Day 76 (21 August): Sound?
This morning I drove up from Te Anu into Fjordland National Park where I took a boat out on Milford Sound. From there I drove back through Te Anu to Queenstown. (Again, like most of my days in NZ, you'll have to wait for the pictures.)
Observations:
1) Milford is not really a Sound, but a Fjord. A Fjord is a large body of water carved out by a glacier whereas a Sound is carved out by flowing water, not flowing ice.
2) Obvious names for roads. The road from Te Anu to Milford is called 'The Long and Windy Road,' no joke. This is even more obvious than the 'Great Ocean Road' in Australia.
3) Maps and tourist information in NZ. There is an overabundance of tourist information in NZ. When I booked my boat ride on Milford in Te Anu at the Tourist Info Centre I was handed a map from there to Milford. While the drive may have been a 2.5 hour one, I certainly didn't need a map as there was only one road, but the lady behind the counter insisted I needed one nonetheless, so I wouldn't miss the 'well marked' lakes and other 'sites' along the way.
4) Over touristed? NZ gets 2 Million tourists a year for a population of only 4 Million (only 1 Million of which are on the South Island which is where most tourists go.) Since it is Winter here now, there are very few toursits as it is not 'high season' but it feels like there are certainly more visitors around than locals.
5) Racism. This topic came up as I was talking to a lady at a petrol station after she correctly identified that I had an accent. She then proceeded to talk about how she wanted to go to New Orleans with her family for Mardi Gras next year but was worried about racisim in the American South as she was part of a mixed race family since her husband was Maori. (She also told me that some of her kids are completely white while others are dark; kindof a strange phenomenon.)
Observations:
1) Milford is not really a Sound, but a Fjord. A Fjord is a large body of water carved out by a glacier whereas a Sound is carved out by flowing water, not flowing ice.
2) Obvious names for roads. The road from Te Anu to Milford is called 'The Long and Windy Road,' no joke. This is even more obvious than the 'Great Ocean Road' in Australia.
3) Maps and tourist information in NZ. There is an overabundance of tourist information in NZ. When I booked my boat ride on Milford in Te Anu at the Tourist Info Centre I was handed a map from there to Milford. While the drive may have been a 2.5 hour one, I certainly didn't need a map as there was only one road, but the lady behind the counter insisted I needed one nonetheless, so I wouldn't miss the 'well marked' lakes and other 'sites' along the way.
4) Over touristed? NZ gets 2 Million tourists a year for a population of only 4 Million (only 1 Million of which are on the South Island which is where most tourists go.) Since it is Winter here now, there are very few toursits as it is not 'high season' but it feels like there are certainly more visitors around than locals.
5) Racism. This topic came up as I was talking to a lady at a petrol station after she correctly identified that I had an accent. She then proceeded to talk about how she wanted to go to New Orleans with her family for Mardi Gras next year but was worried about racisim in the American South as she was part of a mixed race family since her husband was Maori. (She also told me that some of her kids are completely white while others are dark; kindof a strange phenomenon.)
posted by Traveling Brian at 10:28 PM
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