macblog: January 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

Day 14 - Milford Sound

Left Queenstown shortly after breakfast to make our way down to Manapouri - where we were staying - a long drive - dumped our gear and it was of to Milford sound for a cruise - this in itself was quite a long drive. We were sort of half tank-ish when we left Manapouri - drove via Te Anua to Milford Sound - we were assured there was a 24 hr petrol available - so we set off . . . only later did we discover that petrol bowser was not working and it was cool runnings all the way back to Te Anua - we all strated leaning into the corners - I don't think it made any real difference and no doubt we were worrying about nothing but it didn't quite seem so at the time. We surviced to tell the tale.
Were off - Sam & Hud Fjordlands in teh background

The rock face is visible here - this is after the moss and little bit of soil has slid off into the water - a very precarious balance - which allows trees and other shrubs to grow - but every now and again there is a landslide - and the rock face is once again bare - the cycle starts again and months later it is again covered . . .

It is difficult to convey the sense of how small you are - insignificant in the grand scale of things - the vastness of the fjordlands - glacial valleys carved out of solid rock over hundreds of thousands of years . . . it was beautiful - a humbling experience. I lost my sunglasses over the side watching the boat turn around for someone's hat which blew off . . .

Seals doing what seals do - during the day

Very interesting - if you look at the photo below - you can clearly see the fault line that runs the length of NZ - South Island alps - an actual fissure in the rock face.

The Homer tunnel is quite dramatic - about 1750m - very steep descent to Milford Sound

Hud feeding the birds -

Tomorrow we are off to the Doubtful Sound . . . .

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Day 13 - Queenstown - South Island

(late edition) Just to give you an idea of why we flew and not just drive down - I know most of you think NZ is a small country about the size of Netherlands or that sixze - Well it ain't that small and it would have taken ages to get to Queenstown. If you must know 1556 Km or 966 miles.
Sat 10 Dec - Samantha starts her leave and we fly down to Queenstown - South Island - 2 photos taken from the plane - flying into Queenstown - the NZ alps and one of the many lakes - almost looks like a glacier feeding into the one end ??

Arrived and picked up our car - guy who ons the business was South African - car came with a packet of Biltong (beef jerky). Thought Queenstown was breathtakingly beautiful - just its natural setting - the mountains - the lake - the sun - the sky - LOL. The photo of Hud Sam & I, taken by some guy from Switzerland. The mountains in the background are the Remarkables - lots of skiing in winter.

The steam boat - Earnshaw which has been sailing this lake for many years. Sat is craft market day in Queenstown - there is even a small beach for the lake - which is in town really - well I suppose not surprising as the town is built around the lake.

Next lunch -

Sam studying NZ tour book -

Hud decisions decisions
We then took a drive to Arrowtown - which is close by - which claim to fame was discovery of Gold about 150 years ago.

This was a really warm / hot sticky day - drove back to the hotel and I couldn't wait for a swim . . . trouble was I forgot to take my wallet out of my pocket - thats the problem wearing shorts with lots of pockets

Sundowners at the hotel - wonderful breathtaking views across the lake - even caught the Earnshaw returning from one of its many cruises

Then it was out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner . . .

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Day 11 and 12 Omokoroa

James & I set off in the morning - no real plan - a car and a road ahead of us. First thing that caught my eye - I was driving - was a large sign which said Omokoroa beach - next right - well have car will travel - if you look at the map you'll see the whole area is shielded from the sea - so it is one large peaceful / gentle sheltered area - well established, looks as if was quite a popular spot.

Had a look around here and then continued on along the road 2 on the map and saw a sign for a museum so turned off - ended up having a personally guided tour of the museum (if you can call it that) in Katikati – a collection of artefacts from the last 200 years - what was wonderful were the actual hands on experience as opposed to everything being ain a glass case - we saw an example of 3D slides - black and white as well as the first colour ones this is all about 100 years old, if not more - we held a sort of viewmaster type instrument and the woman inserted multiple examples for us to view. After the ground floor tour we had to go upstairs where husband was waiting for us and he crried on with the tour. He was virtually blind and had us helping with the video machine and other odds and ends as we went along - both had obviously lived here for many years and had extensive knowledge about the area - one of the few areas where things where apparently conducted legally – Maori’s paid for and agreed to sell the land. Many families were promised properties / land here in New Zealand - this would have been after serving in the army - it was wild land though and a lot did not have the stomach for the work - so didn't always last. Lovely now though and very fertile although the land was thought to be cursed - some chemical imbalance which was only discovered many years later. The woman was also kind enough to point us towards a lookout position - tow photo's taken of this - Lookout 1 - across the KatiKati area looking back towards Tauranga Lookout 2 - shows low tide Katikati beach

From here back on to the road and on to Waihi which boasts one of the largest open gold mines in the world - still being mined today - it is just massive - the large construction trucks look like tiny matchbox cars in the distance - it is just vast. Also it is literally right in the town - not the middle of nowhere.

Later drove to both Waihi beach

and then on to Bowentown point - which gave us a lovely view across the sheltered lagoon areas as well as the Waihi coastline - see outline of the map below.

Ended up back at the ranch - had a braai - it was a beautiful evening

Day 12 drove back to Auckland. Omokoroa - Katikati museum - Wahi - Bowentown point - Braai

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Day 10 Tauranga and Mount Maunganui

We stayed 2 nights in Rotarua and departed the next day for Tauranga - on the coast - one of the bigger harbours in NZ - after Auckland . . . below you can see that the harbour is within a natural inlet - on one side is the beach which end with Mount Manganui - water on the other side - this is actually a narow strip of land is Marina and where the harbour is situated

Marck at dinner

There was a Santa parade with antique cars - the Carmen Ghia - above - car in front - was the first car I ever owned in Cape Town - bought it for R300 (£30) and I think sold it for about R50 £5

other cars in parade

The one thing I actually couldn't get enough of were the houses - every house was different - coming from the UK - what a breath of fresh air - reminded me a lot of South Africa