We all looked forward to our time in New Zealand and it didn’t disappoint. We did a lot of driving around, so it was a bit difficult to organize them by cities, so really the post title gives a general sense of where we were though most of the pictures were beyond that city.
Our first exposure to the Kiwi mountains was our approach into Queenstown where the pilot came on the intercom explaining that the airport is in a valley and therefore we will be close to mountains on both sides and this is normal and no need to be concerned 
Glenorchy & Paradise
It rained hard overnight in Queenstown and we awoke with some lingering rain as we started our driving tour for the day.
A quick overlook hike between rain clouds. The wind was cold!
It was spitting again for our stop at the lake by Glenorchy so it was a picnic in the car. I was thankful for the practice of driving on the opposite side while in Australia as the roads in New Zealand are very winding and quite narrow at times.
Though we didn’t specifically seek it out, if we were close to a Lord of the Rings filming location, we would stop. This is the beech forest on the way to Paradise that was used to represent Lothlorien. Pretty fun drive to Paradise as it involved fording a few streams in the car.
As we headed back to Queenstown, the sun started to show and we got beautiful views of Lake Wakatipu on the outskirts of Queenstown.
Turns out that the lake has amazing skipping rocks on the shores.
Welcome to New Zealand!
Te Anau
It rained again that night but with that cold wind we had felt the day before it was cold enough in the mountains to dust them with some nice snow!
Between the cool weather and the occasional patch of coloured trees, this was the first time on this trip where it felt like fall to us.
Milford Sound
One anticipated highlight of this area was taking a boat tour of the fjords of Milford Sound. We had a slight scare when we received an email the night before from the tour company saying the boat had broken down, but we were relieved that they were able to find a spot for us on another company’s boat. We were also thankful for a clear and sunny day.
The drive to Milford sound was stunning. The fog dispersing with the sun added to the Lord of the Rings feel of the place.
There were a lot of waterfalls.
And some wildlife.
Lake Marian
On our way back from Milford we stopped for a hike up to a glacier lake called Lake Marian.
We discovered that New Zealand can change quickly from barren mountains and majestic peaks, to rolling pastureland, and ancient rainforests. On this trail it was an fun trail up through a rain forest with a lot of ferns and moss. I had a vague recollection of the silver fern being associated with New Zealand but didn’t realize how prevalent they are. The silver ferns are the giant tree ferns and grow in almost every forest in New Zealand.
A tricky trail at times with rewarding views along the way.
A beautiful glacier lake, though it was more green then the turquoise we saw at Moraine Lake. However, we think it might have been a bit bluer if the sun was overhead vs shining into our face. The sun made it hard to take a picture and distorted the colours some.
Mirror Lakes
The next stop was at Mirror Lakes which was right along the road to Milford Sound and didn’t require a long hike. True to its name, they were quite reflective, at least until a fish kept making ripples in the surface.
Sheep!
And it didn’t take long for us to believe the reports that there are more sheep than people in New Zealand.
Waiau River
The next morning as we headed out to our next destination, we stopped along the Waiau River. We were driving by and Julia’s phone said it was a Lord of the Rings (LOTR) filming spot. It was definitely tricky to find as it was a little two-track trail into the woods off a gravel road. This was used in the film as the Anduin River (I believe when the fellowship are in the canoes with the uruks tracking them). It also made a great place to stop for lunch.
