Last blog (at last) - Thanks, Laughs and Graham

This is the last blog of the trip, so hope you have enjoyed some of our tales, experiences and photos.

Big thank-yous are due to all the following who have helped to make the trip so memorable:

• All at Beck Head and Witherslack (Carole, Nigel and Peter) who have watched over the house and cars in floods and deep snow
• Ron and Sheila, Lee, Niki and Paul, Lin and Rob, for accommodation around the world - much appreciated.
• People we met along the way - 2 Kendalian couples, 2 couples from Perth on the QCT track, all at Wanaka Tennis Club
• People who have given us lifts to and from airports - UK, NZ and Oz
• People who have emailed us and updated us on snow conditions around the world
• People who have commented or admitted to reading this blog
• Sheila for our Christmas cake and loan of coolbox/chilly bin
• Ron and Sheila, with friends Keith and Barbara, for a memorable New Year on Stewart Island - we learned a lot about Ron we never knew before!
• Lee for the surprise meal with our friends John and Barbara (ex-Beck Head)
• Niki and Paul for the loan of their wonderful beach house
• All the hundreds of helpful, happy and downright welcoming New Zealanders - staff at hostels, cafes, bars, info centres and shops. Except the sourpuss at the Bay House cafe, Westport - I shall get my revenge on Tripadvisor all in good time.
• All the guides, drivers and boatmen on our many trips - especially the 5 minute water taxi at Manapouri - see below
  

Plus the people who have made us laugh

• Japanese in masks in the purest air on earth
• Asians taking photos of themselves everywhere
• Japanese couple using accelerator instead of brake near a cliff top
• People in flip flops (jandals in NZ speak) on tough hiking trails
• People in furry Ugg boots in the hot sun at the hot pools
• Hitchhikers expecting a nice room on Christmas Eve in Milford Sound
• People in summer gear in mountain weather
• The guys who opened their bag of groceries to make risotto for 5, only to find it was someone elses from the previous hostel
• 2 Israelis expecting to walk the Routeburn track (3 days tramp) in 1 day in extreme weather - and get back to Queenstown (4 hrs drive) - all in a day
• Us in our walking shoes, hiking shorts and borrowed rackets at Wanaka Open Vets Tennis Tournament
• Graham putting salt in his tea instead of sugar - (I know, very childish)
• Not a laugh, but amazement - the English couple (twitchers)in their mid 60's who have just spent 5 months touring the entire South Coast of Australia in a Micra size car - sleeping in the front seats and only using campsites when one of them in hospital for 5 days! And you all thought we were doing it on the cheap and basics - we lived in sheer luxury in comparison!
• The sign at the ice cream parlour "UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN WILL BE SOLD TO THE CIRCUS"
  

and last but not least - a huge thank you to Graham who has:-

• Put up with interruptions to his footie results on the internet, whilst I pestered to get my blog done
• put up with sore backs, colds, endless photo reviews etc
• driven me around everywhere, whilst I often drove him around the bend
• done the washing up and occasionally acted as commis chef
• been dragged around craft markets, shops, galleries and other boring places
• picked up all the things I have left behind
• organised all the accommodation (most of which was fine!)
• always had a Plan B or Plan C (sometimes getting down to Plan J or K) due to weather, closing times, weather and weather.

and just being a great travelling companion again.

END OF TRIP - END OF BLOG

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING

Beaches, barbecues and birds

Peregrine and unhappy Galah

Winding down on travels and blogs (just one more after this one) - we have had 2 weeks in Perth and down at Niki and Pauls beach house in Dunsborough, near the wine region of Margaret River.

Lots of beaches and coastal walks, barbecues on the balcony and birds galore:-

Osprey, Kookaburra, "28"

Thanks to Niki, Paul and Tim for a great 2 weeks again. I met Niki whilst working on a kibbutz in Israel in 1977, so we have seen a lot of life on either side of the globe over the years - meeting up in Sydney, Perth (4 times now), Cheshire (2 or 3 times) and the Lakes, with Tim and Paul, a few years ago. Long may the friendship last!

Cafes, toilets and other trivia

Now in Perth and 32+ degrees and getting towards the end of blogging, but here are just a few NZ bits that got missed and might be of interest.

Cafes

Too many to mention in the regular blogs but here are some of our favourite ones on North Island with the best views - of which there was no shortage in NZ

Waitangi - where the Treaty was made between the Brits and the Mauris - lots of history and still having ramifications in NZ today due to the variances in interpretation by both sides - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi if you are interested.

Best fish and chip shop at Manganoui - a brilliant shop standing on stilts out into the bay with great views and pretty good food too.

Russell - already mentioned in Bay of Islands blog, but this view was one of the best and great for watching the world go by

Arty Toilets

For the artistic amongst you, these toilets in Kawakawa were designed by Hundertwasser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser and were pretty amazing public toilets with all the walls, floors and surrounds made from mosaic tiles and all sorts of metal bits and pieces.

Island recycling

Well, I thought it interesting, - these are the floating containers in the middle of the Bay of Islands where the local inhabitants can dispose of their recycling stuff and rubbish and then when full they are towed in and emptied on the mainland. Saves clogging up more of our oceans anyway.

Rainbow Warrior, Kaleidoscoptes, Kauris and gum boots

Rainbow Warrior

You may remember that this was active in supporting a number of Greenpeace protest activities against nuclear weapons testing during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was sunk whilst in harbour in NZ by operatives of the French intelligence service on 10 July 1985, killing one of the activists. This memorial overlooks the area just north of Bay of Islands and near to where we spent a few days in Whangaroa before our return to Auckland. A beautiful area and very quiet compared to Paihia.

From Whangaroa we drove and then took a bus trip right up to the north tip of North Island via various stop offs and then back down 90 mile beach - on the sand all the way and a spectacular drive. We also went sand dune sledging and stopped at the end lighthouse to see where the Tasman sea collides with the Pacific Ocean.

Kauris and Kaleidoscopes

We later visited a great museum in the north and learnt about Swamp Kauri trees, buried in sand for 40,000 years, and saw some of the huge living Kauri trees. The story of the settlers logging live and buried trees was really interesting and a museum well worth visiting. It also tells about gum digging for the Kauri gum that was used around the world for varnishes etc and gave rise to the name for the long wellingtons they used - Gumboots.

We stopped at a brilliant place making kaleidoscopes and bought one made from swamp kauri - visitors to Raven Hill can enjoy a look next time they are sitting in the Garden Room. They had all sorts and sizes in the garden with some fantastic effects - would have loved one of those but afraid they wouldn't fit the suitcase.

A very boring trip - things we DIDN'T do

Now in Perth and it may seem like we have been busy little bees over the past couple of months in New Zealand - but here is a list of things we never got around to doing - could be because of cost, place or because we are wimps! Maybe next time!

LAND

• Dozens of 3-10 day tramps (except the Queen Charlotte Track - 4 days just carrying daysacks - a softies option)


• LOTR tours (Clue - think of a film with lots of NZ scenes)


• Day hikes - thousands


• Via Ferrata, Climbing (indoor and out)


• Horse-riding


• Biking, Off road driving, 4WD tours, monster truck driving


• Hunting


• Thermal areas - mud pools, geysers, etc


• Zorbing (don't ask!)


• Watching - sailing, rugby, cricket, horse racing, other sport

SEAS/RIVERS

• Jet boating, Rafting, whitewater sledging


• Surfing, canyoning, scuba diving, snorkelling


• Canoes, Kayaking, sailing


• Loads more cruises - but did get to do a fair few and lots of water taxis


• Fishing

AIR

• Bungy jumping, swinging


• Paragliding, hang gliding, gliding, parasailing, sky diving


• Scenic flights, ballooning

SNOW

• Glaciers - helihikes, walks, ice climbing


• Ski-ing, snowboarding, etc

EATING and DRINKING

• Still several thousand cafes to try


• All the posh restaurants


• Several hundred wineries/mini breweries


• A few bars

MUSEUMS etc

• At least one in every town/village


• Loads of coal/gold/other mining towns

If you want further details or any advice on the above, or our own activities, or want your own personal guided tour of NZ - contact Honeybone Enterprises - discounts available.

Friends + Bay of Islands + iceberg update

.

A quieter week or so since finishing our South Island travels - relaxing with Ron and Sheila in Christchurch and then in Auckland with friend, Lee, from France. Both Sheila and Lee vying for top spot in our "best home cooked meal" category - but afraid Lee had to be disqualified due to his professional catering career with the UN. He did pass on a tasty tip to use avocado oil (local, of course) (+lemon juice, s/p, fresh parsley) for a great salad dressing.

After 4 or 5 days of over indulgence we were back to YHA's and self catering - now into salads (with said avocado oil) now that we have found the sun in north North Island. We are currently in our best YHA in Paihia with our own balcony and apartment - see left.

A few non-descript days just north of Auckland (we have been spoiled by South Island views and quietness) until we hit Paihia and the Bay of Islands. These piccies from a day cruise give an idea of this idyllic area. Big competition to our other cruises in Abel Tasman NP and Marlborough Sounds - but has to win this trips accolade for top island area as it also had the sun!

This is front street of Russell - a wonderful quiet town across from Paihia and definitely the place to stay. We chilled out for a whole day just doing nothing.

ICEBERG UPDATE

After our great trips amongst the icebergs (see previous blog) - see this link that Sheila spotted on what happened a week or so after we had been there - the photo shows the sort of boat we were in - must have been an adrenaline trip that day!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3261046/Thunderous-roar-as-massive-glacial-iceberg-splits-in-two/

COINCIDENCE

Had to meet someone we knew from the UK and a day after leaving Lee we bumped into Geoff and Val - a mutual friend of Lee's and ours. They were just starting their trip - wish it was us! We have just a few days left now before Perth for 2 weeks and home.

Relaxing pools and First Responders with helicopters

These hot pools overlooking Lake Tekapo were an ideal way to relax after a long walk and after being "on the road" for 7 weeks. 3 pools all at different temperatures to loll around in and sunbathe on the loungers in between. Aaaaaah!!!

We had a great room at the YHA there - right by the lake front (a lot of the YHA's are like in the UK - set up years ago in idyllic hiking areas by enthusiasts and developed and maintained, so that now they in in prime locations eg. the Ambleside one and others) and with a view across the turquoise expanse - this is taken just in front of our room in - the sign says "Posh Seat"!

We were at Mt Cook for another few days after the iceberg trip and got some great views of Mt Cook - the ones you see on my Picasa web album (all downloaded now we are at Ron and Sheilas for a day or two - access from picture area on left of this blog) are just a few of the dozens I took - however did we manage with just film in our cameras?



For those following in our footsteps to NZ - there is an excellent museum with various films at the Heritage Hotel dedicated to Sir Edmund Hillary - great films on his life and also the local Search and Rescue team. We went to a fascinating talk by one of the SAR team - just like our First Responders really - except they use helicopters, climbing gear and work on dangerous mountain tops in icy conditions!

A very useful indoor spot, together with the excellent DOC information centre, for all the times when you can't see the mountains - probably most of the time.

Teaching amongst the glaciers

MT COOK

This is Mt Cook, highest mountain in NZ, and seen over the nearby glacial lake with the wonderful blue caused by the particles brought down by the glacier.

We are staying at the YHA at Mt Cook village

with these brilliant views - costs a bit less ($80) than the swanky Heritage Hotel further in the village ($600-$900 a night) and full of Koreans and Japanese.  On one of the walks in probably the cleanest air in the world, we saw one of them in a mask!!!  Acceptable in polluted Kathmandu, possibly London and Tokyo, maybe at air conditioned Singapore airport (lots of them spotted there) - but here!!!!!!!!!

TEACHING

For the teachers amongst you, how about this for a job - 11 pupils and views similar to the photo above - applications to Mr G Honeybone.  And of even more interest to tennis players - a court right next door - probably like Heversham at the moment - frozen all winter.

ICEBERGS

Went on a brilliant boat trip all among the icebergs broken off from the end of the Tasman Glacier - really exciting trip in a small boat and close up to the 'bergs that were moving along the lake all the time and occasionally turning over or breaking up - well worth the money and with our $30 discount each, it paid for our YHA joining fees - a bargain indeed!  and including magnificent views all around the lake of Mt Cook, Mt Tasman and jagged peaks and snow in all directions.

FRESH SALMON

Stopped on the way here at a great Salmon Farm - fed the fish and then bought some fresh smoked salmon and had a picnic beside the lake and farm - magic!

Weather, Queenstown, haircuts, birthdays and tennis

WEATHER

Seems to be the major topic of conversation here - with the satellite picture of the whole of the UK under snow - amazing sight!  So you will all be pleased to know, as you shiver and slip and slide, that the summer here is pretty rubbish too - so we can't regale you with tales of shorts and t-shirts, but rainwear and fleeces!  You can see from these photos of Lake Wanaka the snowstorms in the background one day and

the next day with the "proper" views.

QUEENSTOWN - PARTY TOWN

Another trip tip - don't stay at Queenstown if you are over 26 (or possibly 21) - great for a day wandering and enjoying the wonderful views - and if you want a  night (even 10 minutes out of town) of disco beats, partying kids and traffic.  Try Arrowtown or Glenorchy - this sign says it all

a great place to stay - small, great views, start of long distance tramps but also lovely short walks.  Paradise is the name of a little place just beyond Glenorchy - says it all.

TENNIS

Got into Wanaka (expecting 5 days sun as it should be - it hasn't been!) and found ourselves next door to great tennis club, with their week long open tournament on - and the Vets mixed the next day.  So after an hour practice with hired rackets and walking shoes and cobbled together tennis "gear" (looked a bit like kids on the block!) we had a great days tennis and made the semis with some excellent tennis and some great people and welcome.  Ideas for our club - clubhouse with lounge and large screen TV with tennis on, kitchen and food on sale (by team of volunteers - a lot of the club is very similar to Heversham in terms of people), outdoor decking overlooking 10 courts (mixture of surfaces to suit all ages!), tables and chairs and umbrellas and BBQ - and a local winery donating dozens of bottles as prizes for the winners - A great place recommended for all you tennis players visiting Wanaka.

HAIRCUTS AND BIRTHDAYS

Christine will be please to know that we have tidied ourselves up - see Graham's new look compared to his last one with the ice cream - but his diet is still on-going, as seen by the huge birthday breakfast in front of him.  It was our first "going out" breakfast in 2 months, so was probably well deserved!

However - our haircuts in Queenstown have given us some new ideas for Christine - a full length reclining and massaging chair whilst washing and a head massage from a lovely young Thai girl - as well as excellent haircuts.  Graham is seriously thinking of coming out here every 6 weeks for his cut and beard trim in future!

What New Year Resolutions?

Eat more!

Drink more (New Years Eve)!

Travel more (Stewart Island)!

But not on this boat (Ferry to SI)

Stewart Island was a great place for birds (well, Ulva Island, just off SI was), lovely little beaches and bush walking - but the 1 hour ferry crossings are not to be recommended - thank god for Stugeron, I say!

Our cottage was great - if it was 1970!  Shelia's look says it all - the 2 gas rings and microwave weren't really what she was hoping for with all her great culinary skills - so we had to cope with eating out for the 3 other nights - easier said than done!

They use to say NZ was 30 years behind the UK (not any more) - but SI certainly is!  Four places to eat - 2 of which had closed down - a brilliant fish & chip cart, good hotel for NY Eve + 1 grocery shop and a couple of arts and crafts shacks - and that's it.  If you aren't interested in birds or fishing - then give it a miss!  

We walked 4-5 hours a day and avoided most of the squally showers - but we wore all the fleeces and clothes that we would have been wearing back in the UK.  An experience indeed!