Right got rid of a bunch of the work I have been doing so time to catch up...
It's actually quite hard to retro post bits and bobs, I know things occurred to me at the time I was going to jot down here but I've forgotten most of it... So just pretend there are a lot of witty incisive comments here and everyone should be happy.
Now where was I, Oh yes New Zealand seems like a long time ago now. Amazing how time flies when you doing too much work.
We hung out in Queenstown (it rained) after Wanaka, and I can't say I really got on with the place. Far too busy after a bit of nice peaceful milling about with very few people around. So we didn't hang about and took a bus trip to Milford Sound (a dirty great fjord in the middle of no where).
The trip was interesting with a nod to the eco side of things and history from our sketchy driver as we zoomed along. We drove through Mt. Homer and down some of the windiest roads you would want to go down in a bus.
A quick jaunt around the sound on a boat gave us an idea of how big it all is. Very impressive. Then back for tea and medals to round of the 13 hour day of sitting in a bus mainly.
Watched the worlds fastest Indian on the way back which is a good movie by the way.
Just because....
Amazing what you see in the middle of no where just off the road. Outside Wanaka, South Island, NZ....
Wandered about on a glacier the other day, when the guide asked why it was called that I coulddn't help but think cos of the mints...
Anyway a nice trek out to the glacier in very fetching boots supplied by the guiding company left Sally with a nice set of blisters. All worth the effort as you don't get to wander from sub tropical bush to a bit of terminal merain and then a glacier every day.
Once we had strapped our ice talons on it was up some nicely carved ice steps, past a random guide having a tea break and through an icy forest of icy stuff.
A fine day out, then back for tea and medals, or in this case beer and a panini.
Our last bit of travel in the South Island was back up to Christchurch to mill about for a couple of days, drop the camper off and then fly back to Auckland avoiding the tricky drive back.
En-route we zoomed past Mt. Cook the tallest something or other and nipped past a big lake (the name of which escapes me) and on to Christchurch. Just goes to prove there's not that much on the east side of the mountains.
We found a groovy boutique hotel called off the square and it was in more ways than one. After nearly scraping the campers roof off in the underground parking and having to reverse it out before the automatic door cut it in half we found the Bicycle Thief. A pizza place almost on a par with Mama Mias (not quite though).
A good day of milling followed with trams, botanic gardens and all that sort of stuff before we ditched the camper and jumped on a plane again.
Picked up our first bit of rain on our way to Queenstown, apparently its a nice place, but it was raining.
Luckily we had been flicking through a brochure from the Franz Joseph glacier and Eco Tours stood out. So rain all night in Queenstown followed by an early start on the Eco Tours bus bound for Milford Sound.
Max our grandad driver made us introduce ourselves and we discovered a Japanese film star, a girl from Texas USA (why do they have to always say the state?). Hi I'm Doug from Oxfordshire, UK.... I ask you...
Anyway glad we didn;t drive down there it's a long way. Cool roads especially through Mnt. Homer and a very softly sprung coach made for all sorts of fun with mad Max giving a bit of commentry on the way.
Then a boat trip round the Fijord and back in time for beer and Nachos this time.