LAKE TEKAPO - NEW ZEALAND

11th - 12th Aug 2011

Lake Tekapo. Pop. 315

Up north again passing through Upper Otago, or it might have been Lower Canterbury. A decent driver/guide gave us a restrained and informative commentary. Through hilly countryside, past Mts Cook and Tasman visible in the distance and vast plains containing big sheep and cattle ( well, normal sized animals you understand ) farms. This area is naturally very dry, especially in the winter.

The farmers have resorted to using irrigation machines ( bad pic left out of fast moving bus ). They are enormous. The largest is 1.3 kms long, made up of these sections. Each section costs about $25,000. They revolve around a fixed point at one end and have the ability to travel over specially designed 'squashable' fences. 

There is lots of good trout and salmon fishing in the rivers around these parts ( at the right time of year ). We stopped for coffee at a village called, maybe, Umiguli or something similar. In the caff this Quinnat salmon was on display. It was caught in Feb 1978 on the nearby river Waitaki. It weighed in at 47lbs.

Staying again at a YHA place. This was the view out of the front door over the lake. The area is considered a magnet for the hiking and trekking fraternity. I don't know the difference, but the Kiwis call it tramping. I call it bloody hard work. 

 

... and this was from inside the pub next door where I did my tramping. 

On the outskirts of the village there is an observatory on Mt. John. This place is considered to have world renowned clear skies; it is high up with no light polution. The site has five large reflector telescopes operated by astronomers/scientists/students researching whatever in space. Possibly looking for other life forms out there somewhere. On the other hand maybe they were just looking through people's windows.

There are guided tours, at night, to allow us travellers to do a bit of star gazing plus some excellent instruction on what is up there. I went. It was indeed remarkably clear. I recognised the moon almost straight away. We were not allowed to use flash photography because it would upset the serious astronomers.The photo (left) is of my fellow star gazers. We also looked through a powerful telescope and saw an impressive image of Saturn and it's rings. Or maybe they had just painted it on the lens. It was freezing cold. We were supplied with hot chocolate and cake which was necessary to preserve life forms down here

Just along the lake there was a small complex containing another outdoor hot pool. I believe this was not geo-thermally heated but somehow used hot water from a nearby power-generating water turbine. Who cares, it was hot.

 

...plus ice-skating rink. The last time I tried ice-skating I fell over and knocked myself out. I've since retired. Stupid sport. My apologies to Torvill and Dean.

 

... and a poor man's Cresta using some inflatable rings.

The lake itself, if stirred up a bit by the wind, can appear a beautiful milky turquoise colour. This is caused by microscopic particles and sediment produced by the glaciers grinding their way down the mountains. It looks lovely but if you go out in your expensive motor-boat it buggers up the engine in under an hour.  

Only a short stay at Lake Tekapo and then on to stay with friends in Ashburton, about 50 miles south of Christchurch. The bus ride there took about 2.5 hours. Sad to relate, the driver was, as he took great pride and a long time in telling us, an ex-Chief bus driver, an ex-medic, an ex-law enforcement officer, an expert on biology, agriculture, horticulture, botany, mining, geology, NZ history, electro-engineering and possibly astrology, ancient Greek mythology and nuclear physics as well. He also said he knew a few good jokes to keep us amused when all else failed. Oh My God! It was a long 2.5 hours. I will spare you the gruesome details. Fortunately I was sitting next to a charming and amusing lady from Taiwan who was a pleasant distraction.

A comfortable night was spent at Ashburton, although the weather had turned a bit grey and drizzly. There were forecasts of severe cold weather to come. Of course, if NZ forecasters are anything like the Brit ones, that will mean there will be a heat-wave. 

Left: Thanks Alison, and Chris. I much enjoyed your conducted tour of Doug's lake, supper and the use of your computer. Most generous. That large furry thing that she is holding is, believe it or not, a cat.

The only place that I would have liked to get to, and missed, on my south island tour was Milford Sound ( SW of Queenstown ). It is dramatic Fjord type country and a world heritage sight. Actually, you can see all the photos of it on the internet anyway. The reason I didn't have time to get there is because I want to be in Christchurch, or what's left of it, tomorrow Sat 13th. It is the New Zealand Grand National at Riccarton Park. I wonder if McCririck will be there.
Report to follow. 

 

QUEENSTOWN - NEW ZEALAND

9th - 11th Aug 2011

Jetboating in the Shotover Canyon.

As mentioned previously, Queenstown is the world champion place at scaring the shit out of you by inventing a myriad of life threatening 'activities'. The things you can do include; skiing and snowboarding, aeroplane sightseeing trips and aerobatics, helicopter trips and heli-skiing, ballooning, skydiving ( tandem with oxygen from 19,000ft! ), para-gliding, hang-gliding, parascending, cable cars, swing-gondola cars, lugeing, sailing, cruising, wind surfing, kayaking, jetboating, horse trekking ( no doubt along 5000ft precipices ), golf, climbing, mountaineering, caving, clay pigeon shooting, mountain biking, abseiling, canyoning, white water rafting, trekking, fishing, bungy jumping, swing bungy jumping, ledge jumping, zip-lining, canyon swinging, plus wine tours and any weird combination of the above. There are probably some that I have missed. Virtually every method of leaping off dizzy heights, nearly drowning and being made sick have been thought of.  Actually, I'm told the skiing is not that great and you have to get bussed to the snow-fields in the Remarkables, and the golf and fishing are possibly free from imminent danger ( unless the golf is done from mountain ledges, which is entirely possible ). The only noticeable things missing from their list are zorbing, shweebing, and duck shooting. You can do those in Rotorua. And whale watching., of course.

Left: In the Jetboat on the Shotover canyon river. I'm on the right, second row. This was rather fun and quite exhilarating. The driver showed great skill as the boat went bloody fast and the canyon was narrow with jagged rocks on the side. He steered directly towards these and missed them by an inch. We cut round the bends and skimmed over what seemed like bare rocks on the bottom. The boat only needs 4 inches of draft. The pieces-de resistance were the 360 degree 'wheelies' which he frequently carried out in very limited space. These were pre-warned by the driver making a revolving hand signal and we had to hang on tight.

Bryan C was to blame for this ( right ). He as good as issued a challenge, from a safe distance, ie Andover. There were much higher and more dramatic ( and more expensive ) bungy leaps and swings but this was AJ Hackett's 'original' from 1988 over the Kawarau river gorge. There were only three of us on the bus up there; me and two, would you believe it, Vietnamese girls from Hanoi.

Note the chap behind giving a helpful hand, probably with a pin in it.  

...there was no lack of photographers around to record your leap. I suppose the pics would come in useful at the inquest. I should have worn my cap.

The most worrying aspect of this is realising how bald I am.

Right: I presume this was arriving near the bottom. They asked me at the start if I wanted the line to be set to be dunked in the river as an added bonus. I didn't.

Left: One of the Vietnamese girls at the point of no return. They thought it was magic with lots of posing with the traditional Vietnamese 'V' sign to camera before they jumped.

....and afterwards. Troi Oi!

We were all sold photographs and given a T-shirt as mementoes.

That was about all I did in Queenstown which, frankly, was quite enough. The girls were off to do the much bigger and higher bungy jumps and swings. They must have more money than sense.

Onwards next to Lake Tekapo....idly drifting towards Christchurch.

WEST COAST, SOUTH ISLAND - NEW ZEALAND

8th - 9th Aug 2011

Mt. Cook ( middle ). 12,313ft

Off we set from Nelson on a rather grey drizzly ( for once ) morning towards the west coast route, initially to Franz Josef. This is a small settlement on the coast about half-way to Queenstown and boasts a big much visited glacier.
Bus drivers. I have now experienced several Kiwi bus drivers. They are supplied with head-set microphones to speak to the passengers and give commentary on the journey, ie they are sort of travel guides as well. This sounds as if it should be an interesting and amusing service and, indeed, sometimes it is. However! Are you aware of something called 'Karaoke Syndrome'? Give some people a mike and they just will not shut the f**k up however tedious, untalented and unamusing they are!!!!!  I remember well, with horror, that pillock driver on the bus tour over the Golden Gate in San Francisco who even bollocked passengers for daring to talk to one another during his non-stop boring monologue. Railway officials in UK are another example. That damned mike gives them the power to show off their total lack of oratorical skills and/or boss people around and there is nothing we poor captive pax can do about it. Well, unfortunately, Brian, our driver on this bit of the journey was a bit like that. He also had a further irritating habit of repeating himself endlessly and saying 'eahh'. or similar, at the end of every sentence, and you could tell he thought himself most amusing. I hasten to add that some of the drivers do a very good, concise, interesting and humorous commentary. Brian, sadly, was not amongst them. I digress.



We journeyed on down via Murchiston and Westport and passed through several small towns with Maori names, frequently stopping for tea and to see the views. I must confess that I consistently fail to recall Maori names. They all end in a vowel, and however hard I try to commit them to memory, I fail. This place ( left ) was called something like Nikinakinu, or Hankipanki, and is famous for it's 'Pancake Rocks' and 'blowholes'.  The rocks are formed out of sandstone deposits over the millenia, but scientists have no idea how they have come to form in flat layers. ( enlarge to view ).






Right: This is one of the blowholes. When the tide is coming in sea-water shoots up spectacularly out of this.  Not on this day it didn't.










Left: More of these unexplained rock formations. As you can see it is raining. Brian, our tedious driver told us to be back on the bus in half an hour without fail because he 'would not wait, eahh'. He said we should go and look at these things but didn't tell us how long the walk would take. Most of us then had to run flat out back to the bus. He was in the cafe, in no rush. 'No problems mate, eahh'.

We changed bus drivers at Westport; the new one, Peter, was much less loquacious, thankfully. We stopped for another break at a place called 'Upanunda', or something, to have more tea and see the Kiwi in the Kiwi House. It looked remarkably like the one at Rotorua, and equally camera shy. On we went to Franz Josef. This place, or rather it's glacier, was named after the Emperor of that name by an Austrian explorer with a big beard called Julius Von Haast who came to NZ in 1858. ( he later became a British citizen ).  The glacier is a popular tourist 'trek' and it takes about 8 hours just to walk to the base. Or you can hire a helicopter ( $350 ) to lift you there and back and climb into ice caves and admire the scenery. Many people do, and I have seen all the photos, so I couldn't see the point. The place is a two street village with extortionately expensive food. They boast of catching local whitebait, for example, and then charge $34 for a plate! Fish and chips at $28. Pull the other one. Anyway, I wanted to go to Queenstown the next morning.
The next day was glorious sunshine and the journey took us through spectacular scenery. The light and colours were intensely bright. And the bus driver, Dave, was quietly and usefully informative.




Right: We passed through Fox Glacier, another popular trekking area up another glacier... just out of sight around to the left.

I got the pic of Mt. Cook, or Aoraki in Maori, and Mt. Tasman ( top of page ) just around the corner from here. It is normally covered in cloud, so we were lucky to see it. The Maori worship 'Aoraki' as a god and therefore consider it disrespectful to stand on top of it. So, of course, that dissuaded me from climbing up it.....plus the fact that it is over 12,000ft high.



Then on down past Bruce Bay ( left ) which provided some good views. Lovely area and we were informed that the west coast of the south island with 15% of the total land area of NZ contains only 1% of the population.
There has been much comment here about all the riots which appear to have plagued the UK. The Kiwis are somewhat bemused by it all.

My theory is that overcrowding ( overpopulation ), 'too many rats in a cage phenomenon', is largely to blame. I thought a solution would be to deport (sentence to transportation ) the animals responsible to an underpopulated country like NZ. Then I thought, what have the poor Kiwis done to deserve that, and also, quite rightly,  they take a very dim view on importing vermin.  So, I thought again, why not transport the creatures to one of those many uninhabited South Pacific islands, not necessarily in a nuclear testing area, give them a few essentials,  plus a few luxury items so they can indulge their hobby of stealing, and let them get on with it? They might learn how to behave more sociably.


Above: Another view of Bruce Bay.






Right: Another pit-stop to view this 90ft waterfall at Thunder Creek.



Onwards to the land of Haast. Herr Haast had a lot of things named after himself. There is the Haast Glacier, Haast Township, Haast Falls, Haast Junction........











..... Haast river ( left ), Haast Bay, Gates of Haast, Haast Village with it's Haast Hotel.......which, for all I know, serves Haastburgers.......













.....up through the Haast Pass ( right ) on towards Wanaka. He even discovered an eagle, now extinct, called, you've guessed correct again, the Haast eagle.










...and another refreshment pit-stop at this charmingly named caff. I was expecting to find a large immigrant population of big red tomato ketchup dispensers here, but was disappointed.









Right: More attractive countryside. As someone reminded me, in this part of the world when you see some panorama worth snapping there is always something more spectacular around the corner. The mountains may only be pimples in comparison with ( have I got that right? ) the Andes, but the scenery is equally if not more dramatic.










Left: Some views over Lake Wanaka. Very unspoilt.........












....and we drove for miles without seeing another vehicle on the road. I suspect it gets a bit busier in the summer. Such is the advantage of travelling 'out of season'.

....and this, I think, is Lake Howea ( Howea the lads! ), just approaching Wanaka. Lots of these southern towns are situated on the shores of lakes with mountain views behind. The non-active glacial ones are absolutely crystal clear.

Right: By the lake shore in Wanaka.













We passed this place just outside Wanaka which is, apparently, an amazing 'village of illusions' vis the 'leaning tower' on the left. It contains physical and optical illusions on a big scale; the pet project of some wealthy and eccentric enthusiast. Our ( informative and pleasant ) driver said that it is a great place to visit. I wish I had known about it in advance.






Right: On approach to Queenstown. This is the river Shotover. You can see old mine workings and scrapings on the banks. In the late 19th century this area was renowned for it's gold deposits. It was profitably mined for gold for many years and was the financial basis for the affluent Queenstown, so named as a town fit for a Queen ( Victoria ).

The road passed several vineyards and wineries, one of which, a smart looking place, was called Gibbston Valley. I think we were told that this was the first winery/vineyard in NZ, or it may just have been the first in this area. It also passes a railway bridge high over the river Kawarau. This is the place where a Mr AJ Hackett and his partner Henry Van Asch invented the 'art' of bungy jumping in 1988. They were given a three month licence to chuck the paying public off the bridge, after experimenting with numerous unsuspecting sheep beforehand no doubt. The authorities and locals were cynical and sniggered behind their hands. The rest is history and Messrs Hackett and Van Asch are rather wealthy as a result.




Left: That bridge over the river Kawarau. The very first commercial  bungy site.



 









Right: ....and into Queenstown, another town on a pristine lake. It is surrounded by a mountain range called The Remarkables. Queenstown provides entertainment on an epic scale. It has taken tourist activities to new unforeseen heights. The imaginative operators have invented many novel ways in which profitably to terrify hapless punters in the air, on the mountain or in the water, or all three together. As you may hear....



More news of my stay in Queenstown to follow. If I survive.

NELSON - NEW ZEALAND

 6th - 8th Aug 2011

Nelson's popular Sunday market

On to Nelson on Tasman Bay. Nelson is described as being colourful and arty; the home of New Zealand's 'avant garde'. In other words it has more than the average quota of ageing hippies and weirdos. There was some evidence of this but it was, again, a pleasant and cheerful sort of place with just a smattering of mild eccentrics. Accomodation was my new-found residence of choice, the good value YHA ( Youthish Hostel Association ).

The Sunday market was interesting and many varied oddities were on sale amongst all the trendy food and local produce. The guy here ( left ) is called Johnny Tractor-Seat ( possibly related to the well known Yorkshire Tractor-Seats? ). He is an assiduous collector of, yes you've guessed it, old tractor seats. He makes his own wooden 'tynes' ( wooden pins ) with an ancient 'tyne maker' and uses these to pin together wooden frames onto which he mounts a tractor seat. So you can then buy a tractor seat seat. Due to lack of luggage space, I didn't.

Right: In another part of town I happened upon several teams of competing Morris dancers, this being one of them. They were very jolly and one of them, after persuading me to part with a contribution to their 'fund'' tried to persuade me to join them for a drink later. Is this how they recruit new members? I can't help but notice that the tall chap leaning backwards bears a striking resemblance to an Airbus captain I know from Vietnam ( Herr Doktor, is this really you? ). I didn't blow his cover.

The town did indeed have a selection of rather arty-farty shops selling odd things. One was called Wearableart. I went in to ask what a 'bleart' was and was told it was in fact Wearable Art! This involved so-called clothes made from plastic bottles, roofing felt, papier mache, old egg boxes, metal cans plus, possibly, asbestos sheeting, spent nuclear waste, unexploded munitions and other detritus. I did not consider it in the slightest wearable.

On to the local i-office to see what was on offer. They are most efficient at selling tours and booking travel and accomodation for the baffled traveller. I have, though, noticed one slightly irritating facet of social behaviour in NZ  and that is their habit of aggressively calling everybody by their first name. To address a customer as 'Mr' or whatever is, seemingly, prohibited. I find this false familiarity grates somewhat. They tell me it is in order to appear friendly and informal. I find it faintly rude, but that is because I am a crusty old reactionary fart ( and proud of it! ).  Anyway, I decided to go and explore a little bit of the Abel Tasman National Park. This involved a bus ride to a small hamlet on the coast called Marahau. Then a speedy 'water-taxi' to a bay about 10 km ( as the boat went ) to a  place called Bark Bay where you did a beach landing. Then a healthy walk back to another sandy beach called Anchorage Bay where you were collected at a given time by the water-taxi and back to Marahau, then home.

On the water-taxi ride out we passed this well known landmark. The rock is called the 'split apple', for obvious reasons. 

We also passed other bits of rock which housed 'furry' seals. They were just kipping on the rocks and did not interest me particularly. I suspect I didn't interest them much either.

... also rocks with cormorants on them. The Kiwis call them shags ( because that's probably their first name ). There are, apparently, several varieties of these creatures. These are the lesser-spotted piebald type, or something like that. The males have a crest on their head. Yawn...

The walk was very up and down and twisty and followed the sea-line slightly inland. It was actually a very pleasant and picturesque walk and, being 'out of season', I only saw one other person, coming in the opposite direction, all day. In the summer months the track is packed with walkers. The path was narrow ( left ) but incredibly well maintained.

..it occasionally opened out onto some pleasant views of several little bays along the way....these places are also busy with swimmers and kayakers in the summer. There are camping sites on some of them. They were all pretty deserted on this particular day......

...and crossed several suspension bridges over crystal clear rivers and streams coming down from the mountains to the south....

... another nice view. I hope you are not too bored with these pics; it's just to give you a flavour of the place...

I had had the forethought to bring a packed lunch with me. The tins of beer were beginning to weigh heavily on my shoulders. There was plenty of time to have relaxing refuelling stops on the way. 

Left: This is Anchorage Bay, the PUP. The walk had been 14kms, but pretty easy going due to the well maintained track. I had set off at 10.00am and the pick-up was at 3.30pm, so arrived plenty early and it had been a lazy stroll; just the ticket. I could see why people are so keen on the area, especially in the warm summer weather ( Oct to Mar ).

I was impressed by how clean the whole place was. Nowhere was there any sign of litter; not even a cigarette end, and certainly no graffiti. There are strict rules about where you can camp and light fires etc. and to take any rubbish home with you. Everyone appears to respect this. I suppose if the place looks so pristine people like to keep it that way. This seems to be true of everywhere I have visited so far. I think there are some lessons to be learnt from this by less tidy places in the world. ( OK, they aren't so crowded here which helps ). 

Right: The water-taxi pick up. This arrived, luckily, just before it started to piss down rather heavily. Up until then it had been a gloriously sunny and pleasantly cool day.

There were only about five of us to be collected, but we called in at some other beach to pick up a group of kayakers. They had been caught out in a serious downpour and were like drowned rats. At least they had waterproofs.

....so the taxi was full as we speeded our way home.

To repair to this place ( right ). It is a small converted  chapel in the middle of the town and now a splendid pub, called The Free House, which serves a rarety in NZ, real ale! It is excellent stuff but bloody expensive at $10 per NZ pint ( which is about 0.8 of an imperial pint ). That would equate to about 6 pounds sterling per UK pint. Hmmmm! It's not all perfect.

Left: The altar inside. The barman had dreadlocks. He didn't want to be photographed

So, a hilthy heppy time spint around Nilson ( sorry, I'm beginning to speak New Zealandish! ). Next off down the west coast to see what is on offer there.

Everybody back on the bus!!!!!!!