Grand Escapades
Travel Photography & Travel Experiences of Africa, South America, the Middle-East & Asia
Sailing the Doubtful Sound, South Island, New Zealand
The West Arm of Doubtful Sound is also the location of an underground power station that was built in the late 1960s to supply energy for an aluminium smelter (!) near Invercargill. The idea behind the project was to use the 167 meter difference in altitude between Lake Manapouri and Deep Cove near the ocean. Continue Reading →
Sailing the Doubtful Sound, South Island, New Zealand
If the name Doubtful Sound seems weird: Captain Cook wisely refused to sail into the sound, since there seemed to be no easterly winds to take the boat back out again. He thus named it Doubtful Harbour. The Doubtful Sound, at the very heart of Fjordland, is absolutely massive and to do an overnight cruise was the wisest decision ever! Continue Reading →
Sailing the Milford Sound on the MV Friendship, South Island, New Zealand
In Te Anau, the gateway to the Milford Sound, we stayed at Rosie’s Homestay (one of the highest rated BBH), which we only can highly recommend. The first afternoon, we just went on a two hours walk around Lake Te Anau to Brod Bay to move our lazy bones after spending hours and hours in the car. Continue Reading →
Deserted Beaches, the Catlins, South Island, New Zealand
The morning we left Dunedin, we spontaneously decided to change plans. Instead of going north to do some cycling on the Otega Rail Trail, we went south. It was the accounts of two people that convinced us the Catlins cannot be missed. What a lucky decision! Continue Reading →
Yellow-Eyed Penguin Conversation Reserve, South Island, New Zealand
The Otago Peninsula is on every tour’s and tourist’s itinerary, because it offers accessible wildlife watching and scenic view behind every turn of its windy road. So here we go… Continue Reading →
Hopewell, probably the best Hostel I ever experienced, Malborough Sounds, South Island, New Zealand
In Dunedin, we finally decided to buy the BBH card, a very efficient and to us unique system for budget travelers. Many hostels in New Zealand are members of an association, but BBH is the biggest with over 370 hostels. You can join at any BBH, with the card for 45 NZ Dollars comes a little booklet that lists all the member hostels, with a short description, directions and a rating done by BBH members and a phone card worth 20 NZ Dollars. Anybody can stay at these hostels, but with a BBH card you get a discount of at least 3 NZ Dollars per night, which represents actually more than 10 percents. Continue Reading →
St Patrick´s day in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand
At this point we needed a boast in morale and St. Patrick’s Day was just the perfect occasion. Down the hill from our hostel in Dunedin was Murphy’s Pub. And this is where it all happened, on March 17th 2008: green beer, Irish music, dancing and … well, lots of drinking, of course! It was our real first night out in months and we truly enjoyed it, especially since it was so easy chatting up people in the pub. After this social event, we ventured out to explore Dunedin’s historic and cultural assets. Continue Reading →
New kind of road signs – Penguins Crossing, South Island, New Zealand
Near Oamaru, we stopped at some clay cliffs, since they were mentioned in the Lonely Planet. Those were some impressive rocks formations, even though they surely would have gone unnoticed in southern Bolivia! The heydays of Oamaru were in the late 19th century, when gold was found in Otago. No money was spared to express that wealth. Today, some majestic buildings in the centre made of limestone bear witness of those golden times. Some buildings rather resemble Greek temples, which actually are now ordinary banks. Continue Reading →
Mount Cook, at 3.754 meters the highest mountain in Australasia, South Island, New Zealand
Inland, up on the plateau of the Mackenzie Country, we suddenly came face to face with the incredible colour of Lake Tekapo, which together with barren hillside around create a strange landscape. This greenish colour remembered us so well of the lakes in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in South Patagonia. Because of the ongoing drought in the south of New Zealand, the landscape shows large patches that look parched. Continue Reading →
Akaroa, Bank Peninsula, near Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
In Christchurch, a wild mixture of what seems Anglo-Saxon suburbia and modern ugly concrete, we spent most of our two days there getting used to New Zealand, looking for a rental car and getting Heidi new glasses (for those who do not follow our stories too closely, they were in a bag that was stolen at Mendoza bus terminal). Continue Reading →