Baaaa

Hello I'm Jeff.  Well, now I'm Jeff.  This morning my life changed forever which included me getting my first real name.  I was stuffed in a bargain bin out the front of a souvenir shop in Lake Tekapo when a nice lady and a young girl walked past and saw me and decided to rescue me from my mundane life of being one of thousands of nameless stuffed sheep.  Luckily I was sitting on the top of a pile looking suitably pathetic for the nice lady to stop and look at me and decide to take me with her.

For the first five minutes or so my new life consisted of perusing the inside of a blue shopping bag and listening to an ominous rumbling sound.  Soon, however, the nice lady pulled me out and cuddled me and then let me meet the rest of the people.  I'd already met the young girl, whose name I discovered is Kate, and there was also another nice girl called Chloe and a very happy chappy called Larry who was making the big metal box that was making the rumbling sound go.  We drove through lots of nice countryside with bigger versions of me in the paddocks and at one stage it was pretty scary because the rumbly metal box had to stop whilst a whole herd of cows walked down the road and around the car.  The family was pretty excited by this and took photos and everything!

We stopped in Geraldine for a little while.  The family got out of the car and went and did some fruit wine tasting in Barkers and cheese tasting in another shop.  I tried out my new job of watch sheep and looked after the car for them.  When they got back in the car I cuddled with Larry whilst Jenny drove but then the best thing happened.  JENNY LET ME HELP HER DRIVE!!!!   Me!  Who just this morning was a nameless, stuffed, souvenir sheep from Lake Tekapo.  Driving!   Jenny and I decided to take the scenic inner road to Christchurch and eventually we got to the home of the giant salmon - Rakaia.   Stopped at the cafe at the salmon farm for lunch and once again I played watch sheep and looked after the car whilst the family had lunch.  We then drove across New Zealand's longest bridge and headed up to Christchurch.  It's a really big place and it was a bit scary with all the cars and stuff.

I was happy to just chill in the motel unit for a while whilst the family went for a walk. They drove into the Botanic Gardens and left the car there and walked through the gardens and into Christchurch CBD.  Or what's left of it.  They were shocked at just how much of the city was devastated by the earthquakes of 2010/11.  Every street block has big empty spaces, currently being used as temporary unmarked car parks, and lots of buildings are either covered in scaffolding and in the process of being rebuilt or covered in scaffolding to hold them up until they can be demolished.  Just all terribly depressing and probably the closest we'll get to the feeling of what it must to have felt like to be in London or Dresden or somewhere where lots of bombs hit during WWII.

There is a whole little 'container city' of shops and banks in shipping containers which was actually kind of funky.  I hope they keep a little bit of it when they do all the rebuilding.  Jenny had a nice 'town planning' chat to the ladies manning the ReStart information booth about the master plan for the redevelopment of Christchurch.   They will use the opportunity during rebuild to reroute roads etc to provide for better traffic flow around the CBD and make it more pedestrian friendly.  Like Perth, unfortunately the government is balking at doing light rail which is a shame as there are already tracks for a tourist route that they could utilise and extend.

Headed back through the park and to the car and back to the unit for a relax time and some more playing with me!  The girls and I then decided to stay home and watch Disney Channel.  I particularly liked the show with the talking dog.  It was very funny.

Larry and Jenny headed out for dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant and I babysat Kate and Chloe. It was really cool cos when the grown ups left we watched murder mystery shows.  I like them too trying to work out who dunnit.  Larry and Jenny brought back takeaway for the girls and now they're all packing up all the stuff they had in their car because, GUESS WHAT, tomorrow we get to go on an aeroplane!!!!!!!

Wheeee!!!

So dark this morning when I woke up, I thought it must be about 4am and had to look at my watch three times to convince myself I was actually reading it correctly and that it was quarter to eight!  The forecast was for rain/snow/sleet etc and we didn't have a long drive to our next destination so we had a bit of a lie in.  Weather being the funny thing it is, Mt Cook village seemed to be under a little patch of blue sky and the mountains were very pretty with the sun on the snowy peaks.  It was obvious, however, that situation wouldn't last long as there were dark, grey clouds swirling in from pretty much every direction and when we did finally check out, the motel man said it would be 'dirty' by lunchtime!

We drove south past Lake Pukaki  and it wasn't until about three quarters down the lake that the sun finally stopped shining and we hit the cloud.   We stopped at Peter's Lookout and Larry jumped out to get one more photo back towards the mountains and the blue sky.  He pretty quickly hopped back in though as it was freezing!!  By the time we were back on the main road it had started snowing on us and it was an interesting experience to drive in it as the flakes hit the aerodynamics of the car and bounced up over you instead of hitting the car the way raindrops do.  It snowed lightly all the way to Lake Tekapo where it then, suddenly, got a fair bit heavier.  We were a bit apprehensive about what we should do as we were way too early to check into our next motel so we thought we would just drive up to Tekapo Springs and check out where the snow tubing etc was.  When we got there it was still snowing but there were other people tubing etc so we figured we should stop being wimpy - it's just a bit of snow after all! - and get out and into it.

We were supposed to get an hour on the snow tube slopes but it was pretty quiet (being the first day back to school for NZ kids) so the guys ended up letting us slide for over an hour and a half. Well it was absolutely awesome fun.  The two guys manning the run were both Canadian and took great delight in sending us off from the top either backwards or (their favourite and my least favourite) in a fast spin.  The faster you went the higher up the sides you went but the fast spin just made everything end up as a white blur and I felt pretty dizzy by the end.  Certainly too dizzy to leap out of my tube and out of the way before the next person hurtled down the slope!   It started off pretty snowy and Kate elected to stay in the coffee shop in the beginning and then watched and took photos for a while. About half way through our session, the snow stopped and the clouds cleared to blue sky and Kate finally decided to have a go.  She soon realised how much fun it was and ended up having quite a few slides.  It actually got faster as the snow got icier so Kate (who took over Jenny's tube) probably ended up going faster than she had!  Apparently one of the Canadians commented to Larry that "like mother, like daughter" our screams were identical!!

Finally surrendered our tubes and went back into the cafe for lunch which was in a lovely position looking down over Lake Tekapo and the mountains beyond.  Extracted our car from the snowy carpark and headed to our motel unit which is another 'penthouse' (read two flights of stairs) apartment with a nice view of the lake from the lounge room.   After unloading and changing into some dry clothes (rather wet bottoms from the tubes!) we headed out again and did the touristy things of Lake Tekapo such as the Church of the Good Shepherd and the statue to the collie.  Nice with the sun out and blue on the lake but the wind chill factor made it a little chilly!  Back up to Tekapo Springs for Part 2 of our package being another soak in hot springs.   Three big pools, all at slightly different temperatures ranging from 37 to 40 degrees with loads of steam coming off them and great views down over the lake.  It was chilly but nowhere near as uncomfortable as Hanmer Springs maybe because there was blue sky instead of stars above us!

Back to the unit for hot showers then we walked next door to the Four Square and bought food to make burritos for dinner and a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake for dessert.  Now watching a Harry Potter DVD whilst this is written and footy tips checked.

Ah, the serenity!

Woke up to the surroundings coated in snow but not any deeper than when we went to bed and already lots of traffic on the roads so no stress about being snowed in.

After leaving Queenstown we were caught up in a long line of traffic all the way to Cromwell so we stopped at Jone's fruit barn and purchased supplies, ice creams, choc coated stuff, and healthy diced fresh pineapple for Jenny and a banana (singular) for Larry.

A casual drive to Mt Cook through the Lindis Pass. We were a bit apprehensive because of the snow in Queenstown but by the time we got to the pass it was very nice weather which made for a few nice photos and there was very little ice or snow on the well trafficked road.

Uneventful drive but as we got out of the car for lunch at Omarama there was a four wheel dive in the car park with a couple of dead deer on the roof rack. I suppose that's normal for outback NZ so whilst Larry didn't bat an eyelid, the other three didn't really appreciate dead animals with glassy eyes staring at them from a car outside a cafe.

After checking in to our very nice and warm unit, we put the hiking boots on, grabbed our jackets, gloves, hats and headed off on a walk along the Hooker Valley track. Quite cold but it did not bother us, must be acclimatised, very beautiful scenery and a delight to be walking at the base of these snow covered mountains.

The area where the accommodation is located was covered with snow and ice so it was fun to walk around in snow and make fresh footprints even though Larry had a slip and slide but recovered beautifully with the grace of a panther.  It took us a little while to work out what was making animal tracks in the snow but later saw a couple of decent sized bunnies so that mystery was solved.

Had a good sleep as we had a huge bed in a huge, warm room with decent sized pillows and the snow outside deadened any noise.  Queenstown was lovely but it was a bit noisy what with yobbos, traffic and rushing pipes so a good night's sleep was most welcome.  Woke up about 7.45am and had to check my watch three times as it was so dark still with the mountains all around us, plus a bit of cloud cover, that I thought it was about 4am!!

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As we left the following morning, Kate had blue Fanta leftover from yesterday and Jenny couldn't resist pouring a little bit on the fresh white snow outside our unit.  We left our own little mystery for the next guests!

Walking in a winter wonderland

A forecast of snow showers and a down time day equaled a sleep in for the girls and Larry and Jenny going to town - literally!  We let the girls wake up when they wanted to this morning as we have been on the go and we thought they needed the downtime and a day off from us nagging them to get up and get ready.  After all, they are on holiday!  Jenny and Larry headed off about 10ish and wandered around the shops together and separately, which was enjoyable as we were not rushing around and could look at what we wanted at our leisure. Stopped at The Ballarat Trading Co for lunch as they had a $15 lunch menu and it looked (and was) a warm and cosy pub.   Larry an open style steak sandwich and Jenny a yummy home made beef and ale pie washed down with a cider (Jenny) and a lager (Larry). The girls tracked us down just as we were finishing and, after us exchanging NZ dollars for their Aussie dollars, they wandered off shopping and we kept meandering around until Larry decided he had had enough and headed back to the unit whilst Jenny did some more browsing. Jenny found a gorgeous poncho which was what she was after to keep warm at hockey training nights so she was happy as she achieved her aim of a momento from the NZ that is not a 'souvenir' as such.   Not long after Larry and the two girls got back to the apartment it started to snow!  Cameras came out and Jenny walked back in the snow. Wasn't a lot but it was special.   We stood in our open balcony and tried to catch floating snow flakes which was fun.

The snow flurries kept coming so Jenny and Larry decided to go for a walk in the snow as it was too good an opportunity to to experience something different. Had a good walk around Queenstown Gardens and the snow showers came and went, nothing very heavy and the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground.  We were amused to see a few groups of young people doing some sort of treasure hunt which required a member of each team to strip down to the their jocks (one of them was extra fool hardy and fully stripped!) and swim out to the pontoon in the lake - probably a 20 metre swim - to retrieve a clue.  Brrrr!!

After the walk we thought we would undo the good of fresh air and exercise by stopping off at Koko Black for a hot chocolate - yum!  We then headed back to the unit to relax for a while and then headed back out for dinner. It was cold but not snowing and we found a pizza restuarant that was warm but not too crowded even though they were busy. After a very nice dinner and a (another) pint of golden ale and a really delicious cocktail for Jenny. we headed outside and discovered it was snowing quite heavily.  In addition, as the temperature had dropped a little bit more the snow was no longer melting as soon as it touched the ground and started to dust the cars, park benches etc.  This was awesome.   Jenny and Kate went to a lolly shop and Chloe and Larry headed back to the apartment but as it was still snowing we didn't want to go in and started playing in the snow.  Jenny and Kate were walking back so they joined us we all had a play like big kids. The fresh snow was very light and fluffy so it was good to see what real snow was like and not just the older, icy, slushy stuff.

After a while, as we had not taken ski gloves to dinner but just our woolen gloves, our hands got a bit cold and wet so we decided to head in.   Larry listened to the last quarter of the footy through the AFL website and we were glad to hear that the Eagles had defied Collingwood and shockingly biased umpiring and scored a win!

  

Did a little packing as we head off tomorrow for Mt Cook.   Although it's technically only a 2 to 3 hour drive away we'll probably take all day to get there as we'll leave here late and take it very slowly so, if necessary, the roads have been cleared of snow and ice.

Great Day In and Above Queenstown

Woke up to a glorious view outside as the rain clouds had lifted. We thought, you beauty, we are good to go to Milford Sound.   Went for a walk up to Starbucks for morning tea and then wandered along the lakeside enjoying the sunshine and skimming stones.  Called the airline company for a weather update and were shocked to hear it was terrible at Milford Sound, so another sight seeing flight was cancelled. Another disappointment so we headed into the centre of town to an adventure company to find out what other options there were and the fella suggested we do a helicopter flight around the Wakatipu basin and then fly up over Coronet Peak to land on Mt Druitt on the snow. Sounded good to us so we booked it and then went for a drive towards Glenorchy to have the picnic lunch we had purchased earlier for our Milford Sound trip. We didn't quite make it as far as the town as we had to make sure we got back in time to be picked up and taken to the airport so we found a nice spot lakeside with views up the valley towards Glenorchy and the mountains around Paradise.

Back into Queenstown and put on our snow shoes etc and a taxi picked us up and took us out to the airport.  After the safety briefing and the humiliating weigh in (well it is into the third week of us being on holiday!!) we boarded and then we were off towards the mountains. It was awesome as the views of the countryside were magnificent. We then landed on top of Mt Druitt and got out and played in the snow. It was a bit icy but we found some soft and deep snow and had some fun in it. Larry being the big kid jumped into some soft snow and sunk. Jenny also wandered into the soft snow and sunk knee deep. Kate, being much lighter, could be like an elf and walk across the top without sinking in much at all!  The girls had a ball and thought it was great fun.

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The other interesting thing on the trip was the couple on the other helicopter from Queensland who had been married earlier today at Queenstown Courthouse and were taking the helicopter flight in their wedding outfits.  His was a rather natty dark blue suit with mint green shirt and snow boots and hers was a long flowing mint green ball dress with fur stole - I think she was supposed to look like Elsa from Frozen.  It just meant I was singing "Let it Go" in the my head for the rest of the day!  

After our exhilarating flight we had a scenic drive back to town via the happy couple's accommodation at the Hilton on the other side of the lake.  We headed back to our unit and got changed from our mountaineering outfits to our dinner outfits and headed up to the Stratosphere Restaurant via the Skyline gondola. Very impressive view as the sun set over the Remarkables and a great buffet dinner had by the four of us.   We had a window seat and could look across to Coronet Peak.  What I at first thought were headlights coming down from the skifields turned out to be for the night skiing that happens up there on Friday and Saturday nights!  

Waddled home and we are now sitting on the lounges digesting before rolling into bed.

The forecast for tomorrow is snow in Queenstown so that will be interesting.  Kate's happy because we'll let her sleep in as long as she wants!

Doing the Queenstown thing!

Well, not the best night's sleep as there was a weird whooshing in pipes sound throughout the night that came exactly every 24.5 seconds (I know, I counted - it was like counting sheep but not as restful).  Beautiful scenery out of the apartment windows in the morning, however, which wasn't a bad backdrop to eating a bowl of Coco Pops for breaky and somewhat soothed us. After eventually getting the girls going we headed over to Arrowtown which is an old gold mining town that has a variety of shops, dining options and pubs. It is also a normal town with residents but full of turn of (last century) buildings so very quaint. After some souveneir shopping we headed into a french cafe and Larry, Kate and Chloe had crepes and Jenny a really yummy and authentic croque monsieur (no Margaret, no coke!).

Our jet boat ride was next so we headed to the Shotover River and waited for our allotted time/boat. We kitted up in life jackets and water proof overcoats together with our ski jackets, beanies, gloves and neck warmers and we were ready for our thrill ride feeling just a little warm and overdressed. It was absolutely awesome on the river and Larry had his Go Pro on a head strap under his beanie so some good video of our experience was taken as well the pictures from the company.  It was FREEZING so all the layers were well worth the effort.  The small amounts of water that splashed onto my face was icy cold.  Apparently the first ride of the morning in winter, the water actually does freeze onto you.  Glad we were doing it early afternoon!

After that incredible experience we decided to head up to Coronet Peak ski field as the road was open without the need to fit snow chains, just had to carry them, so we felt comfortable heading up there.  The weather had also cleared a little so that we didn't have to drive through cloud and there were great views to be had all the way down to Queenstown.  Funny seeing the cars driving along the roads down in the valley - they looked tiny - a bit like looking at a model railway scene.  We trudged up to the snow from one of the lower car parks and threw some snowballs around but as Kate and Chloe were just wearing sneakers (we hadn't planned on snow today!) we didn't venture too far  up the slopes.

Thought we'd get a jump on the skiers traffic when the lifts close at 4pm so we were back down in Queenstown by then and getting some fuel (the empty light came on half way up the mountain!) and some groceries for dinner.  Back to our unit and sat watching the view and all the numerous activities happening on the water - shark boats (that go fully under water and pop up again vertically), jetboats, TSS Earnslaw paddle boat, paragliders, parasailers etc etc until the sun set.  So many ways to spend your money in Queenstown!  We've booked to go to Milford Sound tomorrow as the forecast is for a fine and clear afternoon after morning fog.  Then it's apparently going to snow on Saturday.  Yippee!!

Water Water Water

What a wild and woolly night that was!  I swear Franz Josef got as much rain in one night as Perth does all winter and the wind was almost rocking our cottage off its footings!  By morning, though, the wind had eased and the rain was lighter and by the time we got to Fox Glacier it was a light drizzle.  Stopped for a coffee/milkshake etc and then continued south.  Pretty much all the hills and mountains around us were swathed in cloud and even when we hit the coast at Knight's Point there was a sea mist and low cloud.  We got out of the car at the lookout in any case, primarily for some fresh air and to stretch our legs, as the chance of spotting one of the 800 NZ fur seals that hang out here in winter were slim.  Continued driving and noticed that occasional blue patches were appearing in the sky and by the time we got to Haast the sun was actually peeping through the clouds.  We had an early lunch at a cafe/pub at Haast plus a game of pool while we waited for our meals to cook.  I had a very yummy steak sandwich with a nice piece of juicy steak in it (as opposed to the horrible gristly and thin steaks you normally get) so a very pleasant lunch.

Back in the car and headed up the Haast Pass.  We had noticed all morning that the snow melt streams that had been barely running the last couple of days of driving were fairly churning with water today after that dump of rain and we fully appreciated how much rain had fallen as we passed numerous waterfalls running down the sides of the hills and mountains and Thunder Creek Falls and Fantail Falls were both worth stopping for as they were flowing nicely.

  Was reasonably easy driving today as the rain and warmer temperatures meant that we didn't have to worry so much about black ice on the roads.  We did, however, come across one car that had managed to bump into some rocks on the side of the road and dinged their car.  Another car had stopped and was diverting traffic around so we kept going but were just a little bit more careful after that.  As we got through the Pass and reached Lake Wanaka the skies were nearly blue with just a few wispy white clouds - the mountains must have trapped all the cloud and rain on the west coast and we had a very pleasant drive along the blue waters of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea into Wanaka.

 Stopped for an icecream and dropped into the Mt Aspiring Visitor Centre to check the status of the road across the Crown range to Queenstown.  I was concerned that as it goes right past the Cardrona skifields that we might need snow chains etc and wanted to know whether we should take the lower, but longer road.  The bloke said due to the rains the only real issue would be rockfalls so we decided to take the high road!

Well, nothing much to worry about.  There was only a bit of old snow on the edges of the road and even the Cardrona mountain looked like there wasn't that much snow on it.  Only a few little rock falls on the road also (and not as bad as we'd seen on previous days) so a very pleasant and scenic drive.  The only slightly hairy bit was after we'd stopped for a photo stop and noticed that the brakes on the car were smelling very hot.  We supposed that it was due to the Rav4 being pretty new and things still wearing in but it was a bit unsettling because we immediately started heading down the mountain range into Queenstown via 30 or so hairpin bends!  Made it to ground level safely though and made our way to our home for the next 4 nights - Waterfront Apartments - we have a top floor penthouse suite with gorgeous views overlooking Lake Wakitipu and the Remarkables beyond.  Although the cloud was closing in, we managed to get some photos of the view before the rain set it again.

After a little rest we walked up the road and into the village to look for dinner.  Well, now we know where all the people in New Zealand are!!  The roads were heaving with people and all the tourist sites like Ferburgers were bursting at the seams.  We decided fast food was the go tonight, so quick dinner at KFC and then home to our cosy unit.  As I am writing this we can hear air raid sirens (same as we heard at Kaikoura when the SES were calling in the volunteers) and now fire engines so something's going on outside.  Think we'll just stay here for now!

Rest day

Very bad weather at Franz Joseph today so no helicopters flying hence no heli trek for us. Very disappointing but understandable as we are travelling the south island of NZ in winter so this will happen. It wasn't raining, only quite windy in the morning, so Chloe and Larry did the walk to the start of the glacier.  Came all this way so a shame not to get relatively close to it. Kate and Jenny, who have been to the glaciers before, stayed home and relaxed in the warm unit.  It was an interesting walk and quite easy but we had to be careful with the river stones as you have to walk in the dry river along the path that the Park Rangers set. A few waterfalls along the way and nice scenery even though it was overcast.

The Glacier

We got nearly to the base of the glacier but the track became more difficult and with bad weather threatening, we turned back.

The river bed that we walked along:

 

Larry and Chloe then headed back to our unit via a couple of stops in the town to pick up lunch. By the time the intrepid hikers walked in the door the rain had started in earnest, the wind picked up and it has been like that the rest of the day and night so far.

We are warm and dry in our unit watching all of the Lord of the Rings movies. Not a bad way to spend a rest day as we have been on the go for a while and another long day in the car to get to Queenstown tomorrow.

Hearty home made spag bol for dinner and half a bottle of red wine topped off the day.