Steeples Cottage, Studio And B & B Westport

... we stayed in a nice little place in town, and we decided to have a night in watching some movies that have made NZ famous, Lord of the Rings :), we banged out 1 and 2, was different watching it this time, as we kept saying, we went there, we went there!! :). Whilst watching the movie one of the cats was eyeing up a seat in the lounge after testing a few, she settled in on Erika’s lap :). After a couple hours, the cat must have been having a dream and woke ...

A new day, a new bus and a new bus driver, Smilie.

We drive to the stunning Lake Rotoiti which is surrounded by snow capped mountains and native bush. We took a short walk in the neighbouring forest which is alive with bird life.

Steph and I have a lazy afternoon with a long siesta, shunning the chance to go jet boating (which didn't turn out to be that good anyway as it ...

... halte ich es nicht mehr als eine Nacht aus). Am Dienstag habe ich mir die Pancake Rocks angeschaut und Hunger bekommen. Interessanter fand ich die Punakaiki Caves direkt um die Ecke. Dort war es dunkel und ich hatte kein Licht und gerade als ich traurig aus der Hoehle kam und dachte, dass ich sie nie von innen sehen werde, kamen mir 3 mit Taschenlampen ausgestattete Jungs entgegen und hatten sogar noch eine Lampe fuer mich uebrig. Also bin ich mit hinein gegangen. Nach etwa 100 ...

... just outside of Westport to visit Cape Foulwind to inspect a colony of seals (where many young pups were still being weaned by their moms) and take a short (hour) trek along the coast just as the sun was setting. What a great way to wind down the day!

Retiring to a Holiday Park between the Cape and Westport, I grilled veggies and sausage for dinner, enjoyed a Montief's and - as usual - fell asleep quickly after a short read not too far past 10pm...

... we headed to Lake Mahinuapua to the poo pub which had receieved much critical acclaim from all previous travellers I knew. Pumped with excitement for the night ahead, I was completely gutted when the stomach cramps I'd been having all day developed into full blown flu like sickness. I was reseigned to my bad, utterly disappointed everytime one of the group drunkenly returned to check on how I was doing. Needless to say everyone else seemed to have a good night!!

SD - So fully re-charged from our luxury weekend in a hotel, we left Invercargill for Te Anau on the west coast, which is the gateway to what I believe must be the most well known post card pictures of NZ - Milford and Doubtful Sounds and rightfully so. Its also where Toby worked in a backpackers for 3 months - 10 years ago. The backpackers is still there and the town hasn't grown substantially in 10 years. Like many NZ towns, Te Anau is situated next to a pretty lake with ...

On to Te Anau.......We spent 4 days here doing 2 boat trip out to the sounds. Doubtful is still my fav and the day we had there was fantastic. It started out cloudy and over cast all the way over Lake Manapouri which is a pretty amazing to start the day. Beautiful mountain views and it takes 45 mins to cross it by speed boat. We then transfer to a coach to take us over Wilmot Pass to Doubtful. We were so lucky ...

... other creatures should take note - particularly the Candadian ones! We then pootled off to Punakaiki which is home to the pancake rocks (an actual rock formation rather than an exclamation of how great pancakes are) and the blow holes. The weather was still wet. We booked into the motor camp and went walking to the rocks. V impressive even in the wet. We had timed it about right with the tide being in and saw & heard some amazing waves ...

... wallet. Mmm hmm? You think I'm gonna fall for that one just 'cos you're a cute old man? I ain't paying for your shopping, Mr. I'm broke. he then went to put his stuff back but all of a sudden "found" it. How convenient!! I'm no sucker for these gerriers. My turn to pay, bird gave me the once over for buying the wine. WHY DO I KEEP GETTING I.D'D????? Had my passport anyway so it was all good. Back out to the van and a worried looking Fiona. As she had been circling the car park to find a ...

... went on a 7 hour hike to thermal hot pools at the Welcome Flats in the western mountains. It was a bright sunshiney day, the moon had already come up, you could see Mars in the afternoon sky. I lay in the steaming pools and looked up at the sheer snowcapped mountains with their many waterfalls and just thanked every God and spirit for the chance to be there. It was magical. We then shared the pools with some great people we met there (mostly Scots again, you ...