I stayed overnight at the Milford Lodge and did an early morning boat cruise (before the coach loads of tourists turned up) which was beautiful. Quite eery and atmospheric.
From Milford I drove back (with a hitch-hiker from Cornwall called Dan) to Queenstown and onto the town of Wanaka. There I rested my weary head in a Base Hostel (never again - if you've ever stayed in a base hostel you'll understand...full of annoying 18 yr old Kiwi bus travellers) and then went to the famous Puzzling World - the world's first commercial maze, opened in the 1970's. They also have various 'believe it or not' exhibitions, but the best part was the maze. I was doing fairly well and feeling confident, until the 30 minute mark when I started to get slightly frustrated. Then 45 mins when I was downright annoyed. And finally the 1 hr when I cut my losses and escaped out of the emergency exit!!! Neil...bet you're glad you weren't there for that one!
From Wanaka I drove the Haast pass to the west coast, and down to a place called Jackson Bay which has been tipped as one of the 10 most scenic drives in the world. It was beauitful I must admit, but you'd be hard pressed to find a drive on the south island which doesn't take your breathe away. I finished that day at Franz Josef Glacier, where I got an early night in preparation for the next day's glacier walk. What an incredible day! I was a bit worried when I saw how many people were going to be doing it, but then we were split off into groups of 10 and I had a great group, with a fantastic guide - called Cruddy - who saved my life on more than one occasion!
We got kitted out in waterproofs and crampons, and spent 6 hrs exploring crevasses, ice caves, etc... just the most stunning formations you can imagine. I'm quite clautrophobic and had to crawl through tiny spaces, much like in potholing (which I have vowed never to do since an old episode of 999 with Michale Burke scared me years ago)!
From Franz Josef I drove up the coast with my new friend Dave (as east London city boy) to the Punakaiki pancake rocks - a really interesting geological formation caused by wave erosion. Theh I drove onto a village called Murchison and waved goodbye to Dave as he hitchhiked the rest of the way north to Nelson. That evening I was really pleased to be able to meet up with Tony and Julie Dillon and their two boys, Harry and Tom. They're from my village in Essex, Tillingham, and emigrated to NZ nearly 2 yrs ago. We had a lovely evening chatting about mutual friends and then the boys managed to persuade me to come down to Hanmer Springs with them the next day. I was planning on going up to the Abel Tasman National Park in the north, but hadn't saeen Hanmer either so went with them and spent a lovely afternoon relaxing in the thermal springs with Julie, Harry and Tom.
I was on my way up to the Marlborough region and was touched when Tony gave me the key to their beautiful Manor house in Blenheim and told me to make myself at home. I arrived late on Wednesday evening and went straight to bed, feeling a little bit spooked in such a big old house on my own. Friday I spend exploring the town and visiing some of the wineries; I took a tour of the famous Montana Vinyard, and also Cloudy Bay. Then I drove down to Cloudy Bay itself which was beautiful...not a soul around. Obviously I hadn't been able to make the most of the free wine samples in the daytime as I'd been driving, so bought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and treated myself to a couple of glasses. The house was freezing cold (although the days are very warm, at night it reaches very low temps) and although Julie had told me I could put the heating on, didn't want to take advantage. So I sat bundled up against the cold and found the Mama Mia DVD - well...it would have been rude not to have a sing-a-long!
Yesterday I took the ferry from Picton in the south to Wellington in the north, where I met my Dad's cousin David and his wife Marion. They have been extremely kind and welcoming. Today we went on a tour of Wellington Bay and tomorrow are going for another drive around the region. David's keen on his seafood, and today I have tried Bluff Oysters which if you're into Oysters, are apparently top-notch. My taste-buds didn't quite agree, so I took his word for it when he said the green-lipped mussels he bought were excellent! So i'm here in Wellington for the weekend with David and Marion, then from Wellington I plan to drive northwards and finish the NZ leg of my adventure in Auckland on 25th April.
Apologies for lack of photo's - I have taken lots, I promise, but have lost my USB-memory card thingymajig, so will have to wait til I get somewhere with a card reader.
ele x
No comments:
Post a Comment