My holiday continued

 Hi there

Well, here I was, staying at the Lake Hawea Hotel, with nothing to do.  Okay, I appreciate that millions of people consider sitting on a hotel balcony, looking out at the delightful scenery, with a book on your lap (in my case, make that a Kindle audio book), and a drink beside you (Diet Coke), would have the makings for a pleasant holiday.  But it just wasn't me.  My leg was hurting every time I moved it, and I was so upset that I couldnt go hiking or swimming.  On my last day in Hawea, I couldn't stand it any longer, so I went through the pain of getting into my car and driving the fifteen minutes to Lake Wanaka.  

It was a beautiful, hot (27c) day, and people were kayaking on the lake.  I jealously fumed that I wasnt kayaking on the lake with them.  Another item on my 'want' list that I couldn't do.

Still, I had the most delicious lamb shank lunch at  the Waterbar restaurant.  Thank goodness the restaurant had a ramp for me to use to get up to their front door.

Except for me glancing at the kayakers as I drove into the village, I didn't go over to the lake; it would have been too much of an effort to cross the road.  I did sit outside the Visitor Information Office and read the list of tours one could go on.  Sigh, every one included me having to step down, or step over something, or climb steps, or hike up a hill, or, well, you get the idea ....  grizzle, grizzle, moan, moan, feeling sorry for myself....

The next day I drove the couple of painful hours to Queenstown where I would be staying for a week.  I am very lucky that Manchester Unity of which I am a member, has holiday homes around New Zealand because Queenstown is a very-very-very expensive place (especially for kiwis) with accommodation for a single night in a basic-no-view no-frills studio motel room being about $NZ250.  My MU holiday home is about $NZ460 a week.

above: view from the balcony of my Queenstown two bedroom unit.

above: Queenstown, evening, from balcony.  Lake Whakatipu.  Red sky at night ...

I arrived in Queenstown on a Friday.  That night I should have been going up the gondola to a buffet dinner at the Skylne Stratosphere restaurant but had cancelled because I didn't think I could get on and off the ever-moving gondola with style, elegance, or footwork.  From my unit balcony, I could see the gondolas going up and down the hill to the restaurant, and that annoyed me..

I did manage to drive the half-hour over to Arrowtown and have lunch at the New Orleans pub, a roast lamb lunch that was so divine that I was in dining heaven.  I was in the heart of sheep country so naturally there would be lamb on menus.  But even though I was in Arrowtown I couldn't walk my favourite loop track so more resentment and frustration coming from me in waves.  Neither could I walk the lovely Queenstown-to-Frankton track.

But the most heartbreaking part of my whole trip was not being able to go on the Glenorchy Paradise Ziplines.  They are just out of Queenstown and the Neon streaming show "Men in Kilts - New Zealand", showed the two actors from "Outlander" doing the 8 ziplines. Between craggy peaks, over waters, across open land...   I so wanted to do those ziplines.  It was the main reason I'd booked to holiday in the South Island.   I was desperate to do them.  It was my reason for living (okay, who is being a bit dramatic, here?)  

Apparently, there would be what was described as an easy to moderate 500 metre walk on a bush track to get to the first zipline.  I presumed there would be a step or two going up to each stage of the operation?  And also a walk down a hill at the finish. 

I wouldn't be able to do it.

stock photo.  Paradise Ziplines, Glenorchy. 

On my very last night in Queenstown, I managed to get into the gondola and made it to the buffet restaurant at the top of the hill, that hill that I had glared at everyday of my holiday because I thought it would be a no-go to get that meal I'd been craving.  I also wanted to and oohh and aahh over the spectacular views.

The actual gondolas were new, with a lot of seats (maybe eight ?).

"I don't know if I can get into a gondola," I whispered to the guy standing by to help people like me.

"You can do it," he said.  And he gripped the gondola to slow it down on the pulley/rotater/cable thingee that keeps gondolas continually moving in a huge loop from the bottom of the hill to the very top and back again. Wow, I'd met my own personal Hercules.  I stumbled into the gondola.

Within a couple of seconds, a father of a family unit of four yelled out to me, "Can we share this gondola with you,".  He made to step forward.

"No!"  I felt terrible as he backed off in confusion.  Goodness, I was so rude...

At the top of the gondola, after one of the workers helped me out of that always-moving cab, I stayed back and waited for the family to get off the next gondola.

"I'm so sorry I barred you," I said.  "But. I'm injured-" I waggled my hiking stick as evidence.  " With the four of you and with how slow I am, I may not have had time to get out.  I might have ended up back at the bottom of the hill."

"That's okay," he said.  "We understand."

above: me in a gondola cab.  Flying solo.  Evening

The buffet meal was lovely.  I had four creme brulees, perhaps the main reason I always try to get to this buffet whenever I'm in Queenstown.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of construction going on outside so visitors couldnt do the nice hill climb at the top of the gondola.  Oh, and here's a side-bar (or a middle-of-a-paragraph-bar), there is road construction everywhere in Queenstown.  It's been going on for a couple of years and will go on for a few more years.  If I come back to the area again in the near future (I've got to do those ziplines), I think I would stay half-an-hour away at Arrowtown and just go over to Queenstown when I felt like it.

The following day, I got priority boarding on the plane taking me home to Wellington.  The Air New Zealand pilot told us that the weather in Wellington was "horrendous".  He followed up with, "With any luck, by the time we get there in an hour, it will only be ...awful."

It was a white-knuckle landing...

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. 

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.

Non-communication?

 Hi there

I cart my mobile phone everywhere with me.  It's for emergencies and also for using the Covid tracing app, but I'm not one to use it for much else.  What I have noticed is that older people, perhaps those over 50 or 60, use their index finger to write texts whereas younger generations use two thumbs;  I have no idea how the young manage it.

It's a bit sad when a couple on holiday in Queenstown decide to sit down to admire the view but don't pay any attention to that view or each other -

My latest visit to Queenstown

  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 ...

 

:  

above:  the Queenstown foreshore, usually crammed with tourists, now empty.

above:  the main mall, virtually empty

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.

a

Cute messages on artsy crafty purchases

Hi there

I love wandering around art and craft shops and country markets, and reading the little tags attached to some of the products.

At the Martinborough Country Fair I picked up some colourful leggings.  The tag read "To be worn at midnight when dancing beside a sparkling stream".

I bought a woolly hat in Queenstown.  A label told me the hat had been "knitted beside a warm fire on a cold Queenstown evening".

If I'm dithering over whether to purchase or not, a cute message on an attached label could swing the buy for me.

###

above photo: Queenstown from buffet restaurant at top of gondola.

Chinese New Year

Hi there

It was Chinese New Year when I was in Queenstown.  So many happy celebrants in the town, it was hard to move.  I couldnt get a car park on the actual night.

I would say, at all times, there are more Asian and American tourists than New Zealanders walking around Queenstown.  The price for Queenstown accommodation is all but out of range for kiwis.  The cheapest motel night I could find was NZ$285.  I'm lucky in that my health insurance company has cheap holiday homes around the country.

The ANZ bank likes celebrations. Here's a pic of last week's Wellington ATM -

South Island trip, New Zealand

Hi there

Right, I'm back online, so let's get with some of the photos of My Big South Island Road Trip.

I took my Kindle Fire and my phone with me, neither of which took very good photos.  I forgot my camera.

I hired a car in Queenstown and I told the company that I didn't want an upgrade to a bigger car, so I ended up with their smallest car which coincidentally happened to be the same brand as my own car.  I drove the car from Queenstown to Mt Cook Village, to Lake Tekapo, to Christchurch.

On the day I was driving the route from Queenstown to Mt Cook, was the day Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon arrived in that area for filming "A Wrinkle in Time".   Our paths didn't coincide!

Here's a pic of Queenstown from the top of the gondola.

Below.  The foot of the Southern Alps.  Taken from Mt Cook Village.  I went an hour long walk.

Below: the famous church at the edge of Lake Tekapo

Such beautiful blue water in Lake Tekapo.  This picture still doesnt do the colour justice.

Below:  Guess who?  Okay, it's me!  The statue is a famous sheepdog that represents the hardworking sheepdogs in McKenzie Country (Canterbury)

Below:  Mt Cook, tallest mountain in New Zealand.

My big South Island Road Trip

Hi there

My friend and her husband have arrived from Auckland to house-sit whilst I am away on My Big South Island Road Trip.  She intends to be out gallivanting every day soaking up the cultural delights of Wellington.  He says he's going to blob out in front of the tv eating scorched almonds and napping!  And me?  I will be stressing out from Nelson through to the Abel Tasman National Park through to Queenstown, then Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo, and ending up in  Christchurch.

Tomorrow, I'm off on my jaunt, so you probably won't hear from me for about two and a half weeks though I may find a stray computer somewhere on which I can write my blog.  I'm not taking my tablet with me, I want to enjoy being "off the grid".

Wish me luck on those South Island roads...

Queenstown, New Zealand

Hi there

I didn't really do much in Queenstown because of my bad knee but being in Queenstown looking out my ceiling to floor windows at a magnificent view had to be better than sitting at home in Wellington and feeling sorry for myself.

There was this fab food delivery service called FastFatChef - i could pick types of cuisine from diferent menus, ie, Indian, Chinese, etc, and it was delivered within half an hour.

In the seven days i was away, i only got three times out of the holiday home that I'd rented.  I went up the gondola (it was even slowed down to let me board) to a nice buffet lunch.  The below pic is taken from restaurant area.

As to now, almost three weeks after my fall?  I am relying on my hiking stick to get around, hoping that folk will think i am a jaunty walker rather than a limping invalid.  But i dont think it's working.  In the hospital carpark yesterday, after I'd accidentally slammed the door across my face, I rested my head across my arms, leaned down on the steering wheel, and sobbed.

Still, with a bit of an effort, i can reach down to the floor now to pick up things - I can give the loaned pick-up tongs back to my friend, J;  she  presented them to me when i got in a temper tantrum.

Queenstown New Zealand

Hi there

What a panic week.  Right up until the last minute I wasn't sure whether I would be able to go on my week's holiday to Queenstown.  It was either sitting on my own sofa with my injured leg up on a stool and looking at my back fence for a week or ... sitting on a sofa in Queenstown looking at the beautiful scenery for a week. 

I went to Queenstown.  But what a kerfuffle.  I had to get on the plane in Wellington by way of a lift.  I was so embarrassed.  Though I could manage to hobble with the aid of my hiking stick (the hospital told me I had to take my crutches, but I refused) on a flat surface through the airport I couldn't get up the stairs to the small plane. Nope, there was no air tunnel, passengers had to walk across the tarmac.

As I stood in the lift that slowly rose up to the height of the plane door, I thought of Grizabella, the sad beautiful cat in the musical show "Cats" as she ascended to kitty heaven.  I could hear "Memories" blaring out in my mind.  Prior to leaving home my friend, J, had said that she'd get everybody from the gym to line my progress around the airport, all throwing streamers and confetti. I would have died ...

The lift was a bit like the one in the below photo.  'My' lift had a roof, it fitted both me and a ground hostess, it went vertical, and when the lift reached the height of the plane door, a steel plank with railings was stretched out from the plane and I hobbled across that.  The plank truly did remind me of 'walking the plank' on a pirate ship - Arghhh!.

  I got my groceries delivered by Countdown Supermarket and had a couple of meals delivered.  I managed to taxi out to three lunches.

More later ...

Queenstown holiday

Hi there
I've just got back from a week in Queenstown, so-called Adventure Capital of New Zealand (I think Americans would write it as 'Capitol').  I was surprised and happy to discover that about 95% of people trooping around Queenstown wore bacpacks of all sizes, shapes, and colours.  I fitted right in.

I only took 7kg of cabin baggage, and in this bag I crammed in two sheets, a pillowcase, three towels, my clothes, my swimming gear, and all my needed extras.    The holiday house I rented was up a very, very, very high hill that I climbed two to three times a day.  I'm telling you, my five readers, that I cursed and growled and panted and puffed all the way up that hill every time.  There was a playground three-quarters of the way up, and sometimes I sat there for a rest.  But if anyone from Dublin Street is reading this, the rather wholesome pensioner with a heavy backpack that you might have seen cavorting merrily on that kiddie swing was not me, and I repeat, not me.

I had a lovely meal at the restaurant named Rata, which I hadn't realised beforehand was so upmarket, nor that it was run by Masterchef  New Zealand judge Josh Emmett who had been Gordon Ramsay's right-hand guy in New York.  I arrived in a plastic raincoat, my hard-worn trainers, and wet weather pants.  The staff treated me wonderfully, they even elegantly hung up my plastic mac!

I still can't get photos into my blog.  I will have to call in a professional someone later this week to fix all my computer problems. Sigh.  Please don't leave me just because there's no visual wonders ...

eating in Queenstown

 

Hi there

When I'm at home I rarely eat in cafes.  My mind insists on telling me that it's all a waste of time and money.  However, when I'm on holiday I positively luxuriate in outdoor cafes.   I love people-watching and scenery-watching while purring over a hot chocolate and a slice of Louise cake.

In Arrowtown I had a nice burger at
New Orleans Pub, sitting on their outdoors deck, in 30c temp but with air conditioning blowing full-tilt behind me.  Lovely. 

In Queenstown, I had a buffet lunch in the restaurant at the top of the gondola.  At Pier 19, on the Steamer Wharf, I had a whitebait omelet (how many times have I told gullible tourists that "whitebait have to be fillited first"!).    Whitebait are prized by kiwis and getting harder to catch every year.

I went on the Million Dollar Cruise (a tiny run-of-the-mill touristy boat) to the Hilton Hotel in Queenstown for lunch.  The lunch was good, as was the boat trip, but I pity the tourists who stay at the Hilton, lovely though the complex is.  The Hilton is a good 20 minute drive from  where it is situated across the bay from the heart of Queenstown.  I would far rather stay in the centre of the town where I could just wander out of my hotel whenever I felt like it and be in the middle of everything happening instantly.   I guess, that the Hilton have courtesy cars and maybe even a courtesy boat...

(It's very exciting -   I now think I have three readers of this blog!  Thank you, Patrick, for your comments.)




.

Queenstown yet again. Plus more drama in my life!

 

 

The temp hit 30c every day for the week I was in Queenstown.  On one day, it was 32c.  But all of the country hit high temps that week.  I believe Wellington was about 26c a lot of the time.

I saved up all my puff and energy for a 'go' on my last day there at walking the Queenstown to Frankton track, a favourite walk that I usually do every morning when I'm in Queenstown but because of my sore feet had not been able to attempt so far on holiday.

I thought I may be able to do half of it.  So, hiking-stick-but-really-walking-stick in hand, I caught a bus to half way along the track.  I would be lucky in so far as if I got tired or my feet hurt, the main road with bus stops ran adjacent to the track and I could pop off the track any time I liked.

But I walked the last half of the Queenstown-Frankton track!  Not jauntily as I would have preferred.  I hobbled slowly, but when I got to the end I felt so jubilant that I wished I'd attempted the whole track.  So ... I caught a bus back to where I'd got off the previous bus, and walked the track's other half.  Triumph.  Here's a picture I took from near the Frankton end of the track.

Now, you know all about my fall three days before I left home for Q'Town?  And having bandaged ankles whilst I was away? And hardly being able to hike?  And the stress of trying to get into my locked hire car?  And being locked out of my holiday home?   Yes, sure, all highly entertaining stuff for a holiday.  More like a sitcom, really.  Well, there was one other tidbit:  I developed a rash!  Big red angry splotches, mainly over my torso, but a few on my neck, and limbs.    Immediately on return from my holdiay, I visited the doctor.

I wondered if it could be sandfly bites.  Sandflies usually hang around me in droves at Lake Taupo.  But, honestly, I hadn't seen any at Lake Whakatipu (Queenstown's lake).

"No," said the doctor, peering at my tummy intently. "They're definitely not sandfly bites."

"I wore a merino wool top?"

"Doesn't look like a wool allergy."

"How abouit fleas?  I tried on some clothes at a thrift shop?  Or the cheap moisturiser and hair shampoo I picked up on my first day in Queenstown?.  Hey, it could be heat rash?   Or Lake pollution?  Scabies?  Oh-oh-I haven't got chickenpox?"

"No.  No.  Nope.  Nah.  No.  No!" said the doctor, ticking the points off one-by-one.  "But It's definitely an allergy."

"To what?"

He shrugged.  "Could be anything.  From something you've eaten to the effects of a spider bite."

"So," ruminated  my swimming friend, J, when I imparted this information to her later, "you don't know what you're allergic to, so you have to cut out everything?"

"That's about it," I said.




"

Queenstown part II

 

More of my Queenstown holiday:  

I drove to Lake Wanaka for a day and, goodness, this is truly embarrassing, I turned into a Tourist.  I've always peered snobbily down my nose at tourists who stop off every time they see a highway notice advertising some scenic attraction (I'm trying not to look at you, Americans) .  But, oh dear, I turned into the typical tourist on my journeys to and from Wanaka.  Heavens, a puzzle world?  I love puzzles - I stopped there.  Pan-for-your-own-gold?  Yep, I wanna find a nugget (I didn't).  Roaring Meg hydro river?  Who wouldn't want to see that.  Famous Cardrona Pub?  I don't drink but, heck, that doesn't matter; this pub is Famous!  The great Welcome to Cromwell fruit icon?  I photographed it from half a dozen angles.   Vegie stalls?  Cute dogs to be patted?  Views from plateaus?  I seemed to be out of my car more than I was in it.  I didn't think all that much of Lake Wanaka (a smaller Lake Taupo?) though Wanaka is a good stepping-off place for Milford Sound.  I think because of so much South Island beauty that one gets acclimated to it all very quickly which is so sad.

I've just read that Bear Grylls and his team (they've rented 100 rooms) are going to be based soon at Wanaka for two months. 

More Queenstown stuff to come - well, it fills in a space, yeah?

My Queenstown Holiday

Hi there.  Well, I'm back from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand.  It seems like 50% of the time was filled up with traumatic stressful happenings and the rest of the time, I quite enjoyed.  Honestly, there should be a sitcom about my life.  I figure it's sort of a cross between "The New Girl" and Betty White.  This holiday episode would be billed as "Keys?  What keys?"  Read on.

I picked up my Ace rental car at Queenstown Airport.  Funny, I thought, I can't get the door lock to activate.

"Hey," I yelled out to the Ace guy as he walked past - "This lock doesn't work."

"You'll discover the knack," he called back.  And I did.  Discover the knack.   Eventually.  But later that afternoon, after my swim in the lake (cold and invigorating), I tried to get in the car again.  Neither actual key nor remote-key worked.

Seven, count them, seven people clustered around me and all had a go at trying to unlock my car.  I felt sort of like a princess in a fairy tale -  whichever stout heart could open the lock got the hand of the king's daughter. 

Finally, of its own accord the door opened, but the following day I went to the company.  They oiled the lock, said everything was okay and I was good to go.  Two days later, in a soaking wet bathing suit, and hastily thrown-over dress, I again stood looking at my car's non-budging lock.  This time a locksmith was called and I hung around for two hours.  Finally, success, and I did get a day's refund from the car company. Good on you, Ace.

Ah, but that's not the end of the key-lock saga:  Different lock, same trauma. 

Imagine a beautiful evening.  It's 8.30 pm.  I went out to sit on the deck of my rental house to admire the view and read my new Kindle (yay, my Kindle!).  I had slammed the sliding door shut behind me.   At 9.30, I discovered that I was locked out - the lock must have snipped shut by accident.  And I'd locked the front door from the inside.

I was standing there in a sarong, knickers and men's carpet slippers (because of my sore feet).  How many times had I seen this situation acted out in sitcoms or cartoons?  Oh dear.

I tried a neighbour. Not home.  I tried another neighbour.  She was in her 20s's, as glam as they come.  I was certainly not dressed for the high life.  It was so embarrassing.  We used the neighbour's phone to call the rental house's caretaker (thank goodness his number was on the key lock-box).   I could only hear the neighbour's side of the conversation.

"No.  No, she can't get to her phone, or credit cards, or key. ...  She's just wearing a sheet...  And slippers. ...  (I felt like I was on a slave auction block the way the neighbour was eyeing me up and down).  I'm telling you, everything is inside."

Thanks goodness, there was a hidden key!

For the next three days and nights I never went out onto that deck, or to the clothesline, or the recycling bin without my phone, my keys, my wallet and wearing my I'm-Going-Somewhere-Special-Clothes.

Here's some Q'town pics:  1)  view from lounge window of my holiday home,  2)  view of historic Arrowtown main street (gold-mining town from the 1800's about 20 mins from Q'town),  3)  view from inside gondola looking down on Queenstown. 

More Q'town adventures in future episodes.  Stand by.

Improbabilities Part II - darn it!

Here's a test:  what was I saying the other day about me being the improbability queen?  Yes, great, you did remember, head of the class for you.    For those who can't remember, I pointed out that improbabilities happen to me much much much more frequently than to anybody else, right?

Today, I went and got my clothes out from the washing machine in the garage, but I didn't make it to the clothesline.  I stumbled over the garage doorstep, and fell  hard down to the concrete path.  As I was falling - and it seemed to take hours - my brain was saying over and over again, "my-holiday!-my-holiday!-my-holiday!".  And just for variety, my mind added "Oh-no-I'll-break-my-leg!"

It's not bad enough that I have that plantar fasciitis thingee that has restricted my movement for the last two and a half months, but now both my ankles are hurting like Hades.

I sat on my path and cried.  I sobbed, and wailed so loudly  that my neighbour, from over the other side of the fence, yelled out "Is there anything wrong?"

I had to crawl on hands and knees into the house to open my front door to her.  Then crawl onto the sofa.  Both my neighbour and I agreed that I should sit with my feet in a cold bath of water, then bandage my ankles.  We didn't think I'd broken anything, or even sprained my ankles.  Probably just bad jarring.

When my neighbour left (thanks for attending me, Mary!) I did sit on the edge of the bath with my feet in cold water for about half-an-hour.  It's amazing what one can rummage up from this position.  I located  a) an ankle bandage, b) a roll of bandage from 1984,  c) a safety pin,  and d) some medical disinfectant I'd only bought the day before (yes, I'd grazed my knees, too).  I'll go to the doctor tomorrow if my ankles get worse.

So, what would be the improbablity of me hurting both my ankles when, at the same time,  I  had a sore heel?

Oh, and did I ever tell you that the doctor gave me, in reference to my heel,  a mobile disability card to flaunt in my car window when I'm parked by the door of the supermarket?    I wonder if there's a sort of two-for-one card special I can get?

 Now, what with bandages, heel pads, orthotic soles, socks, how will I ever get my foot into any shoes?  And I'm off to Queenstown soon.  Yeah, right, I'll really be able to explore that area thoroughly.  Not.

Oh, incidentally, J, my swimming buddy, fell off a stool she was standing on  yesterday (whilst she was burrowing in a high cupboard) and hurt her shoulder really bad.  She ended up with all her art gear sprawled around her, and an easel bouncing off her head.  It seems that not only are the two of us competitive in our winter swimming, we also like to 'fall down' together!  Hope you get better, J.



 

my summer holiday(s) Jan/Feb 2012

Well, I've had a week at Ohope, 5 nights in Eketahuna, a week in Nelson, a week in Taupo, a week in Mt Maunganui, 5 nights in Raumati, and a week in Queenstown! I am such a traveller...

But, funny thing, I was homesick most of the time. I just wanted to be home to my beach friends, and Hataitai Beach. I wanted to wear all my nice summer clothes, instead of the few chiffony-easy wash stuff I took with me I missed my house, my library, my suburb. Silly, eh?

Having said all that, I truly enjoyed Ohope Beach. Next summer, I'm not going to be so greedy. Just one (or two) destinations, yes?

I was boogie boarding at Mt Maunganui. There was a truly ferocious double wave, I got tossed under water, and my leg went to a weird angle. I thought "oh, no I've broken my leg". But when I surfaced, my leg seemed okay. But within days, my left knee got really bad. Same symptoms exactly as a few years' earlier when I tore a cartilage in my right knee. Yep, doctor at home confirmed it. Darn!

I went over to Kapiti Island for the day, climbed to the very top (see photo, view from the topmost point), very tiring and my body sort of gave up as I was climbing down afterwards. I took double the length of time getting down than I did climbing up. Saw lots of beautiful birds. Here's a photo of a weka that haunted me as I was eating my lunch (we were told that wekas can hear the zip of a backpack at 2kms away). And what is it with Raumati? When swimming, you're in amongst loads of twigs and sticks. Hopeless.

In Queenstown I went down four ziptreks (flying foxes). They were set out in zigzag style with a tree platform between each trek. Quite fun...and scary. In Q'town I also went up the gondola and had a lovely buffet lunch. I swan in the lake at Q'town. Only one in water. All the scaredy-cats sit on the shore, sunbathing.

In total, I saw sun for about 5 hours during the entire 5 weeks holiday. I am positive I am the goddess of thunder clouds. It only rained two days but those damn clouds!

We're all going on a summer holiday-lah-de-dah-dah

Well, it wasn't a 'we' going on a summer holiday, just 'me', all by myself - and it wasn't just "a" summer holiday, but seven (repeat seven of them). Talk about greedy! And I loved every one.

First it was four days in Auckland. Good swimming, usual beaches - Waiheke, Takapuna, Mission Bay. Then I went for 5 nights to my beautiful Eketahuna holiday home (look up The Cottage Eketahuna on the web)

Then I went for a week to Queenstown. I stayed at a Manchester Unity holiday home (see picture above right) but - oh dear! it was up the top of a very (very) steep hill. Okay for people with a car but I had to walk it a couple of times a day. I could have taken a taxi home every day from the town but I resented having to pay the $12-$15 fare. But in compensation the view was out of this world (see picture above left) and I was staying in a very cheap place, for Queenstown. I swam in the lake almost every day. I was worried at first because everybody had said that nobody swam in the lake; it was glacial. What rot. It was wonderful. I had a 20 minute swim every day. I hired a kayak another day but kept to the edges of the lake because I was told that if I fell out in the centre of the lake hyperthermia sets in after 20 minutes. I loved walking around the edge of the lake to Frankton and did this most days, bus-ing back to Q'town. By flashing my gold card on the bus trip from the airport to town, I managed to get a 'free' bus card for my holdiay

Next holiday was a long one, a month: Ohope Beach (boogie boarded all the time because water too wild for actual swimming), Mt Maunganui (stayed right across road from a good boogie-board beach, but got my daily afternoon swimming fix at more serene Pilot Bay), Whitianga (horrible for swimming, there'd been a big storm and for most of the time, there was a lot of debris in the water)., Lake Taupo (nice relaxing, swam every day).

At Whitianga I'd been out snorkelling off a boat and when I clambered back on board I was told about the big Christchurch earthquake. Couldn't believe it, told the woman who was showing me a text on her cellphone that she must have been reading about the September one. How sad, awful, I was shocked.
Planning next summer's holiday.....

My Queenstown holiday

Just got back from a week in Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand. So much for bungy, skydiving, paragliding, parasailing, jetboating, etc,etc.... But do any of the participants dare to take a swim in the lake? Well, I did! I swam three times at 20 minutes a time, and three times at 10 minutes a time. And the ten minute swims were still nine minutes longer than anyone else. Most people who dared to even set a toe into the water, ran in, screamed, and ran out again. The lake is glacial and year around temp is, apparently, 11. I knew the second I stepped into the water that I could do it, and I'd worried for a long time that the water would be too cold. Naughty i-site office for telling me over a two year period that I wouldnt be able to swim in the lake because of the temp.

I also kayaked, hiked and biked. I get rather upset if I have to be tied into a kayak or handle one with pedals/rudder. So when I passed Pink Boat Charters on the Frankton/Queenstown track (opposite petrol station) and saw that they had little sit-on kayaks, I promptly chose a pink one to hire for a couple of hours. I was told if I fell out in the middle of the lake that hypothermia would set in in 20 minutes! Needless to say I stayed near the edge of the lake and I kept feeling for the bottom with my paddle.

My Manchester Unity holiday home had the most brilliant three-sided views. Only trouble was that the home was up steep Dublin Street. It was only about a four minute walk from the bus stop up the hill but, oh, what a hill!!!. I'm used to zig-zag paths, but this hill was straight up. I cursed every day. What is better, I wonder? - being on the flat with no view or on a hill with a tremendous outlook. I could've taken a taxi from town (about a fifteen minute walk away) at about $12 to get home at the end of each day, but that would have felt like cheating.