There’s a really strong wind blowing, darn below...

This is one place we went through today! Jen and Dan, you didn't know you had your own town, did you?!

Well, we planned that we would be staying at a site called Curio Bay on the south east coast of the Catlins. But, when we got there the wind was sooo strong Margery couldn’t hold the camera steady and nearly got blown off her feet. We didn’t think our Oztrail tent would stand for any more battering so ..Plan B
Plan B is a Kiwi Parks site near McLean Falls just off the Southern Scenic Route, and East of Fortrose and Invercargill. We find the most sheltered site we can as it is still quite blowy even 10Km or so inland and the forecast is for rain by the morning. The site is quite small and we find that the kitchen is the smallest we have encountered so far, but it does have gas hobs!
So, having stocked up in Invercargill as there is not a lot of opportunity to get provisions in this area – they only recently tar-sealed the roads through the Catlins, I prepare a Fish Thai green curry, with pasta as we are still quite full from our Doubtful Sound trip and the left over lunch bits we saved.
We get chatting to a couple from Ohio who are riding a tandem and travelling in the opposite direction to us. They are camped next to us on the site and know England quite well having lived there on a number of occasions for 6 months at a time.
Well into the night we blog and charge lappie as we have power again! Then fall into bed for a well earned rest.

Listen to the sound of silence.

Hello darkness my old friend.... We are required to be up and having breakfast by 7 am, which means getting up and looking respectable. So shower and then take photo of fjord in the dark before going up to the main saloon where most of the guests are already assembled. What M didn’t say previously was that we weren’t in steerage. Those below decks had to share cabins and had bunk beds and so the logistics of getting attired decently in mixed company speak for themselves. We booked so late that the only available cabin was a twin bedded with en suite and a port side view.
I won’t describe the breakfast as you have already seen that the catering was 4 star hotel standard. Sufficient to say this was the first cooked breakfast we have had since leaving Dorset in January.
We sat with some people we have mentioned previously when in Picton – you may remember the mussel raid and kayaking. The same couple (Anthony and Sarah) from Bowness in Windermere were on the same excursion. How’s that for a coincidence? Nearly 1000km later and we are on the same jetty at the same time. They were so surprised we remembered their names! No more than we were - we got one each!
Day 2 itinerary was a trip to hopefully see the very rare crested Fjordland penguin. We understand that they moult at this time of the year so are likely to look a bit scraggy. I’m not sure after my breakfast if I could eat a penguin, so they are probably safe!
We saw dolphins again and then heard the call of the penguin coming from a densely covered island. And then we saw them, very shyly hiding in the bushes. It was very difficult to get any photos as R’s camera hasn’t the zoom that M’s has but is more capable of pinpointing the subject especially in low light conditions. So we came, we saw and we captured ....on digital media of course... some images of these 60 cm tall flightless birds. WOW
After all this excitement the captain took the vessel to another very secluded arm of the fjord. Here all the power to the boat was switched off, including fans and everyone moving about on deck was told to be silent. We spent 5 minutes listening to only the sounds that nature makes. It was very moving, and brought it home to us how much noise pollution there is and just how much of a true wilderness we were in. We felt truly humbled and privileged to be there- a very spiritual moment!
Then 3 kayakers disturbed the peace. They were some way off the starboard bow but as we all know sound travels very well over still water!
Back at Lake Manapouri the sun decided to grace the heavens and we had a sunny if breezy trip back to collect our car.
Can we recommend this trip! A whole hearted YES. It was done very well by all the crew of Real Journeys, and nothing was too much trouble. When you have this job and you have to be pleasant to people every day it can be hard. But well done everyone.
We now have a long drive to the Catlins, east of Invercargill where we will camp tonight. The wind is very strong westerly and the choice of campsite is in some question. Our preferred one is on the coast, near a sea lion colony, but our fall back site is approx 20km further on by McLane Falls. A 4 – 5 hour4 drive along the Southern Scenic Route, so we’ll contact you later.

Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Ooooh what a night, a comfy night! We’re so glad we weren’t in the tent – and feel very sorry for those who were as it rained, it blew, it rained some more – not nice.
This morning it seems to have blown itself out – well, almost. The area we’re in has over 3 metres of rain a year, so we weren’t surprised at last nights offering. Mind you, Doubtful Sound has 8.7 metres each year – 200+ days with rain..hmmm, looks like the trip will be a wet one then! We didn’t really expect anything else – The Fjordland National Park is facing the prevailing westerly winds, and we are a very long way south now.
Anyway, back to the rainbow. As we drove the 20km from Te Anau to Manapouri, where we were was bright and sunny, across the lake there were big black clouds, and in between? ..the most beautiful rainbow! It almost looked like we were driving under it to the other side! So, arriving at Manapouri we find the right jetty, book in and find they have their own free car park – bonus! We also collected our pre-ordered packed lunch (these were part of the trip.) Very scrummy they were too, except there was enough for two in each of them! We didn’t scoff the lot – we’ll save the left overs for lunch tomorrow.
Our journey starts with a 1 hour fast launch ride across Lake Manapouri to West Arm – at the far end of the Lake, where they have one of the biggest Hydro Power set ups we’ve seen (Hoover Dam being possibly bigger but we’re not sure!). The system uses water from 2 lakes, and discharges into Deep Cove, Doubtful Sound – in the process producing 14% of NZ’s electricity.
At West Arm, we transfer to two coaches dodging the sand flies (enormous great black midges the size of a pin head with a bite like a hypodermic needle, and that’s just the female ones!) and then, on the ubiquitous gravel tracks, go over Wilmott Pass for about 40 mins. In most places, the road is barely wider than the coach – how it got round some of the bends, we’re not quite sure – front and back of the coach were hanging over the edge at several points (though mercifully not at the same time!!) There were, of course, no crash barriers, and it is, apparently one of the highest gravel roads in NZ. It was also the most expensive to construct being 13 months overdue of the original estimate of 11 months, and costing 2$ per centimetre!! (It’s 21km long!) Something to do with having to barge in all the equipment, men and materials we suspect ! That and the appalling weather which they had apparently failed to take into account!! Der! However, as this trip was a 3 day walk before the road was built, we didn’t mind the overrun!
So, we’re now at Deep Cove, where the Fjordland Navigator is waiting for us. Having just eaten an enormous lunch, we’re shown to the main saloon (yep, there is a bar, but that’s not it’s main purpose!) and plied with Tea, coffee, and huge homemade muffins...this sets the tone for the rest of the trip – I’m sure we’ve both put on several pounds. We could never do a longer cruise – we’d have nothing left to wear! I know we didn’t have to eat them, but...
So, we set sail (there are sails, but in this instance they started the engines, as we were travelling towards the prevailing winds – there’s not much room to tack in a fjord! We were shown our cabin, and left to our own devices for the next two hours. Tea and coffee were “ on tap”, so we could help ourselves whenever we wanted. I don’t think either of us bothered..the scenery was so stunning. Yes, it was raining, yes it was cloudy, but that’s Fjordland, and these incredible granite walls stretching up to the sky, covered in rain forest trees, ferns and mosses were spellbinding.
We were treated to the sight of a small pod of dolphin bow wave riding the boat within 10 mins of leaving the quayside! I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with another dolphin pic, as we managed to catch one as it turned a full 360⁰ somersault beside us!!
We travelled down the full length of the sound, coming out into the Tasman Sea..now, this is where the fun started. Because all the ships owned by this company have to be able to do any of their runs, and Milford Sound is very shallow (2 metres in places at low tide), the Fjordland Navigator has a very shallow draft – she’s built like a Scow, for those who understand these things, but unlike a Scow, she has no keel she can drop when needed. You can imagine how much she wallowed around when she hit the open sea! M was beginning to seriously regret the muffin! We went out here to see NZ fur seals...we don’t need to come out here...we’ve seen them before! OK, on the east coast, and not as close for sure...but...
Fortunately the Capt was also aware of the swell that was running, and after a mercifully SHORT spell with the seals we retreated into the calmer waters of the sound, this time with the sails up as well.
Why is it called Doubtful Sound? Like many places here it was named by a certain Lt James Cook..he took one look at it and decided that whilst he could get into it very easily, and it was a safe haven, it was also almost impossible to sail out of, the Easterly wind he would have needed blowing only about once a month! It was therefore of very doubtful use. The rocks above the water line and the islands are, in fact, the remnants of the terminal moraines from the glaciers which formed these fjords, so Cook should really have called it “Doubtful Fjord” as a sound is a river formed valley rather than a glacier formed one, but we won’t split hairs!
Having been up on deck for 3 hours we were all thoroughly chilled, so, as requested, returned to the saloon...more food in the form of hot soup and rolls! We then moved into a quieter part of the fjord known as Precipice Cove. Here we had the choice of going out in the Navigator’s tender craft, kayaking, or swimming. As the water was only about 10⁰ swimming was decided against by us both. Ron had got quite cold standing outside taking photos, so he opted for the tender craft. M being the usual loony went kayaking – well it had to be done! Ron was, of course, then in a position to record M’s lunacy..but for some reason he took MY camera out in the boat, not his! Huh!
Fortunately we’d both taken things we didn’t mind getting wet to wear, as the kayaks had no spray decks (M very careful not to tip it around then as she didn’t want an involuntary swim) but she got soaked anyway as it was raining all the time. However she also got the most amazing view of the fjord vegetation and waterfalls close up. It was also blissfully quiet and peaceful away from the boats engines. We kayaked about 3km around the boat, then returned before we froze! The only technical hitch was trying to get out of the kayak on the water with wonky knees –a difficult enough process when it’s beached!
Back on board, dried, changed..we were being fed again! A very pleasant 3 course dinner – see what we mean?
Ron dressed for dinner. He put the lower part of his zip off trousers back on and changed his shirt! After supper, stuffed, we had an interesting talk from the ships nature officer before R beat M once again at Scrabble before retiring to a very comfy bed! (or rather 2 very comfy beds )
I really wish I hadn’t bought him the travel version of Scrabble for Christmas, I’m fed up with being thrashed every time!

Travellin’ down the road, trying to lighten my load ...

I don’t know what Ron and I had on our minds this morning, but lighten our load we did, as we managed to leave our “cold” food bits and pieces in the fridge at Wanaka! Doh! As the saying goes! Well, silly as it is, that’s the first time we’ve done it in well over 30 nights camping but... What a pair of prunes! At least we’d been eating up our stores, as we’re leaving the car overnight tomorrow night while as go out on Doubtful sound, so maybe there was a reason for this. We’ve got our current camp site to phone the Wanaka one, and asked them to put the stuff out with the “free but good” food selection that most kitchens seem to have – it’s where you leave bits you don’t want to carry home when you leave, and free to anyone who wants it – good system, so hopefully they’ll get used.
Anyway, if you’re reading this as today’s blog, you may wish to go back 2 entries, as we’ve split the day’s entries into 3 – such a lot went on today, and we wanted to put more pictures on than one blog entry would have let us do.
Just to finish this last bit of the day, we’re safely ensconced in our lovely WARM cabin (it even has an electric heater!) There’s a couple of picture of it to show the luxury we’re indulging in! I’m afraid the strange looking fizz-og glaring at you sideways is Ron’s idea of a “funny face”! Hmmm...

Old Macdonald had a farm...

On the side of Lake Wakatipu. Tuesday part 2!
The farm, being very isolated (100km by gravel track from any road) was only developed in the early 1900’s, when the government of NZ commissioned the TSS Earnshaw to service the farms and villages around the lake. Today, at nearly 100 years old (built 1912) the TSS Earnshaw takes people on lake cruises and to the High Peak Farm known as Walter Peak, for BBQ lunches, teas, suppers, and farm tours complete with sheep dog handling demonstrations and a lot more.
We opted for the BBQ lunch version of the trip (in hind sight an excellent choice; yummy! with sheep demonstrations afterwards), and thoroughly enjoyed our ride across the lake – I’ll get Ron to do the Steamship bit – I’m bound to get something wrong, and she is rather beautiful, so over to you, Ron!
OK! Anorak on! Here goes TSS – Twin Screw Steamer; built 280km away in Dunedin at a cost of £20,850 and capable of carrying 1,500 sheep and 30 cattle on her decks. Today she carries 350 passengers after being completely refitted in 1969.
Cruising speed of 11 knots, she uses 1 tonne of coal an hour and runs around 11 hours a day. Length 168 ft; beam 24 ft; weight 337 UK tonnes and with a draft of 7ft. The steam plant consists of two triple expansion 250 hp condensing steam engines powered by two locomotive type boilers working at 160 lb per square inch. I’m getting too hot just talking about it. I’d better take off my anorak unless we all fall into a soporific slumber.....zzzzz, zzzzz!
Ron, Ron, wake up. You were dreaming! What were you smiling about? Oh dear! Well, if you love steam engines, you will understand, if not, just sympathise; although I’m not sure whether that should be with Ron or with me!
Anyway, Earnshaw got us safely and interestingly 7 miles across the lake to a sumptuous BBQ Lunch in the old farm house. (This bodes well for the Doubtful Sound trip, which is run by the same company!) Wed’ refused to buy Philias a ticket, thinking he’d go as “hand baggage”, but he ended up having to work his passage – much to the amusement of the crew!
We were then shown round the farm – seeing a really good sheep dog handling exhibition – two dogs (both short haired border collies) working a small flock. In the high these are known as “heading” dogs – their job being to quietly gather and round up the sheep without a single bark. For driving the flocks, they use the larger Kelpie or Blue Nose breeds who do bark – a lot!
We also saw a sheep shearing demonstration and wool being processed before being led through the inevitable shop. It was a good trip, none the less. Then, back to Queenstown for quite a drive down to Te Anau – ready for tomorrow’s extravaganza!

The long and winding road that leads to.. Fun! Fun! Fun since.....

Tuesday part 1! The long and winding road is the same one we used to cross the mountain pass to go to Arrowtown yesterday – only today we’re actually seeing it properly as the rain and very low cloud aren’t spoiling the view. We’re going off into Queenstown for the next part of the adventure. This road is apparently the highest sealed road in New Zealand (1076m), and we can quite believe that as it winds uphill through a very high and wild mountain pass, before descending through a series of 9 very sharp hairpin bends into Queenstown. Car buffs (also the Petrol heads of course!) will understand when I say it was great fun to drive – Ron drove it yesterday, I got my turn today!
Ron’s comment as we drove up really made me giggle..”Well, Slug might have got up here..in reverse!” . Yesterday we saw cyclists peddling up from both sides of the pass.M says “not my idea of fun although the going down would be very interesting with rubber composite brake blocks. We had a rear tyre blow on a less severe road on Arran just from the friction heat from the brakes going down to Glen Rosa!
Our Scooby Legacy had no trouble (apart from the driver getting the wrong gear occasionally!)...”take it easy, take easy; don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy”.
On the way up we passed the Cardrona Hotel – another of the Gold Rush remains – built in the 1863’s and still going strong. An invitation to “Stop if you had a shilling otherwise step on it” made me laugh, along with Craven “A” cigarettes advert stating “good for the throat”!
The road has a few rather interesting features...wooden pole crash barriers for one... with a drop of up to 150’ feet behind them! The bends we’ve already talked about... then there was the interesting road signage – one for you, Jen! Finally, we have the evidence of why the road “seal” or lack of it is so poor – the photo is of the “finishing touches” – note the comb type brushes behind the vehicle! Oh, by the way its a great hill to paraglide off apparently, according to one we saw as we were driving down!
This is also ski country in winter as you might suspect.

We’re all going on a summer holiday..

Hang on a minute, it’s the middle of winter! Ok, not where we are, but we couldn’t resist the title when we saw 1 bright red “Routemaster” bus sitting in a car park today..oh yes, and it’s raining, which has been par for the course for a few summer holidays I could mention!
No it’s not Summer; it’s the first day of Autumn. Oh Dear, it’s going to be a difficult blog to read – M’s typing and R’s interrupting!
How it got here, the driver wasn’t sure but apparently it’s original number was RMA 1660. I’ll get Ron to talk through it’s finer points – to me it’s just an old London bus!
Philistine! Built at Park Royal, London, for London Transport, it was originally powered by an AEC diesel power unit. This has now been replaced by a Leyland power unit. Inside, apart from the provision of a large pa speaker, it looks pretty much original. Shame that they have painted out the RMA number on the cab (Routemaster AEC as opposed to RML Routemaster Leyland), engine cover and the passenger entry platform, and of course the original number plate is not being used, but...!
Ok, Ron, anorak away please!
Wanaka has been the first place we’ve actually been a little disappointed with. I don’t think we’re getting jaded by all the wonders we’ve seen. We had been told Wanaka was a really good place to come, with lots to do. True, it is very beautiful – lovely lake surrounded by fantastic mountains, but rather like some of the poorer of our own seaside resorts, money talks and there’s plenty to do and all the support you need if you want to sky dive, bungy jump, jet boat or go on a fancy cruise or a fishing trip. If you want to explore the area, do some walking and so on, there’s very little information available, even front the TI. Everyone seems to be encouraging you to do an expensive trip. At this stage of our holiday, that’s not what we had in mind.
So, what’s the solution? Go somewhere else!
How yer gonna keep them down on the farm after they’ve seen...... Oh Dear, Ron’s in a daft mood; you’ll have to put up with the interruptions! We didn’t move the tent – it wasn’t worth it for one night, as we had relatively easy access to Arrowtown (1 hr drive through a stunning mountain pass) somewhere we did want to visit. Arrowtown is where they first discovered gold in this part of NZ. It was a man named William Rees from Wales who came here and set up a sheep farm in 1860 two years before the first gold find by a Maori named Waika Jack who had no financial acuity about him. Since Maori didn’t have coinage or any real value / use for gold he showed it to Rees and kept quiet about it. This suited Rees who wanted to get his sheep sheared and the wool sold before the inevitable invasion occurred. There could have been some self interest as well, of course.
Today Arrowtown is a medium sized village, with many of the properties dating from the 1860s. Being up in the mountains and subject to the obvious weather problems, some were built of stone, rather than the more usual wood. Many have been preserved in as near an original state as possible and the old bank and assay house has been converted inside into a really interesting museum about the gold rush days and history of the town and area thereafter. A good way to spend a wet day.
What M hasn’t said is that while I was outside in the pouring rain taking all these fantastic pictures for your blog you had snuck into “the Remarkable Sweet Shop”! OK! I know I’m being modest about the pictures, but give a guy a chance, please!!
I didn’t snuck anywhere! I walked in quite openly – followed fairly swiftly by YOU Mr B! And I hasten to add, once you arrived, we came out with 3 different sorts of fudge, rather than the ONE I was going to buy!!
Look, it’s only right we should support the local economy. After all I had designs on a micro-brewery just opposite. You didn’t think I would miss that one did you!
Nope, nor did I expect us to come away without beer as well as excessive fudge!
I think we’d better stop this here or nobody will ever read the blog again
We’ve just got back, and guess what – the rain’s stopped! Wahoo! That’s an improvement. The tent mark II has now had had it’s first wetting...yes there’s a couple of tiny leaks (the Velcro/seam tape thing again ) but nothing major, so that’s good. We’re not actually using the tent tomorrow (Tuesday)..lazy things! We’ve booked a cabin on the site in Te Anau as we’re off on a steamboat ride during the morning (the TSS Earnshaw built in 1912 - Ron couldn’t be expected to resist that one really!) and we then have to drive quite a long way to Te Anau, so we didn’t really want to be bothered with a wet tent. The following day (Wednesday) we’re going on an overnight cruise on Doubtful sound, so again, a wet tent would be a real nuisance. Back in it again on Thursday night though – we can’t have it developing agoraphobia!
Talking of summer holidays, it seems ages since we were in Rarotonga, but today we had a reply from a Professor of Zoology we met there, about meeting up in his home in Dunedin. We will share stories about what they and we have done over a bottle of wine and a nice “tea” – NZ speak for supper. The last time we saw Phil and his wife Debbie we were all covered in mud after the jungle walk. Phil was probably wetter than most as he’d been scrabbling around the rivers looking for frogs – his specialisation! It should be a fun evening.
(Please don’t hum the “Frogs Chorus” as we go in M!)
Not very likely, dear!!!