Village of Ross. Very pretty.
Tasmanian Devil
Some of our group
Wineglass Bay
Bay of Fires
Bay of FiresThis is video of some of the Tasmanian Devils. hope it works!
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Tasmania
With not a small amount of sorrow, we packed our bags and left Melbourne. We wished we could spend more time there and maybe even sneak in another bar crawl with Josh and Elisa...
However... Tasmania. In Melbourne, we booked on a 3 day tour of the east coast of Tassie. This took up a week's budget, so we were a bit nervous because if it was rubbish, it was a lot of cash...fortunately it was great. Mostly down to an excellent guide and an interesting, friendly bunch of people. There were 13 of us on the tour (3 men, 10 women!), a mixture of English, Irish, Canadian, Mexican, Spanish, Czech, Japanese, and Chinese. We won't go on about it, but they were a top group and we spent our evenings together (after we'd cooked and prepared dinner) talking, laughing and playing a great game (yes, another one to introduce to you all!).
So, highlights of our tour to the East Coast of this beautiful island:
- The Bay of Fires. Our first Aussie beach! In our tour guide's words "You can swim if you want to, but there's a very strong current, sea lice that might bite you, and a girl got taken by a great white here last year". We did go for a little dip though as who can resist a beach with crashing waves from 3 different directions, turquoise sea, and white sand? Note to the nervous: Kara stayed in the little lagoon area, while Martin went off to challenge Poseidon and his underlings.
- driving around seeing the country side (you can smell eucalyptus from the trees wherever you are) and then having Jon, the guide, screech to a halt and shout "Echidna!". This is a relative of the hedgehog (in appearance but is actually a monotrean, which is the same family as the Duck Billed Platypus) with impressive white spikes and the same crap defense mechanism..."Arggghhh, if I roll into a ball they will never find me..."
- Wine Glass Bay - hiking to view points and in Martin's case up the mountain, while being unoffical sheep dog to the rest of the group. It looks as its name says - like a wine glass
- We saw Tasmanian Devils!! They look nothing like Taz. They are kind of cute until they make a noise. Or start eating. Or start fighting. They can crunch through bones and they do run around like nutters. We went to a wildlife park to see them (noturnal black animals are always going to be tricky for your average tourist), as they are hard to see in the wild, and watched them being fed. Well, chucked large chunks of dead animal. Then they fight over it. Then they devour it. Much extremely unpleasant cracking noises as they break up bones the size of your femur
- as if this wasn't cool enough, we then went to the next feeding session...feeding kangaroos and wallabies! We were in the pen with them. With food in our hand. We're told that by the time we leave Oz we'll be utterly sick of the sight of kangaroos but at the moment it is still very exciting.Feeding a mother kangaroo with one hand while feeding with the other hand her baby whose head is sticking out of her pouch is a priceless experience.
- Port Arthur. The prison site were convicts too bad for mainland Australia were sent... now the whole town is a museum and you can wander round the old buildings and learn about the individual prisoners who lived there. Very very good museum\park place. In summary: penal colony at bottom end of Tasmania + British Victorian overseers = not fun.
- We also saw amazing rock formations, arches, cliff faces and other things.
- Martin is very proud at having given 2 Japanese and 1 Chinese woman their first experience of "the pub". Complete with lessons on how to go to the bar, order your drink, pay, then come back to the table we were all sat round and chat. Perfect night out.
We hope to keep in touch with the people we met, as they were a nice bunch, and maybe even meet one or two of them in our travels (eg Japan. Having introduced them to the pub, we have been promised to be introduced to the ways of Japan...)
Other good news:
- all of the babies that were due to be born when we left have been born happy and healthy. Congrats to everyone. And the bun factory is still in action as we will be back in August in time for another birth... keep up the good work folks, and maybe consider watching tv next time you're bored...it's cheaper in the long run...
However... Tasmania. In Melbourne, we booked on a 3 day tour of the east coast of Tassie. This took up a week's budget, so we were a bit nervous because if it was rubbish, it was a lot of cash...fortunately it was great. Mostly down to an excellent guide and an interesting, friendly bunch of people. There were 13 of us on the tour (3 men, 10 women!), a mixture of English, Irish, Canadian, Mexican, Spanish, Czech, Japanese, and Chinese. We won't go on about it, but they were a top group and we spent our evenings together (after we'd cooked and prepared dinner) talking, laughing and playing a great game (yes, another one to introduce to you all!).
So, highlights of our tour to the East Coast of this beautiful island:
- The Bay of Fires. Our first Aussie beach! In our tour guide's words "You can swim if you want to, but there's a very strong current, sea lice that might bite you, and a girl got taken by a great white here last year". We did go for a little dip though as who can resist a beach with crashing waves from 3 different directions, turquoise sea, and white sand? Note to the nervous: Kara stayed in the little lagoon area, while Martin went off to challenge Poseidon and his underlings.
- driving around seeing the country side (you can smell eucalyptus from the trees wherever you are) and then having Jon, the guide, screech to a halt and shout "Echidna!". This is a relative of the hedgehog (in appearance but is actually a monotrean, which is the same family as the Duck Billed Platypus) with impressive white spikes and the same crap defense mechanism..."Arggghhh, if I roll into a ball they will never find me..."
- Wine Glass Bay - hiking to view points and in Martin's case up the mountain, while being unoffical sheep dog to the rest of the group. It looks as its name says - like a wine glass
- We saw Tasmanian Devils!! They look nothing like Taz. They are kind of cute until they make a noise. Or start eating. Or start fighting. They can crunch through bones and they do run around like nutters. We went to a wildlife park to see them (noturnal black animals are always going to be tricky for your average tourist), as they are hard to see in the wild, and watched them being fed. Well, chucked large chunks of dead animal. Then they fight over it. Then they devour it. Much extremely unpleasant cracking noises as they break up bones the size of your femur
- as if this wasn't cool enough, we then went to the next feeding session...feeding kangaroos and wallabies! We were in the pen with them. With food in our hand. We're told that by the time we leave Oz we'll be utterly sick of the sight of kangaroos but at the moment it is still very exciting.Feeding a mother kangaroo with one hand while feeding with the other hand her baby whose head is sticking out of her pouch is a priceless experience.
- Port Arthur. The prison site were convicts too bad for mainland Australia were sent... now the whole town is a museum and you can wander round the old buildings and learn about the individual prisoners who lived there. Very very good museum\park place. In summary: penal colony at bottom end of Tasmania + British Victorian overseers = not fun.
- We also saw amazing rock formations, arches, cliff faces and other things.
- Martin is very proud at having given 2 Japanese and 1 Chinese woman their first experience of "the pub". Complete with lessons on how to go to the bar, order your drink, pay, then come back to the table we were all sat round and chat. Perfect night out.
We hope to keep in touch with the people we met, as they were a nice bunch, and maybe even meet one or two of them in our travels (eg Japan. Having introduced them to the pub, we have been promised to be introduced to the ways of Japan...)
Other good news:
- all of the babies that were due to be born when we left have been born happy and healthy. Congrats to everyone. And the bun factory is still in action as we will be back in August in time for another birth... keep up the good work folks, and maybe consider watching tv next time you're bored...it's cheaper in the long run...
Friday, 19 February 2010
Photos of Melbourne
Flinders Street Station with the ACMI building on the left
Comedy bird in the botanical gardens
View along the Yarra River
View of Melbourne from the memorial building
The incredible memorial building
Us in Federation Square
One of the MANY shopping arcades
Front of ACMI as seen from Federation Square
Thursday, 18 February 2010
G'DAY!!!
We LOVE Melbourne!
So, we thought we knew all about cities... then we arrived in Melbourne. 4 lane highways. Skyscrapers. A metro system. And trams. And buses. And parks. And shops. And bars. Restaurants. Beautiful people wandering round in clothes that cost our monthly travelling budget. For the first time in 3 months our faded t.shirts aren't suitable....(NOTE: Martin's faded t.shirts. Kara got her mum to bring out fresh clothes for her but Martin rejected this idea...!!)
Melbourne is bustling, sunny, laid back, and energetic all at the same time. There are more art galleries and museums and theatres than you can shake a stick at. Tiny alleys full of cafes and bars and restaurants. All kinds of food at all kinds of prices (the backpackers fav - all you can eat $8.50 Chinese buffet). Shops ranging from market stalls to kooky boutiques to second hand to designer couture to high street... if you love the arts, food or shopping head here! (note for gents - bring a stick to beat your wife away from the expensive shops, or take out an extra mortgage) (note for ladies - soooo frustrating to be in this city on a backpackers budget and with sulking husband in tow muttering "we can't afford this, I'd much rather spend it on skydiving". Upsettingly, my common sense took over and I bought nothing).
So, how have we spent our time here?
Now we're in the suburbs, staying with our lovely couchsurfing hosts, Elisa and Josh.
Much to the amusement of Kara's parents, we're having a lazy day today ("What do you mean today? Haven't you been lazy for the last 5 months?!?!" - they have a point!), heading into the city later to check out an exhibition, then going back in for a night of bar crawling with Elisa and Josh later... we're gutted we're leaving tomorrow but also looking forward to Tasmania...
We see Kit in less than a week!!! Would be better if he was bringing Rosie, but just Kit will do... :-)
So, we thought we knew all about cities... then we arrived in Melbourne. 4 lane highways. Skyscrapers. A metro system. And trams. And buses. And parks. And shops. And bars. Restaurants. Beautiful people wandering round in clothes that cost our monthly travelling budget. For the first time in 3 months our faded t.shirts aren't suitable....(NOTE: Martin's faded t.shirts. Kara got her mum to bring out fresh clothes for her but Martin rejected this idea...!!)
Melbourne is bustling, sunny, laid back, and energetic all at the same time. There are more art galleries and museums and theatres than you can shake a stick at. Tiny alleys full of cafes and bars and restaurants. All kinds of food at all kinds of prices (the backpackers fav - all you can eat $8.50 Chinese buffet). Shops ranging from market stalls to kooky boutiques to second hand to designer couture to high street... if you love the arts, food or shopping head here! (note for gents - bring a stick to beat your wife away from the expensive shops, or take out an extra mortgage) (note for ladies - soooo frustrating to be in this city on a backpackers budget and with sulking husband in tow muttering "we can't afford this, I'd much rather spend it on skydiving". Upsettingly, my common sense took over and I bought nothing).
So, how have we spent our time here?
- we headed to Federation Square, a funky modern square next to the river with a huge TV screen showing the Winter Olympics. There's something satisfying about watching people on snow while sat in the blazing hot sun.
- we did a walking tour, looking at the alleys, arcades, buildings, and just soaking up the atmosphere. There were other tourists getting excited because on one street there is some art by Banksy. Being from Bristol, we were less so....
- we went to a Contemporary Art Gallery (note: Martin's second art gallery in the week as we went to one in Christchurch too. Though he did leg it out quickly at that one to join his dad in the bar. That was not an option here!)
- We then headed to ACMI Australian Centre for Moving Image. Geek heaven. Computer games ranging from pac-man to HALO, the original car from the 1st Mad Max movie, more Cate Blanchett trivia than even the most obsessive stalker could desire, and best of all...
- Make your own matrix action scene. Check these out, and remember that we are old and out of practice before you get all critical. You need to copy and paste them into your browser.
- http://www.acmi.net.au/timeslice/Timeslice.htm?file=ts-20100217-cb98eec252ff4ad461ad819a417c64f5.flv
- http://www.acmi.net.au/timeslice/Timeslice.htm?file=ts-20100217-4fc6a9b2755131e8137cc6900a028089.flv
- there is a free hop on hop off tourist bus, so after checking out the amazing Memorial Building, we hopped on and enjoyed the free commentary before hopping off in little Italy and eating... Turkish food...
- ... we also enjoyed a relaxing hour ambling round a mere quarter of the massive botanical gardens.
Now we're in the suburbs, staying with our lovely couchsurfing hosts, Elisa and Josh.
Much to the amusement of Kara's parents, we're having a lazy day today ("What do you mean today? Haven't you been lazy for the last 5 months?!?!" - they have a point!), heading into the city later to check out an exhibition, then going back in for a night of bar crawling with Elisa and Josh later... we're gutted we're leaving tomorrow but also looking forward to Tasmania...
We see Kit in less than a week!!! Would be better if he was bringing Rosie, but just Kit will do... :-)
Final days in New Zealand
the view behind Tony is of Christchurch
Comedy shaved alpaca
Gobbo the tusked pig (think grumpy old man)
Martin, the chicken whisperer
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Last gasp of the Kiwi...
How dedicated are we? Our flight leaves in 45 minutes but we are updating the blog...so, on we go to Melbourne. Top tip: check your flight details regularly. Our stay in Melbourne appears to be a day shorter than we thought. Ooops.
We've just had a great few days with Tony and Alison, visiting the Banks Peninsula, Art Galleries, bars (let you decide who went where...), beaches and high hills. All very very good. We've also been easing ourselves back into hostel life, while eating at lovely restaurants and stopping regularly at cafes...Kit and Nicky - we hope you will treat us this well when you visit!!
So, round up of New Zealand:
- if you want to see Kiwi, go to a wildlife centre. We saw 3 of them this morning at one.
- it's a bit like England if you take away all of England's people, cities, farms, motorways....
- great scenery. Only come here for walking and outdoors stuff. If you're idea of heaven is an afternoon shopping followed by cocktails, stay in Europe. NZ has it but on a smaller scale.
- our next visit here will be in Winter (next - many years, when we have money again...)
- we loved camper vanning. We drove 7038 km in total
- we loved Fiordland, Stewart Island, Otago, Northland and the Coromandel... and the rest was pretty awesone too.
We've bid farewell to Martin's parents (who also scored highly on parental generosity and kindness) after raiding their hotel room for coffee sachets one last time, and are on our way to Australia...the parents will be missed... especially when we start eating super noodles again...
We've just had a great few days with Tony and Alison, visiting the Banks Peninsula, Art Galleries, bars (let you decide who went where...), beaches and high hills. All very very good. We've also been easing ourselves back into hostel life, while eating at lovely restaurants and stopping regularly at cafes...Kit and Nicky - we hope you will treat us this well when you visit!!
So, round up of New Zealand:
- if you want to see Kiwi, go to a wildlife centre. We saw 3 of them this morning at one.
- it's a bit like England if you take away all of England's people, cities, farms, motorways....
- great scenery. Only come here for walking and outdoors stuff. If you're idea of heaven is an afternoon shopping followed by cocktails, stay in Europe. NZ has it but on a smaller scale.
- our next visit here will be in Winter (next - many years, when we have money again...)
- we loved camper vanning. We drove 7038 km in total
- we loved Fiordland, Stewart Island, Otago, Northland and the Coromandel... and the rest was pretty awesone too.
We've bid farewell to Martin's parents (who also scored highly on parental generosity and kindness) after raiding their hotel room for coffee sachets one last time, and are on our way to Australia...the parents will be missed... especially when we start eating super noodles again...
Saturday, 13 February 2010
A change is as good as a rest....
So, our last emotion filled days in Osalamon Van Laden... what do you do with them? You go and stay on a campsite with its own mini zoo of course. And you unknowingly to him, book your husband into a 9am "feed the animals" tour. Animals we fed include: golden possums, wallabies, a red deer, a white donkey, many ducks and chickens, a peahen with two chicks, an emu with two babies, comedy shorn alpacas, and our favourite, Gobbo the geriatric tusked pig.
Great stuff. We love the Kiwi attitude to animals. The couple who owned the place were one minute telling us how half the animals were from the area and had been brought to them by hunters who had accidentally shot or wounded them or their mothers, then in the next minute telling us how each Christmas they kill a lamb or two for a big BBQ for the guests... kind of love mixed with deep practicality...
So, our last nights in the van were spent at this beautiful rural setting, going to sleep to the sound of various animal noises (you have never heard the sound of distress until you have heard a donkey who thought it's dinner was late).
Then on to the raging metropolis of Christchurch (population: not many. The whole island only has 1million...) to drop the van off. Having been out of a big city for a while to find traffic jams, coffee shops with crap service and binge drinking rugby fans was a pleasant surprise...
So we are with Alison and Tony again. Well, they are in a 4star hotel and we are in a hostel! Yesterday we met up with an old colleague of Tony's and her family. Great fun and nice to have some "British" chat.
Today Martin enjoyed driving the Toyota 4x4 Tony has hired (Martin would like to point out this was afree upgrade. His dad would never intentionally hire a 4x4). We've been up to the hills south of Christchurch, seen amazing views across the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps, looked out over the Banks Peninsula and across the sea towards Chile... we also managed to get in a pie, a creamed tea, and then an ice cream by the beach. It's great to have parents!
Great stuff. We love the Kiwi attitude to animals. The couple who owned the place were one minute telling us how half the animals were from the area and had been brought to them by hunters who had accidentally shot or wounded them or their mothers, then in the next minute telling us how each Christmas they kill a lamb or two for a big BBQ for the guests... kind of love mixed with deep practicality...
So, our last nights in the van were spent at this beautiful rural setting, going to sleep to the sound of various animal noises (you have never heard the sound of distress until you have heard a donkey who thought it's dinner was late).
Then on to the raging metropolis of Christchurch (population: not many. The whole island only has 1million...) to drop the van off. Having been out of a big city for a while to find traffic jams, coffee shops with crap service and binge drinking rugby fans was a pleasant surprise...
So we are with Alison and Tony again. Well, they are in a 4star hotel and we are in a hostel! Yesterday we met up with an old colleague of Tony's and her family. Great fun and nice to have some "British" chat.
Today Martin enjoyed driving the Toyota 4x4 Tony has hired (Martin would like to point out this was afree upgrade. His dad would never intentionally hire a 4x4). We've been up to the hills south of Christchurch, seen amazing views across the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps, looked out over the Banks Peninsula and across the sea towards Chile... we also managed to get in a pie, a creamed tea, and then an ice cream by the beach. It's great to have parents!
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Photos
Gore's Giant Trout.
As you can see, pretty crowded for a Sunday afternoon....
Indiana.
Kim
Steepest street in the world - alleged.
Stanfords. People in photos who are as tall as Martin. Novelty.
Dunedin
We are capable of making new friends!! So, we headed to Richard and Karin's in Dunedin. They live near the "Steepest Street in the World*", Baldwin Street. Of course, when Karin got up Sunday morning and went to the gym, Martin HAD to go one better and run up ... yes, Baldwin Street. Twice.
Anyway, we digress...
It was great to have a few days hanging out with great people, their two dogs, and being in a home. Basically, we had our ideal weekend (the following might sound familiar to many of our friends...):
- Saturday afternoon, walk the dogs in the park
- return home. Drink beer. Eat curry. Chat. Stroke dogs while doing all that.
- Sunday morning - Martin and Karin go exercise, Kara and Richard read books, chat, do internet.
- Sunday lunch - fry up at local cafe
- Sunday afternoon - take dogs to practically deserted beautiful beach for 2 hours. Walk. Play with dogs. Find baby hedgehog on road.
- Sunday evening - repeat Saturday evening but with pasta instead of curry and play a board game (best board game ever. We'll be introducing it to the UK).
- Monday - those of us that work go to work. Those of us that don't lie in. Walk the dogs. Then... be impressed...
- Karin works at the local gym and pool, so we went along, and did a workout! Kara snuck off early though to get her barnet cut (£5 cut!! BARGAIN!! And not a bowl in sight!)
- Monday evening - drink beer, eat out (pizza). Beat Karin and Richard AGAIN at the boardgame they've introduced us to (much bitterness about ungrateful guests).
- Tuesday morning - same as Monday.
For those of you thinking we became the guests who don't leave, you're right. We're pretty sure when they said "Sod off you pommie b*st*rds" and "Are you still here?" that they were being silly...apparently threatening to shave people's dogs while they are at work is not a nice thing to do.
Finally, we had to leave to go meet Martin's parents. Hurray! Stanfords united!
We joined their coach tour for a train trip from Dunedin through the Taieri Gorge. Very cool trip. Lots of windy track and steep walls and ravines and viaducts to go over. Saw another example of Kiwi enterprise. We stop in the middle of nowhere to go see the view. And there, under a tree is a local woman, who goes up there every day to sell fudge to the passengers. Who doesn't want fudge after a long train journey?!
Really good to see Alison and Tony and we'll be catching up with them more this weekend in Christchurch. Although, bizzarely, we just stopped in Oamaru to drop off a hitchhiker and saw Martin's dad walking up the road...(great thing about being a Stanford is that our men can be spotted in virtually any crowd on the planet. Crap for covert warfare, very good for middle class holidays). So, we've just spent a bonus 15 minutes with them before their fun bus claimed them again (if we didn't mention this when David and Marguerite were with us, these guys run a tight schedule. We feel very slack by comparison. Especially as we still haven't decided yet where we're going today and it's 13.30 and we've already eaten cake. We're just going to drive til we make our minds up.)
Random stuff that was cool:
- pizza place we went to with Richard and Karin was the same place Martin's parents' hotel recommended...so we go to try the toppings we couldn't the day before. We now know the barman quite well.
- today's hitchhiker is about to start a PhD in NZ and it's relationship with the land. Really interesting conversation about the tensions between DOC (want to preserve it), tourism (want to give people access to it), Maori (generally, want to live off it), farmers (you figure that out!), and hunters....!!! It's a big issue in NZ. Chatting to her and Richard and Karin has been great for getting an insight into the country and not just bimbling around it as a tourist.
- bumping into Martin's parents (we know we've mentioned it but it was cool).
- it's stopped raining!
- the cake was nice...
Onwards!
Anyway, we digress...
It was great to have a few days hanging out with great people, their two dogs, and being in a home. Basically, we had our ideal weekend (the following might sound familiar to many of our friends...):
- Saturday afternoon, walk the dogs in the park
- return home. Drink beer. Eat curry. Chat. Stroke dogs while doing all that.
- Sunday morning - Martin and Karin go exercise, Kara and Richard read books, chat, do internet.
- Sunday lunch - fry up at local cafe
- Sunday afternoon - take dogs to practically deserted beautiful beach for 2 hours. Walk. Play with dogs. Find baby hedgehog on road.
- Sunday evening - repeat Saturday evening but with pasta instead of curry and play a board game (best board game ever. We'll be introducing it to the UK).
- Monday - those of us that work go to work. Those of us that don't lie in. Walk the dogs. Then... be impressed...
- Karin works at the local gym and pool, so we went along, and did a workout! Kara snuck off early though to get her barnet cut (£5 cut!! BARGAIN!! And not a bowl in sight!)
- Monday evening - drink beer, eat out (pizza). Beat Karin and Richard AGAIN at the boardgame they've introduced us to (much bitterness about ungrateful guests).
- Tuesday morning - same as Monday.
For those of you thinking we became the guests who don't leave, you're right. We're pretty sure when they said "Sod off you pommie b*st*rds" and "Are you still here?" that they were being silly...apparently threatening to shave people's dogs while they are at work is not a nice thing to do.
Finally, we had to leave to go meet Martin's parents. Hurray! Stanfords united!
We joined their coach tour for a train trip from Dunedin through the Taieri Gorge. Very cool trip. Lots of windy track and steep walls and ravines and viaducts to go over. Saw another example of Kiwi enterprise. We stop in the middle of nowhere to go see the view. And there, under a tree is a local woman, who goes up there every day to sell fudge to the passengers. Who doesn't want fudge after a long train journey?!
Really good to see Alison and Tony and we'll be catching up with them more this weekend in Christchurch. Although, bizzarely, we just stopped in Oamaru to drop off a hitchhiker and saw Martin's dad walking up the road...(great thing about being a Stanford is that our men can be spotted in virtually any crowd on the planet. Crap for covert warfare, very good for middle class holidays). So, we've just spent a bonus 15 minutes with them before their fun bus claimed them again (if we didn't mention this when David and Marguerite were with us, these guys run a tight schedule. We feel very slack by comparison. Especially as we still haven't decided yet where we're going today and it's 13.30 and we've already eaten cake. We're just going to drive til we make our minds up.)
Random stuff that was cool:
- pizza place we went to with Richard and Karin was the same place Martin's parents' hotel recommended...so we go to try the toppings we couldn't the day before. We now know the barman quite well.
- today's hitchhiker is about to start a PhD in NZ and it's relationship with the land. Really interesting conversation about the tensions between DOC (want to preserve it), tourism (want to give people access to it), Maori (generally, want to live off it), farmers (you figure that out!), and hunters....!!! It's a big issue in NZ. Chatting to her and Richard and Karin has been great for getting an insight into the country and not just bimbling around it as a tourist.
- bumping into Martin's parents (we know we've mentioned it but it was cool).
- it's stopped raining!
- the cake was nice...
Onwards!
Friday, 5 February 2010
Photos
Photos of domestic life
Getting Clean
Drying the bed linen
Waiting for the local rush hour to calm down. One of the dogs they released tried to herd our van!!
Checking out the local neighbourhood of South Mavora Lake
Bimbling in the van
Mavora Lakes and Piano Flat
The nice thing about not having a big budget is that you are always looking for a cheap option. Luckily, in NZ, this means staying at DOC sites.This policy has taken us to some very beautiful and out of the way locations. Mavora Lakes and Piano Flat were two of these.
To sum up:
- by out of the way we mean, approx 30km drive down a gravel road, after driving off the main road for 20km. It takes weeks to get that feeling out of your backside
- Mavora Lakes - trout fishing mecca. Met a mad Frenchman who got up at 2am to catch trout - BIG TROUT. Try 60lbs. Caught and then let go.
- Martin did a "man and the bush" walk. 22km in 35 degree heat. Kara stayed in the van, hiding from the sun, sandflies, and, more importantly, POLLEN.
- the nice thing about walking in the sun next to a lake, is if you get too hot, you can jump in the lake.
- Piano Flat was by a river. More swimming in there.
- Martin went and did a 4 hour walk as a run, complete with 2 steel swingbridges (as awful as they sound. Swingy, unstable, and scary).
- This run was rated as 90% jungle on account of how he wasn't actually bleeding when he came back.
- He did look half dead though, as it was 90 minutes of running through tough terrain and unformed paths. "It would have been a lot less time apart from the bits where I got lost, had to wade through mud, forge through jungle, and go uphill."
- Meanwhile, in true Little House on the Prairie style, Kara stayed at the van, doing hand washing, cleaning, and having a good meal ready for the hero's return...how did it come to this?!?!?
Next steps
We're heading to Dunedin now, as we've been invited round by Karin and Richard (who we met on Stewart Island) for curry. This has given us the great excuse to go to Liquorland. Ahhh. Rooms that are walk in freezers full of beer. Being practical souls, we have put the cold beer in the cool box to keep our milk and cheese cold. We're Karin and Richard will understand when we give them our gifts with bits of cheese attached.
Of course, the other reason to head to Dunedin is for the Stanford family reunion.... we're meeting Martin's parents there on Tuesday.
We are currently in the town of Gore (great name). Gore's claim to fame is apparently a very large statue of a trout. Guess what our fun afternoon activity is...
Depressing news...
Last week in the SalmonAvan. We're in mourning and also trying to eat up our food before we don our rucksacks and become backpackers again.
Martin is looking forward to a life where he doesn't have to make the bed before he can access his clean pants.
Kara is looking forwards to not driving around with Martin's sweaty pants from his run drying out in the back window of the van.
The nice thing about not having a big budget is that you are always looking for a cheap option. Luckily, in NZ, this means staying at DOC sites.This policy has taken us to some very beautiful and out of the way locations. Mavora Lakes and Piano Flat were two of these.
To sum up:
- by out of the way we mean, approx 30km drive down a gravel road, after driving off the main road for 20km. It takes weeks to get that feeling out of your backside
- Mavora Lakes - trout fishing mecca. Met a mad Frenchman who got up at 2am to catch trout - BIG TROUT. Try 60lbs. Caught and then let go.
- Martin did a "man and the bush" walk. 22km in 35 degree heat. Kara stayed in the van, hiding from the sun, sandflies, and, more importantly, POLLEN.
- the nice thing about walking in the sun next to a lake, is if you get too hot, you can jump in the lake.
- Piano Flat was by a river. More swimming in there.
- Martin went and did a 4 hour walk as a run, complete with 2 steel swingbridges (as awful as they sound. Swingy, unstable, and scary).
- This run was rated as 90% jungle on account of how he wasn't actually bleeding when he came back.
- He did look half dead though, as it was 90 minutes of running through tough terrain and unformed paths. "It would have been a lot less time apart from the bits where I got lost, had to wade through mud, forge through jungle, and go uphill."
- Meanwhile, in true Little House on the Prairie style, Kara stayed at the van, doing hand washing, cleaning, and having a good meal ready for the hero's return...how did it come to this?!?!?
Next steps
We're heading to Dunedin now, as we've been invited round by Karin and Richard (who we met on Stewart Island) for curry. This has given us the great excuse to go to Liquorland. Ahhh. Rooms that are walk in freezers full of beer. Being practical souls, we have put the cold beer in the cool box to keep our milk and cheese cold. We're Karin and Richard will understand when we give them our gifts with bits of cheese attached.
Of course, the other reason to head to Dunedin is for the Stanford family reunion.... we're meeting Martin's parents there on Tuesday.
We are currently in the town of Gore (great name). Gore's claim to fame is apparently a very large statue of a trout. Guess what our fun afternoon activity is...
Depressing news...
Last week in the SalmonAvan. We're in mourning and also trying to eat up our food before we don our rucksacks and become backpackers again.
Martin is looking forward to a life where he doesn't have to make the bed before he can access his clean pants.
Kara is looking forwards to not driving around with Martin's sweaty pants from his run drying out in the back window of the van.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Photos of Fiordland
Milford Sound
Dolphins!!! Adult and baby.
Lake Marian. Stunning!!!
View of Lake Te Anau, from the Milford Road. Taken yesterday. It is SUNNY here!
Fiordland
Haircut #3
So it turns out that Ahmed, the cross dressing Chilean, non-English speaking hair stylist, was more in tune with Martin's tonsorial needs than the Kiwi hair stylist he found. The conversation went something like this:
Stylist: So, what look are you going for?
Martin: Low maintenance.
Stylist: Ok, but what style?
Martin: Short.
20 minutes later.
Stylist: Is that short enough?
Martin: No.
A little later.
Stylist: So what are you doing in New Zealand?
Martin: I'm off to visit Fjordland next, it's supposed to be beautiful.
Stylist: Oh I wouldn't go there, there's nothing there, no shops.
Martin: (slightly perturbed after looking in the mirror) Are you trying to give me a hoxton fin?*
*aka David Beckham style.
Sometimes a common language is just not enough to communicate. Where's Ahmed when you need him?
Fiordland
(Spelt wrong bcause that is how the person who named it spelt it)
Apparently Douglas Adams, he of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame, said of Fiordland, "It's the kind of landscape that makes you want to clap yours hands and go, "well done, good job, well done." "
He's right. We've spent 4 great nights in DOC campsites, with either a lake or river next to us, hills and mountains rising up beside us, and just splendiforous scenery everywhere.
Hightlights:
- beautiful scenery. Obviously. And that's just on the road to the fjiord (Milford Sound - incorrectly named a Sound by a Welshman from Milford Haven. Sometimes we seem to just be following intrepid Welsh folk around. We're putting money on getting to Japan and finding a Welsh tea-shop at Mount Fuji).
- more cheap DOC campsites than you can shake a stick at, with stunning views
- walking up Key Summit, a local mountain, to gaze out on a sunny day across the Hollyford Valley. STUNNING! And we got to see Lake Marian from there, which is a lake at about 650m, formed in the bowl of a glacial thingy (we need Kit or Ros here to help but it's where the glacier has carved out a path between the mountains and this one is high up so the lake is high up).
- Walking up to Lake Marian. This "path" is basically arrows leading you over rocks, roots, etc uphill for about an hour, scrambling around. Then you get to the lake, sweaty and red. And jump in it. WIth mountain walls soaring up all around you, forming a natural sun trap. We're running out of adjectives here. Amazing views and lovely warm water to swim in. Best. Swimming pool. Ever.
- Milford Sound itself. Only really appreciated from the water so we did a two hour cruise (complimentary tea and coffee!!!) out through the fjiord to the Tasman Sea. It's just granite rock face rising up out of the sea, with really deep water (about 300m) almost instantly. We saw seals, great waterfalls (when they say you'll get wet, they are right. D'oh!), and best of all, a pod of bottle nosed dolphins.
- The dolphins. Without wanting to go all hippy dippy, they are cute. They were about 2metres long and swimming right by our boat!! They swam underneath our prow, besides us, and we got to see them for ages. And there were two babies with them.
- Kara saw an eel in Lake Gunn. Just before we dived in and went swimming in it.
- Waking up every morning to beautiful views.
- Martin did further investigation into the art of jungle running. If you aren't bleeding when you get back, it wasn't a proper run.
Lowlights
- %&*@*$# (swear words are now edited after requests from Kara's mum) sandflies. After 4 days of the little *&%$%s our skin has loads of bites on it and is red from us itching and the application of DEET insect repellant. They don't tell you about this in the tourist brochures.
- lack of hot showers. Fortunately we've had nice weather so have been swimming in lakes and creeks and using the solar shower. Kara's even managed to wash her hair twice.
-lack of anywhere to refreeze freezer blocks. Mmmm. Warm cheese.
- we're carrying 5 days of rubbish in our van. Mmmm. Rubbish in hot weather in an enclosed space. Mmm.
That's about it. It's really quite lovely here.
To sum up. We love it here. Lack of supplies (we need more drinking water and milk) is forcing us to leave, but you could easily chill out here for a week or two.
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