TTFN Tasmania

It's my last night in Tasmania! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. Lisa and Jon have been the ultimate tour guides, packing a dizzying amount of activities and sightseeing into a week. I think they may have found new vocations! It's been amazing.

We went off to the Fresinet National park on Saturday, which sits up on the East coast of Tasmania. While there we visited wine glass bay, a stunning inlet that is shaped like..... a wine glass!

Getting to the best views of the bay involves a hardy 40 minute slog up hill. Getting to the beach itself means a very steep, knee jolting clamber downhill. However, it is well worth it. The sand is pale golden and the sea is azure blue. There was even a wallaby on the beach.

After a rest in the shade, we set off on the Hazards circuit. From leaving the carpark, to rounding the cliff and back was just over a wobbly, incline of 11km. It took us 5 hours, including photo stops, food breaks and jaw dropping scenery gazing. It was bloody brilliant. Hazard beach was one, long glorious expanse of sand. With just us on it. (Except for the one wandering backpacker). We even stopped and had a picnic of beef jerky and nuts on a large prominent slab of red granite, gazing out to sea as we soaked up the sun.

Once finished, we headed off to Fresinet Lodge for a very tasty meal (I had a rather delicious seafood green curry) and then Jon drove us over to Bisheno Bay. On the way, we saw possums! Super cute. We stayed in a fab little 1970s style lodge. I don't think it was intentionally styled that way though!

The next morning, I woke up to a wallaby sat outside my window!

We then visited the Bisheno blow hole, a fantastic fissure in the rocks where the sea squeezes inand explodes in a fountain of water. This is one of Tasmania's great tourist attractions. It was Monday and there were about 8 other people. Brilliant!

Off to the Bay of Fires next. Called because of the native aboriginal fires that were seen by the early settlers off the coast. However, the amazingly coloured red granite rocks could also lend themselves well to the name. The stretch of coastline is made up of several small bays, carved out like a bite from an apple. We visited several of the bays, all with the most terrifically white sand. It was so fine, almost like caster sugar. On one stupifyingly beautiful beach, which we had to get to by climbing through thigh high grass, the sand was so fine, it squeaked. Actually squeaked as I walked barefoot. I loved it.

On the way back, we stopped off in Ross for a cuppa and a custard slice. Ross is a rather British styled village, with an interesting bakery. Apparently, the bakery was used in an anime film, and since then has become incredibly popular on the Japanese tourist circuit!

After the two hour drive back, we finished the day off at a pub quiz!

My last day has been spent, with glorious sunshine, at Port Arthur. This was a large prison factory, where repeat offenders were sent to work and complete their sentences. It was a sobering visit, but incredibly interesting, especially the Seperate Prison. This was a terrible space, designed to cause psychological harm by seperating and isolating prisoners. They would spend six months in silent isolation, where even the guards communicated in sign language.

It is a unique sight, as shortly after the closing of the prison,it was quickly realised that the location was becoming a tourist attraction. The 1927 film 'For the term of his natural life',based on the memoirs of one of the prisoners was actually filmed at Fort Arthur.

This remarkable day has been topped off by tea at a friend of Lisa and Jon's. Robin is house sitting the most wonderful three story house, which has tremendous views over Sandy Bay and Hobart. Stunning. With several other of Lisa and Jon's friends we ate chilli and drank home made cider. Perfect!

I am now packed and ready to leave Hobart, birthplace of Errol Flynn! What an amazing and incredibly jam packed week. Thank you Jon and Lisa!

Fish n chips and pub history

This evening, Lisa and I booked on to a historical walk of Hobart's seafront area, taking in a few interesting historical pubs. It told of the bawdry recent past of the town and how much the area had changed in less than 200 years. From a densley forested natural harbour, to reclaiming land to the first settlers, the majority of whom were convicts.

It was of great amusement to Jon however that two of the pubs we visited were the ones we'd actually gone to last night. Ha ha! The tour was very interesting though. However, one couple brought their young kids, which I thought quite odd considering the tour was advertised as taking in the bawdry, tawdry past of Hobart. Mind, when the young boy asked his mum what a brothel was, and she responded "It's where the prostitutes worked", he didn't bat an eyelid.

After the tour we had a look around the beautifully reproduced ship 'Endeavour', which arrived in the harbour today. Sadly it was closed, but it was pretty impressive from the harbour side.

And then, fish and chips! I had blue grenadier fish, a deep sea fish, like hake, in a tasty crispy batter from Mures, a well known Hobart fish restaurant. Mmmmmmm delicious! I hadn't realised that fish and chips was an Australian national dish. They do it rather well!

Salamanca Market

Hobart has a market and arts area with the best sounding name.... Salamanca. It has a bond villain edge to it!

This morning, after much needed tea, toast and cereal, we wandered down to the market via the waterfront and the Antartic Research Centre (there really is something for everyone here). We even saw a baby albatross, which was about the size of a large crow. Speaking of crows.... the ones here make the weirdest noises. They sound drunk.

Salamanca market is huge! It has hundreds of stalls selling a huge variety of Aussie goodness including food, jewellery, honey, photography, bags, clothes and.... tea! I bought some presents and some Australian chai tea, Tasmania Lavendar tea and Mt.Wellington tea. Lovely.

I also tasted the most amazing lamb pitta type kebab from a Persian stall. It contained approximately half a lamb and I probably won't need anymore food until tomorrow.

Or maybe tea time.

The best way to clear a pub?

Own a pub and want to close up and get rid of your customers? Play Phil Collins at full blast! Genius. The pub was empty in 5 minutes! (Almost forgot this!) Although, secretly.... Phil Collins? Not so bad!

Every last ounce of Hobart!

Yesterday was an incredibly jam packed day! Totally non stop. Jon and Lisa make very good tour guides.

By lunchtime we had visited the Cascade Gardens, the Cascade brewery, met a stuffed Tasmanian Tiger and visited the very moving female convicts prison.

Cascades brewery has been producing beers since 1824 and the rather impressive golden stoned building wouldn't look out of place in Yorkshire. It was rather too early to taste the beers so we settled for coffeess over looking the sunny Victorian cascades gardens.

We then went to the Female Convicts Prison and took the 'Her Story' tour. This was an incredibly moving and emersive story of one female prisoners story, performed by two actors. The prisoner had been sent over to Australia for stealing a piece of silk, and as we walked around the large empty space of the prison walls, she explained to us the day to day hardships that she endured. As it was only the three of us and the two actors, it was very easy to become involved in the story. I felt very moved. At this point, it was very bright and sunny and I had to put my sunglasses on.

It was quite a different experience as after the performance the actors resumed their normal voices and were quite happy to stand and answer any questions we had. In fact, the two museum staff, Daniel and Claire also did the same, explaining many facts and figures of Tasmania's convict past.

It was then time for a trip up Mount Wellington, which stands over Hobart and the surrounding area and really doesn't look that big from down below. However, I am clearly not very good at gaging the size of mountains as it is in fact 1270 metres high! As we set off up the windy 22km road, the sun was shining and the skies were blue. The road we took had actually been hewn out of the rock during the great depression in the 1920s and 30s as a way of providing much needed work. As we stopped off at a midway point, we could just see the coastline stretching off towards the horizon. We could also see what looked like a rather dark rain cloud moving in from the sea. By the time we reached the top, the cloud was moving slowly in towards us. I was so glad that I'd been advised to bring lots of warm clothes as it was freezing! Within minutes, it was also snowing! Brilliant! Luckily we'd just had enough time to see the incredible views before the snow and hail clouds arrived, obscuring the landscape and throwing needle sharp hail at us.

As we drove back down the road, everything became covered in the lovely white stuff.

By the time we got back to Hobart, it was raining. So we went to a fantastic little tea shop called 'The Way of Tea'. Heaven. We were given a book of different teas to choose from. Brilliant! Live music as we walkedin, shelves full of large tea canisters, a bewildering choice of teas and excellent company.Perfect! Then, to make it even better, we had bento boxes with sashimi.....and the sun came out! I chose to have a flowering blossom tea, which was served in such a pretty glass teapot.

Following the great tea experience, we went back to Battery Point where I was introduced to a lovely little cafe, Jackman and McRoss where we had killer cakes (huge cakes!) and.....more tea! Hurrah! This was topped off with a quick tour of Arthur's Circus, the most amazingly picturesque circle of chocolate box cottages, with a little 'English green' in the centre.

A quick trip back to get changed and then off out to meet some of Jon and Lisa's lovely friends. A few drinks in a mixture of pubs and bars, one of which provided free, yes free, food. A plate of well needed sausage rolls. This pub, Preachers, also had an eclectic mix of old vinyls scattered around, including one by the late, great Harry Secombe. Plus, some rather fine artwork by a local artist. Before finishing the night, we popped to a 24 hour bakery and bought pies. Shepherds pie at midnight. What a brilliant way to finish off a top day!!

One of the houses in Arthur's Circus...

Exploring Tasmania and meeting a wallaby

Yesterday, we went exploring one of the local National Parks; Mount Field.

This was about an hours drive away from Hobart itself and took in some beautiful countryside. I am starting to think that Beautiful may be a slightly over used word, but I can't stop using it!

Mount Field has been a national park since 1916, when the surrounding area must have still been fairly inhospitable. I am starting to gain great respect for Victorian and Edwardian explorers and tourists coming to the area.

We meandered through the temperate rainforest for about 3 hours, taking in Russell Falls; Horseshoe Falls; the Tall Trees and Lady Barron Falls. I think the word of the day for me may well have simply been 'wow'.

However, most excitedly, I saw my first ever wallabys (besides the large flat one at the side of the road that morning). One skipped across the forest path, while another sat under the trees, washing itself and looking rather cute, cuddly and pretty!

Some of the trees in the forest, the eucalyptus, are amongst the tallest in the world, after the great Redwoods. As there are no termites in Tasmania, hardly any of the fallen trees, branches and bark is broken down and much of it stays on the forest floor for years. This makes for an eerie and tangled environment with huge, uprooted trees creating strange cave like areas.

The waterfalls were equally impressive......

We then headed to Lake Dobson, which was much higher up and very cold! The landscape changed dramatically as we moved higher up the national park, with the trees becoming much more sparse and the scrub becoming bleak and gorse like. It looked quite alien! Jon and Lisa then took me to see the Pandanni Grove, which ran alongside the side of the lake. It was like walking amongst Triffids!

I had hoped to see wombats as we were apparently in the perfect environment for them. We did see the rather cuboid wombat poo though, so they weren't too far away!!....

Homely Hobart

It's now Friday and I have been in Hobart for 4 days and I am loving it!

Jon and Lisa have made me feel so welcome. They even bought me chilli tea!

The view from their kitchen window takes in Sandy Bay Harbour and the hillside leading up to the impressive Mount Wellington. Their house is part of an old Victorian clapboard villa, split into 3 residences, with the most impressive sound proofing.

Battery Point itself is an old maritime village that takes its name from the 1818 gun battery set up to defend Hobart, but never used. The village is full of exciting little streets and alley ways' cafes and cottages and stunning views of the mountains.

Here is a view of one of the lovely little streets:

Wednesday, we explored the Salamanca art galleries on the waterfront, followed by a walk into the main part of the city centre. I have wanted to buy some merino icebreaker clothes since getting here and as Jon and Lisa needed to visit some outward bound shops, I thought this would be a great time to buy some. Ha ha! I shall be waiting until I get home! They are rather more expensive here, close to the home of the Merino sheep farmers, than back in the UK. However, on a more exciting note, Jon and Lisa managed to order some backpacks for their tremendous 2 month trip to Japan, China, Cambodia and Vietnam, which they head off on in 3 weeks time!

Tea in Salamenca.....

Braided Rivers

My very useful tablet pc won't let me finish the last post! Braided Rivers are found in only 3 places in the world. New Zealand, Alaska and the Himalayas.Apparently, the smaller streams change their courses across the gravel regularly.

I miss New Zealand already! We are off to look around Hobart today. It's a bit overcast but I am so looking forward to exploring. With all the foodshops I think I may end up a little heavier by the end of the week

Tasmania at last!

I am in Tasmania! It was so lovely to be met at the airport by Jon and Lisa. I was so excited! They live in a gorgeous colonial style area of Hobart called Battery Point. It's so pretty. That sounds like a very boring way to describe it, but it is very pretty. It reminds me of the old 'Murder she wrote' series - Cabbot Cove; clapboard houses painted pastel colours with porches out the front surrounded by roses and white picket fences. Really! It's very Victorian and is set on a hill above the harbour!

We had a brief trip around the bottom part of town, where Jon and Lisa showed me all of the lovely little food shops. I am especially looking forward to going back to the one that sells tea and chocolate. Oh yes! We then stopped off at a fab little shabby pub that sold pale alcholic ginger beer in old fashioned handled pint glasses. The ones with bobbly bits. The inside of the pub housed some very interesting art work by a local artist.

It seems very strange being in a busy town now. Although, it's not so busy that you have to wait to cross the road. In Battery Point, if you wanted to play 'chicken', you'd have to actually wait a while for a car!


It's nice to see the mountains again. After leaving Kaikura on Monday, the trans coastal train travelled through the Canterbury plains to Christchurch. The rain meant that the scenery along the coast was slightly obscured, but once we had passed through the Conwy valley and over the Conwy river (home from home!), it brightened up a bit and we could view the last ofthe mountains before reaching the plains. There was a commentary available through headphones, that I imagine explained a lot about what we could see and who founded the lands. However, as mine kept cutting off I gave up.

We also passed over the Wyeo River, which I at first thought was man made. It consisted of a vast expanse of gravel broken up by small streams meandering across the river bed. This is apparently a braided river

Good bye New Zealand and thanks for all the fish!

I can't believe I'm actually leaving New Zealand now. I'm at gate 29, Christchurch Airport, it's just.gone 6am and it's almost time to leave. So sad!! The upside being that Christchurch Airport give you 30 mins free WiFi. And all you have to do is buy a plane ticket. I'm flying on a winglett. A winglett? Does that mean it only has tiny wings?? Oh, they are calling to board.... Tasmania here I come!!

Rainy Monday in Kaikura

I can't believe the difference in weather from yesterday's amazing, blazing sunshine, to today with it's grey bouncy rain. So, as I have finally found somewhere to upload some photos (although so slow it fees like dial up), I thought I would post a couple of lovely Kaikura.....

Dolphins dolphins dolphins!!

This is my fourth and last day in Kaikura. Typically, as I have checked out of the motel and have to wait 5 hours for the train, it's now raining. Yesterday and the day before however, the weather was glorious and just how I imagined it would be in New Zealand.

On Saturday, I went whale watching. We actually saw two sperm whales! We weren't very close, as the boats keep their distance. They killed the engines and we watched the whales as they breathed out spumes of water and then dived, with that splash of the tail. So fantastic.

After a quick change, I then set off on a small boat to go sea fishing. This was a complete contrast to the whale watching, where we had had to sit through a 20 minute safety briefing and were not allowed to stand up when the boat was moving. Once in the fishing boat, we were so close to the sea and there were no seats. Standing only! It was scorching out on the ocean and bright blue everywhere! Within 2 minutes of dropping my line, I'd caught two fish! Two sea perch. I then caught a further two and then they stopped biting. We also went cray fishing; had an albatross land next to us, saw seals and had dolphins swim alongside the boat.

Once back on dry land, we cooked the crayfish and ate them with a glass of the skipper's (Jerry) homemade wine. The whole trip cost $85. To buy a crayfish from the local restaurant, you would pay anywhere between $65 and $80. Amazing value for the afternoon and evening (as I stayed for tea and more wine!).

Yesterday, I went on the Dolphin encounter. This was simply incredible. Once geared up in wet suits, fins, snorkles, mask and hood, the boat took us out and found a pod of dolphins. Once in the water (which was so cold at first, it literally took my breath away), the dolphins were everywhere. These were truly, 100% wild Dusky dolphins. It was such an amazing experience. We were encouraged to make noises under the water to appeal to the dolphins. Two came right up to me and swam round and round me. Eye contact with a dolphin, in the ocean, is something else. I'm still smiling thinking about it!

We went in 4 times, before coming back on board to warm blankets, hot chocolate and ginger biscuits. Lovely. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I haven't swam that much in years. The mask may have been a bit tight as I now have a slight bruise on my cheek bone. It looks as though I fought the dolphins, not swam with them! (Woo hoo. Still smiling)

Free WiFi in Kaikura.

This morning we left Lake Takepo. I felt quite sad. It was one of the most peaceful, relaxing places I've ever been. Last night, I stayed out on the beach until 9pm, watching the wonderful sunset. I met a lovely couple, professional photographers Paul and Jeannette.

We are now in Kaikura. I have found free WiFi! As it's in a wine tasting shop I rather feel obliged to try. However, I can't try too many as I'm whale watching at 07.30 tomorrow!! I have now found a nice present to take on to Tasmania. I really need to check my luggage allowance.......

New Zealand - things that confound and amaze me. No.2

The amount of people. There are 4.2 million people living in New Zealand. 2.1 million live in Auckland, in the North Island. 950,000 people live in the South Island. The South Island makes up 60% of the New Zealand land mass.

Almost 350,000 people are based in Dunedin and Christchurch.

That's why there is hardly anyone around!!

The most relaxing place to be.

I am feeling ever so relaxed.

Tomorrow, I leave Lake Tekapo, but I could happily stay here for a few more days. There really isn't much of a town as such. Just a couple of small tourist shops, a garage, a few cafes and a pub. Oh, and a crazy golf course. It's home to the Church of the Good Shepherd and a wonderfully petrol blue lake with dangerously rugged and rocky shores. But it's simply beautiful.

On the first night here, quite a few of us from the magic Bus had a barbeque at the Lake Front Backpackers Lodge. The evening stayed warm until 8.30pm and the view as the sun went down was stunning.

Yesterday, I wandered around the lake, taking photographs and reading in the sunshine. Bliss.

Later. as I sat, waiting to be picked up by the horse riding centre I had booked with for the afternoon, a young girl in an old battered Datsun drew up in front of me. She didn't look old enough to drive! This was Charlotte and she was 18 and managing the riding school while the manager was out on a 6 day hike. After a breakneck drive round gravelly roads, we arrived at the centre; a very small ranch style setting. I then went horse riding for a few hours, along with 4 Swiss girls, one of whom sounded rather poorly. We trekked up the mountainside and the down again, along a small path that overlooked a sheer drop to the lake below. It was scenic, hot, sunny and peaceful. I am still aching now.

New Zealand - things that confound and amaze me. No. 1

The landscape. It changes so much in short a short distance. In the space of 10 minutes, it can go from lush green to spaghetti western desert!!

Dunedin to Lake Tekapo

The bus trip from Dunedin to Lake tekapo took in some of the most changeable and amazing scenery, with bright sunshine and blue skies.

We stopped off at Boulders cafe, right on the beach. Sadly, we only had half an hour in which to take photos and grab food. I got caught up in taking photos and just made it back to the bus in time, with me my beef pie and cup of tea!

We later made a quick stop in Omaru, to pick up supplies for a barbeque as there are no supermarkets in Lake Takepo. This did worry me slightly as to where we were actually heading to!

Next stop on the route was a magnificent view of Mount Cook. With it's snow capped top and bright blue skies as a backdrop, it looked like a back drop for a Lord of The Rings film still. This really is a different country.

Done in in Dunedin

Really bad title for the post! Sorry!

I'm actually on my third day in Lake Tekapo, which is stunning. However before here, came Dunedin and before Dunedin came the last couple of days of Queenstown. I did try to update while on the Magic bus, which does provide you with half an hour of wifi every day you travel. But sadly, the blog entry didn't save and I ran out of wifi before I could post. It was such a well written, articulate post too. *sigh*

Here is a rougher version of what I actually did write....

So, this morning, the bus broke down. The mechanic arrived, wandered round, sucked his teeth and fixed it within 5 minutes. We were then 40 minutes late heading off. Not too bad. That was Dunedin, a biggish city. Nice art gallery. Great to wander around when feeling a teeny bit delicate.

As it was raining so much on my last day in Queenstown, I had decided to go on a wine tour. Four great vineyards, offering much more than just a sip of each wine. Each vineyard offered at least 5 different wines to taste. The wines were rather fine, especially the Rieslings. Apparently, New Zealand is becoming quite formidable within the wine community (or so the vineyard spokespeople told us!). Although the UK gets a lot of Sauvignon from NZ, they are now starting to export Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. (I actually sound like I know what I'm talking about - please do not be fooled). They also provided us all with a buy one get one free voucher for their wines, to be spent in Queenstown. So I, and a couple of others, Chapel (what a brilliant name!) and David, did just that!

Now, as I was dashing out of the door to catch the wine tour bus, I realised that the jeans that I had on could potentially get soaked in the horrendous rain. So I grabbed a pair of light weight trousers to take with me, just in case and squeezed them in to my tiny bag. And that was the last time I saw those trousers! Somewhere in Queenstown, quite possibly at a vineyard, is a rumpled pair of George of Asda trousers. I really must stop carrying extra clothes with me. On the upside, as I am so terrible at packing, I still have half a wardrobe with me.

The bus from Queenstown was due to leave at 07:30am. I was staying a good 35 minutes, 10 minute taxi ride out of town. (Despite being a bit far out, it was the most beautiful location). The taxi was booked for 7am. I got up at 06:50am. Oops. I have never packed so fast in all of my life. Although having one less pair of trousers did make it quicker.

I made it, and surprisingly, wasn't the last person there!

So, I made it to Dunedin, which apparently is built along the lines of Edinburgh. I couldn't quite see that myself!

A glass of wine to last an hour.

It's a bit chilly in Queenstown today, so I am hiding in an internet cafe and updating this. I tried to warm myself up with a glass of wine. But at $9 for a teeny weeny rose at the Atlas Beer cafe, I decided to try somewhere else. I did try to make that one last almost an hour. The fact that a group of guys were stripping off and daring each other to skinny dip in the lake had nothing to do with it all. Honest.

A quick Ferz Burger (mmmmmmm) and I may be ready to try another one of those sneeze inducing New Zealand beers.

Yesterday, I went to Milford Sounds. The scenery was truly epic. We passed through a gorge with a road blasted through a sheer verticle wall of granite. The Homer pass. An astonishing feat of engineering.

Milford Sounds itself is part of the Fjord Lands. A very beautiful array of glacial lakes and flooded areas. We passed through a flat, U shaped glacial valley. Again, I will upload the photos at another time, but I don't think they will do justice to the sheer size of the area. The Mirror Lakes......now that was simply amazing. A flat expanse of water with the most perfect relection I have ever seen. Turn the photographs upside down and you can't tell which way they should be. I managed to make friends with a very interesting old sheep farmer from Australia who had come over to watch the sheep shearing world championships in Auckland. It was won by a Scottish chap! Ha ha!!

Right, time for the sneezy beer......

A town built for a Queen

So, almost up to date now.....

It's day three in Queenstown (day 8, I think, of the trip) and I have had a very relaxed day. It's been lovely!

On the way into Queenstwon, we stopped off for some of the guys on the bus to bungy jump. Oh my word! It looks scary. I just had a cup of tea and watched!

Once in Queenstown, everyone was dropped off, except for me. This is the only time I have felt that maybe I shouldn't have booked accommodation before getting here. My self catering room turned out to be almost 3km outside of Queenstown! I was a tad bit upset, but didn't have too much time to dwell on it as I had to speed walk like an olympian back into town to go Hang gliding! Oh yes! After a super speedy walk into town, I arrived at the office to find that they had gone. Noooo. However, as I stood in the middle of the shop, a sweaty study in scarlet, almost ready to collapse in a blubbery heap, they cam back for me! They'd gone driving up the road to look for me and then came back to the shop, just in case.

As there were 8 of us, mostly all off the bus, 4 went first and 4 waited. I was last, which gave me plenty of time to think about throwing myself off a cliff. It was so worth waiting for though. Mark, the tandem instructor ran me through the safety guidelines and after 3 quick steps and a short run, we were airborne. It was FANTASTIC!!! I loved it. The views were incredible and the feeling of soaring was just unbelievable. The most amazing thing about the whole experience was the fact that I didn't once feel scared.

I now want lessons when I get home!

The way to Wanaka

Left Franz Josef at 07:30. So glad that hotel provided breakfast!

We stopped in Fox Glacier for a cuppa, where I had a quick chat to Mark who is uising a Pentax and creating some pretty fine images with it as well.

Then, on to the River Hast, where Nathalie from Quebec showed me how to build an Inuchuck. I'd never heard of them before! A really simplified human shape made form stones. Since then, I've seen quite a few (and have made a couple as well!).

Once in Wanaka, I dropped my stuff off at the Base Hostel and then headed off for a walk up Mt.Iron. Stunning views of Wanaka, which is built to resemble a European Alpine ski resort.

Afterwards, following a mammoth search for somewhere that sold fish and chips (Nathalie really wanted some!), I discovered that I am also allergic to a really nice, ginger New Zealand beer. Damn you allergies and snotty noses!

No ice!

So, on the 6th March, my birthday, I was meant to walk up the Franz Josef Glacier. This was cancelled due to exceedingly crappy weather.

I spent most of the day relaxing with huge amounts of tea and coffee and leeching the free wi-fi. I explored the area and had a look inside the first, custom built hut for explorers visiting the Franz Josef area - the Defiance Hut. A corrugated tin iron hut, that was carried, but by bit up the mountainside. Incredible....... http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/historic/by-region/west-coast/glaciers/cape-defiance-hut/

I then went kayaking on Lake Mapourika. Other people had cancelled due to the weather, but out on the lake there was no rain. Beacuse of this, there was just me, Ben the guide and a young German couple, Johannes and Layni. There was absolutely no one else on the 4km lake. The water was 18oc and fresh enough to drink. Which we did. We crossed the lake and kayaked up a small creek into the rainforest. It was beautiful. The only sounds that I could hear were the sounds of the rainforest around us and the kayak making it's way through the water; and the slightly louder splashes of me trying to kayak around obstacles. We went as far as we could and then stopped for ben to tell Maori tales of how the kiwi lost it's wings. As we made our way back across the lake, the rain grew heavier and the mists dropped further down the mountains. It felt almost prehistoric. No sounds, just the distant misty shore line. Magic.

I do have photos, but can't get them to upload, so will add them later!

Magic all the way!

On Monday (5th March) I caught the Magic bus from Greymouth to Franz Josef. I was a bit apprehensive about using magic, as I wasn't sure what to expect. Would it be full of rampaging, alcohol fuelled 20 somethings wanting to hang their heads out of the windows? Nope. Apparently, that's the Kiwi Experience! There was a really wide range of ages on the bus and at 08:00 in the morning, everyone was very quiet and snoozy.

The driver, Greg, gave us a commentary of the places that we would be passing through and what we could see along the way. I really hadn't read up on magic very much and was really pleasantly surprised to fin out that we would be stopping in different places along the way. First up was a little jade factory, where we got to see the jewellery makers polishing and cutting the jade, or green stone as the Maori's call it. Then on to Ross, a very small gold mining community, where we got to 'pan' for gold. I got very excited, thinking we would be standing ankle deep in a raging river with a wooden rimmed mesh pan. It was still fun, but standing at a row of plastic buckets with a pre filled pan of stones, sieving them out, wasn't quite the pioneering experience! But I did find some gold and a bit of jade!

We took an unexpected stop at a beautiful lake, the name of which I can't remember now, before finally getting to Franz Josef. The sun was shining and we were driven straight up to an observation point where we could see the glacier. It was stunning. It hadn't rained for a while and so the glacier itself was slightly dirty, but still incredibly impressive. It felt quite surreal, standing amongst rainforest, while looking up a valley at a great expanse if ice. I was so excited to be there!

Everyone got dropped off at their hostels and then Greg took me to the Scenic hotel, where I was greeted by a doorman who took my luggage!!

After settling in, I popped over the road to The Landing (a pub) for a cuppa. Once again, within half an hour, the rain arrived!

That's when I decided to start this blog, and the first two entries. I'll now continue to bring this up to date.....

Greymouth, the largest town on the West Coast.

Greymouth felt like I had stepped back in time. It's quite a nice little town. I say little. It is in fact, the largest town on the West Coast of the South Island. Population 9000. I think they may all have been in church while I was there, as it was empty! It was like stepping back in time 20 years. It was Sunday, and all of the shops were shut. Except for the local supermarket. I think perjaps everyone who wasn't in church, was in the supermarket. I wandered round for a bit, oogled the teas and then popped to the nearest pub to sample a local beer in the sun. The weather was glorious.

Then, all of a sudden, an incredible need for sleep hit me and I had to head back to my room. I've never had jetlag before. I slept as though I hadn't slept for a week. When I woke up, it was dark and raining and no longer Sunday in Greymouth. It was Monday, and I think everyone must have headed off to church again.

Christchurch to Grey grey Greymouth

On Day two, I left Christchurch and started out on the TranzAlpine train to Greymouth.

It was raining quite heavily as we started off. It had been absolutely chucking it down since I arrived but 5 minutes into the journey, I could see blue sky. It probably pleased the very early morning lady of the night we saw from our taxi as we made our way to the station at 07:20. She did have her thigh high, bright red PVC boots on though, so she was probably prepared for the rain!

The train journey was spectacular and gave the opportunity to see towns and villages from a different perspective. It also gave me my first impression of how vast and under populated New Zealand is. We passed through a small town of Sheffield, population 150. There was no one there.

We stopped briefly at Cass. It was once a thriving community. Now there is just Barry, managing the train depot. Barry has a lot of time on his hands. He has built his own little mini golf course. Barry does not play golf.

Sheltering from the rain & how I got here.....

So, cup of tea found. Including free refills!

I was really worried about the long haul flight to get here. Turns out, Night Nurse is my new best friend! Got on the plane at Heathrow, watched 'The Immortals', had my food (Singapore Airlines - you have the best in flight meals!), and then slept ti
ll breakfast. Off the plane for an hour at Changi Airport in Singapore and then back on to the next flight. Changi Airport was like a little oasis of calm. I don't know if this was because of the time of day or not, but it seemed so large and cavernous. Classical music was piped out as people wandered round whispering. Or maybe it was the night nurse. The news reporters don't hold back though. As we stood waiting to board the train, the rather graphic footage of a local murder was enough to almost put you off your next in flight meal. Almost.

So the next flight went fairly quickly too. However, always remember to lock the toilet door on the plane and never mistake mouthwash for handwash. Mmmm minty.

Once at Christchurch, and through security (so glad I scrubbed my walking boots clean!), I found the shuttle bus waiting for me. Quick journey through the suburbs, with streets with Welsh names including Bryndwr drive and Idris Road, and I was at Bella Vista motel. Nice little place, but a good 20 minute walk into town. As I started my walk into town, I began to see the damage done to the city. The whole of the centre is out of action. It was rather sobering to see how much damage had been done. It looks war torn, with the red area closed off with wire fences and empty streets with ruined buildings filled with rubble and repair vehicles. Some places have flowers tied to the rails. It looks like a film set for a plague or zombie movie.

However, the edge of the city centre has reimagined itself and the shops have reopened in converted shipping crates. In one little coffee shop I got talking to Emily, who was helping her dad with the butterfly exhibition at the local museum. She said the last time she had been to Christchurch it had been bustling. Now it was so quiet.

A rainforest view

Before I dash off to find a cuppa, here is my current rainy view....

It actually rains in a rainforest!

I'm actually in New Zealand! I made it! However, at the moment, I feel as though I am on holiday in Rhyl in the middle of the British summer. I've come equipped with a suitcase full of shorts and t-shirts, and all it's done is rain! However, I am surrounded my rainforest at the moment though. Yes, that's right. Rainforest!! Can you see me grinning? So, the day hike up the Franz Josef glacier may have been cancelled and with an estimated 2000ml of rain anticipated over the next 24 hours (that's more than London gets in a year!) there isn't an awful lot else to do here. BUT.... I am still bloomin well in New Zealand! Oh yes, I am still grinning!

It took me 31 hours to get from Wales to New Zealand. Three trains, two flights and a shuttle bus. I'm now on day 4, and already I've pretty much loss track of days and time. Well, more than usual. So, after I find a cosy, dry spot in a cafe, with a cup of tea, I'll back date my posts from the last three days.