The Kiwi Life - New Zealand, Fiordland Milford Sound (Day 5, 09 Jun - 21 Jun 2011)

Day 5 - Dunedin -> Fiordland Milford Sound -> Te Anau

After spending a relaxing night in Dunedin - On Top backpacker, we have to wake up very early in the morning and started heading to another fantastic destination - Fiordland Milford Sound at 5am. After 6 hours driving on the road, finally we have reached our destination! The most memorable moment is passing by the tunnel that crossing over the hill! First time in my life seeing this stunning type of tunnel! After passing by this tunnel, we luckily able to buy the river cruise ticket - Southern Discoveries Encounter Cruise (NZD 79) for 12:45 pm, else we might need to wait some time for next round.

If you are interested to visit Fiordland Milford Sound, before departure, it is recommended that you check the schedule of the cruise departure time. In addition, it is also recommended that to check the weather forecast before visiting Fiordland Milford Sound, this is due to cruise tour will be cancelled if bad weather happened. Be prepared with the raincoat as well, as you will get wet inside the rainforest!

Our coach tour started at 12:45 pm and it takes for 2 hours and 15 mins. During this tour, we had a great experience to see the waterfalls, rainforest and sea lions! In this short period, I feel surprised to see rainbows a few times - another amazing first time experience in my life! My friends and I feel very excited too and we non-stop snapping pictures for this wonderful moment!

After the river cruise tour ended, we reluctantly say goodbye to Fiordland Milford Sound and find a backpacker to have a rest. We didn't booked any backpacker before we reach Te Anau city, but luckily we still able to find a decent backpacker - Te Anau Lakefront Backpacker. It is located in front of the lake and the scenery there also very beautiful! 

On the way to Fiordland Milford Sound - We stopped by at the roadside to capture the photo of the snow mountain at the far end!

Signage of Fiordland Milford Sound

Fiordland Milford Sound - Southern Discoveries Encounter Cruise

Fiordland Milford Sound - Beautiful waterfall

Fiordland Milford Sound - Beautiful rainbow

Fiordland Milford Sound - Long waterfall

Fiordland Milford Sound - A few waterfalls so near to each other!

Fiordland Milford Sound - Another beautiful rainbow!

Fiordland Milford Sound - Cute floating cloud!

Fiordland Milford Sound - Another coach cruise is following behind us..

Fiordland Milford Sound - Love this picture so much! The rainbow is extremely beautiful!

Fiordland Milford Sound - Video captured to record the gorgeous rainbow. (Sorry, you gotta tilt your head a bit to view it :P)

Fiordland Milford Sound - Waterfall again...

Fiordland Milford Sound - Video recorded for the long waterfalls

Fiordland Milford Sound - Waterfall again...

Fiordland Milford Sound - The captain drive the ship very near to the waterfall to let us to feel the fresh waterfall splashes. My face felt smooth and refreshed, haha :P (Sorry, you gotta tilt your head again to view it)

Fiordland Milford Sound - Another beautiful and bigger rainbow again!!

Fiordland Milford Sound - The scene become clearer when sunshine finally appear for a while...

Fiordland Milford Sound - Finally our 2 hours and 15 mins river cruise come to an end...

Fiordland Milford Sound - According to my friend, this is 3D view of the mountain! Haha :P

Fiordland Milford Sound - 3D view mountain

The Kiwi Life - New Zealand, Dunedin, Otago Peninsula (Day 4, 09 Jun - 21 Jun 2011)

Day 4 - Oamaru -> Dunedin -> Otago Peninsula

After spending one cold night in Olive Grove backpacker at Oamaru, time for us to depart to another city - Dunedin.

I like Dunedin city, it is a city mixed of modern and historical feelings. During our stay in Dunedin, we visited a few interesting places - Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory, Larnach Castle, First Church of Otago, Dunedin Railway Station, and Baldwin Street.

If you have the chance to visit Baldwin Street, you should experience the driving on the most steepest road in the world of this street! You will never regret this exciting moment! Sit back and relax by viewing my photos as below, enjoy ya!

Icy flowers from Olive Groove backpacker's garden. We spent a very cold night stay there, I even wore winter jacket to sleep, too bad the heater is not functioning well :S

On the way to Dunedin - A lot of cows! I love the fresh milk in New Zealand! Fresh and sweet :)

On the way to Dunedin - Nice weather and sunrise! Picture shooting from the car...

Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory - we'd joined the guided tour! Weekend entrance fees is cheaper compare to weekdays due to you are not able to see the actual process of chocolate making by the factory workers.

Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory welcome us! Hehe...

Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory - Mountain of Cadbury chocs!

Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory - Delicious chocolate bar decoration!

On the way to Larnach Castle - Breathtaking view shooting from the top of the hill!

On the way to Larnach Castle - Amazingly that cows can climb up high hill!

Larnach Castle at Otago Peninsula - Before entering this castle, we didn't know about the myth of ghost stories of this castle! Haha! Therefore, we enjoyed taking photos of this beautiful castle without any fear! Then, after visiting and I read some of the travel guide brochures, only then I noticed that maybe visitors will bump into some spirits in this castle!

Larnach Castle at Otago Peninsula - Beautiful flowers found in the Larnach Castle's garden

Larnach Castle at Otago Peninsula - Cupola

Larnach Castle at Otago Peninsula - Another beautiful flowers found in the garden

Larnach Castle at Otago Peninsula - Nice scenery photo take from South Seas Garden

Larnach Castle at Otago Peninsula - Special plants

Larnach Castle at Otago Peninsula - According to the myth, this is the haunted ballroom!

Nice building in Dunedin. Since we have nothing to do, we walked around Dunedin city at night and do some photo shooting :)

Building in Dunedin - Nice night view!

Dunedin Railway Station - Full of historical feel!

Baldwin Street - The steepest street in the world! (Guinness Book of Records)

The Kiwi Life - New Zealand, Mount John, Oamaru (Day 3, 09 Jun - 21 Jun 2011)

Day 3 - Lake Tekapo -> Mount John -> Oamaru

After visiting the amazing and beautiful Lake Tekapo, we continue our journey to Mount John. We planned to view the romantic starry sky for the previous night, unfortunately we didn't have the chance due to the bad weather. However, it is a wonderful experience to capture more nice scenery photos of Lake Tekapo shooting from the top of Mount John. The winding road of Mount John is also another memorable driving experience!

For Oamaru, the purpose we visiting there is to look for the cute penguins, but again too bad, we reached there too late! Penguins are back to their sweet home around 5:00 pm! Gentle reminder: If you wanna watch the cute penguins going back to their nest from the sea, be sure you need to standby before 5 pm. In addition, penguins are camera shy too, DO NOT use flash while taking photos!

After 1 hour driving on the winding mountain road, we finally reached the top of the Mount John, and here is the astronomy center!

Nice lake view shooting from the top of Mount John

Another nice lake view! Can see snow mountain at the opposite!

Amazing view of Lake Tekapo! Love the milky blue water so much!

Panoramic view of Lake Tekapo outside Astro Cafe. Can view the awesomely beautiful snow mountain and milky blue Lake Tekapo from the top of Mount John!

After taking a lot of nice photos, we decided to relax and have some desserts in Astro Cafe! Hot desserts are yummy especially during winter time!

Yeah! We finally came down from Mount John and heading to next destination - Whitestone Cheese Factory!

On the way to Oamaru! Many sheeps again (but their fur are shaved off), pity them chilling in this winter time!

Nice weather and relaxed mood! Oamaru, we're coming...

More photos captured especially during nice weather!

Whitestone Cheese Factory - Oamaru. Say cheese! Too bad, during weekend, no visiting hours for the guests!

We are waiting patiently for the red light to turn green! While waiting, it's the chance for me to snap some photos again! Hehe...

Yellow Eye penguin - Bushey Beach Road, Oamaru. Free entrance for penguin viewing spot, but we reached there too late, cannot see any penguin :(

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony - Again we reached there too late! But I'm able to snap this cute roadside! Give way to penguins! Hehehe...

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. Entrance fees required!