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Day 14 – It Never Rains on the West Coast

…but it pours.  We aren’t talking Welsh drizzle here, it’s full on rapid windscreen wiper, 8 hour solid rain!  According to the weather news, we’ve had 4 inches in 12 hours.
So a few pictures of rain today.  Fortunately we had planned to spend most of the day travelling and stopping to see the sights.  We did the travelling but couldn’t see the sights.
A hill in the rain.
Having a picnic in the car in the rain.
Picture of the car in the rain with no mountain or sea views.
No view of mountains from the house.
And so on.  Had a scare when a police car went past with blue lights flashing, but not me this time.
Anyway, forecast for next few days is good – looking forward to a warm and sunny Christmas.
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Day 13 – Rest & Rlaxation (for some)

We’ve made it to Wanaka, and this is a day for chilling out before we head to the west coast and more driving.  Terrific house, again, and this is the view as we had breakfast.  Actually, it was the view we had for most of the day – with a balcony like this, why would you go anywhere?
But we did – just a couple of hours gentle stroll by the lake.
Jo and Ruben, though, decided to be a little more ambitious, and here they are (with company) at the summit of Roy’s peak.  It is a 1200m climb from the lake.
If you look at the view from our balcony, they are at the peak just covered by cloud.  Unfortunately they forgot to take a photo of Eileen and me, so we don’t have any proof that we were there … :o)
It’s Saturday morning now, and we’re heading off to Franz Josef shortly.  Not sure how successful the wifi hunt will be …
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Day 12 – Fines and Fergs

So let’s start with fines.  I’ve been done!  Left Te Anau for a pretty dull (by NZ standards) 200km drive to Queenstown.  Jo had warned me about the strict enforcement of the 100km per hour speed limit, so I was well behaved.  But when you’re on an empty road and haven’t seen a car coming the other way, the temptation to cut a corner exists.  What I hadn’t allowed for was the car behind taking a photo and emailing the cops.  So blue flashing lights, me deciding the best tactic was to be contrite, and $150 poorer.  Welcome to NZ!
So it had to be lunch of the world famous Fergburger – yummy!
Then from Queenstown to Wanaka – we all climbed this mountain (in the car of course!) and took photos …
.. and photos of Jo taking photos!
But then to Lake Wanaka for a couple of nights – more views!
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Day 11 – Haven, Sounds or Fjords

Today is one that had been marked in the calendar for months – a cruise around Milford Sounds.  An early start to beat the traffic (it’s a 2 hour drive from Te Anau) and the 10.45 ferry.
It’s not really possible to do it justice in a photograph, but luckily Jo had her decent camera.  Note the size of the ferry in the centre to give it some sense of scale.
And, luckily for us, some of the local wildlife decided to put on a little bonus event.
So why the title?  Check out on Wikipedia.  It was first named Milford Haven because that’s where the first person to discover it came from.  But the locals objected to that, so it was renamed Milford Sounds.  But as everyone knows, it isn’t a Sound but a Fjord ……
And finally, lupins.  They grow wild all over the place and make beautiful colours.
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Day 10 – Dunedin to Te Anau – Finding Things

Today was the first real day of travelling around the South Island.  But first we found Ruben.  He is a Danish student at Otago with Jo, and we welcomed him aboard for a few days travelling with us.  We haven’t quite mastered Danish yet, but he puts us to shame with perfect English.

Then we headed south and found Eileen her favourite beach so far.  Near Nugget Point (see below).

Nugget Point is just some spectacular rocks and will be as far south as Eileen and I are ever likely to be in our lives.  Jo is more ambitious – perhaps starting with Stewart Island and maybe even Antarctica one day.

Then a pretty long drive to Te Anau, but found our house to be idyllic ..

.. And sunset over the lake to end the day.

iPhone

Sent from my iPhone

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Day 9 – Dunedin

Great to see Jo in her own environment.  Here’s a picturesque view of Otago University.
Then off up the coast to see the Moekeri (? Suspect spelling here) Boulders.  Again, beaches and sun are simply stunning.
But the best part of the day (seriously) was Eileen managing to get some root canal work done on her teeth.  She had felt a twinge in Sydney and so we managed to get an appointment while we were there.  That dentist managed to send on a referral to a terrific endodontist in Dunedin who fitted her in at the end of the day and gave up his game of tennis to fix her up.  Feeling unbelievably lucky about that.  (Eileen is just reading this over my shoulder and says it was a lot more than a twinge!)
So Jo took me to Baldwin Street – allegedly the worlds steepest street with a gradient of 1:2.86.  That’s me at the top – it was steep!
Off to Te Anau tomorrow and then to Milford Sound.  The scenery begins then.
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Day 8 – Dunedin – Beaches, Penguins and Selfies

So here we are in Dunedin.  Firstly, view from the house balcony, which is a good start.  Pretty cold when we arrived – or at least the wind coming up from Antartica is.
So off on the tourist trail to the Otago Peninsula – quick lunch break at an idyllic little beach.
Then off to see some yellow-eyed penguins.  These are wild, but in a special reserve.  We loved that they are really grumpy and anti-social – so much so that they nest where they can’t see each other.  We had to move around the reserve in tunnels and view them from special hides so they don’t get grumpy by seeing us!
Then Jo showed us around some of her Dunedin haunts – especially Tunnel Beach which is one helluva climb back up but well worth the struggle.
The sharp-eyed among you will spot the panoramic camera on the iPhone.  And we loved Jo and the blue skies.
A question which we need to look up – what is the equivalent latitude in the UK?  It stays light here until about 10.15, and we’re going further South next.
And finally, it’s such a relief to be in the presence of a master selfie exponent …..
I mentioned yesterday that New Zealand is limited in wifi.  Grabbed a bit at the penguin reserve, and now in Jo’s university house.  But apart from that not a lot.  So will be interesting to see what happens as we set off into the wilderness.
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Day 7 – New Zealand

So we’ve arrived in NZ.  Have to be quick because we’re in Dunedin ordering a Velvet Burger and using their wifi.  Apparently wifi is likely to be intermittent from here, so who knows when the blog can continue next.
Anyway, a quick stop on the way from Queenstown to Dunedin, then Eileen and Jo lurking in the doorway of Jo’s student house.
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Day 6 – Sydney Last Day

Last day in Sydney, so a lot of mooching around.  Could have shown another view of the Opera House, but you know what that looks like.  So this time a picture of our house taken from the Opera House.  The cream house just above the bow of the ferry – we’re the ground floor.
Decided not to climb the bridge, so had lunch and came back to Cremorne Point for a walk and tea at Mosman.  Here’s our ferry – again, what a commute.
And a bit of a wider perspective.
Now, how are we getting on with taking selfies?  Hmm – little progress, despite the backdrop!
Sydney has been fantastic – wholly unexpected and the Aussies are unbelievably friendly and chirpy – perhaps that makes sense living here.
Early start tomorrow.  It can’t be that often that Sydney is the warm-up act, but it’s Queenstown and 4 weeks in NZ with Jo.
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Day 5 – Sydney

It is hard to start the day without being bowled over by the view from the flat, so here it is again, I’m afraid.  The difference this time is that I have worked out how to use the zoom on the iPhone camera.
So with the weather forecast being showery, today was the day to get our walking boots on, forgo the ferries around the harbour and do some serious sightseeing.
Starting with the botanical gardens and a little feathered friend.
Then the incongruities begin to kick in.  We went on a 3 hour walking tour led by Ali in her final year at Sydney University.  She’s never seen a robin or snow at Christmas, but they still appear on Xmas cards, and families still have turkey, trimmings and pudding.  Christmas Carols all over the place and we did like this Lego Santa in his shorts and with a surf board.
Bit of interesting street sculpture.
Then another picture to end, this time with one of our ferries in the foreground.