Hokitika Heritage Lodge

... 8211; that should be a blast!

From the winery I headed inland towards Arthurs Pass which traverses (goodness that’s a word from my Higher Geography classes) the mountains running down the spine of South Island. The drive started out with scenery which was very reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands with scrubby brown colored hills but then opened out into huge wide flat bottomed alpine valleys. The road had been OK but after Arthurs Pass village there was a ...

... drives much slower than Chrissy would on roads like these ;-)). We did pass a nice waterfall, the Dorothy Falls, somewhere along the way. Upon arriving at the Hokitika gorge we managed to walk all the way from the parking lot down to the gorge (across the swingbridge and all) before we discovered that we had forgotten to bring the sandfly repellent. Sandflies, being rather slow, can not keep up with you while you are walking, but they will land on ...

... stove and get back on the road to the west coast. It is raining hard and the grey sky seems very low. As we hit the coast the weather looks worse if possible and we drive south down the coast to Greymouth. As we round one bend in particular there is a spectacular rainbow across the road, which we can see both ends of. So, it being gold panning country we decide to go and look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. As it happens there is a stream ...

... cabin (i had to sleep on a matress on the floor as there were 100 people and not enough beds, but i wasnt really complaining as i only paid $10 to sleep....dirt cheap!!!) wanted to get up to see the sunrise over the lake, but i wasnt really sure what time it rose, and didnt wanna wake up to be honest! hahaha oopss ah well!!! off to the glaciers early in the morning!!

Being ten days on the road, we marvelled at just how much we had seen and done. We both felt quite exhausted and hoped we would be able to schedule in some down time in the next few days. That was before we saw the marvels that awaited us! Leaving Murchison, after little over 15 km we came to our first stop in the Buller Gorge, being the longest swing bridge in New Zealand, with some beautiful nature walks through reclaimed rainforest where brave men once panned ...

I bet you have wondered where we disappeared to! We have been out of wireless connection since we got to Arrowtown. We had a nice stay in Arrowtown. The highlight was a visit from Jeannette Horn, Fran & Tiri Manahi's daughter. We learned so much about schools in New Zealand. (Susi, you will be so interested!) We did not go to Milford Sound on the 12 hour bus tour because we were stilling nursing stomach troubles but it was good ...

... flying north from Christchurch to Auckaland, and back home. Not quite what the map says. The final frontier has arrived. The Stray bus pulls into Cokers backpackers to the south of the town and rush in to avoid being last in the queue and waiting for the rest of the bust to check in. We'd learned by now that it wasn't good to be last in the queue, not really because you didn't get a choice of who you roomed with, but because you'd have to wait ...

... leaving Fox glacier I visited the small town of the same name which seems completely dedicated to arranging scenic flights to the glaciers and Mount Cook. OK, I jumped out of a plane a couple of days ago, which was a first for me and I've never been in a helicopter. A perfect opportunity to tick another box on this beautifully sunny day. I booked a 30 minute flight over Fox glacier and around Mount Cook with a 10 minute landing where we jump out of the chopper for a roam on the ...

... hit our first stop. At this point everyone had breakfast and the next leg was much quieter as they all slept off breakfast and a few hangovers I suspect! It was lashing it down ... A really cold and miserable day. We were supposed to make a couple of stops for photos etc but after the first stop to head down to a seal colony where everyone came back looking miserable and soaked, our bus driver suggested that we didn't stop again until we got to the Pancake Rocks ...

New Year in Wanaka featured a firework display, two bands (the family one and the one that did the punk version of 'Auld Lang Syne' with beer flying in all directions), and a large crowd including a lot of very drunk teenagers. All pretty harmless though. The drive to the glaciers took us through the dramatically named Gates of Haast and to lots of roadside waterfalls, all in full flow given recent conditions. Apparently NZ has had ...