New Zealand Day 13

New Zealand  Day 13    30.01.14

Woke up this morning to sunshine , no mist, no clouds and we were supposed to be moving.  So instead we telephoned the helicopter firm and booked on a flight for 9.00.  We packed pretty sharpish and were in town by 8.45.  We were supposed to have a 20 minute flight to Franz-Josef glacier but they put us into a 30 minute flight from Fox Village.  So we were flown to Fox picked up the other people then had a 30 minute flight to both glaciers and a stop on the F-J glacier  and then flown back to F-J village - MAGIC.

These were taken with the small camera but there are loads more with the big camera but they take ages to download onto the blog.  Look out when we get home we will be able to bore everyone for months.

We set out then for Murchison a small town on the way to Nelson. We didn't expect much of the trip but like everything else here it was great.  Places which if they were at home or France say would be heaving with people and campsites, tourist vendors etc were quiet and peaceful and UNSPOILT.

This is in the Buller Valley and although there was canoeing a bit further up it was so empty.

New Zealand Day 12

New Zealand Day 12   29.01.14

Well guess what ?  Woke up and clouds and mist had descended over the mountains, not good for our helicopter flight.  Yes that's right it was cancelled !!!  We were so disappointed.  Sat and had coffee for a while then decided to take the car up to the glacier area and walk up to it.  The walk goes through this sub-tropical rain forest and then you are in a glacial area - fantastic.

We did that before 1.00pm so drove down to Fox Village about 20 kms south and go and see Fox Glacier.  The walk to this was more difficult (well for old fogies like us it was)  but we ended up higher up near to the snout of the glacier and some stunning views.

The colours don't look that great but it was not quite so grey.
Both glaciers have retreated up their valleys quite a lot although they had a spell in the 90s when they advanced or maintained their position, they are retreating fast now.

New Zealand Day 11

New Zealand   Day 11   28.01.14

Got up early to get the TranzAlpine Train across the Southern Alps from Christchurch to Greymouth.  This is a steam train across central South Island.  It has normal train seats and also an open sided viewing platform.  Great for taking photos but very grubby hair , skin and clothes after.  Again some fabulous views across the Alps.  

The river valleys are very different.  The rivers are often braided and run along a wide stony channels and not in our usual narrower river banks.  Most rivers that we have seen are also a turquoise green colour due to fine glacial silt.

When we got to Greymouth we picked up another car a Toyota RAV4 this time in red and continued down to Franz Josef Village near to the Franz Josef glacier.  The west coast is different from the east coast with sub-tropical forest along the roads , indeed it extends up to the glacier area.  The place except for South America you can find it happening.

When we were driving we came across an unusual road / train way.  Yes the road shares the bridge with a railway.  I kept looking behind !

Glacier country tomorrow, yet another different type of scenery.

New Zealand Day 10

New Zealand  Day 9      27.01.14

Woke up early to go on our Whale watching trip.  Got ready and we were waiting for pick up.  he arrived to inform us that the trip was cancelled due to a large sea surge !!! Not impressed. 

The motel owner suggested that we went to Akaroa  on the Banks Peninsula about 1 1/2 hours from Christchurch, but worth it.  there were some fabulous views on the way and Akaroa itself  is a picturesque, seaside resort.

Went on the Black Cat cruise to the harbour entrance.  The Banks Peninsular is made from two extinct volcanoes.  The sea has eroded inlets into the volcanic remains and Akaroa lies at the head of one of these.  The cruise went to the harbour edge where there are seals, dolphins and sea birds.  

We saw some seals basking on one of the small rocks around the edge of the inlet and also in the distance some dolphins near the harbour entrance.  

There are the some seals in here.

And a dolphin just dived in here.

Not quite the Whale Watch but a nice day.

New Zealand Days 8 and 9

Day 8 Saturday 25.01.13

Set out for Christchurch at 9.10 am.  Went by way of Moeraki and the famous round boulders on the beach.  Very interesting.  The beaches along this part of the coast were fabulous long sandy empty beaches.

At Moeraki there was a cafe , shop and walkway to beach (you had to pay to go down ).  It was worth it though and took some photos there.

We stopped a few times on the journey to break it up and arrived at about 3.30 pm.  The motel was very swish but near to a busy road.   Christchurch is quite big (the biggest city in South Island) the biggest we have been in so far.

Day 9 Sunday 26.01.14

We went to discover Christchurch today.  The centre is full of building work as it is still recovering from the earthquakes .  We went to Quake City in the centre where they have pictures, films and artefacts from the quakes.

Outside this were pop-up shops.  These are container type units sometimes 2 storeys that are used as shops whilst they rebuild the centre.  They are also rebuilding the cathedral in cardboard but we didn't manage to find it.  I think it is a bit stronger than just cardboard - there is a good feature on the internet on it though.  There were street entertainer about as it was the World Buskers Festival there.

New Zealand Day 7

Day 7  Friday January 24th

Dunedin

We are only having the one day here and we want to see the wildlife on the Otago Peninsula. We went into central Dunedin on the bus in the morning but it was not that far and we walked back.

Buildings in central Dunedin

The cathedral was nice but not that big, it did have a very grand organ though.  The information centre were very helpful and we booked trips to see the only mainland colony of Albatross in the world at 7 pm followed by a tour of Blue Penguins at 9pm.  

From there we drove up to Signal Hill a former lookout point above Dunedin with some spectacular views.

We went to the Otago peninsular in the evening for our tours.  We had to go at this time as you could only see the penguins at when it got dark when they came back from a day at sea.  They are the smallest penquins in the world and very difficult to catch on film in the dark from 300 yards.

Young Albatross (adult wing span 3 metres)

'Raft' of Blue penguins returning to land after day at sea.

We saw the Chinese family now living in Auckland for the third time here.  We first met them on the Doubtful Sound trip.  

New Zealand Days 5 and 6

Day 5    Wednesday January 22nd  

Queenstown

A quiet day today, had a stroll to town and a coffee in our favourite cafe next to the church.

on our walk around town saw some nice opals - one costing + £5000 that I liked.  

In the afternoon we drove to the north of lake Wakatipu about 25 miles away.  it rained and then we couldn't start the car whilst parked by the lake away from the village.  Good luck follows us.  We eventually got it started after a phone call and a wet walk.  Never mind we had some nice coffee and yummy carrot cake in the cafe there.

Day 6 Thursday January 23rd

Queenstown to Dunedin

We left for Dunedin today, a 178 mile journey across the southern half of South Island, through fantastic views along the valleys of the Kawarai and the Clutha Rivers. 

  

Arrived in Dunedin about 3 o'clock, our motel is very different to the hotel in Queenstown but it is of a good standard.  Dunedin is an university city, built by the Scots.  Lots of Scottish heritage there.

New Zealand Day 4

Were are off to Doubtful Sound today so got up at 6 o'clock and had breakfast in the hotel, before being picked up and taken to the bus for our trip.  Each stage was better than the one before, travelling along southern part of Lake Wakatipu and the mountains south of it, crossing lake Manapouri and visiting the underground HEP station, crossing Wilmot's Pass and then our trip on Doubtful Sound itself.

Along southern lake Wakatipu

Inside HEP plant.  85% of the energy it produces goes to power an aluminium smelting plant but if it was needed without the aluminium smelting it could supply the whole of South Islands electricity.

The view from Wilmot's Pass looking down on Doubtful Sound.  Most people on the trip just went ooh when they saw it.

In the sound was peaceful, it is not very busy like Milford Sound and is labelled a wilderness trip with only one other boat on it.  The weather was like yesterday in Queenstown .  These were the best two days of the last month here - so we were very lucky.  We went right out to the Tasman Sea where we saw a colony of seals on one of the rocks at the entrance to the sound.  It was quite choppy out here great stuff.

We didn't see any other wildlife which was a bit disappointing, we had hoped to see penguins as well but had to make do with this fellow on the boat.

All in all a wonderful day we both absolutely loved it.

New Zealand Day 3

NZ Day 3  Monday January 20th

The weather has not been very good here but today was glorious so decided to take a trip on the Sky Gondola.

its higher than it looks and looks out over the town and the lake but ascends quite steeply.

This was taken looking out behind us as we went up.  The views from the top were magnificent.

on the same site was a bungy station and one brave young woman made the drop whilst we were there.

On our way back to the hotel we found a street for John.

We started on our lord of the Ring trail this afternoon, looking for the Pillars of the Kings on the river Kawarai and found part of it at AJ hackett's Bungy jumping site.  This is the original bungy jumping site apparently started back in the 80s.  it is a big venture now with a jump costing NZ$180.  They jump from the centre of the bridge and are held by their ankles - a lot more scary than the one at the Sky Gondola, although as john pointed out their jumping near rocks there and into the canyon here above the river.

John was also quoted as saying ' it doesn't look so bad'.  

NO HE DID NOT JUMP.  We did hear some teenagers encouraging their mother as she made her jump but most were youngsters.

We also found the'Ford of Bruinen' at Arrowtown, an old mining town.  

Several people were panning for gold along the river, but they seem to have gravel mostly but you can still find gold there if your lucky.

As you can see in the photos we have had 

very good weather 23 c.  it has been a very wet summer so far so we have been lucky.

Singapore to New Zealand

Singapore Day 4 17.01.14 

Finally checked out at 12 o'clock and left the luggage in hotel.  After breakfast in Swissbake took the MRT to city to see Raffles Hotel and the Cricket Ground.  We also went to Sands Shopping Centre again and had tea in a very nice tea shop over the canal.

We got to airport on time and there was only one well behaved baby on flight.

New Zealand Day 1 18.01.14

Arrived in Christchurch at about 10am and then tried to get into New Zealand!  They have strict rules about bio-hazards and after queuing through customs (long queue) we then had to declare all our bio hazards, walking shoes were inspected , remains of packet of biscuits (3) were declared (I should have put them on the form).  To check that we had told the truth it it was all x-rayed and if we had lied there was a instant $400 fine - we passed!

It was cloudy on the flight to Queenstown so didn't see much. Picked up car and got to our room opened the door to this view out of our window.

and it was all worth it.

NZ Day 2  Sunday January 19th

Queenstown is fabulous the views are tremendous with mountains all around the town and the lake. We didn't get up until late but went into town to have a look around.

and managed dinner on hotel terrace

Nice wine - bubbles of course.

Singapore Day 3

Wednesday January 16th

Had a very quiet day today, went to China Town, they are getting ready for the Chinese New Year.  It will be the year of the Horse as the decorations show.

Also went to the other harbour area at the end of the MRT line we are on.  Not quite as smart as yesterday but some colourful shops nevertheless!  (It sold clothes by the way).

At the other end of the harbour / marina area is Sentosa Park a Disney type holiday complex.

This evening we went out to look at the lights on Clake Quay behind the hotel.  Lots of eateries, music, young people and lights.  The in place to be if you are young.

That all folks for today.

Singapore Day 2

Singapore Wednesday Jan 15th

Quieter day today.  We caught the MRT to Marina Bay, a big, modern commercial centre with high rise buildings near.  We loved the Sands Hotel, 3 buildings with a boat shaped top connecting them.

We took the Skylift to the top and had a great view of downtown Singapore.  It was a bit hazy so photos not as clear as they could have been.  Outsiders are only allowed on one section but those staying there had use of the pool on the top of the "boat".

The shopping mall next to it was very swish and full of Designer Shops, you could even buy a Formula 1 Ferrari (well it was on display, it had won the 2005 F1 championship).

Thats all for now.