Me Other Blog: December 2008

21-December-2008
Waiting for Boarding call at Mascot. Smooth process so far as airport quiet at 6.55am on a Sunday morning. This is our 3rd visit to the airport in as many weeks after farewelling Emma and then Tim. Now it's our turn. We are laden with duty free grog and gadgets galore although my b*&!$ internet is not working. Looking forward to an easy and short flight to Christchurch.
Tess is off for a walk. Not sure how many warm clothes we will need.
Phone has NZ maps so should be a simple 3 hour drive from the airport to Lake Tekapo. Also looking forward to using th new canon camera.
Nothing else of interest at present to report. Thank God the holidays are finally here!

28 December 2008
Well here we are * in Te Anau (tee-ah-now in Kiwi) ahead of our cruise on Doubtful Sound which should prove to be the highlight of the trip. Mind you, the past week hasn't been too shabby, so here is the week in review.
Day 1 – Sydney to Lake Tepako via Christchurch
As you can read above, we were quite familiar with the airport by the time it was our turn to leave but I still felt excited to be off on a much anticipated and long delayed tour of the South Island. Having grown up with Mum's stories of the Milford Track and skiing at Coronet Peak, along with Don's decade of residence in Auckland, it was finally my turn to witness the splendour of its scenery. And it has not disappointed.
I managed to snap some shots of the alps from 30000 feet as we crossed the coast on our Air NZ flight. Even though it is under 3 hours it was still not pleasant. I knew we had arrived in New Zealand when the stewardess announced (in a suddenly stronger accent) that we could now “send and receive tixt messages”.
We collected our trusty Toyota Corolla from Thrifty and placing ourselves once more in the hands of my Nokia Navigator, headed into the NZ road system. It was easy to adjust to the vehicle as they drive on the correct side of the road and speak English and we were soon on our way down State Hwy 8(?) bound for Geraldine and Tepako. The roads are smooth and uncrowded so we completed the long rive – almost 3 hours – without problem, arriving at Tepako around 7pm. I had been worried about finding our way such a distance on the first night but with dso much daylight I should have known better.
Lake Tepao did not disappoint nor did our B&B which was perched on a ridge off the main road with spectacular view across the lake – see the many shots. I still prefer it to Lake Wanaka and our hosts Leon and Rosemary, retired sheep farmers, ensured our visit was truly memorable. Dinner that night wa at Mackenzie's Bar and Grill and proved to be the best of a disappointing lot.
Day 2 – Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook National Park
As the weather was so good, we decided to take a scenic flight over the Mount Cook National Park with Air Safaris, operating out of Tepako. Tess was reassured by the size of the 12 seater aircraft and indeed it was a smooth and spectacular (thta word again) flight – see blog entry photos (http://vinesfam.blogspot.com/2008/12/mt-cook_23.html). We made a day of it by driving the 100ks to the base of the mountain, passing the beautiful Lake Pukaki along the way. Dinner was at Reflections – Tess's flounder was fine but my pork loin was a dry old schnitzel.
Day Three – Around Tekapo
The next day we walked aong a well made trail up to Cowan's Lakeview, which provided sweeping view across the township and the lake and gave us some much needed exercise after a few sedentary days. It was no hardship to sit on the verandah afterwards and upload photos and play with te Blog and we again shared an evening drink with ur hosts and were joined by an American Apple (Dad's workplace) family of three girls. They were headed for the Milford Track. Hope the 11 yr old managed it! The 16 yr old was enjoying the fre wireless to keep in touch with her boyfriend.
Day 4 – Tepako to Wanaka
We reluctantly drove west from Tepako passing Lake Pukaki again and through the towns of Twizel and Omarama and over the Lindis pass and after a couple of hours easy driving arrived at bustling Wanaka. Its 5000 people grow to 20K+ at Xmas and indeed during the ski season as well. Our accomodation was on a busy road but gave spectacular views (again I know) across the lake towards Mt Aspiring and the alps. We bought two UV filters for the canon's twin lenses and headed out towards Glendhu Bay, stumbling upon a gorge road that led to Shania Twain's property in Wanaka. It had a deep and noisy gorge crossing just befoe a large Private Road sign. We returned to Wanaka for supplies for dinner and enjoyed the view from our balcony.
Day 5 – Xmas Day – Wanaka
Our travel agent had booked lunch for us at a nearby reastaurunt, Finchy's, run by Muzza who features with white hair in the Kiwi Xmas photo on the Blog. We arrive promptly at 11.30 for champagne and canapes and then joined a table of six for a traditional hot dinner with plenty of wine and desserts. No one seemed in a hurry to leave and we enjoyed chatting to our new Kiwi friends and we were still there 6 hours later. Xmas night was quiet wth the wine having some impact on Tess who missed the two romantic comedies on tele.
Day 6 – Boxing Day – Queenstown and Glenorchy
We set off early on a cloudy day along the Crown Range road to Queenstown via Cardrona and Coronet Peaks. We descended a twisty road and diverted to the old gold mining town of Arrowtown. Lots of photo opportunities beside Lake Wakitipu later we arrived at our windy destination for lunch before returning to Wanaka via hwy 6, Cromwell and enjoying the vicarioius pleasure of watching people engag in a host of Xtreme sports like jet boating and bungee jumping. Why bother with scenery like this I will never know. I enjoyed th Indian meal that night although Tess was still battling a bug picked up at school.
Day 7 – Mt Aspiring and Rob Roy Glacier
The weather was perfect again so I decided we should attempt the 50k drive out to Raspberry Creek carpark at the foot of the range and see how difficult the tramp was to the viewing point – 3-4 hours moderate climb was what the map suggested.
After our faux thrill seeking the day before, today proved to be the genuine article what with the excitement of the drive along the gravel road, across half a dozen fords, heading deeper into ever narrowing tall valleys. We arrived at the carpark filled with rental cars and motorhomes and a lot of fit, young and well equipped hikers off for overnight stays on Mt Aspiring. A little daunted, we headed for the swing bridge, 15 minutes up the track. After bobbing our way across the rushing glacier river we climbed steadily 100 of of the 370 vertical metres to the lookout, enjoying views of the mountain and glacier through the dense beech forest, accompanied by the roar of the river. After an exciting blood sugar episode which left Tess a little tired, we took our potos at the ;ookout 30 minutes from the top – we'll save that climb foaother trip perhaps.
The Rob Roy glacier was impressive and the return journey much easier – I was relieved to hit bitumen once again.
After another enjoyable meal of cold cuts in our room it was after 10 o'clock and time for bed. So ended week one of our New Zealand holiday.

*I'm actually posting this at Wanaka while I have internet access but will update it once we are settled in Te Anau

We are relaxing in our Wanaka accommodation, watching Gosford Park (good to type to)as we recover from our exertions. I am still uploading the photos which look lovely as usual so please try to find them and the google earth link if I manage to work out this blogger interface. Otherwise check the mac version once we're back.
Weather was as good as you can get here I imagine when we set off on the 51k drive to the Raspberry Creek carpark. It was an eventful drive with dramatic mountains on all sides, lots of gravel and motorhomes and half a dozen creeks to ford. There were a number of corollas at the terminus so it was not really a 4wd trek.
Tess and I were less prepared in all ways than most of the tampers - older, less fit and far more cheaply equipped. Nevertheless, we struggled across the swing ridge, scrambled up the path through the beech forest and were eventually rewarded with a spectacular view of Mt Aspiring and its Rob Roy glacier.