Milford Sound/Southern Scenic Highway/Christchurch: Wagner operas, a sea lion and the Lord of the Rings...

Milford Sound, in the southwestern corner of New Zealands Southern Island, provides a scenery as grand and ostentatious as a Wagner opera: crystal clear water build its foundation like the soft strings of the "Rheingold" and straight out of the water majestic mountains rise like the booming brass sections of "Ryde of the Walkyries". The highest peak in the area is Mitre Peak with 1692m of height above water plus an additional 300m underwater). And we even got luck with the weather, exploring the area and taking a cruise through Milford Sound with no graced the sky. And that in an area that gets more than 200 days of rainfall each year. Lucky us...
After Milford Sound our journey continues along the Southern Scenic Highway to Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula. All in all, this part of the way wasn't exactly spectacular, with the exception of one episode that should be mentioned here: On the Otage Peninsula we wanted to explore the vast wildlife that was apparently hard to miss in that area, at least according to the Lonely Planet. And after a rather adventurous hike through trees and shrubs and sanddunes (the beach looked so close from the road, I swear...) we hit a jackpot: The beach we came to didn't only provide a beautiful scenery, but just a couple of metres in front of us a sea lion toddled out of the water to lay down on the beach for his (or her?) afternoon nap, just like some of his friends had already done. A truly magnificent sight and a great feeling at the same time, considering that usually you only get to see these animals in zoos. But no, here we are, no guided tour, no zoo, no bars, just the two of us and a pack of sea lions. Cool...


Many of you probably know that New Zealand isn't only the country of Rugby, extremesport-stuff and beautiful scenery, but since the "Lord of the Rings"-movies it's also the "real-world-set" of Middle-earth. That's why there a "Lord of the Rings"-tour in every little town between Auckland and Christchurch, apparently in every little place where the crew stopped to take a piss. Of course all of them are "THE ORIGINAL Lord of the Rings Tour" which is probably supposed to justify the pricy charges you pay for seeing the sites where the movies were shot and having you pictures taken in stupid LOTR-poses and -costumes. Even though that might sound just like the thing I, as a THE super-tourist, would love to do, we still decided to save that money.


And in the area around Mount Cook, our next stop, a tour wasn't even necessary: The amazing scenery from the movie instantly recognisable. Actually, it would still have been a grand sight, even without its movie fame: Endless yellow-brownish flats (that are probably a lush green in summer), in their middle Lake Tanaka and right behind it the seemingly huge mountains around Mount Cook. However, time is money and we haven't enough of either. So we couldn't do any of the great hikes that are possibly here, all that was possible were short picture-talking walks around the area.


Our last stop in New Zealand was Christchurch, the sort-of capital of the Southern Island, and the neighboring Banks Peninsula. However, as we didn't do much more there than enjoying the views and returning our "El Cheapo"-car, there's not much to say: Nice place, nice landscape, that's pretty much it. Most impressive in Christchurch was probably our accomodation: A former prison, decomissioned just ten years ago and very creatively turned into a hostel after that. The actual prison building is still there, with the courtyard for the guards and everything. Stepping in there, you really think you're spending the night at Alcatrazz. To show how the place looked in its former capacity, there are still two original cells in their former prison arrangement, complete with the writings and drawings of the inmates on the wall. However, the original cell doors now serve as frame for the dining room tables and the reception desk, the prison chapel is now the pool room and the former toilets have found their new calling as flowerpots. Now, THAT'S good recycling...
So, New Zealand's Southern Island was as beautiful as it was cold. And even with all our new thermal underwear and winter jackets we're quite glad that we can store those now in the darkest corners of our backpack. Because where we're going now, you need only two layers of clothing: your swimsuit and suncreme.
So, see ya later, New Zealand, BULA Fidji!!