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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.
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Day 4 – Watson’s Bay

Took another ferry out to fabulous beach location.  It had promised to be cloudy but the sun came out leading to temperatures over 80 which was a bit much!  It was lovely to see some colour.

Thursday and Friday promise to be wet, so we have left Sydney City until today and tomorrow.  If all goes to plan, should be the Opera House and a Rocks walking tour today.

And another sunny beach.

Sent from my iPhone

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Day 3 – Manly

First question – how hard can it be to take a selfie, especially if you put the Sydney Opera House in the background?  Clearly more training required – you should see the other attempts!
We’re getting used to the idea of Sydney, especially starting from where we are staying.  We get a ferry over the bay to the Opera House which is the main connection to everywhere.  Today we took a trip to Manly, one of the main beaches …
… and we’re met by one of their Water Dragons.  Had a walk, lunch on the beach, a swim and all the other things you expect to do in December.
Then took a ferry to nowhere in particular, joining all the commuters on their way home.  Another picture of the Opera House just for good measure – we did wonder how long it takes Sydnodians(?) to get used to their daily commute – it’s amazing.
And to finish – let’s try a selfie again outside our flat.  Still needs more work on perfecting the art …..
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Day 2 – Sydney Again

After a bit of a recovery from the journey, we decided to join the evening commute and head off into Sydney for the early evening.  The first photo is just as we’re leaving our ferry stop (Old Cremorne Point) for the 15 minutes ferry ride into the centre.
Then we had to take the pictures that have been taken millions of times before as the ferry reached its destination.  A bit of a wander round, and supper of fish and chips on the harbour side.  I kid you not – one of the key criteria when we chose where to eat was whether it was cool enough and had sufficient shade!
Neither of us had any views about Sydney before we came, but we’re so glad we did.  We can see why people think it’s terrific.  Admittedly on a sunny day in mid-summer it was looking pretty good but there is so much to do.
Probably a bit of an exploration tomorrow.
Simon and Eileen