Our Wicked Walkabout

Today we drove south… as south as you can get in New Zealand…without a ferry to Stewart Island (not enough time… next time we come, we will visit there!)

We began our day retracing the first hour of our Milford sound trip, but this time driving ourselves. The bus was great but you don’t get the full panoramic experience.

Our first stop was the end of the Lake, Kingston. * it only occurred to me half way there that one end is Queenstown, the other Kingston… yup, I’m slow*

Back in the day, you took a steam train from Invercargill to Kingston, then a steam boat to Queenstown. All that remains now is a tourist train, that only goes one stop.. and no, we did not take it as it only runs on Sundays 😦

We first drove to the end of the Jetty road, to visit and see the views. The lake is so clear… you could see the debris that had been tossed off the end.. I counted three traffic cones (witches hats) a sign (probably said “don’t toss your rubbish”), and two tires.

We then returned to the train station

We then continued the journey..

We arrived in Invercargill just after noon, so decided to visit the Classic Motorcycle Mecca, a museum… wonder whose idea that was! actually it was mine.

On our bus trip, yesterday, our driver put on a movie, “The Worlds Fastest Indian” unfortunately, the system crashed with 1/2 hour left in the movie so we did not see the end. But someday, we will…

The movie is about Burt Monro, a New Zealander, from Invercargill, who won, and still holds the world record for Land Speed of a motorcycle under 1000 cc. He was 68 at the time and riding a 47 year old machine!

We then headed to our Airbnb, in the town of Bluff. The first settlement in New Zealand! And the most Southerly town. Now known for its Oysters!

A quick nap, and out we headed to explore.

We then went to the Hill… where there was one of the first communication towers.. now a fabulous accessible lookout.

Another wonderful day. Seeing the sights.