Weather - Wet, Wet, Wet & Cold
Early start today with a 6am wake up call. Open the curtains to check the weather and
Showers, packing, suitcases outside our door, off to breakfast, back to our rooms for teeth cleaning & final last minute packing ..... Yes we are now experts with the timing and packing, however we do enjoy the 2 night stays when we can just leave everything & relax more.
Now all ready to depart & waiting on news as to whether we go to Milford Sound. Well the news is mostly bad .... Milford Sound road has been closed due to flooding & 2 bridges en route to Queenstown have been closed due to flooding. So Phil our tour guide is trying to contact someone re alternative plans.
Update 8.3am .... We are going to take the coach partially into Milford & view the scenery, then turn back and board a boat (Catamaran) for a cruise around Te Anau Lake for 90 minutes. Well we didn't make it far via road before we had to turn back due to flooding. Apparently there has been 5ft of rain (that's 60" in old terms or approx 1500mm) in 24 hours. Now that is one large dumping of rain and almost 3 x the amount Bathurst receives in 12 months! The lake has risen 2 metres and all but one jetty is underwater, so is the walkway and park furniture.
So we board the boat at 10am with another 2 coaches & it is very crowded. It is pouring rain & the normally calm lake is very choppy. About 30 minutes later they dock the boat at a tiny little wharf & invite everyone to get off and view a video of the glow worm caves (which have flooded) for 30 minutes. We declined to get off as it was raining & quite a walk to a tiny little hall. Anyway the wind increased & they had problems keeping the boat moored, thus delaying the passengers getting back on as it was unsafe. Eventually the let them on and we headed back to Te Anau in very choppy water. Overall it was not a very interesting cruise as the visibility was zero in the rain and fog. I guess they had to fill in time somehow.
Back on the coach we were advised that Mark our driver had worked out an alternate route to Queenstown, so we headed off. After an hour or so the weather cleared a little and we had patches of bright sunshine as you will see in my photos. There were lots of river & stream crossings where the water was flowing very quickly. Because we were early for our hotel in Queenstown, the tour guide decided to take us to the historic village of Arrowtown for a very late lunch stop & look around. Of course as soon as we left the coach the rain started again, so we just had a coffee, looked in a few shops & took a few photos (see Betty's Liquor Store) then back to the coach.
After a 30 minute drive we were back in Queenstown and at our hotel. We are right in town & have a free day tomorrow, so weather permitting we shall check it out & maybe go up on the Gondola for lunch and photo opportunity. Tonight dinner is included at this hotel (St Moritz) & tomorrow night we go to Walter Peak Farm for dinner on the beautiful steam boat SS Earnslaw.
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