cows, and farm land, to gorgeous snow topped mountain peaks. New Zealand is gorgeous.
There’s a small town called Te Anau we stop in for coffee and gas, about halfway between Queenstown and Milford Sound. We discovered that:
1. New Zealand is not a country to produce their own gas, makes sense.
2. Because of number 1, gas costs around $6.50/gallon.
3. Thank goodness we didn’t get a camper van.
About an hour and a half outside Milford Sound, the scenery really starts to change as we are on the edge of the Fiordland National Park.
We could have photographed the entire drive. We wind our way through the valley, around and down mountains, until we reach sea level and arrive at Milford Sound.
The only way to really see the Sound is by boat, plane, or helicopter. We choose boat, even after knowing the last boat experience wasn’t ideal. However, this boat is larger and the water is a calmer. Both of those can really help keep a tummy tame.
Cruising on the water looking up at these magnificent mountains touching the clouds felt magical, a rare site to see, something out of a movie. The mountains have a lot of green vegetation, trees, shrubs, ferns, most of the way up, but towards the tops you get pure rock. The rocky peak is high above the clouds, you can see it showing through in gaps of the clouds, it was like looking into another realm.
Milford Sound receives rainfall around 180 days in the year. It’s one of the wettest areas in the world. It beats Seattle, which gets 156 days of rainfall a year and even northeast Ohio, which receives only 151 days of rainfall in a year. (Mom, Dad, Jessi – that’s over half the year. Move to Nashville already!)
We were so lucky to have blue skies and sunshine. We sat on the top deck of the boat to take in 360 degree views and enjoy the great weather.
Landed back on shore and geared up for the drive back to Queenstown, fueled by snacks, podcasts, and expensive gas.
Our last evening was spent grabbing some DELICIOUS food at Pog Mahone’s Irish Pub. I ordered a Beef and Guinness pie, Asa got a sirloin steak. Truly some yummy and filling food.
Cuisine in both Australia and New Zealand has been interesting. We had some delicious dumplings in Sydney, scrumptious sushi and eel in Cairns, and now mouthwatering Irish mainstays. The food options so far have been quite diverse and international and so, so good. The British influence shows up heavily in the fish and chip shops, Irish pubs, and so on. There is a lot of Indian, Thai, and Japanese options as well, which might be because we’re on this side of the world. However, we’ve only seen one Mexican food place so far. No Outback Steakhouses to be reported.
All of that to say, we still haven’t quite figured out the traditional cuisine of an Australian or New Zealander, or maybe this is just it. A taste of the world, we don’t mind that one bit.
Today, we’re making our way to a more rural area, Ben Oahu, near Mt. Cook National Park for some rest and relaxation. Maybe a hike or two. Back to the left side of the road!
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