by Elizabeth Coughlan

Created on: August 11, 2009

We spent a glorious three months in New Zealand visiting friends. They were so hospitable and they showed us so many amazing sights that we plan to go back and relive the experience all over again. One of our favorite trips was traveling right around the coast of South Island. We began this journey in Invercargill, on the southern tip of the country, but we had so many adventures that the tale will be too long in the telling if I describe the whole trip. Therefore, here are our experiences of travelling up the west coast of South Island, New Zealand.

Te Anau and the Milford Sound

We arrived in Te Anau on a Friday evening and dined at La Toscana, the restaurant owned by our hosts. We were greeted, Italian style, by a glass of Prosecco and pizza bread. This was followed by the most delicious pastas and we were very pleased that we had decided not to take the car to the restaurant, as we really needed that walk home!

The following day, we went to Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park, which has been awarded "World Heritage" status. The scenery on the drive to the sound was breathtakingly beautiful, with indigenous forests and towering mountains capped with ice and snow. We passed Lake Te Anau and Knobs Flat to cross The Divide before descending into the Homer Tunnel and past the Chasm to arrive at the harbor, which is the launching site for boat cruises along the Milford sound.

We had picked a gloriously sunny day and the boat trip was an utter delight. The sheer rock walls of the fiord soared 300 meters above us with temperate rain-forest clinging to its sides. We sailed the whole length of the fiord and out into the Tasman Sea. Although we only saw some fur seals basking on the rocks and one lonely penguin (at least they said it was a penguin, it could easily have been an old boot floating on the surface of the water, as it was quite far away) the cruise was very satisfying. We even sailed close to a waterfall of ancient glacial water coming from a melting glacier high above us. Folklore has it that this is the fountain of youth, as the water is thousands of years old and very pure. So, just in case, we turned our faces to the spray - one never knows about these old wives' tales!

Queenstown and Wanaka

From Te Anau, we traveled to Queenstown, known as "The Adventure Capital of the world". Queenstown has activities to suit everyone, from the most dare devil adrenaline junkies to those preferring a more sedate pace of life. We stayed in Kelvin Heights, Queenstown,

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