We went from Arrowtown to Te Anua via Invercargill (it only ads about 3.5 hours to the journey!). We actually drove through Invercargill (best not to stop!) and onto Bluff and Stirling Point, which is the southern most point of the highways. So we have been now been to the furthest north and south points (at least on the highways) of the country. We decided to have lunch at the nearby cafe, where we met the most laid back cat in the country. Very friendly, and seemed permanently half asleep. His name was Fats. Which is a little unfair, he genuinely is big boned! He made us feel very much at home when he decided to join the diners in their lunch by bringing in a half eaten rabbit to play with in the middle of the cafe!
From Te Anau we did a day trip to Doubtful Sound. It may sound like something Andy is responsible for but is really an amazing place. We went on a not cheap but totally worth it cruise/bus/cruise out then cruise/bus/cruise back taking in amazing scenery, dolphins, seals, sand flies and a hydro power station far underground just for good measure. The weather god decided to make up for our previous rain-soaked cancellations by giving us clear blue sky and a fabulous day.
Our next stop was Dunedin. Very hilly, very windy - can't imagine what made them decide to name it after Edinburgh ;o) That said, the gradient of the hills makes Edinburgh seem positively flat. They did a great job with the architecture. For a relatively young city, it did a very good job at looking old - meant in the nicest way! The train station was fabulous (although using Aberdeen granite to build the pillars was perhaps taking Scottish pride a little far!), making us think that they perhaps didn't know Edinburgh so well after all..... There is a statue of Rabbie Burns in the city centre, and we found a pub that not only served decent (real) ale, but had a great range of whiskies, including an Edradour! It was all a bit surreal. We took a tour of the Speights brewery whilst we were there - quite a cool place.
Next and final stop was Christchurch for two nights. We stayed at a hotel there. Like a real hotel with an en-suite, mini fridge and everything! Christchurch didn't show too much damage from the recent earthquake; some buildings were being held up by scaffolding, a few were pretty much demolished, but it was hard to believe it had happened so recently.
We finally, on our 2nd last night, found a pub serving real ale - and we mean real, real ale! Drawn from a proper hand pump! We were very happy.
The next day we both went for a run in the nearby botanic gardens then spent the day wandering around the city, including a visit to the aquarium which also housed a kiwi house, so we finally saw a kiwi (of the feathered variety). Well, sort of, she chose to spend that time digging around in the darkest corner, but it was better than nothing.
Then to finish our trip with another bizarre meeting, we walked out of a restaurant after having some food and Chris looked up to see a German guy who had been staying in the same hostel as us in Motueka (near Abel Tasman, after Christmas) standing nearby. Considering we had been driving around the country and he had been cycling (yes, really!), we had really not expected to see him of all people. But it was a nice surprise, as he is a really nice bloke. He also seemed to have lost as much weight in the last two weeks as we had put on - perhaps there is something to be said for cycling round the country rather than driving!
And so we had to say goodbye to New Zealand. It has been far too short and we have had a fantastic time, meeting lots of great people along the way.
Our 1.5 hour stop in Dubai was a tad tight for time. Although we landed on time, it took almost half an hour to finally get off the plane, and by the time we had speed-walked right around the airport (of course, our gate was in the 2nd last section, so took as long as possible to get to) our flight was already on the final call, leaving us hot, sweaty and a bit stressed, but at least we made it, and better that than the 9 hour delay on the way out! A journey lasting over 30 hours does take it's toll though and we are still recovering.
So that's it, the major travelling over and back in sunny Scotland and back to our house after six months of travelling and fun. If only we were doing something like driving to the French Alps in a few days... oh wait a minute...
Tongariro
We're all Mt. Doomed!
Monday 17 January 2011
Friday 7 January 2011
Queenstown in the sun - a different place
Thankfully, Friday dawned bright and sunny, so we decided to give Queenstown another chance. Chris had decided she wanted to walk up Queenstown hill and Andy thought this would be a good chance to break in his new shoes and run up the trail, as it goes on a long way. It's a lovely trek to the top of the hill, and far from the previous day when we couldn't even see the tops of the hills, the views from the top were absolutely fantastic. Back in the town, with the sun cheering everyone up and many more people out and about, we decided it wasn't such a bad place after all. After lunch we went for a trip up the opposite hill using the gondola - an unusual experience in the sun and heat rather than snow. More spectacular views were appreciated, more coffee drunk, then we headed back down and returned to Arrowtown. After a bite to eat, we went to the nearest pub (about 1 minutes walk, not sure how we coped) and got chatting to a couple of local blokes who were pretty steaming but very entertaining.
Queenstown - rain and shine
With heavy hearts we left Wanaka and made for the Queenstown area. Having heard Queenstown's reputation for being very full on, we had booked a hostel in nearby Arrowtown. The other benefit to this was it is nearer a winery we wanted to visit, it having been recommended by a Kiwi Chris had met at work earlier in the year. Happily the weather was still fine when we got here, and the hostel seemed really nice, with Arrowtown seeming a pretty, and peaceful, place. So we booked in for an extra night.
We found out the local bus service would take us straight past the winery, which was a bit of a result, so off we went. On chatting to an American girl at the bus stop, we discovered that this bus' view on timetables was even more open to interpretation than our bus at home! So mental note made to be early for the return journey, and be prepared to wait a potentially long time.
We got to the winery and had a tasting which was great. We then went to the bistro which was part of the place and had a most excellent "chefs choice" menu with four different wines to complement each course. And both the food and wine were fantastic. We could hardly move afterwards, but dragged ourselves out in plenty of time to wait for the bus, which happily was on time, and stopped for us - in fact we were the only passengers - a most successful experience altogether!
The next morning normal weather had resumed and it was pouring with rain. Chris went on a short run along the riverside and Andy on a longer one up a nearby hill to a view point. Where he viewed more cloud.
Later on, we drove out to Queenstown and found it to be, well, dull. We found some coffee, walked around a bit, found some more coffee, and walked around a bit more, mostly in outdoors/sports shops. Very sadly, Andy's trail shoes had (literally) fallen apart. The fail-safe-fix-anything duct tape had failed to hold them together, as had superglue, and his run on New Year's Day had been their death knell. In one of the outdoors shops we went in to to escape the rain, Andy found a pair of trail shoes, in the sale, the last pair of that type, in his size. Fate, you might think. We have discovered that, whilst everything over here is expensive, sports clothing is particularly so (and don't even get us started on Merino wool clothing!). However, in the sale, these weren't so. He even had a choice or two (Salomon or North Face) and went for the slighlty cheaper ones as they were just a little lighter. This whole decision took some time and energy so we recovered by finding another coffee shop.
So we drove out of Queenstown thinking "What that it?" Dude. The rain had stopped by this point, so Chris went out on a walk up another nearby hill whilst Andy looked after the bed. Later on we went in search of some beer and passed the American girl we had met the day before, again waiting for the bus! We then found a local micro-brewery - a happy result. Genuine real ale at last.
We found out the local bus service would take us straight past the winery, which was a bit of a result, so off we went. On chatting to an American girl at the bus stop, we discovered that this bus' view on timetables was even more open to interpretation than our bus at home! So mental note made to be early for the return journey, and be prepared to wait a potentially long time.
We got to the winery and had a tasting which was great. We then went to the bistro which was part of the place and had a most excellent "chefs choice" menu with four different wines to complement each course. And both the food and wine were fantastic. We could hardly move afterwards, but dragged ourselves out in plenty of time to wait for the bus, which happily was on time, and stopped for us - in fact we were the only passengers - a most successful experience altogether!
The next morning normal weather had resumed and it was pouring with rain. Chris went on a short run along the riverside and Andy on a longer one up a nearby hill to a view point. Where he viewed more cloud.
Later on, we drove out to Queenstown and found it to be, well, dull. We found some coffee, walked around a bit, found some more coffee, and walked around a bit more, mostly in outdoors/sports shops. Very sadly, Andy's trail shoes had (literally) fallen apart. The fail-safe-fix-anything duct tape had failed to hold them together, as had superglue, and his run on New Year's Day had been their death knell. In one of the outdoors shops we went in to to escape the rain, Andy found a pair of trail shoes, in the sale, the last pair of that type, in his size. Fate, you might think. We have discovered that, whilst everything over here is expensive, sports clothing is particularly so (and don't even get us started on Merino wool clothing!). However, in the sale, these weren't so. He even had a choice or two (Salomon or North Face) and went for the slighlty cheaper ones as they were just a little lighter. This whole decision took some time and energy so we recovered by finding another coffee shop.
So we drove out of Queenstown thinking "What that it?" Dude. The rain had stopped by this point, so Chris went out on a walk up another nearby hill whilst Andy looked after the bed. Later on we went in search of some beer and passed the American girl we had met the day before, again waiting for the bus! We then found a local micro-brewery - a happy result. Genuine real ale at last.
All aboard the Ark!
We awoke to heavy rain, even worse than the previous day. We got packed up and Andy went to drop a bottle off in recycling and found our two hitchers sitting in the kitchen trying to psyche themselves up to stand in the rain, so we offered them a lift all the way to Wanaka and they were somewhat chuffed. We all packed ourselves into the Subaru and headed off down the road/river and what a journey! Wipers often at double speed, little aqua plains and much concentration required, especially up Haast Pass with mental waterfalls at the side of the road, including a couple that meant we were getting rained on sideways too!
However, we passed round the side of the mountains, the rain stop, and miracle of miracles, the sun came out! In fact, it was a beautiful day. We unloaded our hitchers, then found our hostel and unloaded ourselves, and went for a walk around town. And what a fabulous place. Wanaka is as close to our perfect location as can be. A very nice lake, lots of mountains, ski areas nearby, and a really nice feel to the town. And we finally managed to go kayaking!! OK, so a paddle around a lake is not quite the same as the kayak along the Abel Tasman would have been, but it was still good.
The next day Andy had identified a track he could run along take him up hill and Chris headed off to walk up to a view point for the Rob Roy glacier (honest!). The car park for the walk to the glacier view point was a lot longer than Chris had anticipated, and most of it (40k or so) was on stoney track, and had to go through quite a few fords. However, it was VERY worth it. The walk itself was lovely and the views of the glacier, on such a lovely sunny day, were quite superb. And right at the beginning of the walk, Chris spots a familiar looking couple off in the distance. Not too long later, she catches up with, yes, the two Israelis! They were going at a more sedate pace, so she carried on past. After reaching the view point, on the way back down, she also passed a group of French guys - with quite a lot of double takes going on from both sides, she is fairly sure they were the same group who were in the hostel we stayed in in Motueka. Quite bizarre.
Andy, on the other hand, wasn't having such a successful day. He'd worked out a route along a lakeside track that he could cut off to a route up Mount Roy which would qualify for a Munro back home. Trouble being he missed the turnoff and after several miles along the undulating track got to the end, turned back and ran along the road to make sure he found the Mount Roy track. Finally getting to the bottom of it (11 miles in to the run rather than the intended 5) he only managed about two thirds of the climb which equated to two miles of continuous hard ascent before deciding he was a) running out of water and b) knackered. He descended a little quicker and returned along the lakeside route, happily coming across an ice cream van at the end of the track to supply a very welcome cone, complete with flake! 20 miles, some _very_ slow and not what he had in mind but hey, the views were, as always, great and it kept him out of the pub :o) (briefly - Ed)
However, we passed round the side of the mountains, the rain stop, and miracle of miracles, the sun came out! In fact, it was a beautiful day. We unloaded our hitchers, then found our hostel and unloaded ourselves, and went for a walk around town. And what a fabulous place. Wanaka is as close to our perfect location as can be. A very nice lake, lots of mountains, ski areas nearby, and a really nice feel to the town. And we finally managed to go kayaking!! OK, so a paddle around a lake is not quite the same as the kayak along the Abel Tasman would have been, but it was still good.
The next day Andy had identified a track he could run along take him up hill and Chris headed off to walk up to a view point for the Rob Roy glacier (honest!). The car park for the walk to the glacier view point was a lot longer than Chris had anticipated, and most of it (40k or so) was on stoney track, and had to go through quite a few fords. However, it was VERY worth it. The walk itself was lovely and the views of the glacier, on such a lovely sunny day, were quite superb. And right at the beginning of the walk, Chris spots a familiar looking couple off in the distance. Not too long later, she catches up with, yes, the two Israelis! They were going at a more sedate pace, so she carried on past. After reaching the view point, on the way back down, she also passed a group of French guys - with quite a lot of double takes going on from both sides, she is fairly sure they were the same group who were in the hostel we stayed in in Motueka. Quite bizarre.
Andy, on the other hand, wasn't having such a successful day. He'd worked out a route along a lakeside track that he could cut off to a route up Mount Roy which would qualify for a Munro back home. Trouble being he missed the turnoff and after several miles along the undulating track got to the end, turned back and ran along the road to make sure he found the Mount Roy track. Finally getting to the bottom of it (11 miles in to the run rather than the intended 5) he only managed about two thirds of the climb which equated to two miles of continuous hard ascent before deciding he was a) running out of water and b) knackered. He descended a little quicker and returned along the lakeside route, happily coming across an ice cream van at the end of the track to supply a very welcome cone, complete with flake! 20 miles, some _very_ slow and not what he had in mind but hey, the views were, as always, great and it kept him out of the pub :o) (briefly - Ed)
Happy New Year!
We made the short journey down to Hokitika, swung by the centre to stop for a coffee and obligitory muffin and to get supplies from the supermarket and then went back to the hostel. We dumped our stuff and then wandered along the beach for the half-hourish walk back into town. We grabbed another coffee on our wanders and then headed back and tok the car out to look at a swing bridge about 45 mins away which was meant to have lovely blue water under it. It was instead a slate grey thenks to the recent rain, tho the bridge was pretty cool and there was another waterfall that was quite impressive, again thanks to the rain. Back at the hostel we BBQ'd a steak and chatted away to some of the other travellers and then wandered down to the beach to see in new year with a bottle of bubbly we'd bought during our Renwick stay. Five of us went down and seven came back after we found another couple from the hostel getting cold on the beach too! (It was very windy, and much like Scotland, no matter how warm the day, a brisk sea wind is flippin' cold at night!) The skies were so clear and the stars were bright and plentiful...if only it could have been warmer. Back at the hostel and more drink and chat followed, all in all a lovely quiet relaxing new year. A little different from the NineMileBurn all-nighters, but fun nonetheless!
The next day we went for a morning jaunt along a trail next to a lake about 20 mins drive from the hostel. We parked up at a spot where the locals were putting their boats and jet-skis into the water and sauntered off along the walk. It was great except for the dense plant and trees stopped many of the good views over to the lake, though we occasionally got some glimpses and could get down to the shore every now and again. We passed about one walker and a runner went by when after a while Andy decided to stop to "admire the scenery".While he was finishing "admiring the scenery" a local woman appeared on the path - of all the timing! Andy was apologetic and she claimed not to have seen any of his scenic exploits and stopped to chat to the two of us for a while. We turned around after about a couple of hours with Chris encouraging Andy to run back; This was a polite way of telling him to go away and he had great fun on the track back then sat watching the water-skiers etc. for Chris to walk back. Chris' discovery of the day; a woodland track out and back can get a bit samey. Perhaps even Andy's bad jokes would have helped on the return leg :o) (or not - Ed). A very different, and distinctly less chilly, new year's day than we've ever had back home!
The next morning we headed off to Fox as we had two nights there with a trip onto the glacier booked for the full day next day. We got there and it was wet. Well wet doesn't quite cover it, it was teeming down. We got to our hostel and were met by the most bored, unhelpful American girl at check-in who pointed us vaugely towards our room, looking bored as she did so. First impression not great. Once we found our room and looked around the kitchen we decided that shit-hole was an accurate description :o) We offloaded into the s-h and made our lunch. Well, we tried to carve the bread but the knives were more suited to filling rather than cutting. Chris went off to the main kitchen in the hostel to find a knife and found a bread knife and some friends! As always, our two Israeli friends were staying there along with a couple of Austrian women who we saw in the new year with. They all said, yeah the glaciers were great and the weather was great and that "sure, they won't cancel because of a little rain..."
So we walked down (in the rain) to the activity centre to see what the story was and sure enough, all trips for the next day, including ours, were cancelled. We really need to stop booking in advance! The way up to the Fox Glacier is prone to rock falls and the DoC (Department of Conservation) said it was too dangerous. Darn. We retreated to a cafe for coffee and muffin assistance and decided to cancel our second night at Fox. We then drove up to the Franz Josef glacier (in the rain) and walked the 30 mins up to the terminal so we at least knew the glaciers existed! So it was pretty cool anyway (in the rain - can you see a pattern emerging!) and we got back to the car soaked but happy and drove back down to the main highway to drive back to Fox. There were a couple of very wet folk (one German, one French/Swiss) hitching so we gave them a lift as far as Fox even though they wanted to get to Wanaka which was another four hours down the road! We said if they were still standing there tomorrow we'd give them a lift again...
Back at the hostel later and who do we see but the hitchers who failed entirely to get a lift and ended up having to stay. At least they were dry :o) We spent the evening chatting to the Isrealies before heading of to prepare to go to Wanaka in the morning. In the rain.
The next day we went for a morning jaunt along a trail next to a lake about 20 mins drive from the hostel. We parked up at a spot where the locals were putting their boats and jet-skis into the water and sauntered off along the walk. It was great except for the dense plant and trees stopped many of the good views over to the lake, though we occasionally got some glimpses and could get down to the shore every now and again. We passed about one walker and a runner went by when after a while Andy decided to stop to "admire the scenery".While he was finishing "admiring the scenery" a local woman appeared on the path - of all the timing! Andy was apologetic and she claimed not to have seen any of his scenic exploits and stopped to chat to the two of us for a while. We turned around after about a couple of hours with Chris encouraging Andy to run back; This was a polite way of telling him to go away and he had great fun on the track back then sat watching the water-skiers etc. for Chris to walk back. Chris' discovery of the day; a woodland track out and back can get a bit samey. Perhaps even Andy's bad jokes would have helped on the return leg :o) (or not - Ed). A very different, and distinctly less chilly, new year's day than we've ever had back home!
The next morning we headed off to Fox as we had two nights there with a trip onto the glacier booked for the full day next day. We got there and it was wet. Well wet doesn't quite cover it, it was teeming down. We got to our hostel and were met by the most bored, unhelpful American girl at check-in who pointed us vaugely towards our room, looking bored as she did so. First impression not great. Once we found our room and looked around the kitchen we decided that shit-hole was an accurate description :o) We offloaded into the s-h and made our lunch. Well, we tried to carve the bread but the knives were more suited to filling rather than cutting. Chris went off to the main kitchen in the hostel to find a knife and found a bread knife and some friends! As always, our two Israeli friends were staying there along with a couple of Austrian women who we saw in the new year with. They all said, yeah the glaciers were great and the weather was great and that "sure, they won't cancel because of a little rain..."
So we walked down (in the rain) to the activity centre to see what the story was and sure enough, all trips for the next day, including ours, were cancelled. We really need to stop booking in advance! The way up to the Fox Glacier is prone to rock falls and the DoC (Department of Conservation) said it was too dangerous. Darn. We retreated to a cafe for coffee and muffin assistance and decided to cancel our second night at Fox. We then drove up to the Franz Josef glacier (in the rain) and walked the 30 mins up to the terminal so we at least knew the glaciers existed! So it was pretty cool anyway (in the rain - can you see a pattern emerging!) and we got back to the car soaked but happy and drove back down to the main highway to drive back to Fox. There were a couple of very wet folk (one German, one French/Swiss) hitching so we gave them a lift as far as Fox even though they wanted to get to Wanaka which was another four hours down the road! We said if they were still standing there tomorrow we'd give them a lift again...
Back at the hostel later and who do we see but the hitchers who failed entirely to get a lift and ended up having to stay. At least they were dry :o) We spent the evening chatting to the Isrealies before heading of to prepare to go to Wanaka in the morning. In the rain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)