Queen Charlotte Track

I'm on a pretty slow dialup here at the Protage Hotel and Backpackers.

We've completed the 3rd day of the Queen Charlotte track. Today was 25km and I'm knackered. We've now done 51km of the 71km total walk. Tomorrow starts with a 450m climb first thing then mostly downhill after that.

The more we walk the more I seem to recall Stephen and Corrine recommening we don't do this track. There's only so many species of trees in new zealand and we must have seen them all 1000 times over. The track is mainly surrounded by forest for about 98% of the time. Every few kms you get a view of the sounds which are glorious (and would be even more so if the sun was shining, it's been a bit cloudy the last two days).

First day we got a water taxi from pictonat 9am for about an hour to Ship Cove, where Cpt Cook stopped off 5 times during his various visits here and used the place as a bit of a base camp. After a 3 hour walk(supposed to take 5 hours) we arrived at Cnoc na Lear backpackers. Run by a NZ woman and her irish husband, hence the name. Not the finest place by a long way. The other guests had to go through our room to get to their's and there was a building site right next door.

It was a glorious day though and we got a good swim from the wharf and saw a ray swimming up and down the shoreline.

The next morning we stopped in at furneaux lodge for breakfast and went to see a rather weedy waterfall. 3 hours later (again it was supposed to take 5) we were at Mahana Homestead backpackers. Surely the finest backpackers on earth. The welcome from Ann the owner was most hospitable and she arranged to make our breakfast and lunch the next day (for a fee but it was well worth it).

She also made dinner. It was superb and her cooking was a total contrast to our usual pasta and peperoni.

Her husband Jon also let me take a fishing rod and try and catch some supper for the next day's guests. I managed to get 2 spotties (wrasse) and 3 or 4 blue cod. One of the cod was big enough to take home too. Apparently they make good eating. Jamie had a go but you guessed it, nothing.

We saw a couple more rays by the shore too. Killer whales eat them and they head for the shallows when they've been around, which they have.

Anyway. Today was a gruelling slog with a couple of nice view points. Mainly it was trees, trees and more trees. Pretty boring after a while. Only the birds kept our interest.

Anyway we'll get this overwith tomorrow and start heading to Abel Tasman National Park.

Sunshine etc

It's another scorching day here.

Since I last wrote something down we've been whale watching. A very interesting experience. We found a whale almost instantly. They sit on the top breathing (they store it all up) for between 5 and 12 minutes so once you see the spout you still have quite a while to get over and see them before they head on back down to the depths (around 1000m). The heading down bit being the climax as they arch their backs and plunge down sending their tail into the air. An awesome sight and one it took me three whales to get the photo right.

We also got another game with the dusky dolphins. They love showing off and this time I had the camera and the water was alot clearer (photos to follow when I find somewhere with the capabilities).

So we saw three sperm whales and a few hundred dusky dolphins and a fair few albatross. We then got taken to see a seal colony which we weren't particularly happy about given we'd already seen hundreds, we could see the from the shore and we'd paid to see whales.

Anyway a grand experience all in again. The weather held nicely for us too.

The next morning before we left kaikoura we went on a rather unsuccessful fishing trip with the owner of the hostel, Brent. We lifted his 3 cray pots which were all empty and fished unsuccessfully for baracuda for a matter of minutes before he decided it was futile.

That was us done with Kaikoura. It was the hardest place so far to leave behind. Maybe because it's quite like home and also because there's so many things to do.

Anyway we headed to the wine country, Marlborough. The main town is Blenhiem and there's not alot there. You won't find too many people speaking highly of the place. All around are vineyards though. Apparently the Sauvignon Blanc from this area is the best in the world. They do produce many other wines aswell though.

We decided to have a look around one and after laughing at being asked if we 'worked in the wine industry' we sat down to a little tasting session at Herzog Winery. Run and owned by a Swiss family who came to NZ in 1996. We didn't ask if it was the former footballer Andreas Herzog, he was Swiss too.

Anyway we had 3 very tastes whites (Jamie can't drink red) and asked a multitude of inane and dopey questions and headed on our merry way. If you like wine it would be a great area to visit but we sampled the atmos and we didn't really fit in.

That night we stayed in a hostel in Renwick (10km from Blenhiem) which was a bit like a prison. They were extremely security conscious and locked up everything and switched off the cookers etc at 9:30pm. It was a nice place though and the sun shone and we played petanque.

The garden was full of fruit trees too from nectarines to oranges to lemons to plums. All ready for eating. Very nice.

Next day, Saturday we headed for Jamie's old flatmate Fiona's parents near Picton. We first headed to Picton. It was exactly 8 weeks since we passed through on our way south and we watched the train depart at 130pm marking our full circle.

This weekend was maritime festival weekend in Picton and the whiff of burgers was in the air and all sort of small boats were on display and racing around the harbour. It was another scorching day and the festival atmosphere added to a cracking saturday afternoon feel.

Mid afternoon we headed down the notorious winding road to Port Underwood where we were to stay the night with Norelle and John Guard. Turns out John has lived in Port Underwood all his life and his ancestors were the first settlers in the south island in 1830 and at the exact same cove they still live in.

The Guards were great hosts and made us feel most welcome. It was good to see how people live in new zealand. Even if it's not quite how they do things in Auckland.

We left them this afternoon but not after a days fishing with John. I managed to bag a barracuda, a wrasse (or spotty) and two blue cod. Alas Jamie remains empty handed.

We also lifted John's net he had set in the morning. It had a Trevally and seven or eight Hoki. When we got home Norelle cooked the fish for us and they were absolutely delicious, this coming from someone who doesn't generally eat fish.

Anyway we're now just outside Picton at the sun-kissed Bayview Backpakcers before we head off tomorrow to walk the Queen Charlotte Track. 4 days. 71kms. Should be interesting. There are hostel stops every night so I should be able to update somewhere along there.

I'm off out on the balcony for some sunshine.

Dolphins

After arriving in Kaikoura we had a good look around and at 4:30pm I had to go and see if I had got on to the dolphin encounters trip the next day having joined the waiting list on Sunday. When I arrived there was a clamour of other hopefuls dying to get on board the 'experience of a lifetime'. By the end though they hadn't read out my name. The woman came out and read out the names of all the other people who hadn't made it and told them they could try again the next day. She didn't read out mine though and sure enough I had made it, they'd just not read my name out. So the next morning we were due to go swimming with dolphins.

The forecast was not good though and as I walked home the wind continued to rise and the heavens opened. The weather got worse and worse but by midnight the worst of it had past. We were assured there was more to come in the morning though.

We woke at 7:30am to find it calm and clear. I phoned the dolphin encounters office and we were on. After what seemed an eternity we were finally all kitted out in wetsuits, flippers, goggles and snorkel and off we headed.

The guides had a pretty good idea where the dolphins were and after about 30 minutes we arrived at a pod of around 200 dolphins performing al lsorts of aerobatics from back flips to summersalts. We were all hurridly prepared, a hooter sounded and all 13 of us slipped off the back of the boat in search of a dolphin encounter.

We'd been advised to hum tunes and make general noises to attract them and to try diving down. Sure enough a few heeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllooooooooooos later came some enquisitive dusky dolphins. They darted past taking a good look, often stopping to swim round and round you. If you swum round with them they would continue, trying to wear you out and usually succeeding. They'd then head off to more interesting things. They continued to appear though, sometimes you could see them as they bombed up to the surface for a jump. We'd been told not to touch them as it would scare them away but the temptation was just too great and they are so close your hand just goes out. Never did touch one though.

The sea was quite rough and made swimming quite difficult. When the dolphins had eventually swum off we were called back the the boat to find them again. We would just sit on the back with our legs dangling as the skipper sped along to the middle of the pod again. After about 5 drops we were all pretty knackered and the dolphins a bit bored. We all clambered back on board and it was time for a few photos (I didn't take my camera though). We just sailed around and the dolphins revelled in it, performing jumps and swimming all around the bow, stern and sides of the boat. They seemed to love it, as did we.

By now we could see the bad weather coming (New Zealand is like that) and we headed for home followed by a multitude of sea birds from small shearwaters to giant Royal Albatross. The journey home started in bright, relatively calm conditions but ended in a gale and us strangely docking straight onto a trailer being hauled up the slip. We then disembarked down a set of steps.

Quite an experience all in.

The rest of the day was all about rain.

Today we should be going whale watching at 3:30pm. We've already been for a walk around the Kaikoura penninsula amongst the fur seals and gulls. We also found a little blue penguin in a 'solidified' state. Poor wee thing.

As we walked back over the cliffs we could see the whale watch boats in the distance. Every so often you would see them, along with two helicopters and a plane converge and you could see the whales blowing spray even from the shore.

It's a glorious sunny day today but the sea is still rough. It's calming all the time though and the signs are good for some whale spotting.

The hostel here is great and our room is right at the end about 50 yards from the railway. There are only two passenger trains a day but the cargo trains are quite regular and make the ground move as the roar past in the middle of the night. Gets a bit annoying after the novelty wears off.

I need to write down a couple of stories too. The other night a couple of Canadian pensioners were looking around for something in the hostel. One of them had lost her purse. They looked high and low. Eventually a young German girl found it behind her jam in the fridge. Obviously the Canadian woman was very happy. Her companion piped up 'This is what happens when old people go travelling'. True.

Also a story an american woman told me on the Doubtful Sound cruise. She had been on the phone to her grand-daughter back in Colorado. 'Look on the map. Can you see New Zealand? Can you see where Granny and Grandpa are?' 'We're at the bottom of the world. We're upside down. How come we don't fall off?' 'It's gravity Granny!!!' Came the reply. Watch out George Bush you've got competition.

Anyway I'm off to bask in the sun which Jamie seems to think never shows it's face.

Maybe abit of barracuda fishing tomorrow if we're lucky.

Photos

Just a quick one. Some new photos up.

As I was saying about apt place names. We stopped here for a photo.


Here's a link to the franz josef video:

http://media.putfile.com/Franz-Josef-Collapse

West to East

It's been a few days.

After Westport we headed inland and towards the east coast. Reefton was the stop for the first night. A sleepy non-tourist town. The hostel was an Old Nurses Home. Looked like it had been built around the 1930s. 50 beds and far from full. The town's only real claim to fame is the hydro powered street lights which were the first in new zealand and switched on in 1888.

We got up and left straight away the next day, heading for Hanmer Springs. On the way we stopped off and spent the afternoon fishing the Maiaru River. This river is crystal clear and you could see the fish quite easily as they lay in the current around the edge of the river. Unfortunately the clear water also meant they could see us and it was very difficult to avoid being seen first. Hence no fish but an interesting if somewhat frustrating afternoon.

We checked in to Le Gite Backpackers in Hanmer Springs quite late and after a recommendation had dinner at Saints Bar. Suprisingly top nosh.

We could already tell that Hanmer is a holiday town. It's situated and centered around hot springs which come up from the earth at suitably warm temperatures, carrying minerals considered worth sitting in for a healthy outlook. We saw people walking up and down the street in towels and swimming costumes. Quite surreal.

Anyway the next day was in Hanmer too and it was to be our turn in the baths. It was a scorching day (some people said it was 35C but I'd say more 26C in the shade) so we waited till the evening when it was cooler and quieter. So after a quick round of mini-golf we headed in around 6pm. It's only 10 dollars (about GBP4) to get in and you have a multitude of baths, sculpted pools with rocks strategically placed around and shelves to sit on, of varying temperatures. From the 28C freshwater swimming pool to the 41C sulphur pools, which were a bit smelly to say the least. Still if you're used to sharing a room with Jamie it's no real change.

It's difficult to explain the atmosphere. Apart from smelly. It's a New Zealanders resort really and they come from Christchurch at the weekends to lounge in the pools and slurp coffe in the cafe. It's still the summer holidays here so the child population was pretty high too. It's just like a large outdoor leisure centre really. Except alot more relaxed.

This morning we came to one of the places we've most been looking forward to, Kaikoura. This is the place to come to see whales and hopefully swim with dolphins. It's a busy little place built around the whale spotting and eco tourism. Hostels and Hotels abound and our hostel seems to be one of the best.

Sunrise Lodge is a short sprint across the railway track to the beach. The railways are far from busy and the trains far from fast so you'd be no loss to the world if you were stupid enough to get hit by one. The hostel also has free internet, laundry etc and, unlike many other hostels, has soap and towels by the sink in the bathroom.......what a revelation.

Anyway we're on the waiting list to go dolphin swimming tomorrow and the next day and we find out at 4:30pm if we've been lucky for tomorrow (apparently there's a good chance). If so we could be heading out at 5:30am for the experience of a lifetime.

Whale watching is booked for tomorrow afternoon. Maybe not so life changing as we've seen them before in Barra and on the ferry but we've never seen sperm whales before.

Next morning, if we're not dolphin swimming we could be out fishing with our host. He showed us the bucket full of baracude he caught this morning and the cut one of them gave him.

The weather is due to turn tonight before improving again tomorrow sometime. Auckland and North Island are getting a kicking just now though and apparently the power is off in parts of the big city.

Our weather is coming from the south though.

Photos will follow as soon as I find somewhere I can upload them.

Bye for now
Peter

Coasters

That's the name for people who live on the West Coast.

On Tuesday night we met up with Stephen and Corrine for a Speights (local brew) or two. It was good to see a familiar, if some what more tanned, face. We exchanged tips and stories, recommendations and the opposite of recommendations. Thought to be honest I couldn't think of anything that wasn't worth it.

Anyway the next morning we headed to a reputable hostel in Hokitika. Yes it was raining so fishing was out but we did get down to Okarita Lagoon, home to white herons of which we saw none.

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, misty and rainy apart from a brush with a couple of lunatic drivers and a highly confusing roundabout with a railway running through the middle, surely a disaster waiting to happen. As are the rail/road bridges. Single track road bridges with the railway running down the middle. You better be ready to drive very fast in reverse on them.

Hokitika is a pretty small place but by west coast standards it's a metropolis. It was previously a busy port for shipping coal and fishing but has now re-invented itself as the home of Pounamu (jade). With oodles of 'jade factories' churning out pendants, earings, clocks etc.

The Birdsong hostel in Hokitika is very pleasant, nicely situated by the beach (and state highway 6). When the cloud cleared we got to see a lovely sunset.

Next day off to the legendary, it seems, Old Slaughterhouse Hostel north of Westport. On the way we stopped off at the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. A strange formation of rocks on the coast. Limestone has formed and eroded like stacks of pancakes and a couple of blowholes have formed among them too. We timed the visit, along with many others, to coincide with high tide and one of the blowholes, the Chimney Pot (the naming of things round here is pretty straightforward), was going quite well the other was a bit of a damp squib though.

Anyway then along up the coast to this hostel. We parked up, just by the beach and left our bags, as instructed, by the car. We then scrambled up the 120m to the hostel perched on the hill over-loooking the Tasman Sea. The owner, David, went down in the quad to get our gear.

What a spot. A main timber house with lounge, kitchen and balconies (not to mention the hamock up stairs). Two dorm cabins off. The power is supplied by a small hydro power staton they have in the brook by the house. By now the rain (which had stopped) had blocked the station and the lights on both nights were seductively low.

Yesterday we headed to the most northerly point of the west coast road (having visited the most southerly, Jackson Bay). A long winding road eventually brings you to the village of Karamea after 50 minutes drive. The place was suprisingly big actually and quite busy.

Another 15km along the road is the end of the line and the start of the Heaphy Track (4-6 days) which joins up with the East Coast road near Nelson. Here was a lovely little lagoon and crashing rollers on the beach. The Piano was filmed round here I think.

Another 10km back was the road to the Oparara Basin. This winding and often steep gravel road finally lead us to the Crazy Paving Cave (as I was saying about place names). This cave is quite small and home to rather large spiders who's eggs hang from the ceiling in silk pouches. All pretty gross. Though we did cut one down and it's on it's way, first class, to your doorstep Janet. Should be just about hatching when you get it.

The next Cave, Box Canyon was much bigger and had a few glow worms in it. We also witnessed the classic scene of a family turning off all their torches to see the glow worms. There they were on the ceiling. Little boy thicko puts his torch on and shines it at them to see. There's always a season ticket at Ibrox waiting for you young man.

Anyway, I digress. After the caves was firstly Moira Gate Arch. A huge Limestone ridge travels across the middle of the basin and the river has pushed through a tunnel forming a great arch across. This was a spectaular feat of natural engineering and the entrance, via a cave, added more to it.

Moira Gate is small, however, in comparison to the Oparara Arch, further up the river. This Arch is 90m high, 50m wide and 200m long and was incredible. I've never seen anything like it and with the river running through, what a spectacle.

Anyway after a bit of fishing (another blank for Jamie, I got a 1lb brownie) and providing a good meal for the sandflies we headed home to find our host eating OUR pork chops. We decided not to cause a fuss (getting replacements was not straightforward) and we put i down to the owners drunken buddy.

It's another lovely sunny day today, as it was yesterday, and we're off to Reefton. Not much to say about there except it was the first town in NZ to have streetlights way back in 1888.

That's plenty. Peter.

Franz Josef Glacier

Just a quick note to add another amazing experience to the list.

Today we headed up to the terminal face of the Franz Josef Glacier. About a 25 minute walk from the carpark. The Franz Joseph is a bit more spectacular than Fox at the moment and seems to have more of a presence to it, it seems more alive.

Now we were going to be shown just how alive. The river flows out the bottom of the glacier and through a kind of ice cave. Jamie spotted little bits of ice falling down and they gradually became more regular and increasing in size until, as I was looking down, a huge section about 50 tonnes fell down sending water flying and a huge thud through the air. I did manage to snap the aftermath though.

However there was the feeling in the air that there was more to come. Other people were getting excited too. I started to record a video on the camera and gradually the same series of little bits of ice falling in occurred and about 50 seconds into the video a huge section which must have weighed hundreds of tonnes crashed down into the river below sending ice and water everywhere. The huge pile of ice blocked the river entirely and the flow gradually came to a stop.

Ten minutes later the ice started to move and the river burst through carreering down the river bed bringing some huge icebergs of maybe 5-10 tonnes along. One of them hit a rock and shattered. The camera was finally full. What an experience........again.

Hopefully catch up with Stephen and Corrine tonight. There is no mobile phone coverage here so it's hard to get in touch but it's a small place and we're bound to find them.

Literally cool.

Fox Glacier and in between

OK we stayed in Arrowtown, just outside Queenstown (Queenstown is busy due to a rugby tournament) on Friday night. A lovely wee hostel called Riverdown. Very nice. We gave our 'roomie', an Ozzie called Ret, a lift the next day up over the highest road in NZ to Wanaka (past the bra fence, a fence covered in bras, strange indeed).

Wanaka is a lovely wee place (with a population around 250 it's actually pretty big for round there) we stayed in a cheap and rather large hostel called Albert Town Lodge (just along the road from the infamous campsite where a riot broke out at new year). Nice place, well equipped and no doubt much busier in the skiing season. The nearby Clutha River was very high and too high to fish so we drove around a bit but not much else. Shania Twain has a house in Wanaka apparently.

Next day up over Haast Pass through some rugged terrain (the road was only opened in 1965 connecting the West Coast to the Southern Lakes and through to Dunedin etc). We eventually came to the tiny town of Haast which is where the road meets the West Coast. From there we drove to the southern most part of the West Coast road, Jackson Bay. An interesting wee fishing village where I decided to sample the local delicacy whitebait (tiny fish about an inch or so in length, cooked whole and much saught after when they head up the rivers this time of year). A whitebait burger actually. Very nice, not at all fishy, hard to describe. The woman in the Craypot Cafe described it as 'delicate' which is pretty accurate.

After that interlude we headed all the way up to the apparently excellent fishing lakes of Moeraki and Paringa and checked in to the Lake Maringa Wilderness Lodge. We had a little cabin by the lake but the wind was blowing and with the lake surrounded by trees fishing would have been impossible. So we didnt really get up to much at all.

This morning we came to Fox Glacier, booked into the Ivory Towers backpackers (which is pretty big but seems pretty good).

At 1:30pm we headed off on a guided walk across the glacier. Very interesting and strange as we clambered up the side of the glacier before crossing onto it for a trek around the pre-prepared steps and path. Amazing things glaciers and Fox and Franz Josef, round the corner, are particularly amazing due to thier proximity to the sea, given the closeness to the equator and their speed of flow (fox flows at around 60cm a day).

Anyway we've got two nights here, maybe go to Franz Josef tomorrow. More importantly Stephen and Corrine (from work) should be in town today and for 5 days. So we'll hopefully manage to track them down. It should be good because we've been everywhere they're going and vice versa so hopefully we can exchange tips.

The sun is out down here, it's raining on the glacier. This time next week we'll be in Kaikura, on the east coast, where the whale-watching and some dolphin swimming takes place. It could be a good point to take stock and decide what the longer term might hold.

Happy days.
Peter

Awesome!

I asked Jamie the other day what the best day of his life was. Those of you who know Jamie will not be suprised to hear that he couldn't think of one. For me every single one is pretty God damn special but Wednesday and Thursday will surely be high above any other.....so far.

Just to update you with some stats. The rainfall on Wednesday. 208mm fell in 24 hours. For those of you still on the imperial scale thats 8 inches!!!! The wind blew to 100kph and at times the rain was falling at 36mm per hour. The most rain they've had there for a few years apparently.

So after the absolutely incredible day on Milford Sound on Wednesday we headed out at noon to Doubtful Sound. This trip involves a boat across Lake Manapouri, a coach across the road through Wilmot Pass (built for the Hydro Power Station) and aboard our cruiser with 70 odd other people. The first bonus was that it was even going ahead. The previous days rain, which by this time had broken to clear blue skies and flat calm waters, had washed away 200m of the road so all the other cruises were cancelled. We night cruising people were special though and when the coach reached the top of the pass we all disembarked and were ferried by helicopter to the boat. What a way to start.

The cruise itself was everything you could have hoped for. The scenery was incredible, the food superb and the crew made Caledonian McBrayne look they are made of stone.

This cruise cost $315 (about 140GBP) and was an absolute bargain. An experience of a lifetime. When we anchored for the night, in Precipice Cove, we were treated to an excellent and very humourous slide show by the resident nature expert.

Halfway through this show some murmurrings started and we delayed the rest of the show so we could all head onto deck to watch an amazing sunset turning the clouds fiery orange and sending rays of orange light between the hills. It was almost as good as you'd see in Barra.

We cruised back in this morning and this time had to settle with a short walk across the now partially repaired road. What an incredible experience and coupled with the previous trip surely do add up to a lifetime highlight. What a place.

We're now back in happenin' Queenstown, we'd forgotten it was summer to be honest and it's pretty hot here today. We negotiated a landslide on the road too. They were in the process of tidying up and had a couple of stop-go men in place. As the cars in front of us passed through you could see things falling down from the top of the slip. The stop go man stopped us and told us it was starting to move. Being New Zealand he didn't tell us to turn back or wait or anything girlie like that. Nope, he said 'On you go, keep your eye on it and put your foot down if it starts moving'. Happy days.

Anyway I've uploaded alot of photos. I have a cracking video too but I need to reduce the size of it to upload so i'll try and get that done on Jamie's new PDA.

Hope everything is going great with everyone.

Cheers
Peter

Milford Sound

I can't even begin to describe today. Rain would be the major word. We travelled to Milford Sound to go kayaking, leaving 6:30am. Around 10:30am we finally got on the water, after five minutes on the water we abandoned the trip as the wind was to strong in the sound.

To be honest we couldn't believe we were going to go anyway as the rain was tipping down and had been all night and all day and continues to do so now, at 5pm.

Rain may put a downer on most things but Milford Sound comes alive with it. We took a cruise, and what a cruise. The rain and wind today are pretty exceptional even for here and even the crew of the cruise boat were reaching for the superlatives at points.

As I said, I couldn't even begin to describe it in any way which would bring it into your imagination. I'll try though.

Streams and waterfalls poured from every possible peak and cliff and strong winds whipped the water falls and the seas into a swirling cloud of spray. As if God had been asked to illustrate what he could do with water. It was a watery wonderland. Hundreds upon hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the almost vertical mountain sides which form the fiord borders. The rain lashed down and the wind roared past the sides of the boat ripping the tops from the waves and lifting them in clouds into the air until they merged with the waterfalls.

As you'd imagine I have plenty photos, I can only upload a couple here and I'll upload the rest later.

If you're finding it hard to imagine pop down the local carwash and walk through. That might be close. Imagine the carwash being thousands of feet high though.

Doubtful Sound overnight cruise tomorrow. It's got some work to do to beat Milford. We're hoping for the weather to contrast again and give us a more sedate time over there.

Anyway, hope you like the photos.

Cheers
Peter

Praise be!

We woke this morning to see a strange, bright glowing thing in the sky above. Add to that the sky was blue and cloudless. First nice day of 2006!

We're in Te Anau. We arrived yesterday the huge rain clouds gathered around the mountains and white horses ripping across the lake. Today is the exact opposite.

Last night we stayed in Manapouri, 20km south. The hostel was superb. Little timber cabins on the hill with log fired stoves in the corner. The view was outstanding yesterday, even with the cloud but this morning it was breathe-taking.

We're going fishing today and camping beside the river that hugs the road to Milford Sound. We've booked an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound for Thursday night (across the lake on a boat, coach over the road built for the hydro power station and then out on the cruise boat with a bit of kayaking in the evening). Speaking of kayaking, we've also booked a 5 hour kayak around milford sound on Wednesday. Hopefully the weather is as good as today but the forecast says no.

Anyway lots to look forward to and if you're ever in the area stay at Freestone Backpackers.

Here's a couple of quick pictures. One is the amazing McLean's Falls the other is Freeston Backpackers.

Cheers
Peter

Catlins

Back to a bit of civilisation. If Invercargill can desrcibed like that.

The Catlins is a very interesting part of this country. We drove down the 'Southern Scenic Route' to our first stop which was Surat Bay Lodge Backpackers. An exceptional place on the edge of a river estuary and a short walk along the beach to the sea lions.

The first evening we arrived I took a walk across to the beach along the 'path' during a short break between the insescant heavy showers and continually blowing winds (sound familiar). Anyway the path just disappeared and I struggled through the under growth, survived a close encounter with a hedgehog and finally over the top of the dunes I could wee the rollers on the beach front. At that point over my right shoulder, about 2 meters away a rather large blob of fur grumbled at me. It then told me in no uncertain turms to get lost. When I completed my 100 yard sprint I realised it must have been a pregnant female sea lion.

After a good sand-blasting on the beach I decided to find the path back. I eventually found one with alot of foot prints coming from it. I scrambled up the dune only to find the same angry sea lion staring at me. I eventually made it back after another altercation with the oh so friendly sea lions.

The next morning was a wash out and in the afternoon we went to Nugget point, another sea lion colony and a bit of a picture postcard spot. Even more so when it's not shrouded in grey I expect.

In the evening we went to Jack's blowhole. A collapsed cave with a 50m drop from the top to the cave which comes 200m from the cliff face. The name is misleading as it never actually blows. Although it does rain and we got soaked again.

Next day we left Surat Bay and headed on a magical mystery tour of 4 waterfalls and the Cathedral Caves. The first waterfall was great and they just got better and better culminating in McLeans Falls which were simply spectacular, the rain having atleast one plus point on our journey.

From there we went to Curio Bay Backpackers. This place was even better then the last. The huge french windows look out across the beach which is only 100 yards away and brimming with apparently hopeless surfers.

When the weather is good and the seas calm the Hector's Dolphin come and play in the surf infront of the house. Unfortunately the sea is more like chocolate at the moment so no dolphins.

We did have an encounter with a bunch of German idiots though. With 5 beds in the dorm, 4 of them turned up with out booking, scored our names off the booking board and proceeded to have thier lunch. Not the best way to endear yourself. They then pleaded that they were hitch-hiking and the next place was miles away and could one of them sleep on the couch. Reluctantly the owner agreed. So now that was settled they headed off in their car. Funny cos the last hitch-hiker we picked up never had a car.

Anyway they were off to see the nearby petrified forest. An ancient forest which was covered in a volcanic eruption. Sediment then built up on top and millions of years later the sea eroded that sediment to reveal the fossilised forest below. A strange feeling indeed, walking around amongst it.

As I walked back I saw a group of tourists with their cameras out, apparently filming the forest. Turned out there was a yellow eyed penguin walking across from the sea. So I just sat there still and waited for it to pass. A guy on the far side confirming that I should stay there and keep still. Two minutes later the DOC warden was yelling at me to 'go back'. Confused, I was but I headed back and met the warden in the car park and we had a good chat about the penguins. They have four nesting there and they're obviously pretty protective of them.

Anyway this morning we drove down in the continuing wind and rain to Slope Point, the most southerly point on mainland New Zealand and particularly un-inspiring. We then continued the un-inspring theme by coming to Invercargill.

Apologies for the huge screeds I'm just trying to get everything down so that I don't forget it all.

Fiordland next week, surely a highlight.

Taieri Gorge Railway

Yep it was Taieri (pronounced Tiree) Gorge Railway. Quite an engineering feat. Some nice scenery and rock formations. A pleasant 4 hour excursion.

Anyway last few minutes in the urban sprawl before we go round the relatively sparsely populated Catlins Coast.

Queenstown to Dunedin (Otago)

Yesterday we left Queenstown and headed down to Dunedin. The weather turned during our last night in Queenstown. It started raining around 5pm and continued constantly until 8am. That part of the country is used to that sort of weather though (Milford Sound had 155mm that night) and the higher rivers were the only evidence on the drive to the east coast. However the wind was well and truely blowing. Gusts up to 160kmph were recorded in Invercargill. It continued to blow us all the way to Dunedin.

On arrival at our next hostel, Bus Stop Backpackers it was really blowing and right onto the shore below the house. The host said she hadn't seen it so windy for years, and this is the middle of summer.

The coast road round from Dunedin was awash with waves and across the bay from the hostel the wind was sucking spray from the sea and swirling it around as it blew across the sea towards us.

In saying that it's the sort of weather the albatross love and we could see them out to sea. We declined to pay the $28 just to get a look at them nesting. Unfortunately New Zealand seems to be getting more and more greedy and even natural phenomenon are used to get the full compliment of pennies from the paying tourist.

We wandered down after dinner to see the blue penguins coming home. The cold wind was blowing directly onto the beach and we stood and waited for about an hour to see them come ashore. They eventually struggled in and despite a few idiots with cameras flashing (yes French again) they made their way up the beach to their burrows.

Anyway due to lack of beds in the hostel I chose this night of the biggest summer storm in New Zealand for years to test out my new tent. I have to say it passed with flying colours. Infact it was pleasure to get a little peace for once.

We're in Dunedin today, there is plenty reference to Scotland here. We're giving 'The Scottish Shop' a miss though.

One more night in the rather poorly equipped Bus Stop Hostel then down the Catlins Coast after a trip on the 'Something' Gorge Railway. I'll explain tomorrow with a proper name.

Below is a link which hopefully brings up a video of the Shotover Jet boat. Great fun.


http://media.putfile.com/MVI_014398