New Zealand - superlative drought!
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
22
23
Trip End
May 2008
Oamaru, South Island,
New Zealand
Monday, April 21, 2008
After leaving Kaikoura and my busy couple of days I headed south towards a town on the peninsular just south of Christchurch called Akora. Blimey what a find , altho I am beconing weary of haring myself say that as there appears to yet another gem of a place around each and every corner! Akora means long harbour and so strangely that's what is has, which gives it the feel of a lakeside town. Backed by mountains again it provided a wonderful vista upon my arrival (ok so a the fact that a day or so later there was a fairly full-on hailstorm is neither here or there!)
Akora was "discovered " by the French in 1840 and accordingly has a French feel (altho I didn't let that put me off - that was for you Rivers!)
I found a great Backpackers -Bon Accord - altho much more a homestay cos of the welcoming disposition of the staff -I have to put this they're going to be reading this.....) Owned by Cathy from England and being looked after by a lovely ? young couple from Newcastle and Guisborough respectively for 3 weeks (Anne, Julia reminded me so much of you accent wise) Had a great time there and felt very welcome and there were nice little touches like being provided with a hot water bottle, slippers, and a couple of chocs left on your bedside table to welcome you - nice stuff guys
Albatross on the wing -3m wing span!!
! It was great just pottering around the town and along the length of the waterfront - beaut little shops and cafes and restaurants with as ever, stunning views wherever you looked. We sat around and chatted the first night accompanied by Cathy's gorgeous boxer-cross dog, Boots and Tiger the cat who Julia makes look like a demented gremlin she pulls his ears back so hard (which he loves by the way b4 you ring the RSPCA!)
I'm not saying it was the best thing about Akora (and of course it wasn't) but it did have the most fantastic homemade fudge shop. I'd already tried and found fab the Bailey's Irsish crean flavour but then I tried the passionfruit and man what a flavour -awesome!
Well it's now May 1st and I've been here there and everywhere since I wrote that last lot! After Akoroa I headed for Oamaru -the home of the blue penguin -aah watched a load of them emerge from the sea just after dusk to return to their nests. They climbed and hopped up the cliff and then crossed a gravel path, looking this way and that b4 they ducked (or penguined!) under a wire fence. They resembled little POWs sneaking out of camp. I was also fortunate to see yellow eyed penguins which are probably twice the size of blues (them being the smallest penguin variety n all) The YEPs have a stunning yellow band around their head too and are really quite handsome
Autumn in Arrowtown
. Oamaru also has the THE most stunning bulidings and whilst quite a small place now it was quite the place back in whenever (yes I know that's not terribly accurate but I 'm trying to cram a lot in and can't keep looking up things I've forgotten!)After Oamaru came the Otago Peninsular and guess what??! Yes, that was fab too! Stayed at Billy Brown's backpackers on the less advertised side of the peninsular, just a couple of kms from Port Chalmers. What a great place and a top bloke Billy is. The lodge sat atop a very steep hill -the drive up was challenging but the views were fabulous aided by the number of large windows on each side. No telly but a wood fire stove and a collection of vinyl which included Louis Armstrong, Joe Jackson, Van Morrison and the B52'S to mention but a few!
After 4 nights there and a visit to another albatross doo dah where I saw 2 chicks - bit fluffy white balls hanging on to the hillside..... Ah, I forgot to mention the exciting first night at Billy's. Perching on this hill minus anything to stop the wind ,the wind accordingly blew at 131km per hour that night right against my bedroom window. As I was pretty sure the windows were going to come in at some point I built a small barricade of pillows on the window side and pulled the sheet over my head -both of which actions would no doubt have given me superb protection from flying glass! However I need not have worried this ws a sturdily built steel frame building and I needn't have been such a wuss
Autumn in Oamaru park
! After Billy's I headed towards the Catlins -a range of mountains at the base of the South Island. Loads of really interesting coastal features including a blowhole in the cliff 200m from the sea, a petrified forest (I'm not going to make any jokes hard tho it is to resist) a some rocks called the Nuggets and evn more exciting possibly -real live sea lion on the beach , oh yes, not fur seals, which I've seen already but sea lions!!
I stopped the night at Owaka and then made my way to Invercargill where I met a woman from Yeovil who was also in HR (Land D actually ) and for the first time for flippin ages talked a bit about HR - crazy behaviour! that won't be happening again in a hurry I can tell you!
From Invercargill it was straight thru to Te Anau the stopping off point for all things Milford Sound. Decided to take a bus trip from Te Anau to Milford for a cruise and back again otherwise it would have been yet another 4 hours of driving on high and winding roads and trust me I 've done a lot of that! We were driven by a DOC guy -Dept of Conservation who was incredibly knowledgable about birds, animals, eco sytems n stuff so that was great. The cruise on Milford altho overcast and wet meant that the waterfall were even more spectacular. That was another great backpackers - Rosie's homestay and there was a surfeit of Midlanders. Someone else from Coventry (Jo), Brum. Northampton and me -who would believe it? small world blah blah. Also caught up again with Peter and Val from Australia who had been staying in the same place in Owaka as I.
From Te Anau I trundled off without a clear idea of my next stopping place but ended up in Arrowtown which is an old gold mining town and it was in it's full Autumn colours -stunning
Beach at Moeraki boulders
. Stayed at Poplar Lodge last night -v.nice too, and wandered about there this morning b4 heading off a little way down the road to Wanaka where I presently type this rivetting epistle for you! Tomorrow sees me going on a jet boat up/down the river -should be exciting and then should in theory end up in Franz Josef tomorrow night. So you feel better there was ice on the car window this morning so adios warm weather. However now I am equipped with merino wool/possum mix beanie hat (attractive!) and gloves and socks I can laugh in the face of frezzing temperatures - ha, ha!
Ok enough. Now the tedious bit - loading photos .
Should manage one more blog b4 I return -it's rushing up on me now -eek!
Lots of love
KiwiSal xx
Comments
wonder chum
where is that former SBC Sal
Oh she is, she really is a gal
travelling the world giving it some
making people smile like a wonder chum
Tony
less is more some people say
I bet we can all make that mean something
cheers Sally
Swindon survives with an almost 'no change' local election result announced today.
damp dawn
Dear kiwi 'wonder chum' Sal,
Fantastic read, and beautiful pictures. We're just drying out from a very soggy dawn chorus, however we were awesome, tuneful and smiley, you were missed,
love and hugs
Liz x