South Island travels

Well, what a week. We saw so much of the beautiful South Island my brain is spinning!

I forgot to write that on the first day we climbed a very steep road, thank goodness she has a Camry, to the Mt. John Observatory which is run by the University of Canterbury and looks at the stars etc. It was 1017m high and the breezes were blowing. The view was fantastic, I did buy a DVD about it and some SI views which will be nice to see when I get back home.

We did the scenic route while making our way to Dunedin and eventually arrived there at about 1930.
Bill and Yvonne were very hospitable hosts and we had a hearty dinner of roast lamb and roasted potatoes , kumara, which is our sweet potato and pumpkin. And for dessert Yvonne gave us some berry pudding and ice cream.

We each had our own room and enjoyed a great sleep. Their home is about 2 years old and has the latest gadgets . Bill has a large motorcycle so I sat on it and had a photo taken. I might even consider going for a drive on one like it since it seated me comfortably.

June 4 we toured Dunedin and visited the woolen mill factory outlets.Ii bought myself a outerwear vest. There were lots of things to buy but I restrained myself. We settled in with the hosts for a quiet evening and enjoyed a lovely chili and Duke of Cornwall tart for our dessert.

June 5 we headed out towards Queenstown and saw lots of mountains and breathtaking views. And sheep, too numerous to mention. We made it to Queenstown at 1730 and had a bit of trouble finding the holiday home we were to stay at After travelling right down to the main part of the town we discovered we had to go back to the beginning of the town, Eventually we found it. we were hungry so enjoyed soup and rolls and a nice bottle of NZ wine. The house was right on the lake so we had spectacular views of the town and the mountains, the ski hill was lit up. and the gondola etc.
It is a pretty commercialized place and lots of shops etc. Lots of young people as well. It is very much like Banff.

The next day we visited Arrowtown and enjoyed a nice picnic there and later a lunch.
It was fun to know that I was seeing some of the same spots Charlotte had visited when she was in NZ.
I tried her Mac Gold ale and Sheila and I both liked it.


The weather was forecasting a major blow so the next morning we got out of town fast. Lucky we did too since that area of NZ had about 15 cm of snow and high winds.
The skiiers were happy though.

We made it to Haast that day and had a nice evening with the locals at a cafe and even looked at 1/2 of the rugby game between Ireland and NZ. The all -Blacks won 21-11
The motel was basic but clean and fairly warm we used our hot water bottles and extra fleece bankets Margaret had sent us.

We drove towards Fox Galcier and found the Mountain Helicopter folks, we were going flying. Wow was that fun. Margaret and I were in the front with Mike the pilot and Sheila was in the back.
Now this is a little Bell helicopter with the large plexiglass front and a metal bar to put your feet on. When you look towards them you see treetops. Anyway I held on to the strap for dear life and only closed my eyes when we made a turn to the right or left.
I just kept snapping the shutter on the camera and got some great shots.

After we landed we couldn't believe that we had actually done it.

Later on we saw a film about the glaciers and had a nice supper at a local restaurant.
There were a few tourists in there so we had interesting conversations with them.

This is a good time to visit because there are so few people about.

Monday morning we headed back to Greymouth, saw Margaret's apartment, met the cats and her Mother and caught the TranzAlpine for the trip back to Christchurch.

Another spectaular trip. it was raining and foggy when we left but cleared when wwe got away from the coast. Some snow at Arthur's Pass but it seemed to be melting.

We were met by Jon at the station taken home fed and in bed early.

We had to catch the TranzIsland train at 0700 so we were really up early. It was lovely too, as was the ferry ride to Wellington. John met us, he was looking for two ladies with pig bags. Margaret had given us some carry bags with pink pigs on them and the log which said Like Pigs not Pork...


We had a lovely meal with them, met the three cats and being quite exhausted headed to bed early.