Christchurch to Melbourne

13 Christchurch to Melbourne (Sat. Feb. 14)

It's Saturday morning and we are up at 3:15AM! Agh. Our flight is at 6:15AM, on a Jet Star Airways flight. Agh, to early! At least we'll be able to nap on the plane. Oh, by the way, there have been a number of devastating fires around Melbourne that have claimed about 190 lives, many homes and acres. We do not know if we will actually land in Melbourne when we leave New Zealand.

Fortunately we do take off and land in Melbourne, but there is heavy smoke in the air from the fires. We get to Melbourne and make our way through immigrations, get our luggage and then go through the agricultural inspections. We have packaged peanuts with us, which we declare, so we go through an extra screening - no problems. After passing through, we continue where we are suppose to meet our new tour guide; Julie is no longer our tour guide for our Australian portion of the tour. And I do not know about any others, but Carmen and I think the new guide has a lot to live up to.

We get to the tour guide location in the airport departures hall and there are many people with signs looking for people, but our tour guide is not here yet. Oh, did I mention that we are 45 minutes early. The group that was together through New Zealand will now split up. There is a "long" and "short" Australian tour. Carmen and I are on the short tour. Neither of the Guides are here. Everyone waits for about a little more that a half hour and Roubin (our guide) shows up. Hope this is not any indication of what is to come.

We all pick up our luggage and head off to the bus. Once loaded, we start a bus tour of the City of Melbourne. We make our way around the city and make our first stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral. All of the Cathedrals we have see are quite remarkable and this one is not different.

We are then onto Fitzroy Gardens which has the original Captain Cook's cottage he grew up in, in England. It was dismantled and brought over and rebuilt. Walking around also brings us to the miniature replica of a Tudor Village and the Fairy Tree. It is the Faiery Tree that children would write their wishes on paper and place the note in the hollow of the tree and it was believed the Faierys might grant it. From there we pass Cricket Grounds, Olympic Park, the Rod Laver Tennis Arena, and many other arenas old and new (they are still building the Rugby field, it is the size of an American Football field).

Our drive then takes us to the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. There is a fair of some sort going in at the Gardens so we go there first (hoping to find something for lunch - which we did). After a look around, we head over to the Shrine. This is dedicated to the men and women that have given their lives during the wars which Australia has been involved. The shrine is build like a pyramid and inside at the entrance there is a military medal for each campaign - and there are many. Inside are statues and commemorates to the fallen soldiers. Outside there are also more statues, but we have run out of time and must make it back to the bus.

From here we continue around the city and make a stop at the Queen Victoria Market. The market is similar to an indoor flea market with hawkers selling their goods at booths; I bought a hat, it has Australia on it. One booth had mixed shots in dispensable boxes and I tasted various shots. A different booth had wines, both white and red and also a white port - mmm. Carmen and I also spend a little time in the food and bakery section of the market. Wow, whatever you might want it is here, ducks hanging, meats of all kinds including croc and roo (crocodile and kangaroo). We pick up some pastries at one of the bakeries, more at another then head back to the bus. At least we are not late or last.

We get to the hotel and check in. We go up to the room and crash for about an hour. Then we leave and did some walking around the city, At one building with some very unusual architecture, a wedding party is having a photo session, after all it is Saturday. But look at the cars they drove here in. That is a '54 Bentley in the front and a '57 Armstrong Siddeley behind it.

We continue around town and the architecture around the city is really phenomenal, old stiled scrolled work and ornate. During our walk we see a number of different trolley lines. Our walk eventually brings us through China Town which has the arc leading into the street with dragons along the street lamps. No we did not eat at any of the restaurants. First of all we could not understand the menus, they were in pictures, Chinese and American writing, but this is definitely not your American Chinese food.

As we walk around town we are surprised to see the vast numbers of people on the streets. This is a Saturday and late in the afternoon, but look at the throng of people. Where are they all going? And of course, as in most every other large warm weather city we have visited, we come across the obligatory horse and buggy and of course the obligatory Lamborghini.

Because Carmen and I are going on an early tour tomorrow, we head back to the hotel. Many of the other people in our group are doing one of the penguin tours, but we instead decided to go on the Great Coastal Road Tour. It leaves at 7:15AM so we are headed to bed early for an early wake up and breakfast. See you in the morning, actually we are a day ahead of you and I'm so late in my postings you'll probably read this three or four days late.

G'day Mate.

Queenstown to Christchurch

12 Queenstown to Christchurch (Fri. Feb. 13)

Well, today is Friday the 13th, hope everything goes according to plan. First thing this morning we pack onto the bus after breakfast and are on our way back to Christchurch. We started our tour of the South Island of New Zealand in Christchurch and we will end our time in New Zealand here.

It was cold last night and there is snow on top of the Miserables mountain range. As we leave Queenstown everyone is bundled up. I (Bob) for one dressed in shorts because we were going to head back north (the same as south in the northern hemisphere) and thought it would be warm - Not. Temperatures are in the mid 50 degrees and very windy.

We again pass the Remarkables, this time with snow, so I have to take more pictures.

Carmen's version:
We travel along Lake Hass with very expensive homes. We are now following the Neavus River, you cannot raft on it because there are pockets that you will never come out. It is aqua marine in color. Along the way we went by an old gold mining area. People have rebuilt the old gold mine town, including the Chinatown section. Some of the shelters are just tent covers build into the side of the rock walls on the edge of the river.

Shortly we are in Gibbston Valley and this is a big wine and fruit area. We stop at a fruit stand, for some people to buy fruit, use the facilities and to also view the large rose gardens. They have these neat coasters (about 6 x 11) that are made from huge, as yet, unopened pine cones then poly over one side. Very nice.

8:43 am we are following Lake Dunston. Soon we are passing through Taras. This is a Lord of the Rings area with a number of areas where they did filming. The race though the woods was part of the filmed scenes. (Sorry no photos of this area. Too many trees on the side of the road to get any pictures.)

We drive by Ravensdown where the golf course greens are fenced in to keep sheep get on the greens and eating the grass. (Go figure a hazard ends up being sheep or the fence around the green - Bob.)

By 9:15 am we are in the mountains with curvy roads and are approaching Lindis Pass, it is cloudy and at times raining, in the pass there are few trees and not very green. The road in the Pass also gets closed in the winter every so often because of the snow. There are a lot of sheep and cattle in this section of the drive. We are also noticing Lupins in bloom which is unusual because it is going into fall these usually bloom in the spring and summer. It is still cloudy and we are at the bottom of the pass. Oh, the pass is 965m high.

We are now traveling in the valley and the rivers are incredibly clear and we do not stop, but we are told the water from the river is very clean and you can actually drink it, of course like other waters it is tested periodically. Around 10 a.m, we drive along the Hurrarie River which has great fishing, according to Darryl our bus driver. In the town of Omarama they do a lot of gliding and we are still on our way to Mt. Cook.

We come to the one of four glacier lakes where hydro is generated, using the major lakes connected by man-made canals to produce electricity. Besides the hydro this area has a number of salmon farms. We go by one of the farms located right next to the road.

All four lakes are aqua marine in color from the silt of the glaciers (almost looks milky white in the photos). As we drive by Twixel, we are near the site of Middle Earth's largest battle, the Battle of Pelennor Fields in the Lord of the Rings movie. (However, we can not see the plains since we are several kilometers away.) Shortly though, we do stop at Lake Pukaki to see Mt. Cook across the lake, but because of the cloud cover - nothing. This is a glacier lake and it is really really cold. It is possible to go on a short tour to the Pelennor Fields from here, but the bus would leave and Bob would be on his own to get back to Christchurch, so no side trip - too bad.

By 11 a.m. we enter James MaKinsey Country - we are continuing on with mountains on both sides, lots of sheep/cattle, very barren and dry, pockets of trees. We are passing a star gazing observatory on Mt. John. We have just passed the Tokapu Training Army Camp.

Around 11:30 a.m. or so, we enter the town of Tekapo, on lake Takupo. There is a church on the lake edge name the Church of the Good Shephard; it a very small stone church. There is also a statue to a sheep dog next to the church which commemorates a dog.
We continue and head to Burcks Pass, we have trees and green grass now. Once we are on the other side of the pass and the scenery has changed to trees, grasses, flowers and cannot forget the sheep and cattle.

In the small town of Fairlie, they have a street called Peace Avenue for the soldiers who died in the different wars and along the street they have planted trees, if one of the trees dies they immediately replace it with another.

We are heading to Geraldine along this road is an old forest area with pine trees and still a sheep farming area along with some deer farms. We are now heading into the Cantebury Plans area to the Pacific Ocean (east side of New Zealand). We stop in Geraldine for lunch and afternoon around 1:30 p.m. continue traveling through the small towns and farming country with corn, corn and more corn, sheep and cows with the occasional deer farm. They use hedges to separate the fields.

Ash Burton, all farming and meat plant processing. Also have traffic lights, most of the small town we have pass through had no traffic lights.

We have seen a lot of Mag Pie birds, they are black and white, very pretty but so fast you can't get a picture of them.

Rakia River is a big Salmon fishing river.

3:25 p.m. we arrive in Christchurch and it still cloudy.

We are having a great time. Carmen

Queenstown to Christchurch pictures

The Remarkables with snow.

Glacial Lake. Look at the color of the water.

Milford Sound

11 to Milford Sound (Thurs. Feb. 13)

We are heading to Milford Sound today. Our travels will take us south, then west, then north. There is no direct path to Milford Sound (which, as we learn, is really a fiord) so we are going in a round about way; essentially making a big "U" around the mountains. We will pass through Te Anau (the site for the LOTR filming of the beautiful beech trees of Fangorn Forest) through Homer Pass, then onto Milford Sound.

We start by going around the east side of Lake Wakatipu and along the Remarkables mountain range (on our left). To the right we pass Kelvin Heights and Deer Park Heights (both used during the filming of LOTR). These mountains are rugged with sharp dramatic summits. This morning the mountains are covered in the clouds and that presents striking visuals. We follow the eastern arm of the lake (the lake is in the form of a backwards "Z") and when we reach the end and Kingstown we continue to head south towards Five Rivers.

When we reach Five Rivers (Jeff, just south of the town is a river system that resembles the "Trident" in the "Song of Ice and Fire" trilogy) we now turn west. The mountain ranges and rolling grassy hills make for great contrasts. At Mossburn we pick up route 94 and continue west. Our next town is Te Anau (which has the beautiful beech trees of Fangorn Forest. And no, I did not see the exact location, we are close but had to take a picture without really being near or knowing exactly where to look. In my opinion, any of the sights we do see could work for the locations.

At Te Anau (LOTR film locations are here but I don't know where) we are paralleling Lake Te Anau. It is a very large lake and eventually come to our last town, Te Anau Downs, before reaching the Fiordland National Park.

Before long we are making a pit stop. Only this stop in at a view point looking back through Eglington Valley. Wat a sight. The vista here is simply fantastic. I know I use that description liberally, but I can not think of any other word that might express the same visual aspect of these lands and mountains. And as I've mentioned on other occasions, the pictures do not do the true visuals justice. (For some reason, most of these pictures are somewhat out of focus. But it is still overcast and the cloud cover is making it difficult for the camera to focus.)

The bus makes a stop at Mirror Lake which is a small pond really. When the sun is out (and it has not done so so far) you can get good mirrored pictures of the mountains from the pond. However, because of the wind and cloud cover, the only thing really working in the Mirror Lake is a sign with the words "Mirror Lake" upside down so it reads correctly on the pond. The Eglington Valley and Mirror Lake are part of the South New Zealand World Heritage Area.

Next we stop at Monkey River and almost everyone gets water form the river to drink (I know what some of you are thinking, but no comments please). After filling up an empty water bottle, I taste the water. It is quite good and as indicated it should have lots of good minerals and is pure - well it looks like water and tastes like water and it is running in a river (stream really) and the water tastes good. What more could you ask for?

The bus continues though the National Park and we climb to the Homer Tunnel that will take us through the mountains. This tunnel is over a kilometer long and was dug by 6 people, supposedly without machinery. We stop just before going into the tunnel for a view of the mountains and waterfall at the tunnel entrance. What can I say: breathtaking.

We have to wait at the tunnel for a green light, since the traffic is one way only. When we get to the other side, the valley opens up to a place called "The Chasm". Wow. Reminds me of one of the passes we crossed in Switzerland with the roads cutting back and forth to go up and down. You can see for a long way and the road weaving back and forth. It is a fantastic view.

We continue down from the top of the Chasm and shortly arrive at Milford sound. The sun has come out since passing through the tunnel and it looks like the weather will be good for the boat ride. We make it through the terminal and head out to the dock. On the docks we have a preview of what we will see. The mountains are almost vertical and the water is really blue.

We get on the boat and I eat my lunch very quickly because we are told that just as we leave there is a waterfall on our right. Carmen and I go up on the top deck of the boat (which is opened) and true to the information the waterfall is in view almost as soon as the boat gets out of the dock and turned around. It is pretty tall and there is a lot of water coming down. (There was some rain overnight and we are all hoping the the waterfalls will be spectacular.) We head out the fiord and will eventually be out on the Tasman Sea. The mountains on both sides of the fiord are really very vertical and high. Also, on one of the mountains there is snow (maybe a small glacier). The ride out of the fiord presents another waterfall on the far side of the fiord (we are on the left side of on the way out and will eventually be on the other side on the way back).

As we are on our way back in, we pass a number of seals on a rock and playing in the water. Then further, we come to the second falls on our way out. It is really high and there is a lot of water coming down. The waterfall is also coming down the vertical cliff hitting the rocks on the way down then directly into the water. The boat captain brings the bow of the boat right up to the edge of the waterfall and you can fell the power of the falling water. It is difficult to take pictures as the water spray is getting on the lens, But I get a picture of Carmen anyway.

We return the rest of the way back into the fiord and after passing the first waterfall again, dock. Everyone is trying to get off the boat early so we can be one of the first buses to leave. This will help to get back on time and not be delayed behind slow moving buses. There is no other way to return to the hotel but to drive back along the same route we drove here this morning. That just means I get to take more pictures of the same great vistas I wasn't able to get earlier.

We return to the hotel sometime around 6:30PM and everyone is meeting in the lobby for some drinks (Jon I had a Speight's Gold Medal Ale) and then a farewell dinner. (The group that was together will split up for the Australia portion of the trip. Some are going on the shorter trip (like us) while others on a longer trip to include Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock).

I know these postings are really late. By the time we get back to the hotel and I load the pictures and start writing the blog information it is late. Also, there is no "free" Internet anywhere; you have to pay for it and it is pretty expensive. I have to buy a twenty minutes to get everything loaded and spell checked. Oh well, the daily information will just be late that's all. Until later.

G'day Mates!

Franz Josef to Queenstown

1o Franz Josef to Queenstown (Wed. Feb. 11)

Today we leave Franz Josef behind. Like so many other places Carmen and I have visited and only at that particular location for one day (and that day was overcast), the next morning usually has better weather - fair and much clearer. Well, the weather here at Franz Josef Glacier is no different. Yesterday, when we got to the glacier the fog bank was descending on the glacier and it was getting very difficult to see and even more difficult to focus a camera. This morning you could see the glacier from the road. Go figure.

We are continuing to head south today with Queenstown as our destination. The area we are passing through between here and Haast is rain forest and the weather is living up to it's name sake. We pass back and forth through winding roads with views of the mountains on our left and occasionally views of the ocean on our right.

We make it to Haast where those that want to are taking a jet boat up the river; it is only a one-way trip and we will meet the bus further upstream along the river. The minute we get outside of the bus we are inundated by black flies. Everyone is quickly putting on insect repellent and trying to either go to the bathroom or pay for the jet boat ride. For those that are not going on the jet boat, they will stay in the bus and follow the river by road (we actually see the bus a couple of times along the route, in the beginning the bus goes over the bridge we go under).

We get on the boat, put on our life vests and when everyone is on board, shove off (actually, the driver of the jet boat just pulls back). The jet boat gets up to some pretty good speed and at times it literally is in just inches of water. We stop, in the water, at a couple of waterfalls to get better pictures and allows the driver/guide to tell us more about the river and area. Apparently there is great fishing for Salmon in this river with sizes ranging up to around 24 pounds. (Not sure if this was a fish story or not, but it seems not to many people fish here. As the driver/guide said, if you see someone, its time to pack up and go somewheres else.) We also stop on one section of the river bank. Did I say stop, what I really meant was drive up onto the bank. The rocks here are neat; many are flat, thin, and you can sail them skipping along the water. It is a great ride and the scenery is beautiful.

We continue our trip up stream and all to soon we reach our destination. We let a couple of people off the boat because they do not want to do a 360 degree spin. Because Carmen is concerned that the spin will cause her sea sickness to flare up (the bus ride is already pretty weavey because of the roads), she is also one of those that gets off the boat. I stayed on the boat and went for a spin with everyone else.

After dropping off the people that do not want to do the spin we head back down the river we just came up. We do a spin right away, head down river again at breath taking speeds, do another spin, and then return to our first spin site and do another. We did three spins and they are pretty great. First you have g-force going one way, then the other. I'm up front so it is difficult to get a picture of the spin, especially with a still camera. A video camera would work better, but you do with what you have. I put the camera to take repeated shots and just trip the trigger. All I can say is fantastic.

We get off the jet boat and get back on the bus and continue our journey to Queenstown. We pass the mountain range from the west side of South Island to the East side of the mountains. Again great scenery. We follow and pass a couple of lakes and make our way through Cromswell and onto Arrowtown a few miles outside of Queenstown.

On the way from Cromwell to Arrowtown, we drive along the Kawarau Gorge and river. This is the site where the fellowship rowed their boats along the river with the cliff sides and then between the Pillars of the Kings. There is also a bungee jump here, but we do not have the time to make a jump. Rick, the rapids in this here are proported to be class 6 and they do not let boats go down the rapids; kayaks yes, boats no.

Next we stop in Arrowtown, an old small gold mining town. The Arrow River runs through the town and this is the LOTR film location used as the site for where Frodo was brought across the Ford of Bruinen (in the book by Glorfindel) before the Nazgul caught them. Of course, it is difficult to pin point the exact location, but it is still neat to see where it might have been filmed. You can actually buy a book that has the film locations and descriptions about the filming. The locations are given as coordinates, neat.

Queenstown is on a very large lake, in the shape of a "Z". Along this lake and just outside of Queenstown are many of the film locations. The Remarkables where used for Dimril Dale. The town of Closeburn was used for Amon Hen and further along the road the Twelve Mile Delta was used for the filming of the Ithilien Camp. The west end of the lake was used for Paradise Isengard, the golden woods of Lothlorien (on the Dart River), and Amon Hen. The Shotover river (during flooding) in the Skippers Canyon was also used for the Ford of Bruinen.

We get to Queenstown late in the afternoon and go out to get something quick to eat. Other than that it has been a long day. The scenery today has been fantastic and changing every 50 - 100 kilometers (you'll have to figure how many miles that is yourself). The day has really been pretty good.

Until later.