Hello all.
It's been a bit of a shock coming back to work - my desk has been tidied up! Aargh! Now I can't find anything, and I'm pretty sure that Big Boss is expecting it to stay neat, dammit.
This week has been jam-packed with kiwi-ana, which is especially funny when you consider that we've just returned from New Zealand.
Sat 3rd Nov - Hangi dinner at Lorna's. This is the bistro at our local pub, and Lorna is the lovely kiwi lass who organises a hangi every couple of months.
A hangi (pronounced HUNG-ee) is a special type of kiwi barbeque that you get from digging a pit in the ground, starting a wood-burning fire, throw in some rocks and get them pretty hot, then add your wrapped food to the rocks, cover in earth and leave to cook for a few hours. You end up with a smoky-type of flavour that is pretty unique. Lorna's hangis are made in a specially designed BBQ thingie that is pretty good.
Mon 5th Nov - Crowded House. Even though I still think of them as a Melbourne band, kiwis claim this group as their own. The concert was awesome, as was the dinner with friends beforehand.
Tues 6th Nov - Naked Samoans. These dudes are responsible for Bro'Town, one of our fave animations. Their show was pretty funny (I got most of the jokes), and now I understand why the cartoon is so wordy - they really talk like that.
Wed 7th Nov - Not sure yet, but we'll probably end up watching DVDs of Outrageous Fortune tonight, full of dodgy minor-criminals from Auckland.
Wednesday 7 November 2007
Wednesday 31 October 2007
Holiday Part 7
Alas yes, the holiday is now over and we're returned to the bosum of our home again.
Day 14:
Travelling day. We checked out from Franz Josef and jumped in the car. First north to Greymouth, then east to Christchurch.
It was a really long day, full of shady hills, picturesque hills, Japanese tourists and slow-moving vehicles in front of us! Highlights include:
* A very drunk whitebait fisherman in a meal-break pub, who kept trying to convince Mike that he should propose to me while trying to feel up my leg. Gross.
* LOTS of single lane bridges. Enough said.
* Shantytown near Greymouth. My lord, it was so... dodgy. Obviously a lot of effort has gone in by a lot of passionate people but crikey, it was pretty lame. M had fun looking at their steam engines, though.
* Stopping for lunch in Greymouth and finding everything shut.
* Trying to go on a Monteith's tour in Greymouth and finding it shut.
* Lots of insane speeding drivers making dangerous passes over Arthur's Pass. Mental, the lot of them.
We finally arrived at the Speight's Alehouse in Christchurch [see listings for Day 1], checked in and had a great dinner in the restaurant. Mike went on a walk around town while I crashed.
Day 15:
Lots to do. Step 1: Go to knitting shop (finally!). Only a few purchases, I promise! Step 2: Visit post office, post home assorted stuff that wouldn't fit in luggage, mostly gifts. Step 3: Find and visit Mike's friend Maria. It was really nice to meet another of M's friends from London while they reminisced and caught up. Step 4: Try to find kniotting shop #2, a bit difficult when it's closed down and is no longer there. Bummer. Step 5: No time to visit the Antarctic Centre, so return the car to the hire place, get a lift to the airport and settle in to Qantas Club - I love that place! So civilised! We also scored some sweet duty free including DVDs, music etc. We got Q Club uber treatement, got to board with the business-types as well as having our luggage pop out first at the other end - sweet!
The flight back to Sydney was fine - the diabetic meal was actually edible and we were a respectable distance from the movie screen, so there was no nostril close-ups this time. After landing, Sydney was so HOT! We made it into a cab and home, sweet home, to find my sister and our wonderful friends had left us stocked up.
You'd think all of this deserved a rest, but instead we went out to Coogee to see more of Mike's old London friends. After a few hours and a few drinks, we crashed back at home and slept. Ah, sleep!
So, that's the trip! I'm still on leave from work until next week (I need to recover, plus lots of knitting to do) so my plan is to take it VERY easy.
Cheers, H & M
Day 14:
Travelling day. We checked out from Franz Josef and jumped in the car. First north to Greymouth, then east to Christchurch.
It was a really long day, full of shady hills, picturesque hills, Japanese tourists and slow-moving vehicles in front of us! Highlights include:
* A very drunk whitebait fisherman in a meal-break pub, who kept trying to convince Mike that he should propose to me while trying to feel up my leg. Gross.
* LOTS of single lane bridges. Enough said.
* Shantytown near Greymouth. My lord, it was so... dodgy. Obviously a lot of effort has gone in by a lot of passionate people but crikey, it was pretty lame. M had fun looking at their steam engines, though.
* Stopping for lunch in Greymouth and finding everything shut.
* Trying to go on a Monteith's tour in Greymouth and finding it shut.
* Lots of insane speeding drivers making dangerous passes over Arthur's Pass. Mental, the lot of them.
We finally arrived at the Speight's Alehouse in Christchurch [see listings for Day 1], checked in and had a great dinner in the restaurant. Mike went on a walk around town while I crashed.
Day 15:
Lots to do. Step 1: Go to knitting shop (finally!). Only a few purchases, I promise! Step 2: Visit post office, post home assorted stuff that wouldn't fit in luggage, mostly gifts. Step 3: Find and visit Mike's friend Maria. It was really nice to meet another of M's friends from London while they reminisced and caught up. Step 4: Try to find kniotting shop #2, a bit difficult when it's closed down and is no longer there. Bummer. Step 5: No time to visit the Antarctic Centre, so return the car to the hire place, get a lift to the airport and settle in to Qantas Club - I love that place! So civilised! We also scored some sweet duty free including DVDs, music etc. We got Q Club uber treatement, got to board with the business-types as well as having our luggage pop out first at the other end - sweet!
The flight back to Sydney was fine - the diabetic meal was actually edible and we were a respectable distance from the movie screen, so there was no nostril close-ups this time. After landing, Sydney was so HOT! We made it into a cab and home, sweet home, to find my sister and our wonderful friends had left us stocked up.
You'd think all of this deserved a rest, but instead we went out to Coogee to see more of Mike's old London friends. After a few hours and a few drinks, we crashed back at home and slept. Ah, sleep!
So, that's the trip! I'm still on leave from work until next week (I need to recover, plus lots of knitting to do) so my plan is to take it VERY easy.
Cheers, H & M
Saturday 27 October 2007
Holiday Part 6
Hello all,
Lots to tell, but first I need to start out by saying a few things:
1. "Himself"'s real name is Michael. I was going for the internet anonymity pseudonym, but since this blog is called Helen and Mike, it was pointed out to me that this was a little pointless. My name is Helen, by the way.
2. Blog authorship. This a collaborative effort from both Helen (me) and Mike. You don't see it, but there is lots of "honey, what was that place we went to the other day"-ing going on, so it counts as a group project.
Day 11 cont.:
Dinner out in QTN was lovely, we ended up at a self-brewing pub and ate so much we both felt pleasantly sated. Dessert was at Patagonia Chocolate on the wharf, and even though the sundaes took forever to arrive, my my but they were worth it!
Day 12:
We finished up our stay in Queenstown by going to a fab Lonely-Planet recommended cafe for breakfast. Their pancakes were divine. Then up the hill to the bungy site.
Mike was SO brave and by far the spunkiest dude jumping. Thanks to those who have asked, and no, his eyeballs did not fall out, they're fine.
We had watched a few jumpers, then Mike went out onto the bridge to wait. Expect to see the photos. The dudes assured us that no-one had died that day, so we seemed pretty safe. Mike was strapped in, lined up, and I ran for the photo viewing stand. He just stood on the edge, waved and whoosh! over he went. Arms and head went in the waters, then he was springing up and down a few times. I was REALLY impressed, it looked so cool.
After that adrenaline rush, we drove to the west coast of South Island and on to glacier country. We're staying at a nice place in Franz Josef, the larger of the glacier towns (Fox is the other). We checked in, settled in and had dinner. Yum.
Day 13:
Glacier adventure day! M got up REALLY early [those of you who know me will know that I'm REALLY not a morning person. Sleep is one of my favourite things to do, and I love to sleep in. A lot. One of the many reasons that I love that M has been getting out of bed and making me cups of tea each morning!] and went to the booking office to get in first. He planned the whole day of adventures, and it's been a hoot.
We hopped on a helicopter which travelled to Fox Glacier, Mount Cook and Franz Josef Glacier. The weather on Mt Cook wasn't great, so we weren't sure if we would be able to see it, but fortunately our pilot was very cool and the clouds cleared enough for us to have a decent look. It was REALLY beautiful - white mountains everywhere, a crystal-clear blue sky, still air, all you could hope for. Our helicopter landed on Franz Josef glacier, and I GOT TO SEE SNOW!!! It was crunchy! Amazing! I've never seen snow up close before, and seeing and touching it on the top of about 6km of compacted glacial ice was stunning.
Back to the motel for an early lunch, then we joined a walking tour of FJ glacier. We were kitted up with boots, crampons, parkas etc and bussed out to the glacier National Park. It's a declared World Heritage area, so we had to be really careful not to leave anything behind.
We walked through the river valley to the glacier face. It was amazing - lots of rocks that get pushed along by the tonnes of ice, then this massive wall of ice. It was surprisingly grotty - lots of grit gets picked up too.
Treking up the glacier face was amazing. The defined path is very dynamic and changes almost daily, so the highlight was probably squishing along the bottom of a crevasse - the ice was almost glowing, it was such a stunning blue. Out tour dude was pretty cool, and the only bummer was Helen having some blood sugar issues on the way back to the bus, but fortunately Mike came to the rescue with the emergency bottle of Mellow Yellow (it's having a retro revival here - tastes bloody awful if one happens to be hypoing).
Tomorrow, we're travelling back to Christchurch via Greymouth.
Sweet dreams.
Lots to tell, but first I need to start out by saying a few things:
1. "Himself"'s real name is Michael. I was going for the internet anonymity pseudonym, but since this blog is called Helen and Mike, it was pointed out to me that this was a little pointless. My name is Helen, by the way.
2. Blog authorship. This a collaborative effort from both Helen (me) and Mike. You don't see it, but there is lots of "honey, what was that place we went to the other day"-ing going on, so it counts as a group project.
Day 11 cont.:
Dinner out in QTN was lovely, we ended up at a self-brewing pub and ate so much we both felt pleasantly sated. Dessert was at Patagonia Chocolate on the wharf, and even though the sundaes took forever to arrive, my my but they were worth it!
Day 12:
We finished up our stay in Queenstown by going to a fab Lonely-Planet recommended cafe for breakfast. Their pancakes were divine. Then up the hill to the bungy site.
Mike was SO brave and by far the spunkiest dude jumping. Thanks to those who have asked, and no, his eyeballs did not fall out, they're fine.
We had watched a few jumpers, then Mike went out onto the bridge to wait. Expect to see the photos. The dudes assured us that no-one had died that day, so we seemed pretty safe. Mike was strapped in, lined up, and I ran for the photo viewing stand. He just stood on the edge, waved and whoosh! over he went. Arms and head went in the waters, then he was springing up and down a few times. I was REALLY impressed, it looked so cool.
After that adrenaline rush, we drove to the west coast of South Island and on to glacier country. We're staying at a nice place in Franz Josef, the larger of the glacier towns (Fox is the other). We checked in, settled in and had dinner. Yum.
Day 13:
Glacier adventure day! M got up REALLY early [those of you who know me will know that I'm REALLY not a morning person. Sleep is one of my favourite things to do, and I love to sleep in. A lot. One of the many reasons that I love that M has been getting out of bed and making me cups of tea each morning!] and went to the booking office to get in first. He planned the whole day of adventures, and it's been a hoot.
We hopped on a helicopter which travelled to Fox Glacier, Mount Cook and Franz Josef Glacier. The weather on Mt Cook wasn't great, so we weren't sure if we would be able to see it, but fortunately our pilot was very cool and the clouds cleared enough for us to have a decent look. It was REALLY beautiful - white mountains everywhere, a crystal-clear blue sky, still air, all you could hope for. Our helicopter landed on Franz Josef glacier, and I GOT TO SEE SNOW!!! It was crunchy! Amazing! I've never seen snow up close before, and seeing and touching it on the top of about 6km of compacted glacial ice was stunning.
Back to the motel for an early lunch, then we joined a walking tour of FJ glacier. We were kitted up with boots, crampons, parkas etc and bussed out to the glacier National Park. It's a declared World Heritage area, so we had to be really careful not to leave anything behind.
We walked through the river valley to the glacier face. It was amazing - lots of rocks that get pushed along by the tonnes of ice, then this massive wall of ice. It was surprisingly grotty - lots of grit gets picked up too.
Treking up the glacier face was amazing. The defined path is very dynamic and changes almost daily, so the highlight was probably squishing along the bottom of a crevasse - the ice was almost glowing, it was such a stunning blue. Out tour dude was pretty cool, and the only bummer was Helen having some blood sugar issues on the way back to the bus, but fortunately Mike came to the rescue with the emergency bottle of Mellow Yellow (it's having a retro revival here - tastes bloody awful if one happens to be hypoing).
Tomorrow, we're travelling back to Christchurch via Greymouth.
Sweet dreams.
Thursday 25 October 2007
Holiday Part 5
Greetings and Salutations to all
We're in the final stretch of our trip - bummer - and I'm starting to feel a little nostalgic. Here's the latest action:
Day 10 cont.
No parking fine! Hooray! It was (yea verily) raining pretty hard in Queenstown, but we made it back to the motel in one rather soggy piece.
We spent some time enjoying the fresh fudge we'd purchased from the "Traditional" Sweet shop in QTN - it's really easy to go totally silly in these places. The Sucrose-Free fudge was okay, the Manuka Honey fudge was pretty yummy but the winner was the Kiwifruit (and passionfruit) variety - extra insulin was required. We dried out and dolled up for dinner.
We'd booked into a Dinner Cruise on the TSS Earnslaw, a coal-powered steam ship that lives on the Wakatipu Lake in QTN. It's about a gazillion years old, made for this lake, etc etc etc. After being dropped off by the taxi - neither of us wanted to be the nominated driver - we first made a quick stop to one of the multitude of cheap-crap-tourist-souvenir-crap shops and found a very cool Rugby Girl shirt for me. [Expect to see it a lot.] They threw in a free All Blacks poster too. Amazing how all of the AB merchandise seems to be massively reduced at the moment!?!
We had to hang around for the Easrnslaw to arrive, the previous group to disembark, and then pile onboard. It was REALLY cold standing on the docks, but the wind settled down eventually as we climbed on, surrounded by the usual group of U.S. pensioners speaking loudly.
On board, Himself grabbed some drinks while I exercised my charm to get us some seats. I had to death-stare a Japanese family to keep them away. Their poor 8-year-old daughter looked a little intimidated, as did wizened old nanna. We made friends with a couple from Brisbane, Paul and Katherine, who as well as being from the same generation as us were also amused by the whole tourist experience. P & K sat with us, while the now-looking-a-little-freaked-out Japanese family took their table.
The trip over to Walter's Peak farmstead was lovely. The water was smooth, and Himself and Paul did the guy thing, checking out the engine room, boilers, dudes shovelling coal, wheelhouse, etc. [Look out for the cute photo of Himself wearing the captain's hat!] It turns out the captain was originally from Leichhardt, and attended Ultimo TAFE. Small world.
We arrived at the farmstead and piled off the steamer for dinner. Looking back over the water, you could see the lights of QTN, the boat on the water, the crystal-blue skies and the nearly snow-peaked mountains. Postcard beautiful! We managed to talk our way into a table for 4 for our group and we enjoyed the food, wine, company and atmosphere for a while.
[Insert sniggering here] Entertainment was provided by the in-house pianist. Memories of my mother's old Richard Clayderman tapes started to flood back, and I was REALLY glad that I spent 4 years studying music. Showtunes, Andrew Lloyd-Weber and Hits of the 60s all made an appearance. He'd very generously provided sample CDs and tapes on our tables, so we could consider buying the dulcet tones. Yeah, right.
After dinner, we were offered the chance to watch a Real Sheep Shearing Experience!!! [Again, snigger at will] Lots of pensioners taking video footage of a sheep being shorn was pretty amusing. It made me think, though - when tourists come to my country, so they mock the whole Tourist Experience the was I was? I really hope so.
The gift shop was doing a roaring trade in packets of the little clip-on sheep.
When the steamer arrived, we piled back on for the return journey. Himself took me to have a look at the boiler room and the ship's own onboard museum. I was actually pretty interested.
I sent my sister a message saying hi, letting her know what we were up to, and saying we were on a steam ship. Here is her SMS reply:
"Don't talk to me about that fecking steam ship... C still goes on about it 9 years on..."
[C is her husband, they came to NZ on their honeymoon 9 years ago. C is an engineer. Himself had been taking lots of photos of the engine room thinking C would be interested...]
Back in QTN, we stopped in at a few of the bars in the dock area. In the first, the music was so loud our teeth were rattling, but the staff made up for this by giving us drinks at their happy-hour prices, bless them. More menus to add to the illicit cocktail card collection. [Some people collect spoons, I collect cocktail menus, okay? Everyone needs a hobby.] At bar #2, the snippy bar chicky will hopefully have to explain to her boss why one of her menus is missing. The gas fire was really warm, though! We wandered around to a final venue, a pizza restaurant / wanna-be nightclub and had a final stop surrounded by lots of very young-looking backpackers. I felt old! Then up to the taxi stand and Home James with a lovely young Irish chappie driver.
Day 11:
Jet Boating! It was so cool! We had so much fun! Everyone should do it!
We slept in (okay, it was just me,), so we had to do the harry to the Jet Boating site in Shotover Canyon. I was worrying a bit, but saw the Jet Boating bus in my rear-view mirror, so figured we were okay.
Arriving at the canyon, we were geared up with parker jackets and life vests. We were again among our own kind (i.e. people younger that 60 without American accents) in the waiting line when one of the staff asked us to switch queues. Tragedy! Stuck in a line of ancient-but-loud tour groupies!
Fortunately, it meant that none of them wanted to sit in the front seat - so we got the full treatment. Our adventure-lovin' driver gave us a fabulous experience, whizzing around the canyon, splashing water all over the place, making us think we were about to hit the rocks at every turn and generally scaring the bejesus out of us. Himself had his fun-loving grin all over his face and really enjoyed himself, as did I. We took away the obligatory photos of us looking appropriately freaked out and headed to the QTN gondolas.
As with the other gondolas in NZ, we had to run the gauntlet of Japanese tour bus groups and the climbing-onboard-take-your-photo girls. Although my life as a restaurant photographer was quite short (2 weekends filling in for my sister), I generally feel quite sorry for these compulsory-photo people, but we managed to convince this one that we REALLY weren't going to buy it. And ignored her reply of "but it's my job!". Too bad, honey.
Up at the top we had a fab view of the whole QTN area. The usual beautiful scenery, contrasts and serenity with photos. Himself had also signed up for the luge rides, so he went to continue the day's adrenaline theme while I grabbed a coffee. I managed to grab a few shots of Himself on the ride and he seemed to be having a fab time.
We headed back to our motel to arrange for cleaning & washing and chill out for an hour. Then we took a drive out to Arrowtown, which is basically an upper-class version of the rest of QTN - every second shop contained souvenirs and wool clothes.
We're back in QTN CBD at the moment, ready to eat.
A Few Random Thoughts:
* In my rain jacket, the only difference between me and Kenny from South Park is that my jacket is blue instead of orange. All you can see are my eyes.
* A crossword book is a valuable thing to take travelling, as is a good pen.
* Next time, I need to bring more cleanser.
* I love my new boots. Once broken in, they are so comfy. Expect to see them more.
Lots of love to all!
We're in the final stretch of our trip - bummer - and I'm starting to feel a little nostalgic. Here's the latest action:
Day 10 cont.
No parking fine! Hooray! It was (yea verily) raining pretty hard in Queenstown, but we made it back to the motel in one rather soggy piece.
We spent some time enjoying the fresh fudge we'd purchased from the "Traditional" Sweet shop in QTN - it's really easy to go totally silly in these places. The Sucrose-Free fudge was okay, the Manuka Honey fudge was pretty yummy but the winner was the Kiwifruit (and passionfruit) variety - extra insulin was required. We dried out and dolled up for dinner.
We'd booked into a Dinner Cruise on the TSS Earnslaw, a coal-powered steam ship that lives on the Wakatipu Lake in QTN. It's about a gazillion years old, made for this lake, etc etc etc. After being dropped off by the taxi - neither of us wanted to be the nominated driver - we first made a quick stop to one of the multitude of cheap-crap-tourist-souvenir-crap shops and found a very cool Rugby Girl shirt for me. [Expect to see it a lot.] They threw in a free All Blacks poster too. Amazing how all of the AB merchandise seems to be massively reduced at the moment!?!
We had to hang around for the Easrnslaw to arrive, the previous group to disembark, and then pile onboard. It was REALLY cold standing on the docks, but the wind settled down eventually as we climbed on, surrounded by the usual group of U.S. pensioners speaking loudly.
On board, Himself grabbed some drinks while I exercised my charm to get us some seats. I had to death-stare a Japanese family to keep them away. Their poor 8-year-old daughter looked a little intimidated, as did wizened old nanna. We made friends with a couple from Brisbane, Paul and Katherine, who as well as being from the same generation as us were also amused by the whole tourist experience. P & K sat with us, while the now-looking-a-little-freaked-out Japanese family took their table.
The trip over to Walter's Peak farmstead was lovely. The water was smooth, and Himself and Paul did the guy thing, checking out the engine room, boilers, dudes shovelling coal, wheelhouse, etc. [Look out for the cute photo of Himself wearing the captain's hat!] It turns out the captain was originally from Leichhardt, and attended Ultimo TAFE. Small world.
We arrived at the farmstead and piled off the steamer for dinner. Looking back over the water, you could see the lights of QTN, the boat on the water, the crystal-blue skies and the nearly snow-peaked mountains. Postcard beautiful! We managed to talk our way into a table for 4 for our group and we enjoyed the food, wine, company and atmosphere for a while.
[Insert sniggering here] Entertainment was provided by the in-house pianist. Memories of my mother's old Richard Clayderman tapes started to flood back, and I was REALLY glad that I spent 4 years studying music. Showtunes, Andrew Lloyd-Weber and Hits of the 60s all made an appearance. He'd very generously provided sample CDs and tapes on our tables, so we could consider buying the dulcet tones. Yeah, right.
After dinner, we were offered the chance to watch a Real Sheep Shearing Experience!!! [Again, snigger at will] Lots of pensioners taking video footage of a sheep being shorn was pretty amusing. It made me think, though - when tourists come to my country, so they mock the whole Tourist Experience the was I was? I really hope so.
The gift shop was doing a roaring trade in packets of the little clip-on sheep.
When the steamer arrived, we piled back on for the return journey. Himself took me to have a look at the boiler room and the ship's own onboard museum. I was actually pretty interested.
I sent my sister a message saying hi, letting her know what we were up to, and saying we were on a steam ship. Here is her SMS reply:
"Don't talk to me about that fecking steam ship... C still goes on about it 9 years on..."
[C is her husband, they came to NZ on their honeymoon 9 years ago. C is an engineer. Himself had been taking lots of photos of the engine room thinking C would be interested...]
Back in QTN, we stopped in at a few of the bars in the dock area. In the first, the music was so loud our teeth were rattling, but the staff made up for this by giving us drinks at their happy-hour prices, bless them. More menus to add to the illicit cocktail card collection. [Some people collect spoons, I collect cocktail menus, okay? Everyone needs a hobby.] At bar #2, the snippy bar chicky will hopefully have to explain to her boss why one of her menus is missing. The gas fire was really warm, though! We wandered around to a final venue, a pizza restaurant / wanna-be nightclub and had a final stop surrounded by lots of very young-looking backpackers. I felt old! Then up to the taxi stand and Home James with a lovely young Irish chappie driver.
Day 11:
Jet Boating! It was so cool! We had so much fun! Everyone should do it!
We slept in (okay, it was just me,), so we had to do the harry to the Jet Boating site in Shotover Canyon. I was worrying a bit, but saw the Jet Boating bus in my rear-view mirror, so figured we were okay.
Arriving at the canyon, we were geared up with parker jackets and life vests. We were again among our own kind (i.e. people younger that 60 without American accents) in the waiting line when one of the staff asked us to switch queues. Tragedy! Stuck in a line of ancient-but-loud tour groupies!
Fortunately, it meant that none of them wanted to sit in the front seat - so we got the full treatment. Our adventure-lovin' driver gave us a fabulous experience, whizzing around the canyon, splashing water all over the place, making us think we were about to hit the rocks at every turn and generally scaring the bejesus out of us. Himself had his fun-loving grin all over his face and really enjoyed himself, as did I. We took away the obligatory photos of us looking appropriately freaked out and headed to the QTN gondolas.
As with the other gondolas in NZ, we had to run the gauntlet of Japanese tour bus groups and the climbing-onboard-take-your-photo girls. Although my life as a restaurant photographer was quite short (2 weekends filling in for my sister), I generally feel quite sorry for these compulsory-photo people, but we managed to convince this one that we REALLY weren't going to buy it. And ignored her reply of "but it's my job!". Too bad, honey.
Up at the top we had a fab view of the whole QTN area. The usual beautiful scenery, contrasts and serenity with photos. Himself had also signed up for the luge rides, so he went to continue the day's adrenaline theme while I grabbed a coffee. I managed to grab a few shots of Himself on the ride and he seemed to be having a fab time.
We headed back to our motel to arrange for cleaning & washing and chill out for an hour. Then we took a drive out to Arrowtown, which is basically an upper-class version of the rest of QTN - every second shop contained souvenirs and wool clothes.
We're back in QTN CBD at the moment, ready to eat.
A Few Random Thoughts:
* In my rain jacket, the only difference between me and Kenny from South Park is that my jacket is blue instead of orange. All you can see are my eyes.
* A crossword book is a valuable thing to take travelling, as is a good pen.
* Next time, I need to bring more cleanser.
* I love my new boots. Once broken in, they are so comfy. Expect to see them more.
Lots of love to all!
Wednesday 24 October 2007
Holiday Part 4
Greetings gentle readers,
Himself and I are in beautiful Queenstown, and my my, isn't it a tourist town! Lots to tell you about...
Day 9 cont.
We drove from Te Anau to Manapuri and caught another cruise ferry to the Manapuri underground power station. The cruise was very beautiful (as was the whole fjordland region. And the whole South Island, so far!) across Lake Manapuri. It was really breezy, so we stayed inside all the way over without any nasty (pukey) side-effects.
Life on the "other" side of the lake was pretty amazing. There is one road (only) going from Lake Manapuri, into the power station, and linking up with Doubtful Sound (another ex-glacier. Much like an ex-parrot, it's still pining for the fjord!). There are no other roads. The one road does not link up to any other road. No roads. (Seeing the pattern?) The only way to get to this part of the world is by boat/ship/water vessel.
We took the tour bus into the power station. It's apparently pretty unique, because instead of damming rivers to make a hydro-electric power station, instead they've diverted water from the lake (heaps above sea-level, can't remember the exact amount), drilled massive holes so it can "drop" and use it to turn turbines, power generators, etc, at almost-sea level. The water all ends up in Doubtful Sound as it would have anyway and runs out to the sea.
The bus goes into a big tube and spirals down for about 2km to where the power-crating bits are kept. We got to see the last of the 7 generators being re-built - kind-of like rebuilding a car engine, but costing about $9 million. It was kinda cool to see the old and new turbines - these things take some punnishment!
Back to Manapuri town, and we turned up the funky tunes to drive to Queenstown. It got progressively colder and more snowy as we drove north-ish. We saw where the Kingston Flyer train started and ended and travelled around the lake to Queenstown. A few "Honey, please drive with BOTH hands on the wheel" queasy moments, but only due to the massive amounts of rain and fog. We arrived at our motel, settled in, and drove into the main town area for dinner. No-one working in any of the restaurants was an actual kiwi - lots of English, Scottish and Irish accents!
Arriving back at the motel, we found a few interesting things that needed a call to the night receptionist, being:
* The toilet would not flush (v. bad)
* The coat hooks fell off the wall when I tried to hang my coat (bad)
* The kitchen cupboard handle fell off when I opened the cupboard (bad)
* The bathroom door handle was broken (continuing to be bad - pretty annoyed by this point!)
* No reception number provided with the phone (smoke coming out of ears...)
We finally managed to contact a night receptionist (someone working at a totally different place, just taking messages! Grr!) and they sent the on-call dude around to check it out. He tried to tell us that we'd done something to the loo (turning purple and resisting the urge to go totally mental) and that no, he couldn't possibly arrange another room becuase there were nonr available in the same price range that we'd paid for. (So give us an upgrade, dick head!) We'd just have to contact Reception in the morning.
We managed to get my blood pressure back to normal and sleep the sleep of the currently-innocent-but-will-be-guilty-of-something-soon-if-that-dude-comes-back.
Day 10:
We started out early to Kingston to cath the aptry-names Kingston Flyer steam train. The rain & fog were pretty bad, as was the driving of the campervan in front of us, so the trip out of town took almost 45 mins. We arrived with about 10 minutes to spare, which really cut into the planned Geek Photo time.
The trip was quite pleasant - 30 minutes to ... the other end of the line, check out the gift shop, then 30 minutes back to Kingston. Himself talked his way into the engone for the ride back, lots of TG fun.
We came back to the motel and reamed out the reception chicky, who gave us an upgraded room. (Poor girl. She didn't have much choice).
At the moment, we're wandering around the main Queenstown mall, checking stuff out and generally having fun. Tonights is posh dinner on the Earnslaw Steam Boat, and we've booked Jet Boating for tomorrow.
Got to go, I hope we haven't received a parking fine...
Himself and I are in beautiful Queenstown, and my my, isn't it a tourist town! Lots to tell you about...
Day 9 cont.
We drove from Te Anau to Manapuri and caught another cruise ferry to the Manapuri underground power station. The cruise was very beautiful (as was the whole fjordland region. And the whole South Island, so far!) across Lake Manapuri. It was really breezy, so we stayed inside all the way over without any nasty (pukey) side-effects.
Life on the "other" side of the lake was pretty amazing. There is one road (only) going from Lake Manapuri, into the power station, and linking up with Doubtful Sound (another ex-glacier. Much like an ex-parrot, it's still pining for the fjord!). There are no other roads. The one road does not link up to any other road. No roads. (Seeing the pattern?) The only way to get to this part of the world is by boat/ship/water vessel.
We took the tour bus into the power station. It's apparently pretty unique, because instead of damming rivers to make a hydro-electric power station, instead they've diverted water from the lake (heaps above sea-level, can't remember the exact amount), drilled massive holes so it can "drop" and use it to turn turbines, power generators, etc, at almost-sea level. The water all ends up in Doubtful Sound as it would have anyway and runs out to the sea.
The bus goes into a big tube and spirals down for about 2km to where the power-crating bits are kept. We got to see the last of the 7 generators being re-built - kind-of like rebuilding a car engine, but costing about $9 million. It was kinda cool to see the old and new turbines - these things take some punnishment!
Back to Manapuri town, and we turned up the funky tunes to drive to Queenstown. It got progressively colder and more snowy as we drove north-ish. We saw where the Kingston Flyer train started and ended and travelled around the lake to Queenstown. A few "Honey, please drive with BOTH hands on the wheel" queasy moments, but only due to the massive amounts of rain and fog. We arrived at our motel, settled in, and drove into the main town area for dinner. No-one working in any of the restaurants was an actual kiwi - lots of English, Scottish and Irish accents!
Arriving back at the motel, we found a few interesting things that needed a call to the night receptionist, being:
* The toilet would not flush (v. bad)
* The coat hooks fell off the wall when I tried to hang my coat (bad)
* The kitchen cupboard handle fell off when I opened the cupboard (bad)
* The bathroom door handle was broken (continuing to be bad - pretty annoyed by this point!)
* No reception number provided with the phone (smoke coming out of ears...)
We finally managed to contact a night receptionist (someone working at a totally different place, just taking messages! Grr!) and they sent the on-call dude around to check it out. He tried to tell us that we'd done something to the loo (turning purple and resisting the urge to go totally mental) and that no, he couldn't possibly arrange another room becuase there were nonr available in the same price range that we'd paid for. (So give us an upgrade, dick head!) We'd just have to contact Reception in the morning.
We managed to get my blood pressure back to normal and sleep the sleep of the currently-innocent-but-will-be-guilty-of-something-soon-if-that-dude-comes-back.
Day 10:
We started out early to Kingston to cath the aptry-names Kingston Flyer steam train. The rain & fog were pretty bad, as was the driving of the campervan in front of us, so the trip out of town took almost 45 mins. We arrived with about 10 minutes to spare, which really cut into the planned Geek Photo time.
The trip was quite pleasant - 30 minutes to ... the other end of the line, check out the gift shop, then 30 minutes back to Kingston. Himself talked his way into the engone for the ride back, lots of TG fun.
We came back to the motel and reamed out the reception chicky, who gave us an upgraded room. (Poor girl. She didn't have much choice).
At the moment, we're wandering around the main Queenstown mall, checking stuff out and generally having fun. Tonights is posh dinner on the Earnslaw Steam Boat, and we've booked Jet Boating for tomorrow.
Got to go, I hope we haven't received a parking fine...
Monday 22 October 2007
Holiday Part 3
Greetings all,
Things continue to be lots of fun here in NZ - last night saw some serious storms in this part of the world, so it's perfect hot chocolate weather.
Day 7:
When we'd plotted out our trip, we'd originally planned to go from Dunedin to Queenstown, then to Te Anau and Milford sound. Our B&B dude suggested that instead of this, we go straight to Te Anau which was pretty good advice, so here we are. After a few last minute stops in Dunedin, the trip to Te Anau near the west coast was stunningly beautiful. We got here with heaps of time to spare, so booked into a motel and had a wander. It's a tourist town, no doubt about it. We had to hire some snow chains for the Milford Road, and we were a bit worried there would still be avalanches as a result of the earthquakes and snow melt, but the latest road reports were clear.
Dinner was at the local pub, Sunday lamb roast (yummy).
Day 8:
We set out VERY early to Milford Sound. The Lonely Planet had suggested an early start to avoid the tour buses, which turned out to be really good advice. It was the first not-raining not-foggy day in a month! The road was really beautiful, and we didn't have to stop and put the snow chains on or stop for any avalanches, thank goodness.
Milford is so beautiful, I don't really know how to describe it. You'll all just have to come here one day. We hopped on a tour of the sound (which is really a fjord. Good thing - I was pining for a good fjord!) which was really, REALLY cool. It took about 3 hours, but it seemed to go by in about 10 minutes. The mountains rise up straight out of the sea, and you can watch the waterfalls coming down next to the boat and trace them all the way back up to the snow-tipped caps.
The only time I spent away from the top deck of the boat was when we had to do a U-turn in the Tasman sea - up until that point the gentle boat rocking had been quite soothing. 5 minutes and a cup of tea later and I was yet again front-and-centre watching the action. I DID miss the bottle-nosed dolphin that was tracking the boat/ship/vessel, bummer. However, we saw more of the fur seals in the sound, as well as some Fiordland Crested Penguins - so cute!
We drove more slowly back into town, stopping (it seemed like) every 30 metres to take more photos. (Slide night date to be advised!) Then followed a quiet evening!
Day 9:
Today we're heading to a cruise to the Manapuri underground power station, and then on to Queenstown.
Things I Haven't Talked About Yet:
* Ottago Settlers Museum in Dunedin is really cool, free to enter, and quite impressive for a regional museum. Gives a great history of the area without being too boring, annoying, patronising. Lots of old cars on display, as well as the first Dunedin steam train Josephine (Himself was in geek heaven).
* Every single petrol station we've been to in New Zealand has had driveway service. I love it! They come out, fill your car, wash the windscreen, check the oil & water, it's great! Bring it back in Oz, I say.
* I haven't been to any wool shops yet, but we've done heaps of train things. This balance is soon to shift, I assure you.
* My darling sister, you REALLY NEED TO CALL MY HOUSE-SITTER. Honest.
I haven't heard anything about my interview yet, so fingers crossed...
She Says.
Things continue to be lots of fun here in NZ - last night saw some serious storms in this part of the world, so it's perfect hot chocolate weather.
Day 7:
When we'd plotted out our trip, we'd originally planned to go from Dunedin to Queenstown, then to Te Anau and Milford sound. Our B&B dude suggested that instead of this, we go straight to Te Anau which was pretty good advice, so here we are. After a few last minute stops in Dunedin, the trip to Te Anau near the west coast was stunningly beautiful. We got here with heaps of time to spare, so booked into a motel and had a wander. It's a tourist town, no doubt about it. We had to hire some snow chains for the Milford Road, and we were a bit worried there would still be avalanches as a result of the earthquakes and snow melt, but the latest road reports were clear.
Dinner was at the local pub, Sunday lamb roast (yummy).
Day 8:
We set out VERY early to Milford Sound. The Lonely Planet had suggested an early start to avoid the tour buses, which turned out to be really good advice. It was the first not-raining not-foggy day in a month! The road was really beautiful, and we didn't have to stop and put the snow chains on or stop for any avalanches, thank goodness.
Milford is so beautiful, I don't really know how to describe it. You'll all just have to come here one day. We hopped on a tour of the sound (which is really a fjord. Good thing - I was pining for a good fjord!) which was really, REALLY cool. It took about 3 hours, but it seemed to go by in about 10 minutes. The mountains rise up straight out of the sea, and you can watch the waterfalls coming down next to the boat and trace them all the way back up to the snow-tipped caps.
The only time I spent away from the top deck of the boat was when we had to do a U-turn in the Tasman sea - up until that point the gentle boat rocking had been quite soothing. 5 minutes and a cup of tea later and I was yet again front-and-centre watching the action. I DID miss the bottle-nosed dolphin that was tracking the boat/ship/vessel, bummer. However, we saw more of the fur seals in the sound, as well as some Fiordland Crested Penguins - so cute!
We drove more slowly back into town, stopping (it seemed like) every 30 metres to take more photos. (Slide night date to be advised!) Then followed a quiet evening!
Day 9:
Today we're heading to a cruise to the Manapuri underground power station, and then on to Queenstown.
Things I Haven't Talked About Yet:
* Ottago Settlers Museum in Dunedin is really cool, free to enter, and quite impressive for a regional museum. Gives a great history of the area without being too boring, annoying, patronising. Lots of old cars on display, as well as the first Dunedin steam train Josephine (Himself was in geek heaven).
* Every single petrol station we've been to in New Zealand has had driveway service. I love it! They come out, fill your car, wash the windscreen, check the oil & water, it's great! Bring it back in Oz, I say.
* I haven't been to any wool shops yet, but we've done heaps of train things. This balance is soon to shift, I assure you.
* My darling sister, you REALLY NEED TO CALL MY HOUSE-SITTER. Honest.
I haven't heard anything about my interview yet, so fingers crossed...
She Says.
Saturday 20 October 2007
Holiday Part 2
Hi guys!
Hope you're all doing well. We're still having a fab time, and we don't miss you at all. Well, very much, anyway.
Here's the goss so far:
Day 5:
Taieri Gorge day. We left the B&B VERY early in the morning to arrive at the (gorgeous) Dunedin train station. Very early. Himself did his train-geek thing, taking photos etc. before we hopped on board the train to Middlemarch. Apparently the line we were on used to be in commercial use, but got closed when a rather large damn flooded it out.
It was actually quite a pleasant trip - there was lots of standing-outside-on-in-the-fresh-air-watching-the-world-go-whizzing-by. Some of the areas we travelled through were incredibly beautiful. We also got to walk over one of the (many) viaducts - for train geeks this is almost a religious experience. Himself got into trouble for taking lots of geek photos and none of the gorgeous-girlfriend variety. Grr.
Lunch was supposed to be at Middlemarch, but due to the pub bistro being useless it ended up up being eaten back on the train. I did receive a lovely message from my lovely boss (who is probably reading this message - big S, I luv ya work!) saying that after doing my job for the past 2.5 years, I've finally been transferred back into it. Hurrah! For me, this means that I don't ever have to go back and work for the evil skank who makes every one's lives miserable. Karma WILL be a bitch!
The trip back into Dunedin was nice, and I got chatting to some oyster farmers from the Bay of Islands and learned more about oyster spawning than I ever would have thought possible. I'll never look at a Kilpatrick the same way again.
Speights Tour.
After returning to Dunedin, we went to the Jerusalem of the South, the Speights Beer Brewery. People here take their Speights VERY seriously. The tour guide was a big booming man (who spoke in the previously-mentioned tour operator sing-song, but VERY loudly) who seems to love his work. The tour was okay by She Says standards - lots of enthusiasm, very little actual content.
We went to the Brewhouse next door for dinner, and frankly, it was really disappointing. The food was great, but it's difficult to enjoy a meal when the cutlery is grotty and the dumb blond waitress is, well, a dumb blond. Besides, we were both so full of beer that we couldn't eat much anyway.
It did make me think - I REALLY have missed my calling as a food critic. If only so I can leave little business cards in restaurants saying "You've been visited by [insert cool food critic name here]" to freak them out. Now that I'm a total blog addict, maybe I should start a food blog...
After dinner we wandered around a bit, and found a little cafe on the Dunedin Octagon. Hot chocolate, gas heaters, loud students and a shared couple crossword were the order of business, and then we went to see Perfect Creature, a new vampire-esque film shot in Dunedin. Three stars from She Says.
Day 6:
We started out today with a tour at Cadbury World. Fun and chocolate-y though it was, I would really recommend that next time we go, we try to do the full factory-is-operating version, and preferably NOT on the same day as a huge cruise ship comes to town. Following american pensioners up and down sets of stairs was slightly less than ideal. We made it out of the gift shop only $10 worse off.
Then followed a drive around the Dunedin area - first to Lanarch Castle. It's such a funny place - the buildings and grounds are really beautiful, the commentary bordering on lascivious, and then you realise that the whole ting was build on borrowed money that was never repaid by the dodgy bastard who was on a total ego trip in building it in the first place. The infighting between he and his children and his three wives is pretty amusing. [Especially when you find out that the eldest son and wife #3 were suspected of being... shall we say, close?]
We kept driving out to the coast, and went on a really cool wildlife tour. On old army land, the wildlife world place is a self-imposed protected area. Apparently (and I haven't checked) it's the western-most spot of the southern island, one of only 8 breeding grounds of the highly-endangered yellow-eyed penguin, and one of the few protected seal colonies for NZ fur seals.
We got to stand about 1 metre away from fur seal pups that are only about 10 months old, and they are so beautiful. They lie back and look at you the same was a cat would, throwing their necks back as if to say "worship me". The urge to try and scratch their tummies is really strong. We saw a blue penguin nesting on its eggs, and saw (and smelled) a dominant male fur seal from about 1.5 metres away. They are really amazing animals, I'm still in awe.
We drove all of the way around to the other side of Dunedin Harbour and saw the visiting cruise ship and the docks. Very beautiful.
Dinner tonight is in some sort of converted tram...
Hope you're all doing well. We're still having a fab time, and we don't miss you at all. Well, very much, anyway.
Here's the goss so far:
Day 5:
Taieri Gorge day. We left the B&B VERY early in the morning to arrive at the (gorgeous) Dunedin train station. Very early. Himself did his train-geek thing, taking photos etc. before we hopped on board the train to Middlemarch. Apparently the line we were on used to be in commercial use, but got closed when a rather large damn flooded it out.
It was actually quite a pleasant trip - there was lots of standing-outside-on-in-the-fresh-air-watching-the-world-go-whizzing-by. Some of the areas we travelled through were incredibly beautiful. We also got to walk over one of the (many) viaducts - for train geeks this is almost a religious experience. Himself got into trouble for taking lots of geek photos and none of the gorgeous-girlfriend variety. Grr.
Lunch was supposed to be at Middlemarch, but due to the pub bistro being useless it ended up up being eaten back on the train. I did receive a lovely message from my lovely boss (who is probably reading this message - big S, I luv ya work!) saying that after doing my job for the past 2.5 years, I've finally been transferred back into it. Hurrah! For me, this means that I don't ever have to go back and work for the evil skank who makes every one's lives miserable. Karma WILL be a bitch!
The trip back into Dunedin was nice, and I got chatting to some oyster farmers from the Bay of Islands and learned more about oyster spawning than I ever would have thought possible. I'll never look at a Kilpatrick the same way again.
Speights Tour.
After returning to Dunedin, we went to the Jerusalem of the South, the Speights Beer Brewery. People here take their Speights VERY seriously. The tour guide was a big booming man (who spoke in the previously-mentioned tour operator sing-song, but VERY loudly) who seems to love his work. The tour was okay by She Says standards - lots of enthusiasm, very little actual content.
We went to the Brewhouse next door for dinner, and frankly, it was really disappointing. The food was great, but it's difficult to enjoy a meal when the cutlery is grotty and the dumb blond waitress is, well, a dumb blond. Besides, we were both so full of beer that we couldn't eat much anyway.
It did make me think - I REALLY have missed my calling as a food critic. If only so I can leave little business cards in restaurants saying "You've been visited by [insert cool food critic name here]" to freak them out. Now that I'm a total blog addict, maybe I should start a food blog...
After dinner we wandered around a bit, and found a little cafe on the Dunedin Octagon. Hot chocolate, gas heaters, loud students and a shared couple crossword were the order of business, and then we went to see Perfect Creature, a new vampire-esque film shot in Dunedin. Three stars from She Says.
Day 6:
We started out today with a tour at Cadbury World. Fun and chocolate-y though it was, I would really recommend that next time we go, we try to do the full factory-is-operating version, and preferably NOT on the same day as a huge cruise ship comes to town. Following american pensioners up and down sets of stairs was slightly less than ideal. We made it out of the gift shop only $10 worse off.
Then followed a drive around the Dunedin area - first to Lanarch Castle. It's such a funny place - the buildings and grounds are really beautiful, the commentary bordering on lascivious, and then you realise that the whole ting was build on borrowed money that was never repaid by the dodgy bastard who was on a total ego trip in building it in the first place. The infighting between he and his children and his three wives is pretty amusing. [Especially when you find out that the eldest son and wife #3 were suspected of being... shall we say, close?]
We kept driving out to the coast, and went on a really cool wildlife tour. On old army land, the wildlife world place is a self-imposed protected area. Apparently (and I haven't checked) it's the western-most spot of the southern island, one of only 8 breeding grounds of the highly-endangered yellow-eyed penguin, and one of the few protected seal colonies for NZ fur seals.
We got to stand about 1 metre away from fur seal pups that are only about 10 months old, and they are so beautiful. They lie back and look at you the same was a cat would, throwing their necks back as if to say "worship me". The urge to try and scratch their tummies is really strong. We saw a blue penguin nesting on its eggs, and saw (and smelled) a dominant male fur seal from about 1.5 metres away. They are really amazing animals, I'm still in awe.
We drove all of the way around to the other side of Dunedin Harbour and saw the visiting cruise ship and the docks. Very beautiful.
Dinner tonight is in some sort of converted tram...
Thursday 18 October 2007
Day 4 cont.
Hi all,
We've arrived in Dunedin, had a very pleasant trip. The highlight was stopping to look at some round rocks.
No sign of earthquake damages yet.
We've arrived in Dunedin, had a very pleasant trip. The highlight was stopping to look at some round rocks.
No sign of earthquake damages yet.
Wednesday 17 October 2007
Holiday Part 1
Hello all,
I'm writing to you from Day 4 of Helen and Mike's Magical Mystery Tour through the South Island of New Zealand.
Day 1:
We left home horribly early on Monday, arrived at Sydney airport, did the usual Duty-Free shopping (We're running out of space for our alcohol collection at home - help!) and had breakfast at the Qantas club - highly recommended! Mike narrowly avoided being fisted by a lovely man in Customs, but got away with just taking off his shoes instead.
The diabetic meal on board was it's usual bland blechy baby food, and we were squished into the centre aisle just in front of the projector screen. Helen got neck strain and an icky headache from watch the close-ups of Catherine Zeta-Jones' nostrils.
Arrival in Christchurch was fine, we picked up our car and drove to our Christchurch accommodation, a cute little motel on the edge of the city. We went for a wander through the city, found a sports bar in an old movie theatre, went on the tram around the city, and general had some fun. We found a Speight's Ale House (VERY similar to James Squire locations in Sydney) about 2 blocks away from our motel, so we were forced to sample their wares and stayed for dinner too.
Day 2:
Went to explore Christchurch. We went on a punt through the city with a charming English lad doing the punting. The ducklings were VERY cute! Then to Viaduct for morning tea, and frove out to the gondolas - a sky ride to the top of one of the port hills. An easy ride going up and everything was very beautiful. The Time Travel ride was a complete joke - glad I didn't spent anything on it! Riding down the gondolas was interesting - the wind picked up and it was pretty gusty.
We drove on to Lyttleton, where Chirstchurch's main commercial port is located. It's a cute little village and very worth a wander. The Pilgrim's Rock was funny - a rock with the 1850s equivalent of "We Woz 'Ere" carved into it.
Then bck to the city. We stopped at the train station - firstly to check times for the next day's trip, but also becuase I had a job interview via phone from Australia, so I needed somewhere quiet. The interview went well (I think. I hope), then back to the motel to chill out.
Dinner was at Spagellini's (sic), a fab gourmet pizza place in Victoria Street. The chicken & cranberry pizza was great, as were the cocktails. Another cocktail menu to add to our collection!
Day 3: [Warning - contains Helen being ill]
TranzAlpine Day! We'd already checked our times, so we were out the door and at the train station early. It wasn't until the train was running, however, that were told that the storms the night before had washed out part of the track, and that the trip from Arthur's Pass to Greymouth would be by bus.
All of you who know me weel would be aware of my splatter-spread childhood of motion sickness, and my splattered-history of bus travel. However, the only other choice was to sit in Arthur's Pass for 4 hours...
The bus to Greymouth started okay. 2 hours later, however, and I was NOT feeling well. We made it to Greymouth - just, and the cool air really helped. A quick visit to the chemist for motion-sickness tablets, then lunch at a great little place called the Smelter Cafe - appreantly the owner/manager/assistant cook is a nutritionalist, and the food was great. Briefly, anyway...
Back on the bus, and I tried to have a nap. Mike struck up conversations with both the train manager and one of the drivers. I managed to sleep until the actual trip through the new road on Arthur's Pass. The most steep and winding part of the road trip.
Back at the train station, and it was time for Helen to do the psychadelic yawn in the only place there was moving air - the garden next to the train station. Also next to the train carriage we were then to travel on. I got some odd looks.
I managed to sleep most of the way back on the train, and kept it together back to Christchurch. Mike had to drive back to the motel where we chilled out a bit.
Dinner was at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Christchurch city, the drinks list included one of my all-time favourite beers, the Boon lambic range. Reminder to self - track down someone in Australia who can import this stuff, it's great! Their Belgian Beer cocktail list will make a nice addition to the collection.
Day 4:
Today we're still in Christchurch, and will be travelling to Dunedin after we do some shopping. Silly me, I didn't think I'd need thermals at this time of year. Fortunately there's a Kathmandu factory shop nearby. We're detouring via Ashcurton for some train-lovin' fun, and staying at a B&B in High Street in Dunedin.
Helen's Thought On Travelling:
1. Always have motion sick tablets on hand. You WILL need them.
2. Always take warmer clothes than you think you will require. You WILL need them.
3. Take a good book (reading or crossword) for those train-geek photo stops. You WILL need it.
4. Use a healthy amount of scepticism when listening to tour operators. The sing-song voice they all seem to use means that they could (and do) say anything and make it sound credible.
More as it is available!
She Says.
I'm writing to you from Day 4 of Helen and Mike's Magical Mystery Tour through the South Island of New Zealand.
Day 1:
We left home horribly early on Monday, arrived at Sydney airport, did the usual Duty-Free shopping (We're running out of space for our alcohol collection at home - help!) and had breakfast at the Qantas club - highly recommended! Mike narrowly avoided being fisted by a lovely man in Customs, but got away with just taking off his shoes instead.
The diabetic meal on board was it's usual bland blechy baby food, and we were squished into the centre aisle just in front of the projector screen. Helen got neck strain and an icky headache from watch the close-ups of Catherine Zeta-Jones' nostrils.
Arrival in Christchurch was fine, we picked up our car and drove to our Christchurch accommodation, a cute little motel on the edge of the city. We went for a wander through the city, found a sports bar in an old movie theatre, went on the tram around the city, and general had some fun. We found a Speight's Ale House (VERY similar to James Squire locations in Sydney) about 2 blocks away from our motel, so we were forced to sample their wares and stayed for dinner too.
Day 2:
Went to explore Christchurch. We went on a punt through the city with a charming English lad doing the punting. The ducklings were VERY cute! Then to Viaduct for morning tea, and frove out to the gondolas - a sky ride to the top of one of the port hills. An easy ride going up and everything was very beautiful. The Time Travel ride was a complete joke - glad I didn't spent anything on it! Riding down the gondolas was interesting - the wind picked up and it was pretty gusty.
We drove on to Lyttleton, where Chirstchurch's main commercial port is located. It's a cute little village and very worth a wander. The Pilgrim's Rock was funny - a rock with the 1850s equivalent of "We Woz 'Ere" carved into it.
Then bck to the city. We stopped at the train station - firstly to check times for the next day's trip, but also becuase I had a job interview via phone from Australia, so I needed somewhere quiet. The interview went well (I think. I hope), then back to the motel to chill out.
Dinner was at Spagellini's (sic), a fab gourmet pizza place in Victoria Street. The chicken & cranberry pizza was great, as were the cocktails. Another cocktail menu to add to our collection!
Day 3: [Warning - contains Helen being ill]
TranzAlpine Day! We'd already checked our times, so we were out the door and at the train station early. It wasn't until the train was running, however, that were told that the storms the night before had washed out part of the track, and that the trip from Arthur's Pass to Greymouth would be by bus.
All of you who know me weel would be aware of my splatter-spread childhood of motion sickness, and my splattered-history of bus travel. However, the only other choice was to sit in Arthur's Pass for 4 hours...
The bus to Greymouth started okay. 2 hours later, however, and I was NOT feeling well. We made it to Greymouth - just, and the cool air really helped. A quick visit to the chemist for motion-sickness tablets, then lunch at a great little place called the Smelter Cafe - appreantly the owner/manager/assistant cook is a nutritionalist, and the food was great. Briefly, anyway...
Back on the bus, and I tried to have a nap. Mike struck up conversations with both the train manager and one of the drivers. I managed to sleep until the actual trip through the new road on Arthur's Pass. The most steep and winding part of the road trip.
Back at the train station, and it was time for Helen to do the psychadelic yawn in the only place there was moving air - the garden next to the train station. Also next to the train carriage we were then to travel on. I got some odd looks.
I managed to sleep most of the way back on the train, and kept it together back to Christchurch. Mike had to drive back to the motel where we chilled out a bit.
Dinner was at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Christchurch city, the drinks list included one of my all-time favourite beers, the Boon lambic range. Reminder to self - track down someone in Australia who can import this stuff, it's great! Their Belgian Beer cocktail list will make a nice addition to the collection.
Day 4:
Today we're still in Christchurch, and will be travelling to Dunedin after we do some shopping. Silly me, I didn't think I'd need thermals at this time of year. Fortunately there's a Kathmandu factory shop nearby. We're detouring via Ashcurton for some train-lovin' fun, and staying at a B&B in High Street in Dunedin.
Helen's Thought On Travelling:
1. Always have motion sick tablets on hand. You WILL need them.
2. Always take warmer clothes than you think you will require. You WILL need them.
3. Take a good book (reading or crossword) for those train-geek photo stops. You WILL need it.
4. Use a healthy amount of scepticism when listening to tour operators. The sing-song voice they all seem to use means that they could (and do) say anything and make it sound credible.
More as it is available!
She Says.
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