Cruising the fjords

NZ Day 5  April 8 2011


First stop after leaving Queenstown is Mossburn, the deer capital of New Zealand. Saw our first wind farm on the far hills. Had bus driver’s tea and bikkies in the park.

Magnificent stag statue.   

Lunch at Te Anau (pronounced tee arnow). Had indifferent pies, but the toilets were great, the best $1.00 worth of relief. The ceilings were high and there was a hand dryer by each sink... at last someone figured that one out. The ‘concierge’ was a smiling charming bloke who told me they had opened on Dec 20 2010. For $5.00 you can shower. Many campers use it.


On our way to Milford Sound, we drove through Eglington Valley which is ablaze with Russell Lupins in Dec/Jan. None left now. Mirror Lake did not produce marvellous reflections; too many ripples (have seen better up Mt Baker in Washington State). Had to pass through the Homer Tunnel. It’s one lane only. The deal is that the lights change every 15 minutes. We copped the red both ways but waited only five minutes going in.

We’re now well into the mountains, and a spectacular sight they are. It’s almost too much beauty and grandeur, and the photos don’t do the scenery justice.

Yet another maginificent pit stop!   

I’ve learned a new expression, ‘tree avalanche’ whereby trees become heavy with ice and water, expand and shear off, sending rocks down the mountain, leaving a huge gash on the mountainside.

Milford Sound is a misnomer, it is more accurately a fjord, i.e. developed by glacial erosion rather than river drowning. There is more of the rock under the water than above it. We board the Milford Monarch for a spectacular 2 hour cruise. Notice I’m using the word ‘spectacular’ a lot. The eyes hurt with all the fabulous scenery.



Waterfall into the Sound.   



Interesting shadow, Samurai on horse!


I thought I would be sleeping on the 2 hour bus journey back to Te Anau but I started reading my kindle (a true crime book by Ann Rule) which kept me awake.

Dinner at the hotel was splendid, ginger crab salad, lamb medium/rare which melted in my mouth and espresso crème brulee... a five star meal. Hotel is Te Anau Hotel.

A day in Queenstown

NZ Day 4,April 7 2011


Good not to have to hit the road this morning. Did laundry and wrote 2 blogs, caught up on email. Kit has wonderful news, her son is getting married in September.

Walked into town (Queenstown) ate lunch at Tatlers. Wonderful special of warm veg salad with salmon. $12.00, cheap for these parts.

Walked a fairly steep climb to the gondolas taking a very steep climb up the peak. ($25.00 a pop) A wonderful view of Lake Wakatipu. Has developed a lot since I was here 15 years ago. There’s a bungy jump site and a luge track. Someone told us it was 3 degrees centigrade. We were rugged up pretty well.

Walked back to Tatlers for coffee and hot chocolate. Kit’s didn’t touch the sides. Fascinated by the merino/possum mix scarves and gloves as we window shopped. I went from store to store using the tester samples for hand creams every where I went. My hands are so dry, they suck up the moisturiser in seconds.

TSS Earnslaw. 

Walter Peak Homestead. 

Back at the Copthorne Resort changed for dinner at Walter Peak High country Farm, accessed via a coal steamer the TSS Earnslaw. The homestead is very elegant, the buffet dinner excellent. I had tender roast beef, sticky date pudding, lemon meringue pie. We watched a sheepdog herding some sheep and the farmer shearing a sheep. High country sheep have tough coarse fur.

Chandelier at Walter Peak Homestead. 

On the trip back we had a rip roaring sing song round the piano.

NZ Day 3  April 6 2011


Both wake up calls worked today. Dodgy hot water system though, the hot water is scalding, plus the hot tap is on the right so any unsuspecting child could do some real damage.


Lots of driftwood on the beach at Bruce Bay – (reminds me of Washington State beaches) en route to Haast River.

Haast River Safari ( a one hour jet boat ride complete with 360 degree burn outs)  Some of the water an ice blue caused by rock pulverised by distant glaciers. Little bird life because of little marine life. That can be found in the tributaries. Trees named or misnamed by early explorers, eg. Pines (that are not pines) named because of the colour when split eg white, red, black. There is a proper Maori name for them.

One of many scenic outlooks en route.

The Haast river was once the only ‘highway’. Even cattle were driven down it, and prospectors used it. In Arrowtown (near Queenstown) in the mid 1800s, more gold was taken from there than from San Francisco.

A story told by Chris our driver. One of his passengers a 93 year old man, declared himself a teenager. ‘Why?’ asked Chris. ‘I don’t work and I’m on drugs.’

Deer hunting season has just opened. Now there are many deer farms but they started out of deer hunting safaris. 2 million deer are farmed in the country, main export is the velvet from the first antler formation of 12 month old deer. It's used in Chinese medicine, good for arthritis.

Passed Thunder Creek Falls 28m high. Haast pass 564m high.

Lunch at Moeraki so so, but ice cream divine. I had Kiwi flavour.

Brief stop at Lake Wanaka, white dinosaur slide and hand of friendship. Famous airshow called ‘warbirds over Wanaka’ started by a man with a passion for old planes, eg spitfires.

Cool slide!

We crossed the 45th parallel... and Wooing Tree Vineyard.

Passed the original Bungy Jump site, devised by A. J. Hackett who has just got married. Lives in Paris. His wife is a beautician with a salon in Christchurch. It has a chandelier which survived the earthquake. Wife really wanted it for her wedding, and they managed to rescue it.

Karawera river. Coronet Peak popular skiing resort.

Hand of friendship at Lake Wanaka.

The mountain range The Remarkables run from N to S.

Arrived Queenstown 5.30pm. Found the Lone Star to eat. Helpings enormous, shared lamb shanks with Barbara, Margaret & Rae shared chicken breast. Kit had medium rare steak. No photos of food this time.

Lake Wanaka again.

I lost my scab in Hokihita

April 5 2011 Day 2



Will you believe it, the sky is blue, the sun is out. Mind you I don’t appreciate it on account of the fact that we have not received our early wake up call and the alarm hasn’t worked. We have five minutes to put our luggage outside the room for pick up, and half an hour to shower, dress and eat breakfast. I’m very grumpy, and beginning to wonder about this trip. So far the organisation has been less than efficient, and the bacon and eggs are almost cold. Should have stuck to cereal.


Not until we glimpse snow on the mountain tops in the distance do I start to cheer up. I love mountains, and yesterday’s heavy rain (falling as snow at high altitude) has assured a scenic journey over the next two days. We pick up the Trans-Alpine train at Darfield. I rug up (in the almost lost red coat) and brave the wind on the viewing platform to take pictures and video. A hot chocolate and big fluffy scone completes the experience.

Snowcapped view from Trans-alpine train.

Yours Truly.   

Chris meets us at Arthur’s Pass and drives us to Hokitika, sparkling serene in the sun. You would never believe it had once boasted a 1400 seat opera house, forty one pubs and all the mayhem a gold rush brings in the mid 1800s. Now it is sedate, full of shops selling Jade, or Greenstone as it is sometimes called. We bought All Black stamps at the post office for postcards, had a delicious lunch at a nearby Deli.






My vegetable pita





Kit's Blue Cheese pot pie














Somewhere along the way, I lost my scab. Sounds horrible doesn’t it? I have a small skin cancer on the back of my hand I treated with black salve two weeks ago. It draws out the cancer (supposedly) and leaves you pristine once the dark scab has lifted off. I’ll believe it’s truly gone when I attend the Melonoma Clinic in Sydney in May. Meanwhile…somewhere in Hokitika my dark scab lurks.


The next stop is Harihan where an Australian pilot landed upside down in a swamp years ago, thereby ensuring his immortality. He survived. His biplane is housed in a small room there.

Hapless Aussie Pilot.

At Franz Josef, we walk to see the glacier (not as far down as when I was here 15 years ago) and visit a talking toilet, one of those that welcomes you in in a male American voice, and flushes when you wash your hands or walk out.

There's a glacier somewhere!

The highlight at Franz Josef Glacier is…cheap bananas!!! We have left behind bananas at $15.00 a kilo in Sydney, thanks to the Queensland floods. Here they’re $2. 29. The whole busload of passengers trips out one by one to buy the precious fruit.

Yes NZ has bananas!

Our stop for the night is Heartland Hotel at Fox Glacier.

A beautiful sunset.

Off to New Zealand

April 4 2011 Day 1


A smooth quick run to airport. Thanks to Kit’s neighbour we arrive at 6.50am. Go looking for the group booking area our fearless leader told us to go to. Non existent. Ask NZ Airways, ‘WE DO NOT DO GROUP BOOKINGS.’ We wait, see some other likely souls; yes they are part of Thereabout Travel, have been told to wait for the others who are stuck in traffic. The dream of a relaxed coffee before boarding is receding fast.

Eventually they arrive. All smooth through checking in, customs and security. Kit goes off to buy duty free cosmetics, I go sniffing out a coffee bar. Suddenly I go hot all over, I’m one piece of baggage short. I’ve left my red jacket on the carousel. S… my heart races in rhythm with my legs as I try to find my way back to security. The place is a maze of gaudy duty free shops you have to negotiate before you can find the obscure corridors from whence one came. I collar someone with epaulettes and a tag around his neck. He shows me the way. ‘That’s my coat,’ I say pointing to it tossed on a table. ‘Aw gee, I just started the paper work,’ (official with American accent) ‘You’ll have to sign for it now.’ I did…gladly. Without that coat, touring the South Island of New Zealand could be truly miserable. The plane was delayed, I had a coffee, stopped sweating and calmed down.

Air NZ run a video of Richard Simmons taking us through the safety precautions, hilarious but all I can remember are his antics! I run through the media offerings on the little screen in front of me and hit on a Morecambe and Wise show from 1974. That’s the year I got divorced from the kid’s father in South Africa. It seems so long ago but the jokes and comic timing still resonate. I laugh out loud on the way to Christchurch.

As it happens it is chucking it down with rain when we arrive, and feels cold to our heat-sensitised Australian bodies. I fasten my red coat around me in gratitude for remembering it in time.

Chris, our driver for the next 18 days is no Bushie (see Darwin-Broome blog). He has an open face and twinkly smiling eyes. He takes us away from the poor battered city of Christchurch to Ashburton.

Within the hour we are ensconced in a comfortable room. Dinner is very good, after which we watch the tail end of ‘Philadelphia’ on TV.

It is still pouring with rain.

Land of the long white cloud.       

Blog competition and getting ready for NZ

Just entered a blog competiton via the Sydney Writers Centre. Here is my badge:

One has to enter three examples of one's blogs in one of four categories. I've submitted three of the travel ones in the Lifestyle category.

The trip to NZ is 9 days away when my travel blog willcome to life again. Our desginated hotel in Christchurch is now a pile of rubble thanks to that nasty earthquake. I want to give it a name like the hurricanes but considering all the damage they have done recently feel it would trivialise them. We have new lodgings in Ashburton.

What to pack? Given that it is now Autumn, and that the South Island will be colder than the North Island the answer is layers, including some kind of head covering. I've opted for a scarf which can double as a head scarf in the chillier regions if needed, and a lightweight pashmina which can double as a stole at night when dining. Socks of course and one pair of tights. I suspect my Waldlaufer walking shoes will come in for a work out as will the red parka I bought as a bargain in the USA many years ago. One black cardigan, one skivvy and an assortment of trousers and tops make up the rest.

See you on Monday April 4

A trip to the Gold Coast

We barely made the plane. The fact that it was an hour late taking off worked in our favour, giving us time to have a Krispy Crème donut and coffee, something I look forward to every time I go to the airport. Like Pavlov’s dog at the sound of a bell, you say ‘Sydney Airport’ to me and I start salivating in anticipation. There was also time to shop at Blue Illusion, one of my favourite boutiques. Fatal, but I managed to get away with buying one item ON SALE. Kit, my travelling companion went mad. Enough said.

After about an hour in the air, we were deposited into the steaming heat of Coolangatta. We secured our rental car but not without a bit of a hiccup. While packing the trunk I realised I’d left my carry-on bag at the Hertz rental desk. Lucky it was still there when I went to retrieve it.

The Gold Coast sounds exotic, even glamorous doesn’t it? Now I grant you some of the scenery is stunning, azure waters, golden beaches and breathtaking coastal views. 

For some strange reason, I expected one place called ‘The Gold Coast’ full of high rises and fancy shops. It’s not like that, it’s a collection of townships hugging the coastline like one big strip mall from Coolangatta on the NSW/Queensland border through Mermaid Waters where we stayed, to just beyond the concrete jungle of Surfers’ Paradise. Not a large area but busy with surfers and theme parks all of which we avoided (the theme parks at least.)

We stayed with a friend, Dolly in her house abutting the canal, all mod cons, including a swimming pool which I used every day. 

We dropped everything and headed to Pacific Fair, a large shopping complex down the road from our residence. Had lunch at Myers then went exploring. First port of call was to the bank to get a cheque to pay for my forthcoming NZ trip. Next port of call was the newsagent for postcards. Some of the shopping precinct is outdoors so when the rain started pelting down we had to run for it. In the Crocs shop I bought some sandals (just to keep my daughter happy. She’s been on about me getting some Crocs ever since the trip to Bangalow.)

The next day, while our host worked, Kit and I drove to the Spit for a very early lunch. I ate a crab sandwich, Kit fish and chips. A lot of cars were parked there and I expected to see people fishing but there was hardly any one. Where was everybody?

The mystery was partly solved when a small boat sped up and stopped near the jetty. Surf boards started hurtling through the air like missiles. They hit the water at the same time as their owners (a miracle no one was clonked on the head) who paddled to rescue them and bring them onshore. I asked one of the surfers where they’d been.

‘Off Stradbroke.’ He pointed to the body of land across from the Spit, the southern tip of Stradbroke Island. I was interested because someone I know lives there. We briefly toyed with the idea of going there but decided to head inland to Tamborine Mountain instead. 

It is pretty country, winding roads up hills and down. An hour or so into the ride, we rounded a bend and  saw a sign, ‘The Polish Place.’ By its location I could see there would be stunning views, a good place for a toilet stop and a coffee.

What a magical stop. We found out from the owner the place is famous, has won many awards, offers villa type accommodation and serves Polish type meals. We opted to sit inside. Good job we did. The minute we sat down the heavens opened and the poor Japanese customers eating al fresco on the terrace got soaked. The view was completely obliterated. I’ve discovered that Queensland rain comes out of nowhere, absolutely pelts down for about twenty minutes then disappears as quickly as it comes. By the time we left, the valley and surrounding hills had reappeared.

I decided to go for the Polish coffee, Kit the Polish hot chocolate which came in a glass with the spoon standing up in it. That’s how she ate it, with a spoon, it was so thick. The coffee was the strongest I’ve ever had, took me ages to drink, could only manage half of it. Boy those Poles must be made of strong stuff if they drink that every day.

The dishes on the table on the terrace were a magnet to a band of Lorikeets who proceeded to clean up the leftovers. It didn’t take long before they came in to us. One cleaned up Kit’s hot chocolate very efficiently. Their favourite seemed to be the sugar packets. They’d peck and tear to make a hole in the paper then eat it all up in no time. It was better than a cabaret.

Talking of cabarets. We moved on from there, back down the mountain to Pacific Fair. I’d ordered cheap tickets to see ‘Burlesque’ via the internet, three of them. Unfortunately, our host couldn’t make it because of a dental emergency. They don’t give refunds on this deal but I managed to sell the third ticket to a woman behind us in the queue. The film was so so, a vehicle for Cher and Christine Aguilera. Some of the dialogue was enough to make me squirm but the musical numbers were okay.

The next day while Kit visited work colleagues, I took a walk with Dolly in Burleigh Heads National Park. Not a long walk, it was too hot for that. After picnicking she drove me along the coast, stopping at various  points to take in the spectacular views. There is a memorial to all who perished in a ship that was bombed in 1943 by the Japanese just off Coolangatta, including one to the nurses who perished. It was AHS Centaur, a hospital ship. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard, 268 were killed.

Dolly at the Nurses Memorial

 

The next day was very leisurely, didn’t leave the house until the evening when we ate at the Burleigh Bears Rugby League Club. My salmon was delicious as was the lemon/lime tart to follow. No one won a meat tray or any cash in the raffle but we had a good time anyway.

Coolangatta Lighthouse

We left Coolangatta on Saturday in 30 degree heat (it had never wavered for five days) and arrived in Sydney in 30 degree heat. It was like we never left…except for the traffic, the noise, the dust…

Only today, Monday, has it turned cooler. Only today do I feel like doing anything, like writing this blog for instance. I notice on preview the videos (my first attempt in blogs) are a bit blurry. Some of you receiving this blog as an email may not be able to open them. Bear with me as I try to improve my technique!