GONNA MISS THE OLD GIRL..

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2011 - NEW BRIGHTON LIBRARY - I am sitting and looking at the South Pacific Ocean from the table here.   There goes another surfer heading out in the water to catch a wave!    What a view from the library!  The sun is shining...does it get any better than this?????

We left Akaroa this morning and drove along another path to see other bays of the "Banks Peninsula"--it was a gorgeous drive...roads wound around the hillsides and went up and down over and over.    It has been sunny but the wind was very gusty!   Made the driving on those hillsides more interesting!

Good bye to Akaroa Harbor:

Headed towards Lyttleton:

Governor's Bay:

Windy Rock Hill overlooking Lyttleton Harbor:

Our lunch break here in New Brighton--by the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea:

Heading to our camp for the night (or two), then into Christchurch and Sunday we give Ruby back and fly off to Auckland area for our next 6+ weeks!   Love, Sue, Geoff and Ruby--our faithful campervan--here is a picture of us in dear old Ruby:

PAR-LAY VOO FRAN-SAY?

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2011 – 10 PM – Akaroa – Top 10 Holiday Park – We arrived yesterday after leaving Geraldine (by the way, we enjoyed the old movie theater and the movie “Ghost Writer” but we couldn’t stay up and watch the end of the Australian Open (and Andy Murray’s demise) so after seeing the 2^nd set we headed to bed.   Left Geraldine and wandered through a bunch of country roads and actually lanes (where it was unmarked and narrow) and wound our way to the Akaroa Peninsula.  

 Saw Ellensmore Lake and Forsyth Lake and then we arrived at Akaroa.   The park is up on the mountainside and it is terraced so you can see the harbor—very pretty. 

We walked down a bunch of steps to the town and wandered around it. ..very cute town with French influences since it was the French who settled it first.   Loved this weird little house—It even had hundreds of  orange beer bottle tops stuck to the tree trunks:

Geoff had his portrait painted by a Frenchman:  

Sat by the bay and had a glass of wine then went to an Italian restaurant “Vangione’s” that had a very cute terrace area but the sun wasn’t out and the breeze made us cold so we sat inside.  

We had a wonderful pizza (I wrote it down but seem to have misplaced it) that was just scrumptious and Geoff picked out a bottle of Merlot from Waiheke Island called “Summer Aphrodesiac” that was the BEST merlot I ever had!

 We had a lovely dinner and the staff there are perfect!   I decided we HAD to try the “Chocolate pudding” dessert and truly it was to die for!  So good, in fact, that we gobbled it up before I could even think of taking a picture!    It was sort of a cake-like but with a hot pudding center—they served it in a small soufflé dish along with a scoop of real vanilla ice cream and I could have eaten the whole thing…but we shared it!  J    It was just lovely.  We walked back to camp and here was the toughest part—going back UP all those damn steps when we were full of pizza, merlot and chocolate pudding cake!    Poor Geoff had to pull me along at times but we finally made it!   Sat in the campervan and ate popcorn and listened to Sinatra while finishing off the leftover wine from a couple days ago (a wonderful Pinot Gris).   We both slept well.

Today we stayed around camp and I did the laundry and hung it on the clotheslines since it was a sunny and warm day.  I adore sheets that have hung to dry outside….they smell soooooo good!

Geoff napped and read and then late afternoon we drove around the town and up and up and up and all the way out to the South Pacific Ocean and where the harbor mouth is!   It was beautiful on the way there.      

We turned around to find gray clouds had filed in where there had been sunny skies.   It was all so pretty no matter the weather.   It just shows that when you are by water you never know from one moment to the next what the weather will do.  

We drove back to town, did a few errands , had ice cream at the “dairy” (that’s NZs version of a convenience store but they have the BEST ice cream brand=”Tip Top”) then we parked by the waterfront and I downloaded my last blog.   Within an hour the weather changed and it was sunny and warm again….LOL… 

Back to camp, dinner, music and now just putting my thoughts down since we will be heading out tomorrow morning.   Back over the peninsula roads and take a different route towards Christchurch and go to Lylleton (and stay there if the weather is right) before we head into Chch (that’s the newspaper’s abbreviation for Christchurch!).    Another relaxing and joyous day.   That’s it for now, love, Sue & Geoff xo  p.s.  Geoff keeps teasing me about going to the wrong ExploreMore campervan (remember “Aimee”at Mt. Cook?) but there isn’t one close to us in this park and I doubt seriously that I will EVER do THAT again!   Sheesh……

SLIP! SLOP! SLAP!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011 – GERALDINE – "Slip on a shirt, Slop on some sunscreen and Slap on a hat!---that's NZs constant reminder about the heave UV rays here and to protect yourself every day!   I hear this every day on the radio!

We are getting ready to have dinner, then a movie at the local Heritage Cinema (2010s “Ghost Writer”), then to the local pub to watch SKY TV and the finals of the Australian Open!   We are supporting Andy Murray from Scotland.  J

So yesterday we left Omarama and drove through several valleys to the Mt. Cook/Aoriki visitor area.     The weather was not looking good all the way there and we could not see Mt. Cook in the distance like we hoped. 

The biggest surprise to me on the way was the color of Lake Pukaki and the rivers flowing into it…sort of white looking with light aquamarine!   The water is from the glaciers and looks very clean and clear!    My pictures do NOT do the color justice--that is water in the bottom of pic: 

We finally see Mt. Cook just peaking out of the clouds and think that is the best we will see:

Geoff needs a nap ( above^)! 

While he rests the clouds burn off the mountain! 

We took lots of pictures and a nice woman from Bend, Oregon took one of us above! 

We spent time in the very new & great visitor’s center and here is another view from there: 

Then we walked to the Heritage Restaurant and explored Sir Edmund Hillary’s interesting museum there, had a drink and enjoyed the early evening views of Mt. Cook! 

It was getting later so we went to Hooker Valley and camped at White Horse Campground with the intention of taking one of the walks today to see more of the mountains.

We were woken up with the campervan shaking from very gusty winds…no rain..just gusts of wind that rocked and rolled old Ruby!   I finally got up just before 8 AM and headed to the bathroom.   On the way back in the wind, I was thinking about how glad I was there were no trees around and I opened the campervan side door (thinking to myself “Geoff must have gotten the curtains to slide the other direction”) and found a pretty blonde lady looking at me very curiously…crap!  I went to “Aimee” not “Ruby” (she was parked right next to us)—I said “oops, sorry, wrong van!”, slid the door closed and walked around to the right door laughing and telling Geoff.   He is just like my brother, Doug, he keeps teasing me about finding my way back to the van in broad daylight!   I was just glad I didn’t open the door to find naked people!  J  

So we decided to skip the walk—it looked like rain, the mountain was socked in and I didn’t want to walk in that gusty wind.   We headed to Fairlie, had lunch, then decided to drive on to Geraldine!   We walked around the town and it is very cute! 

Lake Tekapo (where we stopped to see the old pioneer Church of the Good Shepherd)! 

Off to eat dinner and have some fun.   Love, Sue & Geoff xo  the wanderers in the wind:

DOUBTFUL/MILFORD SOUNDS--GETTING CAUGHT UP WITH THE PAST!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2011 - OMARAMA - 10 AM -  I am going to try to get all the past blogs loaded before we go on to Mt. Cook...here goes:

LATER ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2011 – OMARAMA TOP 10 HOLIDAY PARK -We decided to stop here on our way to Mt. Cook hoping to have better weather tomorrow to see all the views.   It was 31 degrees Celsius yesterday and today around 21 C. with some dark threatening clouds!   The drive here and over Lindis Pass was interesting and had the usual beautiful wildflowers alongside the road.  I love all the tussocks, too!  

Earlier I forgot to post some things from Cromwell.   I believe I mentioned the “Wooing Tree Vineyards” and here is a picture of two winos with a bottle of their finest and the “Wooing Tree” is just left of the wine bottle (it’s a fir tree!)

And here is my version of the “postcard” shot as you enter Cromwell: 

Old Cromwell Town (some buildings that were saved when they flooded the original town to make Dunston Lake (we passed the Dam on the way to Cromwell): 

Now to try to get caught up with my blogging pictures:

Middlemarch sunset—these were some strange BUT beautiful colored clouds:  

For my brother, Doug—sheep golfing—out in the middle of basically no where so someone has to use the golf course!  

 Now, going back to:

 FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2011 –  Te Anau to Mildford Sound - We rode 2 hours on a bus from Te Anau to Milford Sound—the views were, truly indescribable.   We cruised around Milford Sound and out to the Tasman Sea and back—the clouds, waterfalls, fiord walls, birds and seals were all well worth the cost of the trip.   Here are just a few of my favorites:

On the way there: 

Mirror Lakes :

Monkey Creek: 

Around a mile through Homer Tunnel headed down and the view when we came out of tunnel: 

Mitre Peak from the dock: 

The two of use at the back of the boat with Milford Sound behind us: 

The white speck is the lighthouse and we are out in the Tasman—a bit choppy! 

Crazy people under the waterfall!  NOT ME!  

Weather rolling in behind us!  

One of many waterfalls: 

Another trip upwards through the Homertunnel and 2 hour bus ride back to Te Anau—I have to admit I had a few Zzzzzzz’s on the way back!   It was a cold day so I was glad to have the knit gloves, fleece scarf and knee socks to wear.   What a wonderful day!    Love, Sue & Geoff xo    PS We just booked our trip to Doubtful Sound for tomorrow!   Another night in Te Anau but we like it here!

FOOTNOTE:  By the way, the early explorers that named all the sounds were wrong according to all the crew on both trips—‘sounds’ are fed by rivers and ‘fiords’ are fed by glaciers so all these “sounds” are really “fiords” hence the “Fiordland National Park”!  Looking at the “sounds” from the Tasman Sea, it is easy to understand why they might think they were “sounds”!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2011 – Manapouri to the Dam to Doubtful Sound trip!  Wow, this trip was a full day and the crew were great!    We got picked up by bus in Te Anau and half hour later boarded a “foot ferry” boat to cruise across Lake Manapouri for 50 minutes (this is phase 1 of the trip) and some of the mountains we saw were used in one of the Lord of the Kings movie—they really looked the part today:  

 

Phase 2 was getting on a bus to be taken 2 kms (about 1.2 miles) DOWN in the ground via a hand dug tunnel to see the dam’s 7 generators.   The story of how the locals did NOT want the lake to flood all the 33 islands there to make a traditional dam was fascinating.   A dam was initially proposed to provide power to the aluminum smelter in Tiwia (by Bluff on the south of the island). So in the early 1900s someone suggested the tunnel down under the earth and instead of water falling over the traditional spillway of a dam, they dug first one (then later, with a big machine a 2^nd ) “tailrace” underground to release the water!  The whole story is fascinating and almost unbelievable how they men dug (blasted) this huge hole!   It took 1,800 workers 8 years to complete in very harsh conditions.  Sometimes they had such huge loads that they had to back all the way down the tunnel.   This is also the only place in NZ where the driver drives on the “right” side of the road to watch the tunnel clearance when meeting another vehicle!  I could go on and on because I was totally mesmerized by it all so if you ever want to hear about “one of NZs greatest engineering achievements” just ask me!  J

The “tunnel” end:

The underground dam generators:

So after we came back out of the tunnel, they drove us down to Deep Cove that leads into Doubtful Sound:  

Which leads to Phase 3—cruising Doubtful Sound to the Tasman and back:

Our 1st Captain, John: 

Then they let ME be in charge--you can call me "Captain Sue" now (haha): 

More views:

 

It was a glorious day as they took us out into the Tasman Sea (only the 2^nd time in the last year that they have been able to do it!):  

Our 2nd Captain, Toby: 

206  224  248

“A pod of Pygmy Bottlenose whales” says Captain Toby (with a laugh): 

266  275 280

I think the cruise was nearly 4 hours long and I was never bored for a moment!

They showed us the tailraces on the bus ride back…here is one: 

These guys were knowledgeable, fun, informative, helpful and the BEST—anyone travelling to NZ MUST take this trip: 

So we disembarked from the Tasman Explorer, rode the bus back to near the underground dam, boarded the boat and another 50 minutes cruising back over Lake Manapouri to Pearl Harbor (yes, that is the name!) and a 30 minute bus ride back to Te Anau for a night out at The Moose’s before we headed towards Invercargill and Bluff!  

What a spectacular day!   Learned a lot, saw a lot and enjoyed it all!    Love, Sue & Geoff xo   the fiord cruisers: