Trekkin

Day 7 – Sunday 5 April

Queenstown is in such a beautiful location, Wakatipu Lake & the amazing mountains that surround it. Since our last visit in 2006 it has grown a lot. The place is designed for tourists. Lots & lots of Hotels/Motels & busloads of tourists, especially a lot of Chinese, seem to come here (after all it is the year of the sheep, what better place celebrate than NZ – it would be good if Australia could cash in from the Chinese too, after all we have a lot of sheep too). There are so very many activities to entertain tourists – bungy jumping, jet boating, canoeing, paragliding, mountain climbing, bush walking, scenic tours by bus/helicopter/plane etc. & etc. it’s almost endless. There are so many restaurants & wherever we ate the service was pleasant & the food very good – mainly the backpackers work in the service industry (where are the Kiwis – in Australia?) The shops are open until 9 pm. every day of the year. We enjoyed some of these tourist activities, especially our adventure on the Dart River which took about 7 hours. All good things must come to an end & there are so many other places we want to see in NZ & we are running out of time quickly.

Out of Queenstown early today with an 8am departure, then a stop at Cromwell Historic Village an hour later for breakfast at the Seed & Grain Cafe, inside next to the fire this time as it was a trifle chilly. The drive to Dunedin was uneventful, the road was very good, a little twisty in places & a little up & down as well. The scenery as we reached the coast was such a contrast to yesterday in the mountains as we drove through Taieri Mouth, unsurprisingly a small town at the mouth of the Taieri River. A walk on the beach at Brighton introduced us to the type of seaweed in this part of New Zealand, extremely long bull kelp totally unlike anything we have seen before.

We managed to find & book into a nice motel close to the centre of Dunedin by about 1pm then went for a short walk to the Otago Museum, about 2 blocks from the motel. Lunch at the museum & then a good look through the various sections until closing time at 5pm, very interesting, including lots of old ship bells that you are encouraged to ring, they are very loud. As we walked towards the centre of town (the “Octagon”) we admired a lot of beautiful old buildings in Dunedin, courtesy of the gold rush days, the sheep industry & the port. The city is full of shops & the centre of the Octagon is dominated by two beautiful old stone buildings, the Town Hall & St Pauls Church, there is also a statue of Robbie Burns.

Walking back to the motel we made an excellent choice for dinner by stopping at “The Reef” restaurant, with Tereza enjoying the seafood chowder & my sole fillet was superb.

Today it is Easter. There are a lot of bunnies in NZ but none of them brought us any chocolate eggs. I hope that they found Austin & Jackson in Australia & all the other children around the world.

Day 6 – Saturday 4 April

A very early start & breakfast in the motel dining room at 6.30am so that we could have plenty of time to drive to Glenorchy for today’s adventure. We stepped outside into dark & rain. The first part of our trip, the drive was slow & subdued, with daylight softening the sky as we got closer to Glenorchy. Jet boating & canoeing is the agenda today. We gathered at the Dart River Jetboat building in Glenorchy for a safety briefing & then to be kitted out in the wetsuits & safety gear. Full length wetsuits, boots, under fleeces (it was so cold they gave us 2 to wear), spray jacket, life jacket & beanie. We looked a treat.

We headed off onto Lake Wakatipu in drizzling rain, did a few high speed spins for a thrill then up the Dart River at full throttle, twisting & turning in the very shallow water as we snaked up the river. The scenery ahead was amazing, the massive peaks of Mt Earnslaw & Mt Aspiring were littered with snow as we made our way up river, past Paradise & into the Mt Aspiring National Park, a World Heritage Listed Area. Each bend of the Dart River showed a different amazing view, made even more special with the changes in the light, curtains of rain & the clouds with the sun at times filtering through & creating amazing rainbows. The river was up about 30cm above normal & flowing fast because of the rain & small waterfalls were coursing down the mountains. At the end of the Jetboat river limit we stopped next to a beautiful waterfall, the boat driver told us that yesterday the waterfall was dry. We turned & headed back downstream, again at full throttle, our driver was very good at reading the river & plotting our course through the many different paths on offer.

We stopped at a small side creek where our inflatable canoes were being pumped up & we were split into small groups with a leader, another safety briefing before Tereza & I headed off in our canoe into the babbling current for the exciting ride downstream. Did I mention the scenery, it never ceases to amaze. It seemed only moments & we were kilometres downstream & paddling into another side stream. We walked our canoes up the stream before re-assembling & paddling in groups into an extraordinary small rock canyon with narrow walls carved out by centuries of water. The beech trees hung overhead, laden with thick moss on every surface it could establish a grip on. The view absolutely mind boggling with the beauty. It was a struggle paddling up into the canyon against the fast current, going back down was very easy & we stopped for lunch at the Rock Burn Hut, a shelter used by walkers on the Rock Burn Track & also the Dart River jetboats, complete with picnic tables & resident hungry birds looking for an easy meal. Lots of bumblebees hassling the ladies & lots of sandflies hassling everyone. (People complain about flies in Australia, that’s because they haven’t experienced the NZ sand flies).

Lunch was very good, fresh bread, cheeses, salads, meats followed by fruit & cakes & no-one went hungry. Lunch also gave us a good opportunity to chat to our fellow adventurers & the guides. The scenery was amazing at this stop, looking back up at the snow on the mountains, shrouded in mist, scenes straight out of “Lord of the Rings” with these 2,800m peaks brooding over us. Back into the canoes for the next part of the journey downriver, only one person managed to fall out of a canoe & go for a swim. Again amazing scenery everywhere you looked. Too soon we had to pull in, deflate & pack the canoes, board the bus & drive back to Glenorchy through Paradise. We did see a large flock of Paradise Ducks feeding in a paddock next to the road on the way back. The bus was a high clearance 4 wheel drive & very bouncy, a few bumps threw us right out of our seats. It was very pleasant to change out of our now very “wet” suits & boots, the dry clothes felt very good.

All too soon on the road back to Queenstown & another great view of Lake Wakatipu. What a great adventure!!!!

The photos don’t do justice to the real beauty.

Day 5 – Friday 3 April

A lovely morning as we walked down the hill for breakfast, watching the paragliders sailing around the large hill dominating Queenstown. This morning it was the turn of the Halo Cafe (after all it was Good Friday) where we were served by “angels” according to the names on the girls T-shirts. Tereza settled for her normal poached eggs but I lashed out & tried the breakfast burrito, what a great choice, both delicious & very filling, lunch is looking like missing out. As always, we shared a cappuccino (Tereza has the creamy froth & I have the leftover coffee latte) & it was quite tasty. We wandered around downtown Queenstown this morning looking for the restaurant for tonight called the “Botswana Butchery”. After a lot of walking up & down streets & asking a couple of people we eventually stumbled across it overlooking the beach at the edge of the lake, totally nowhere near where we had previously walked & a little out of the way. We added to the reservation made by Eugene & Charlotte Somogyi, friends of Roberto & Susanna Darias, Tereza’s cousin from America, who had been travelling with them until Roberto’s mother became extremely ill & they had to cut short their New Zealand vacation & go back home.

This afternoon we drove out to Glenorchy, a small town at the other end of Lake Wakatipu & about 50km away. The drive was very scenic with the mountains getting higher, more & more snow on them & closing in around us as we drove further up the valley. Breathtaking & beautiful are some words that come to mind to help describe how stunning the scenery is. At Glenorchy we stopped near the wharf & had a look inside the rebuilt Glenorchy Railway Station & the shortest rail track in the whole of New Zealand. The wind was blowing well by this time but was not cold, surprisingly, it was around 22C & very pleasant.

For our next little venture we broke out our trekking sticks & headed off on the Glenorchy Wetlands walk around the Glenorchy Lagoon next to the Dart River. The walk was around 3 to 4 kms & very pleasant, with a well maintained track & very good raised walkways over the wetlands. We were pleasantly surprised to see so many black swans feeding in the lagoon at such a high altitude. There were clouds & rain in the nearby mountains that seemed threatening, however, our whole walk was sunny & very warm. We met a few tourists also enjoying the walk. We rewarded our efforts with a shared apple strudel & a large cappuccino at the Glenorchy Cafe before heading back to Queenstown & enjoying the magnificent lakeside & mountain scenery from the other direction.

It is not surprising that they made the Lord of the Rings & Hobbit movies in NZ, the mountains do look like something out of Middle Earth – they are surreal.

Botswana Butchery was the venue for dinner tonight. The venison & the lamb were superb, recommended if you ever venture to Queenstown. The wine selection was a bit rich for us, some bottles around $10,000 (not a typo).

Day 4 – Thursday 2 April Another leisurely start on an overcast, windy & cool morning, it was on with the coats as soon as we stepped out the door of the motel & headed downhill looking for breakfast. We had a stroll around the waterfront & shops before watching coal being loaded onto the steamship Earnslaw & then boarding for a sail across Wakatipu Lake to Walter Station. We are always amazed with the scenery, the rugged mountains running straight down into the lake. The steamship is interesting, it is 102 years old & has been running on this lake continually since it was first launched, initially to carry sheep, wool & other random cargo around the farms before being converted to a tourist boat. The engine room is open & it was interesting to watch the coal being shovelled into the furnaces to heat up the boilers & create steam to power the engine. There are two engines, one for each screw, with each of the engines having three pistons, one a low pressure piston, large in volume, the next an intermediate pressure piston & smaller in volume & a high pressure piston with a small volume. The conrods & crankshaft are open & they can easily be seen turning as the engine is running. One benefit of the steam engine on a day as cool as today, the furnace keeps the ship rather warm, especially near the smokestack. Yesterday there was an incident where the steamer hit a wharf & smashed a few of the boards when it was attempting to dock. Walter Station is a pretty sight with a great location just above the beach & a profusion of flowers in bloom. The trees surrounding are changing the colour of the leaves & adds an extra dimension to the view. The ship offloaded most of the passengers to take part in any or all of a farm tour, horse trek & BBQ lunch. We stayed on board & enjoyed the return trip, soaking up the view from the other direction & trying to stay out of the cool wind. The docking was uneventful back in Queenstown & after lunch we walked back up hill to our motel. We actually found the climb up the hill easier, we must be getting fitter. This afternoon we drove south to the township of Kingston, at the southern tip of Lake Wakatipu. Kingston was a tourist haven for many years with its historic steam locomotive & vintage rail carriages, however, this tourism business went belly up a couple of years ago & is for sale. Disappointing, as we were looking forward to a ride on a steam train. The drive back was just as beautiful as the drive to Kingston with the lakeside & mountains just as stunning as the light was fading. Dinner tonight is steak by the lake & it was delicious.

Day 3 – Wednesday 1 April

A beautiful cool sunny morning in Wanaka. This place is situated in such a lovely place, overlooking the lake and the snow capped (snow covered in winter) mountains. It is amazing that in a small town they have a lot of motels & they all seem to have the “No Vacancy” sign out. There are SO many young back packers & most of the many cafe/restaurants & bars are employing these young people to work for them. They have at least 6 Real Estate Agencies with many expensive properties for sale. They have two huge bicycle stores with expensive special bicycles & the most amazing thing is that they have a big wedding (or other novelty) cake store – there must be a lot more to this little town than what we could only see, “”TOURISTS”..

Another great breakfast looking over Lake Wanaka before heading out along the Crown Range Road & stopping at Cardrona & its famous pub. The Cardrona Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in New Zealand & is in a fairly isolated location, there are not a lot of people living around Cardrona, perhaps more in winter during the ski season. It is a quaint old building with an old Chrysler car parked outside for effect. Across the paddock is a deer farm with lots of deer running around & some very vocal bulls rounding up the does. The drive over the Crown Range Road is very windy but compensates with some spectacular views from the seriously high mountain. Queenstown & Lake Wakatipu can be seen in the distance surrounded by the Remarkable Ranges. The air is very brisk at the top of the range.

At the bottom of the mountain we turned off into Arrowtown, an old gold mining village & explored the historic section of town. The Arrowtown Museum is a real credit to the people that put it together & run it, extremely interesting & well worth the visit. The old bank building it is located in has been used to good effect. The original & restored historic buildings have been used to good effect & help to retain the feel of what it may have looked like years ago. The boysenberry ice cream they make is very tasty & we had lunch at one of the old hotels. After lunch we walked through the old Chinese area of Arrowtown & looked through a collection of restored Chinese miner buildings & huts. The buildings were small & the doorways very short. The descriptions around the site put up by the historical society provided an interesting insight into the life of the Chinese miners in Arrowtown. The trees along the Arrow River are mainly of European origin & the leaves are starting to turn colour, making a picturesque backdrop to the area. A lovely quaint little town that we were lucky to spend a few hours wandering around in on a balmy Autumn day.

We continued our journey on to Queenstown on the road past the Shotover River & over Arthurs Bridge, another very scenic drive following the river on its steep path towards Queenstown. The Copthorne Lakeside Hotel was reasonably simple to find & we booked in & had a short rest before walking the short distance downhill & exploring the centre of Queenstown. The town is bustling with tourists & it seems that nearly every third shop is a restaurant of some type. It certainly got built up a lot more since we were here last. We walked to the wharf on the edge of the lake & settled for dinner at one of the lakeside restaurants, Pier 19. The food was excellent, although as the sun went down the outside seating got a bit chilly & we both were happy that we brought our jackets with us, we even used some of the provided blankets to keep our knees warm. As we were eating the steamboat Earnslaw returned from a cruise & docked near us. The walk back uphill to our hotel tested our stamina & breathing as it is fairly steep, we walked a lot today & should sleep well tonight.

Day 2 – Tuesday 31 March

A late start this morning, sitting in the sunshine, looking over Lake Wanaka, whilst enjoying a leisurely breakfast. Most people walking past were rugged up against the chill morning air. After breakfast we enjoyed the stunning mountain & lake scenery as we drove up alongside Lake Hawea then up past the top reaches of Lake Wanaka, stopping a few times for photos. Our destination this morning was the Blue Pools, not far past Makarora on the highway towards Haast & the west coast. The carpark at the Blue Pools was full of tourist cars & motorhomes (surprise). We enjoyed a nice stroll through the moss covered rainforest for half an hour, truly beautiful just for the walk itself. The long swing bridge over the river got up a bit of a bounce & a sway with a few people on it, a little disconcerting. The river water was crystal clear & we spotted a large brown trout swimming lazily against the current. The Blue Pools were just that, a lovely azure colour & crystal clear all the way to the bottom, very pretty & cold as it is fed from the base of a glacier in the Mount Aspiring National Park. Again, another suspension bridge over the pools, a little shorter & not as bouncy. The walk back to the car park was just as pretty, seeing the rainforest from the other direction. It must rain a significant amount here as the moss is very thick & covers just about everything, tree trunks, branches, ground. Thankfully no rain today – a perfect sunny day.

Another very scenic drive back past the Lakes Wanaka & Hawea, driving this time through the small township of Lake Hawea, then over the Pisa Range & down to the town of Cromwell on Lake Dunstan. The historic part of Cromwell is interesting, with some of the old buildings relocated from their former locations in the old town of Cromwell before the river was dammed to form Lake Dunstan & to provide water storage for a hydro-electric power station. It was very pleasant sitting outside in the sunshine having a lovely lunch & looking out over the lake with the backdrop of the rebuilt old town.

Next stop was the Warbirds over Wanaka Warplanes & Car Museum, just before Wanaka on our drive back from Cromwell. The vintage cars in the museum are beautifully restored with a nice collection of American Packard cars from the 1930s, a stunning Duesenburg (worth millions of dollars) originally owned by Carole Lombard (actress married to Clarke Gable) & an equally stunning vintage Cadillac. The original working car from the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang movie was having the finishing touches put on it for its opening ceremony tomorrow as it goes on display for the first time in the museum.

Back to Wanaka & a rest at the motel before a short walk through town window shopping (the price of houses in Wanaka is very expensive) & dinner at the Speight’s Ale House. With some delicious food & an ale tucked under our belt we are full to the gills. We have enjoyed another wonderful day in paradise. The motel is also hosting some participants in a Ford Model A vintage car rally, there are a lot of very well restored Ford Model A vintage cars in Wanaka this week.

Day 1 – Monday 30 March

My cousin Zsuzsika & her husband Roberto were doing a tour in NZ. We decided to visit the Land of the Long White Clouds again & meet up with them for three days at Queenstown, NZ. We were leaving on the 29/3 from home & unfortunately they had to cut their tour short & rush back to Florida on the same day because Roberto’s mum got very sick. We are sad but also glad that we were inspired to come back to NZ.

We left home a day earlier to see the opera on the Harbour. After booking in at the Rydges Airport Motel we caught the train to Circular Quay & from there a water taxi to the venue. A perfect balmy Sydney night. We saw a spectacular Handa opera production of “Aida” by Giuseppe Verdi on Sydney Harbour, with the Opera House, Harbour Bridge & Sydney City as a backdrop. It was fantastic, after the show we caught the return train back to the airport. Staying at the Rydges overnight made it a very easy & short walk to the departure terminal for our flight to Queenstown this morning.

We had a storm that closed Sydney Airport when we were in the plane queued up to take off so we were delayed a bit until the storm passed, then it was a relatively short 3 & a bit hour flight before flying through the mountains & landing at Queenstown. The weather was lovely sunny 19C. Our hire car was upgraded to a Toyota Corolla & we enjoyed a very pleasant drive from Queenstown over the Crown Range Road, with its many steep bends & spectacular mountain scenery, to Wanaka & our motel.

Lake Wanaka has the Mount Aspiring National Park as a backdrop & is very beautiful, from our motel room balcony we can see snow on some of the peaks. It is only a short walk to the lake, the shopping centre & restaurants from our motel. We enjoyed a nice walk along the foreshore to stretch our legs & loosen up the muscles from our flight & drive. A nice dinner at the Trout Restaurant, sitting outside in the setting sunshine looking over the lake was the perfect way to enjoy our first evening in New Zealand.

Day 23 Wednesday 19 November

Our last swim in Hawaii this morning & a couple of more Japanese brides being photographed on the beach. These stretch limos & wedding photographers have a roaring trade. It was blowing fairly strong this morning so not as pleasant as other days but Ron was a brave boy & went for nice swim. One thing we did notice, lots of locals are wearing jumpers & coats today, it must be all of 23-25C very pleasant to us. We did smile at times. There are many people in T/shirt & shorts – must be the tourists.

After another late breakfast, I would call it brunch at 11 am. A lazy walk to Ala Moana Plaza for our last spot of retail therapy in Hawaii. We watched some hula dancers & a singer do Christmas songs – it was different but good.  Every night since our arrival there has been lots of people queued up outside the Red Lobster Restaurant just across the road from our apartment, so we got there around 6pm & didn’t have any trouble getting a seat. Ron had to find out why the restaurant is always so busy & he loves sea food, the serve of food is big & it was very nice & tasty. We had a glass of champagne to start as it is 12 months today since I had surgery for cancer (then all the subsequent chemotherapy) & my last set of tests was good. A year ago we could not have imagined that we would be in Hawaii now. Life is so precious, we appreciate every moment we have. Co-incidentally, it is also 55 years today since Tereza arrived in Australia. Double cause for celebration.

I have a correction to the gossip column, there are approximately 24,000 Jehovah Witness’ attending the convention in Hawaii, but they are not all here at the same time because the convention centre is huge but not big enough for that many. Apparently they have 14 of these conventions a year in different parts of the world. We bump into them everywhere & they are so happy to tell us about it.

Reading the newspaper here it’s almost the same as in Australia, trouble with the politicians, uni students are out striking because of financial cuts & fee increases, the American dollar is high compared to the Japanese Yen, Australian dollar, etc. so decrease in tourism, they will have to chase after the Chinese & Koreans. Etc. etc….

Well, we had a fantastic time on the cruise & Hawaii but sadly the taxi will come & pick us up (HOPE) at 5.30 am & we are flying home – really we are looking forward to that too, it has been a long time since we have seen the family & we have been missing them a lot.

Day 22 Tuesday 18 November

The weather girl was right last night, the winds came in during the night & it was blowing when we went for our swim. The water was cooler too, Ron called himself a “girly man” & I corrected him that I went in & the “Macho man” didn’t. No sailing boat wreck this morning, whether it sunk completely, “went to the sea, sea, sea..” or was towed somewhere, I don’t know what happened. After the swim, shower & then breakfast, I mean brunch – it was after 11 when we finished eating. We are getting so used to this lazy life style. We walked a short distance to the Army Museum, in Historic Battery Randolph, Fort DeRussy.

This battery was completed in 1911, made from 12 feet thick reinforced concrete & had 2×14 inch “disappearing” guns, that disappeared below the fortification from the recoil once fired. They were scrapped & dismantled in 1946. The museum focuses on the history of the army in Hawaii & the military history of Hawaii, beginning with King Kamehameha & his use of western weapons. The museum is interesting, touching on wars with Mexico, Spain in the Philippines, World Wars One & Two, Korea & finishes with the Vietnam War. There were quite a lot of stories about the Hawaiian Japanese & their heroic efforts in the war & the help they were in saving American lives. There is also an interesting display of war heroes & Hawaiian recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honour, the highest award for valour in the US military.

Four hours later we had a short break at the Hilton Starbuck Cafe, just coffee & pastry.

Next, a slow walk around the docks full of sailing boats & a few motor boats. There are a lot of old boats & a lot of boats with people living on them, complete with plants & pets. There are a few nice sailing boats among them, but not many. There are hundreds of boats docked here in Waikiki Marina. I could think of worse places to live. Two hours later we went back to the apartment for a rest.

I must love Ron lots to spend a day tromping around a war museum & sailing boats. (I didn’t mind it at all, I quite enjoyed it but I won’t tell him). There were so many unusual (for us) fish to be seen in the beautiful clear water – no need to go snorkelling, they were all there.

A quick shower then a walk to Ala Moana Plaza for dinner, we had a Thai meal tonight. Another great sunset & a great enjoyable day. The scary thing is that tomorrow will be our last day.

Day 21 Monday 17 November

We were nearly the first ones in for a swim this morning out in front of the Hilton, there was only one other person who beat us to it. The wrecked sailing boat is still there where it was yesterday, still bobbing around nearly totally submerged with a couple of buoys attached. After the swim it was shower & then Mac attack before boarding the Hilo Hattie bus for a slow trip around Waikiki then off to the main Hilo Hattie store in Honolulu. A little bit of retail therapy before we caught the free bus back to Ala Moana Plaza & a little bit more retail therapy & lunch. Ron quite enjoys the bus rides, he can look around & we are even starting to recognise different places we have been to. We are becoming almost locals – we are advising lost tourists which way to go, where they can find reasonable food & some jet lagged Aussies where they can find shops to buy high class brand name goods to take home (I don’t think that they are cheaper here than at home, with taxes & American dollar higher exchange rate).

A fairly quite & leisurely day today, taking things easy & enjoying the slow lifestyle. At dinner tonight we noticed some of the locals are starting to feel the effects of winter, they were wearing beanies & coats. It must have been around 22-23C & us in shorts, T-shirts & thongs (flip flops in Hawaiian speak). Watching the weather forecast last night the weather girl did warn about the winds & that it was time to get those coats out. I am so glad that we are here late autumn, I think it would be too hot for us in the middle of summer.