This week’s road trip destinations: Kawarau Gorge, Cromwell, Clyde, Alexandra and St. Bathans’ Blue Lake.

Today is my off-day for the week and hence an opportunity for yet another road trip to nearby places from Queenstown. For this week, me and my friend were opting for St. Bathans’ Blue Lake with several stops along the way; Kawarau Gorge, Cromwell, Clyde and Alexandra. St. Bathans is only about 2 hours drive from Queenstown.

This will be most likely our last one-day road trip from Queenstown as we will be soon embarking on a full-time road trip (over 2 months) across the entire New Zealand from mid of next month. We have about a little more than 2 weeks of work left before The Remarkables ski mountain closes for the season. It is already spring here and temperature is getting much warmer now.

The first stop of the day is at the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge. This bridge is the location for the famous AJ Hackett Bungy Jump (world’s first commercial bungy jump operation). Well, I was just a spectator watching other people doing the stunt. I find the price too expensive and I also don’t think I have the courage to do that.

Next, we moved on to Cromwell, a town known for many fruit orchards surrounding it. That is why we saw a huge fruits’ sculpture there. We also went to explore its heritage precinct located next to Lake Dunstan. Beautiful lake view along with several restored historical buildings in that area. We didn’t left the town without a brief stop at the town’s lookout point.

After that, we went to Clyde. Here, we quickly viewed the Clyde Dam, Clyde Bridge and passed through its old town. We didn’t spend much time here as we have to go straight to Alexandra for lunch and more stops ahead. At Alexandra, we checked out its Historic Bridge and saw the famous Clock on the Hill.

We then went to our last stop; St Bathans’ Blue Lake. It was actually an old mining pit. Once it was abandoned and then slowly filled with water, the remaining minerals in the soil gave the lake a distinctive emerald color. The lake is surrounded by exposed cliffs and walking tracks. When we viewed the lake, we didn’t really find the lake’s color striking (probably due to the cloudy weather during our visit). It is more to greyish and I have no choice to edit the colour of the lake’s photos to make it more emerald-like as it should be.

There goes the end of my one-day road trip today. Not too tired (distance is not that far and there isn’t much walking required today as well). Before ending the post, I would like to inform that my blog here will be witnessing its 14th anniversary tomorrow (28th September 2022). Happy 14th birthday to my blog! Started way back in 2008 and I’m still having it pretty much active with frequent new posts (thanks to me) and constant views (thanks to you)! It is certainly on a roll!

(Image above is from Freepik)

A spectacular one-day road trip to Milford Sound, Te Anau and Manapouri.

Me and my friends originally planned to have a quick one-day road trip to Cromwell, Alexandra and St. Bathans yesterday. However, we had to postpone the plan after noticing bad weather from weather forecast we checked on Monday. Then, we saw that the weather would be perfectly fine today at Milford Sound and hence we immediately agreed to this destination for this week’s road trip instead.

If you didn’t know what is Milford Sound; it is a fiord (long narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by glacier) located on south-west of New Zealand’s South Island. The place is about 4 hours drive from Queenstown and is acclaimed as the country’s most famous tourist destination. It has been always called as the eighth wonder of the world too, hence a must-visit place when you are in New Zealand!

We took a cruise for a leisurely sightseeing along the fiord. The cruise took a little less than 2 hours and goes all the way close to the mouth of the fiord that opens up to the Tasman Sea. Spectacular cliffs, breathtaking snow-capped mountains, impressive waterfalls and pristine waterbody surround the area with every view along the cruise that will leave you truly amazed. It is unfortunate though that we didn’t get to see any wildlife though that are usually spotted there like seals, penguins and even dolphins.

There are also much lesser waterfalls visible today as compared to videos taken of the place by other people in the past that were shared on YouTube. One of the best parts of the cruise is that they brought us closer to one of the larger waterfalls to have a real feel of the intensity of water falling off from a great height (although the time the cruise stopped there was too brief). Anyway, the views are no less spectacular and the overall place do reminds me of Halong Bay at Vietnam with very similar features.

We didn’t just go to one place today for the road trip. There were also a lot of beautiful lookout points along the way to Milford Sound from Te Anau. We also spotted a lot of kea (a threatened species of large parrot native to New Zealand’s South Island only). By the way, we also paid a quick visit to Te Anau (checked out its beautiful lake and had lunch at this town) and Manapouri (also saw its lake and beach) since these two small towns are along the route to Milford Sound from Queenstown.

We depart from Queenstown at about 5.30am and only returned home at 8.00pm. Certainly a long tiring day but was feeling great and awesome to have visited Milford Sound. Truly a remarkable place.

The end of an era; UK’s Queen Elizabeth II passed away yesterday at the age of 96.

Having been the monarch for United Kingdom for over 70 years, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully yesterday (8th September 2022) at Balmoral Castle, Scotland at the age of 96. A figure well admired and respected not only by the UK but also by the world, Queen Elizabeth II was ”the rock on which modern Britain was built, who had provided us with the stability and strength that we needed” (quoted by UK Prime Minister Liz Truss in her speech).

Besides being the Queen of United Kingdom, she was also Queen of 14 other Commonwealth realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She was also the Head of the Commonwealth. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days made her the longest of any British monarch and the second longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country.

She had lost her husband, Prince Phillip last year and had recently just celebrated her Platinum Jubilee early this year. With her death yesterday, her eldest son, Charles automatically becomes the new King of United Kingdom (formally called as King Charles III). Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral will be held about 10 days from now and will be attended by world leaders. United Kingdom has entered into a period of national mourning in memory of her.

Though Britons rarely looked to the monarchy for political leadership, Elizabeth II has been a steady presence highly esteemed by many throughout decades of significant change that saw Britain transform from a war-weary declining imperial power into a modern multi-cultural state. she oversaw the last throes of the British empire, weathered global upheaval and domestic scandal, welcomed 15 prime ministers (from Winston Churchill all the way to Liz Truss who she appointed only few days ago), and dramatically modernized the monarchy.

The Queen was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, in Mayfair, London, on 21 April 1926. Few could have foreseen she would become monarch but in December 1936 her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated from the throne to marry the twice-divorced American, Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth’s father became King George VI and, at age 10, Lilibet, as she was known in the family, became heir to the throne.

Within three years, Britain was at war with Nazi Germany. Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, spent much of wartime at Windsor Castle after their parents rejected suggestions they be evacuated to Canada. After turning 18, Elizabeth spent five months with the Auxiliary Territorial Service and learned basic motor mechanic and driving skills.

Through the war, she exchanged letters with her third cousin, Philip, Prince of Greece, who was serving in the Royal Navy. Their romance blossomed and the couple married at Westminster Abbey on 20 November 1947, with the prince taking the title of Duke of Edinburgh. She would later describe him as “my strength and stay” through 74 years of marriage, before his death in 2021, aged 99.

Their first son, Charles, was born in 1948, followed by Princess Anne, in 1950, Prince Andrew, in 1960, and Prince Edward, in 1964. Between them, they gave their parents eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya in 1952, representing the ailing King, when Philip broke the news that her father had died. She immediately returned to London as the new Queen. “It was all a very sudden kind of taking on and making the best job you can,” she later recalled. Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, aged 27, in front of a then-record TV audience estimated at more than 20 million people.

Elizabeth reformed the monarchy for this less deferential age, engaging with the public through walkabouts, royal visits and attendance at public events. Her commitment to the Commonwealth was a constant – she visited every Commonwealth country at least once.

But there were periods of private and public pain. In 1992, the Queen’s “annus horribilis” (year of disaster or misfortune), fire devastated Windsor Castle – a private residence as well as working palace – and three of her children’s marriages broke down. After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car accident in Paris in 1997, the Queen drew criticism for appearing reluctant to respond publicly. There were questions about the monarchy’s relevance in modern society. However, she remain popular to the public to these days and very much beloved for her utmost dedication of her life as the Queen,

Rest in peace, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (21st April 1926 – 8th September 2022). We have lost a global icon, a beacon of unity and a motherly figure to the world. Her death truly marks the end of an era.

References:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886

https://edition.cnn.com/uk/live-news/queen-elizabeth-death-reaction-news-09-09-22/index.html

(Images in this post are from various online sources)