After the day at Milford Sound, we took the bus back to Queenstown and got some more spectacular views that we missed on outbound trip earlier in the day due to snow. Got some great sky by Lake Wakatipu at sunset before our feast at The Flame.
The next morning we picked up a rental car in Queenstown and got a great view of the Remarkables, a “new” mountain range with jagged peaks just outside of Queenstown and much more visible on a blue sky day. We started our drive toward Mt. Cook with planned stop for lunch in Lake Wānaka but had an unexpected detour over a mountain pass that had a great view back of Queenstown valley. It was about a 3.5 hour drive to Mt. Cook via Lake Wānaka – it took us about 6 hours with all of our stops.
Lake Wānaka had a different focus than other lakes we saw – a lot of watersports and activities – whereas others were kayaking or nothing in the water at all.
While driving, we noticed miles of forest that had been cutdown – apparently for no reason but a quick google search revealed it was an infestation of wilding pine trees had choked out native forests and they had to be cut down. Other interesting facts relating to the remoteness of New Zealand:
• No humans until the 1500s. Australia has had humans for thousands of years.
• No indigenous land mammals. No bears, squirrels, anything. Possums were imported in the 1800s to provide a source of fur and immediately overpopulated. Possums fur accessories are still available.
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