Friday, March 24, 2023

English language

 Hi there

I was walking past Michael Hill-Jewellers the other day and I read some writing on their outside chalkboard: "20% off of our coloured gemstones".

Um.  Looking back, I can't really remember if my mind got the percentage right, but I was definitely flummoxed by the "off of..."

 "Off of..." ?

The 'of' is not needed.  It's such bad english.  Oh, wait, isn't 'off of' an American phrase?  

The same goes for that animated tv ad that's put out by Electric Kiwi, the power company:   "We would love for you to join us..."

"For you. ..".   The word 'for" is completely unnecessary.  That ad grates on me every time I see it.  More American phrasing. 

Guess I'm just an old curmudgeon.  And I often wonder if Americans get rattled when they hear their 'Mom' described as 'Mum' by the British?



Saturday, March 18, 2023

Misinterpretation

 Hi there

When I was on My Great South Island Road Trip last month, I popped into a Queenstown pharmacy to buy some cream to combat sandflies (wish there'd been something for Duckage).  I handed over my loyalty card.

"You've got $10 off because of your loyalty card,"  said the pharmacist.  "Do you want to take the money off now?  Or you can save it for another time.  Shall I take it off?'

"Yes please," I said.  "Take it off."

Two female pharmacy assistants sprang out from nowhere, danced around the pharmacist waving their arms and chanting "Take it off!  Take it off!  Woo-hoo, take it off-"

The pharmacist blushed.  I guessed he'd been this route before.  Harassment, much?


above: Queenstown main beach.  Did I get the Duckage (see previous posts) swimming here?


above:  one of the many one-way bridges on the West Coast of the South Island.  It was after Haast.  Misty, raining (of course)


above:  Shining Star Holiday Park, on Hokitika Beach.  My en suite/kitchen cabin is in the back ground, right side. Aww, they have Alpacas. 


Me on Hokitika Beach, in front of Shining Star.  The West Coast rain stopped for an hour. 


Saturday, March 11, 2023

Sweetie ... dear... honey ....

 Hi there

I've mentioned before how I get irked when shop assistants, cafe servers, and the like, call me twee names.  Seniors appear to be magnets for such names.  When I was on My Great South Island Road Trip I popped into a cafe for a take-away sandwich.  The server handed me my receipt -

"Here you are, darling."

I gritted my teeth.  "Thank you ...  Sweetie-pie."

Oh, no, I felt awful over what I'd said, but then I read the woman's expression; first, puzzlement, then awareness.  Oh, she realised the situation...

Saturday, March 4, 2023

pics from my Great West Coast South Island Road Trip

 Hi there

above:  a view of some of the Pancake rocks, Punakaiki.  Raining.

me at Lake Hawea Hotel.  Lunch. Keep following the main road in front of hotel till you see a sign directing you to Esplanade Beach


above: Lake Hawea. Esplanade Beach.

above:  Pamphlet of Swing Bridge over Buller Gorge.  You pay to walk it.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

My Great South Island Road Trip

 Hi there

I got back on the evening of 28 February.  Wow, what a scary/exciting/enjoyable/cloudy/sunny/splotchy two-week holiday.  I arrived by plane in Queenstown where I had two nights.  Road works everywhere, and blocking off my motel from the main road.   I had to go around two blocks and up a steep hill to get to the motel.  About a dozen motels all over the town were similarly blocked off.

Buffet lunch at the top of the gondola. And a lovely hour or so's walk along the Queenstown to Frankton track.  This track is between the lake and the main road so no chance of getting lost, and it's very safe.  I swam in the lake.

I moved to Lake Wanaka for five nights.  I hired a kayak.  And I  swam in the lake on my first day.  That evening I discovered angry red splotches on my torso.  A pharmacist told me it was duckage (swimmers' itch).  It comes from being in calm lake or pond waters, where ducks are.  Something about the feathers carrying lice-type thingees that burrow into a swimmer's skin.  If the swimmer towels off instantly, it's okay.  I always towel off but, obviously, not under my bathing suit.  I stretched out on the foreshore and sunbathed.

I don't know whether I caught the duckage from Queenstown or Wanaka.  But after that first day swimming in Wanaka I shot off to Lake Hawea about a quarter of an hour away and with the most beautiful untouched view in the whole of New Zealand (in my opinion).  No ducks, seagulls, or many people.  The water was crystal clear every day.  I was glad I'd taken my swimming booties because the foreshore was nothing but pebbles to walk on.  My duckage splodges are still on my body, but to a lesser degree...

Then... the scary stuff....  I drove my hired car up the wild West Coast.  The area has a reputation for being wet, misty, and did I mention wet?  With scary curvy roads, and cliffs on one side and sharp drops into the lake on the other side.  With no safety fences.

As I was about to round a cliff corner, with Lake Hawea on my right, two sheep suddenly bolted out in front of me, from the other side of the cliff.  I had to brake fast.  Good thing I was going slow.

My hands were glued to the steering wheel the two days it took me to get to the top of the South Island. My eyes were focused like lasers on the road ahead.  I kept repeating over and over "I am alert, I am alert" (no jokes about calling me 'A Lert' please; my friends have already done that about ten times).  The curves, narrow roads, and one-way bridges spooked me no end.  However, I was very lucky insofar as there were hardly any vehicles heading the way I was heading; the traffic was all on the other side of the road. I was petrified driving over Haast Pass from Wanaka but because in total there were only six cars that passed me during the two hour trip, I could tootle along slowly, at my own pace.  And, anyway there were loads of pulling over places to allow care to pass me.  I n fact, during the entire two days, there were hardly any cars going my way.  A woman later told me that when she went over Haast Pass from Wanaka, it was bumper to bumper.

The Automobile Association on their travel guideline website estimated my first day travel to Hokitika would take 6 hours, and the same for the next day to Motueka (prior to Kaiteriteri).  Instead of 6 hours a day, the actual driving took me 8 hours each day.  Maybe because I was so scared and drove 60-80 most of the way.  Of course practically every time I turned a corner there was a notice saying I could only go 65 kph.

On my second day I stopped off at Punakaki to see the pancake rocks.  My goodness, spectacular scenery in this area.

Then I stopped off at the top of the Buller Gorge and walked along the longest swing bridge in New Zealand.  I didn't mind the height over the thunderous river but the journey across seemed to go on...and on....and on....  About 15 minutes.  Underfoot there was a slat, a space, a slat, some space, a slat, etc, etc...  There was some netting nailed under it all.  But I didn't have to do a return trip over the bridge because I returned across the river on The Comet (Flying Fox, High-Wire, Zipline, whatever name other companies call it).  I've been on such flyings before but they've always been, whoosh, and they're over.  This flight was lovely and leisurely.  I yoo-hooed and waved to people below me on the swing bridge, and I admired the river view.

I figured I would be scared driving along the Buller Gorge but it was the easiest part of the journey.

I finally arrived at Kaiteriteri, on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park where I stayed for seven nights.  It was cloudy every day, however I did swim every day (no ducks!).  I walked four hours return along the Abel Tasman track.  I took a boat to Anchorage Beach where myself and three others got marooned by the King tide and we had to wade thigh-deep across a sudden torrent of water to get to the boat for the return journey

The beach at Kaiteriteri is fantastically beautiful.  But the sand isnt that silky darker sand that we have in the North Island.  This sand was golden and reminded me of (and felt like) kitty-litter. I stayed at the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve (it's a holiday park).  I had a big en suite/kitchen cabin and I was less than a one minute walk to the sea. 


above: about ten minutes into the Abel Tasman National Park Track (from Marahau).

above:  the South Island's wild West Coast, past Hokitika.  Raining.  Of course.