snowfields to the 'worlds fastest Indian' aka Queenstown to Invercargill

Queenstown is a lovely place and certainly feels like a ski resort, and yes, we did party one evening (with some of the NRL Warriors team, which I was told by one of the band we were listening to, they are the rugby equivalent of Manchester United – how true this is, I don’t know). I also did some lovely walks and the town is beside Lake Wakatipu at the foot of the Remarkables mountain range and the scenery is stunning:

The scenery from Queenstown to Te Anau was also magnificent as Route 6 hugs the lake’s shoreline all the way down to Kingston:

The small town of Te Anau is known as the ‘walking capital of the world’ and also sits on the largest lake in the South Island, Lake Te Anau

From Te Anau, we visited Milford Sound, which in itself was really stunning, however, the journey there (by coach as we didn't want to put snow chains on our van) was truly amazing! The road had only re-opened the day before as the bad storm we drove through from Franz Josef to Queenstown (which closed the Haast Pass after we got through and is still closed 9 days later!) had caused an avalanche and it had taken 4 days to clear. The road crew were still clearing away debris and we had to wait for the bulldozers to pass at several points. Here are some of the places we saw along the way:

Mirror Lakes

Cascade Falls

And then there was the stunning Milford Sound which is nestled within Fiordland National Park

And then there were the fur seals

From Te Anau, we carried on south past Manapouri where we saw the mist over the lake:

And then carried on down to Invercargill, NZ’s southern most city. It’s also the hometown of the late Kiwi legend, Burt Munro, who still holds the world record for the fastest land speed (under 1000cc) on a 1920 Indian Scout motorbike at the Bonneville Flats in the US. Funnily enough, we only watched the DVD of ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ (staring Anthony Hopkins) a few days ago J

Burt eventually sold his bike (at the age of 77) to Norman and Neville Hayes as he wanted the bike to stay in Southland. E Hayes & Sons is a huge hardware and engineering shop that was established in 1895, so as well as everything under the sun that a professional or DIY enthusiast might need, it also has many restored motorbikes, cars, old tools and machinery on display. It has a tool wall over 100m long, so Mark was in his element! The shop is also known to locals as a ‘man creche’, and I can understand why.

We went down to Bluff and Stirling Point, the most southern point on the mainland that we will get to, and also the furthest from home that we will ever be (18,958kms to be exact)

It’s all uphill from here…