Lake Wanaka

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Hi there

There's this tree in Lake Wanaka.  Yes, it's in the lake, and the tree has iconic status.  There's a sign  that says everybody should try to get the best ever picture of the tree. The pictures can be put on-line for judgement.

Everybody also tries to get a great selfie with it.  There was a queue of people when I was there, taking turns at standing in just the right place for that ideal selfie.  I failed miserably with my selfie.

And the Holiday continued ...

Hi there

Well, I'm back home in Wellington after six days at Lake Wanaka where I went directly after my week in Queenstown.

More little niggles ...

If I thought I'd had sandfly bites from the beach at Queenstown, that was nothing compared to the sandflies at Lake Wanaka.  I was covered in itchy blotches.  My bathing suit is mainly black and apparently sandflies lurve black!

My naughty rental car was in the act of backing and it hit a low concrete bollard.  Oh dear.  It was a good thing I'd taken out the highest rental car insurance on the market.  I didn't have to pay a cent for the scratches.

Twice I flooded my Lake Wanaka Lodge bathroom.  The seams in the shower wall were worn.

On my first day in Wanaka, I thought "My leg is better, I'll go on a hike."  So I did.  And I got a heel problem instead (plantar fasciitis, an old enemy). Am still hobbling today.

I'd booked for an afternoon boat trip on a glacier lake where there were icebergs.  The tour was leaving from Mt Cook Village, a two and a half hour car ride from Wanaka (it was Chinese New Year and I couldnt get accommodation in Mt Cook Village).  A long trip but I figured it would be totally worth it because while I was in the Village, I could go on a hike and, also, have a lovely buffet lunch at The Hermitage Hotel.

But two days before my scheduled boat trip a massive iceberg in the lake broke up and the boat trips were iffy as to whether they would be on.  I took a chance and drove there.  The trips for that day were called off!  Stll, there is a ten minute bus ride (I could have taken my car)  that does the round trip from The Hermitage to the glacier lake track every hour for $20, followed by a gentle-ish 40 minute (return) hike.  The glacier lake looked great, with all the broken iceberg bits. 

above: on my hike from Mt Cook Village (that's Aorakei Mt Cook on right).  The Southern Alps are biggest mountain range and can even be seen from the North Island.

 above:  Lake Wanaka beach

Ever had one of THOSE holidays?

Hi there

I've just had a week in Queenstown, New Zealand.  Q is supposed to be the adventure capital of the world with all sorts of strenuous activities, like jet boating, bungy, para-sailing, etc, etc.
Everything went wrong for me:

.  At the airport as I was leaving Wellington, I felt an explosion in my leg.  Limped for whole holiday, couldn't hike anywhere.  Thank goodness for my hiking stick
.  Lost my phone.  Bought a new one.  My own one was handed in two days later.
.  Got seriously bitten by sandflies,  from chin to ankles.
.  The tv in my rented holiday home was broken.  No repairman for six days.
.  I pulled a muscle in my arm when  tugging on my backpack
.  The linen I had ordered, didn't turn up.  When it did, there were 12 double sheets and no towels.
.  The rental car company had changed their address without telling me.  I threw a mini tantrum outside their old office.
.  Rolled up at a pre-booked buffet dinner.  The hotel lift was out and I had to limp up six floors to be told the meal was cancelled because no kitchen electricity.
.  Got a bad cold sore on my lip and a horrible scratchy throat.
.  Got sunburnt.

Still love Queenstown ...

Weta Wellington

Hi there

  an Orc from LOTR movie

Weta Workshop in Miramar Wellington  has loads of tourists going there daily.  There's a small shop, a film to be seen,  and a (charged) visit to the Workshop.  The Workshop is quite interesting because a visitor can see props from various movies that Weta has had a hand in, and tourists get to see how jewellery, scenery etc is made.

I have noticed however that since the Miramar bus changed its route, there are not that many people going to Weta on the number 2 route where visitors have to change buses at Miramar shops.  Mind you, if they hang around the Miramar shopping area for a little while they can pop into the Roxy Theatre, and ask if they can go upstairs for a few minutes to look at the lounge ceiling.  It's worth missing out on the first connecting bus (they go every 15 minutes or so) just to admire the art deco Roxy interior which was done up by the Weta people.

Everything Old is New Again

Hi there

I can't get it into my head that hardwood floors are 'in'.  When I was a small kid, I would play on my grandma's wooden floor, in a kitchen that was an add-on to her 1800's Newtown house.  That floor was horrible.

It wasn't elegantly varnished or sand-polished.  It was scrubbed daily by grandma, so hard that the original virginal bare boards had lost any newness they might have once had.  They were scruffy-looking and free of any gloss. Hairy flakes of wood  came up when I scuffed over it.  The boards were unsteady and squeaky.  I got splinters in my bare feet.

No.  No way, do I want wooden floors; wooden floors are so old-fashioned.   I'm clinging to lino in the kitchen and warm carpet for my tootsies in the other rooms.  I mean, how old-fashioned can anyone be to want wooden floors?  Honestly.

Well, not honestly.  I know, deep down, that it's me living in the past.

People were poor when I was a kid.  The adults were coming out of the depression and two world wars. Wooden floors and painted interior walls bring back to me echoes of not being able to afford much.  Rich people could buy carpet and wallpaper, most others couldn't.  The little girl I used to be craved to have nice things like carpet and wallpaper in her grown-up life.

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Psst, don't tell anyone but occasionally, once-in-a-blue-moon, here and there, now and then, I do think about getting hardwood floors.  I'm not quite there yet, but watch this space ...