Hi there
I'd always wanted to know my DNA background so I sent off for it. I hoped I would have fierce fighting Viking ancestors. Or proud Cherokee Nation. Or Maori warriors.
Nope. What has come back to me is:
53% Irish
24% English
19% Scottish
4% German/Swiss.
Ho-hum. Nice to know, but a bit boring ...
Hi there
I was talking to a younger guy at the beach. He'd read that we might have to carry a vaccination card around with us once we got our Covid jabs.
He was horrified when I told him that before travelling to England in 1965 I was required to have a smallpox vaccination and a certificate. I still had the small vaccination scar on my arm and showed it to him.
The vaccination caused many of us to feel slightly off, with an aching arm for a few days, but we world travellers never thought anything about it.
Smallpox was 'officially' eradicated.
Hi there
When I was down Queenstown, I went to posh restaurants. I got waited on like I was a Lady, or a Dame. The cutlery was arranged like smart soldiers each side of my plate. The decor was discrete, the bills were high, the background music was classical violin, and each course was quite small.
On my last day, I threw caution to the winds and rolled up at The Pig & Whistle Pub. I ordered a pie -
Hi there
Over the last few years, when I've been in Queenstown, I've often watched the Hydro Attack 'shark' on the lake.
The shark looks like a jet fighter without the wings. It sits the 'pilot' and a passenger. Across the water it has a top speed of 80 kms per hour. It dives down to 5ft under the water, going 50 kms per hour. And, oh, it jumps up to 18ft out of the water, rearing up onto its tail. The shark was invented by a New Zealander, it's sold to very rich overseas people and before Covid-19 lockdowns, several resorts around the world were offering the ride to the public.
"I'm interested," I said timidly to the guys behind the counter at the wharf. I had many worries: Would I have a heart attack? Would I faint? Get claustrophobic? Die?
It took a while, about twenty minutes of my going and returning to the counter, trying to make a decision, but in the end I handed over my $129 for the maybe-twenty five minute experience.
My young pilot led me to the wharf edge and I peered down into the cockpit of the shark. It was so cramped inside.
After half-a-dozen embarrassing attempts I finally - phew! - dropped down into the back seat of the cockpit. The pilot drew back the hatch cover and we were off -
Wow! It was fabulous. We raced speedboat-like across the water and every so often shot, nose-down, under the lake where the water was the most beautiful blue-green. We jumped up out of the lake to all but stand high on our shark's tail.
A couple of times we stopped, and the pilot opened the hatch for a breather and a view.
When we returned to the wharf, the pilot hopped out and asked me to hop out, too.
Hop out? Hop out! I couldn't. To all intents and purposes I was stuck in the shark. I'd be there forever.
At the beach when I'm sitting flat on the wooden deck, I have to turn around and push myself up on all four limbs. There was no room to do this in the shark.
"I can't do it! I can't do it! I can't!" I couldn't get leverage to pull myself up from the narrow seat. There was a rope pull attached to the back of the pilot's seat but that didn't work for me either.
In the end, after about 15 minutes, I pretended I was in my bathtub at home, gripped the edges of my seat and heartily pushed myself up and out but, oh goodness, I only just made it. I shudder to think I could have been the first person to capsize the shark It hadn't helped when the pilot announced loftily that a 91 year old man had had no trouble getting in or out -
Hi there
I'm back from a week in Queenstown, down the South Island of New Zealand.
It was very warm. I swam in Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu for four of the seven days but had to give up because of the sandflies on the shores. Each day I got more bites on me than the day before. Sigh.
Still, I kayaked on Lake Wanaka, dined at Gibbston Valley Winery, travelled up the gondola to a lovely buffet lunch and a terrific view, walked the Queenstown to Frankton track twice, and paid $129 for a ride on the lake's Hydro-Attack 'shark' ride (more about this in my next blog).
I went to top restaurant Rata. I called in upon the historic village of Arrowtown. While in Arrowtown I walked the beautiful bush-clad 'loop' walk beside the Arrow River.
When I'd been in Queenstown previously, I'd seethed over the commotion and crowding caused by the overseas tour groups, overseas backpackers, and overseas families. They were everywhere, and crashing into me, pushing and shouting their excitement and, maybe, up to 100 strong in front of me in the queues for things. They crammed the footpaths (walking on the wrong side, right instead of left).
The length of time it took to travel into Queenstown along the bumper-to-bumper crowded Frankton Road was horrendous, and the fact that I could never find a park in the Queenstown shopping area drove me almost insane. Backpackers spilled everywhere around the lake foreshore soaking up the sun, playing their drums and flutes and yogi-ing for cash or food. Cafes and restaurants were always full. The price for a one night hotel stay was, maybe $300 (that is if a hotel had rooms left because all those tour groups were taking up space). When I showed a theatre card at the local picture house or hopped in a taxi, I was always exclaimed over because I was a kiwi.
But ... on this holiday last week, everything was reversed. Because our borders are closed, there were no crowds. The area was as dead as a Dodo, I could park practically anywhere I liked, the road from the airport took me about five minutes driving, the restaurants and cafes were empty.
I realise now that it was all that previous commotion, and crowding, and pushing, and shouting, and excitement, and backpackers and tour groups, and whatnot that actually made Queenstown, giving it its life. The overseas tourists give the place a lively vibe, a heart. Talk about me being contrary because I now want all that ado back.
Covid-19, you have broken Queenstown's heart ...
below: part of the the lake view from my rented holiday home Queenstown balcony. Luckily, my insurance company have their own holiday homes throughout NZ, very cheap stays.
