Last Stop - Lake Takepo

The Lake is simply stunning but the huge mountain in the background is Mount Cook - the tallest mountain in NZ standing at 12,316 ft high!!


(We didn't climb it because Neil would have missed neighbours - otherwise we would most certainly have scaled it - NO PROBLEM!!!)

Queenstown

This is the view of Queenstown from the top of the hill (you get a chair lift up to it) The mountains in the background are the Remarkables. Its so difficult to get the scale in perspective but these mountains really are REMARKABLE!!!


















































We decided to come down the hill on these funny little go kart things - they were great - mandatory hats were a bit scary though!



































We went to this Ice Bar - everthing was carved out of ice - even the bar and the glasses. It was FREEZING!!!

The Millford Sound

The next day we went on an overnight cruise down the Milford Sound. This was by far the highlight of the tour................





This was the vessel we went on - it was a dormitory style layout below deck but obvioulsy we spent as little time there as possible :
























































































































After we sailed down the sound we had time out to go Kayaking - this was really great but we were ambushed by sandflies which were a total nightmare!!!





Its really difficult to get a sense of the scale of this place. The picture with the white vessel in it - that vessel is a ful sized cruise liner - I deliberatley took the picture with the liner in it so you can get a sense of how huge this really is. We're told that these are some of the highest mountains in the world because the start at sea level and rise to the height you can see now.








































































This is the morning around 7am. To watch the sun come up over such a beautiful place was one of the most awe inspiring moments in my life.

Day three - we travelled from Franz Joseph to Wanaka and then onto Queenstown. The more we traveled the more we were blown away with the scenery. Its very hard to get the scale of the place into perspective with a basic camera - we spent a lot of time looking up as these mountains must be, by a long way, the most spectacular in the world - and that's coming from a Scotsman who used to think that Scotland was stunning!!

















This is Queenstown with the Remarkables in the background. It is so hard to capture this in picture format as the scene is overwhelming!



















This is Lake Wanaka - this place is so tranquil and peaceful with these incredible mountains jutting out of the lake - breathtaking.