Te Anau
It was bitterly cold that night. Heavy snow and strong winds combine together making it like crazy angry person. We requested for an additional heater to keep us warm. It doesn't takes a long time for the snow to cover everything outside the room.
Blanket of snow - that was how it looks like from the window. Terus ke reception to get the weather update. We saw on TV last night it was due to Polar Blast. They described it was a once in a lifetime experience - the heaviest snowfall in 40 years. Am I the lucky one?
My worry becomes reality. Main highway to Wanaka were closed. Christchurch and Queenstown airports closed. School across the country also have been closed. Not wanting to give up, I asked if Milford Sound cruise is open for visitors. Surprisingly they are in business HOWEVER the road heading to Milford is closed. Sigh.
To kill time and to continue our survival, we walked to the town. Almost all shop closed. Sunyi sepi. Sejuk beku.
The only super small cinema, showing Harry Porter (not my kind of movie).
Menunggu dan menunggu untuk jalan dibuka semula. Hinggalah malam tiba dan tidur semula. We had cancelled all other activity and bookings. We did some homework for Plan B.Its kind of stressful and tiring. At times panic pun ada. Feeling like taufoofa. Lembik.
Early morning, weather looks good but the road still closed. To buy some time, Sarah and I made huge snow man.Even bigger than myself :)
The motel owner suggested us to go for different route which heading to Dunedin airport should we want to catch domestic flight to Christchurch. However we need to drop off the rental car. The nearest - Queenstown. Meaning that we have to go back to the scary road that we drove earlier. Errr... takut, plus no more domestic flight tix from Queenstown to Christchurch. We kind off stuck. Watching too much TV makes us more worried - cars accident and towed and driver stranded middle of nowhere while the road closed.
We think hard. Super hard. Should we drive all the way to Greysmouth, return our car and then take the train or heading Dunedin. We do not know. We do not know what to expect. Yes, we chicken out. The uncertainty and the unknown are scary.
Finally we decided the safest option which was to leave the car at motel (and pay for the charges) and take a coach to Christchurch. I do not know whether it is the correct decision, but in my heart i knew whatever it will be, it was the best decision at that particular moment. We almost missed the opportunity to purchase the coach tix as the visitor centre was almost closed. The journey from Te Anau to Christchurch is 11 hours. Gonna be a loooong day tomorrow.
More article on Polar Blast : News Otago, The SouthLand
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