Covers 18th February to 25th February after which we leave New Zealand for Hong Kong.
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Sometimes friends can give us grief
Sometimes it is pleasure
But whatever our friends do to us
It's the memories we treasure

Our train for the journey from Christchurch to Greymouth had 17 carriages so was fairly lengthy. When we visited the buffet car towards the rear of the train it seemed we were walking back to Christchurch!	There were spectacular views going over the Southern Alps even though the weather was less kind today.	Hmmmm, looks like snow on this mountain but is actually the colour of the rock.

18th Feb CHRISTCHURCH • PUNAKAIKI An early morning transfer to board the train for one of the great rail journeys of the world [Well, that suits me, it being my birthday today, don't ask, I'm not divulging my age! WilF]. The TranzAlpine, with its panoramic windows, departs from the hub of the south and weaves its way across the vast and flat Canterbury Plains before ascending into the Southern Alps, where spectacular alpine and river scenery unfolds, to Greymouth. Here we re-board our coach and travel north to Punakaiki to see the unusually formed Pancake Rocks and blowholes, a vivid display of the effect of the ocean on limestone rocks. Our hotel this evening is the Punakaiki Resort.

Pancake Rocks is an appropriate name for these limestone formations.	This seems to be enclosed but is open to the see below the waterline so it continually 'boils'	This little inlet terminates in a blowhole, I made a short video of this but I need to work-out the technology of how to put this on the blog. Standby one, it WILL happen!

On the train journey today and during our visit to Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki we had rain, sometimes quite a lot of rain. It wasn't all bad though, at least it was warm rain, not that horrible cold stuff we get in England in February, on the cold wet days that soak into your soul. At least here you can laugh at the rain!

19th Feb PUNAKAIKI • FRANZ JOSEF
After breakfast I manage to escape for a walk on the beach. After yesterday's rain this morning is much better, there is sun and it is quite warm even at 8:00 am. I manage half an hour's walk on my own which is great; first I walk to the northern end of the beach where there is a stream bubbling oit of the rocks and which forms quite an unusual set of rock formations, all in miniature and quite charming. Then it takes 15 minutes to walk to the other (southern) end of the beach and this is quite different; at this end there is a huge pile of driftwood and many more pieces scattered about. Amongst these I spy a Sea Monster and I am bringing her home with me; she is provisionally to be called Tanawha (River Monster) but her name may change when I find a 'real' Maori to ask for a translation of 'West Coast Sea Monster'. Of course I received a good ticking-off from 'her indoors' - 'where are you going to put that, then?' (no artistic feeling at all). And also of course, I am late onto the bus and Steve has to come and find me. Oh my, I shall have to come back here, it is just such a magical place (it seems quite a few of our party have complained that Punakaiki is too 'remote', there are no shops or restaurants and the hotel is not 'smart' enough, how sad is that?)

Shantytown lies a few kilometres south of Greymouth so we have to retrace our journey of yesterday afternoon and carry on a little way further south until we find it. Here we take a short nostalgic journey and steam experience along the tranquil Infants Creek railway, through delightful native bush where we see a working saw-mill and a Gold Claim, where most of our party have a go at panning for gold. Everybody was able to obtain a little gold from the sample of rock provided and was given it in a little glass phial to take home. The cat belongs there but was very keen to show off her agility (and to drink some of the water).



Hokitika, known for its greenstone (New Zealand jade) is our next stop today and we have our lunch there and then spend an hour looking at the two jade factories in town, spend a little money on jade samples and a fabulous little kiwi which again I am taking home. It seems that a lot of the jade pieces are made from Indonesian jade but my little kiwi is guaranteed to be genuine New Zealand jade. And when I tell the lady in the shop that I will be in so much trouble for spending that much money she says 'well you are taking home your own kiwi, aren't you? That is worth more than money!' - she is so right.

Later we travel on to the Westland National Park with its alpine peaks, lakes and forests. This is home to two of New Zealand’s most impressive glaciers, the Franz Josef and Fox (is that the home of Fox's Glacier Mints?) - unique in their location in the midst of a rainforest and close to the Tasman Sea. After an enjoyable day we arrive at the Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier. Now, there is a bonus - we are to go to see the glacier close-up (Franz Joseph); Ronnie elects to stay at the hotel and rest (she has been nursing a cold for two days and it is now at its peak so she is not feeling too good). So I go off with most of the rest of the crew and we motor 10 minutes and then walk 10 minutes up a steep and winding path to the glacier viewpoint. It's OK but I am a little disappointed; this glacier is now mainly dirty slushy snow whereas the only other glacier I have seen was in Switzerland and was brilliant ice that sparkled in the sunlight, this one is a drab affair. Also there are just too many people and they are all rabbitting on incessantly about nothing in particular. I wonder why so many people pay a small fortune to come on holiday to exotic locations, don't look at anything, chatter continually about nothing at all and moan like hell if the hotels are not of the 'plastic' variety. Myself, I don't see the point; they may just as well stay at home! Ah, well, it gives me something unimportant to moan about!

Fascinating rock pools on the Punakaiki beach.	Driftwood is a major feature of this beach.	Some of the driftwood is quite artistic.
My Sea Monster is coming home with me!	And so is my little Kiwi!	Franz Joseph Glacier - sorry but this one does not do it for me!

We go out for dinner tonight to one of the many restaurants in Franz Joseph (we are told that 200 people live in this village, but there seem to be more than 200 restaurants). We choose one that is absolutely lovely, the staff are very sweet and it has a new restaurant manager but they have no system and we end up staying there nearly three hours, it's very entertaining and we are able to suggest a bit of system and management training for the staff and the restaurant manager ..... they seem to be quite grateful ......... LOL. We have noticed the same problems at almost every restaurant (with a few exceptions) that we have eaten in whilst in New Zealand; whilst the staff are very friendly and obliging (and generally they are very pretty girls with a good sense of humour .........) they don't seem to have a clue how to run restaurants and only those run by Chinese, Indians and Italians seem to have adopted any sort of system. Maybe there is an opportunity here ..................

Friends may come and friends may go
Friends in love or friends in strife
Friends we collect as we go though life
Friends we lose then, for some reason
Friends we grieve, each in their season

20th Feb FRANZ JOSEF • QUEENSTOWN Today as we head south we should find this to be one of the most impressive and rewarding drives to experience, firstly the remarkable coastal scenery before heading inland to Mount Aspiring National Park, dominated by New Zealand’s ‘Matterhorn’, Mount Aspiring. The Haast Pass links the glacier-renowned region with the Southern Lakes of Otago, once rich in gold, providing dramatic contrasts from lush vegetation to arid tussocked landscape and where we may catch a glimpse of the cheeky native parrot (Kea). We continue our day passing the glacial lakes of Wanaka and Hawea before arriving in Queenstown, the stunning South Island resort. We stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, positioned in the centre of town.

Well, that was what the itinerary said and in the event it seems to be quite right. We left Franz Joseph at 8:30 am and Ronnie's cold seems to be improving slightly, but now I seem to be getting it, which is probably inevitable. We first go to Fox Glacier (mint anyone?) to pick up a few of the group who are doing the helicopter ride. We are hoping not to let our colds affect us too much but we decide that neither of us is quite up to the Jet Boat adventure so we pass on that. It seems that I have been overcautious though, because everone who goes on it says that it was a great experience and we would have been OK. Oh, well, can't win them all, I got that one wrong!

Whilst the rest of the group are 'jet boating' we motor on down the coast to meet them off the boat, then we carry on to a short 'coffee-stop' at a salmon farm near Bruce Bay and then we press on through Lake Paringa, Haast Pass, Makarora, Lake Hawea, Cromwell where we stop at Mrs Jones Fruit Shop (lovely fruit though!) and then Bannockburn and finally into Queenstown just after 6:00 pm. So we have motored only about 120 miles or so today in fairly leisurely fashion, stopping off at a number of places on the coast or at lakeside miradors to view scenery or sample local culinary delights so it has been quite a relaxing day. The weather has been very kind especially as we were warned that it can often be very wet along this part of the west coast; actually it has been sunny and warm all the way along.



Whilst the glaciers themselves have not been all that awe-inspiring it is amazing to contemplate the power of the flow of ice and the scouring of the rock that takes place over thousands of years. And the huge boulders that are carried along as though they were mere tiny lumps of stone!

I am having a little trouble accessing the chat room sometimes but I notice that lots of people are reading the blog but not going into the chatroom- do give it a go and leave a message, it all adds to the fun of doing this blog! BTW both our colds seem to have passed their worst so we are up for anything now!

21st Feb QUEENSTOWN We have a day at leisure today (well, WilF does, Vera insists on doing some clothes washing first thing after breakfast). We go to the waterfront for breakfast and have muesli with fruit and yoghurt, poached eggs and bacon on toast, and macciato coffee. Then we are ready to face the day. I manage to sit in the sun at the lake's edge and watch the world go by; it's hard work but someone has to do it. After lunch we take the Sky Gondola (cablecar) to the top of the mountain and enjoy some spectacular 360 degree views over Queenstown. The bar has run out of lemonade, ginger beer and most other soft drink so I am forced to have a cold beer whilst Ronnie insists that the barman goes and squeezes some fresh apples (she's into Apples is Ronnie). On returning to street level we notice that thaer is another Kiwi Rescue and Breeding centre so we go in and question the staff closely. We say we are only coming in if they can guarantee the sighting of Kiwis; there are the usual jokes from the female staff 'I'm a Kiwi and I'm a bird too' etc but we do extract a guarantee and hand over our 50 dollars. Yes, we do see 3 kiwis but it is too dark to take photographs (banned anyway) but at least we have seen some real ones now!

Later we board the TSS (Twin Screw Steamer) Earnslaw Vintage Steamship to cross the lake to Walter Peak High Country Farm where we have a group booking for dinner. The boat was built in 1912 to service the remote farming communities around Lake Wakatipu, including Walter Peak. Launched on 24 February 1912 (98 years ago next Wednesday), built in Dunedin 280 km away from here. Currently the TSS Earnshaw carries up to 350 passengers on daily scheduled excursions on the lake. It is in remarkable condition for a ship almost 100 years old.

The view from the Sky Gondola Cablecar, notice the number of the car (gulp).	The TSS Earnshaw at the lakeside, steamed-up and ready to depart.	Our return to the Queenstown waterfront at 10:00 pm.

22nd Feb QUEENSTOWN • MILFORD SOUND • TE ANAU We are in Te Anau township which is on the shores of Lake Te Anau (it means Rushing Water) and at the Distinction Hotel which is privately owned so is superior to the plastic hotels we have mainly been staying in; it is located on the shore of the lake. We have just had a lovely dinner at La Bella Vista Italian restaurant so we are feeling quite happy (and full). We started the day by leaving Queenstown on the road towards Invercargill, but turning off westwards towards Te Anau where we arrive by 11:00 am for a coffee stop. [Thought for the day here: Each day is a given, not a given right]. Jamie took the luggage to the hotel while we all had coffee and then we mounted the bus again for the trip northward to Milford Sound. The road from Te Anau to Milford Sound has something of a history which Jamie outlined in part for us and then we were able to discover for ourselves in more detail later (see first two photos). This route is just a little bit spectacular - I am not one to use the word 'awesome' lightly but the scenery along this road is truly awesome. For many a mile we are surrounded by tall mountains of the Crosscut Mountain Range and everywhere that we look there are waterfalls hundreds of feet high, but not just a few, there must be hundred of them. sadly my photos cannot do the least justice to the scenery, I tried very hard but you just have to be here! The misty atmosphere also is interfering with photo quality, sorry.

When we arrive at Milford Sound we embark on the highlight of this day, a journey into Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound, once described by Rudyard Kipling as the “eighth wonder of the world” as we cruise the sound on the motor vessel Pride of Milford Sound. The cruise on the Sound, dominated by Mitre Peak, and out to sea was an unforgettable experience and I reach the end of the two-hour cruise suffering from 'scenic overload'. We disembark around 5:00 pm and then we have a two hour drive back to Te Anau village via the same route as earlier, but of course the reverse direction, the light and the rain all conspire to produce a completely different perspective on the landscape and we are again all 'oohing and aahing at the delights of all those waterfalls.

With trees as green as these, there is water and to spare
The quality of beauty here is something truly rare
The water flowing down the rills is clear and sparkling white
God's gift to man is here to see for those who will ... and might

Each day is a new gift to us, we must be true and sure
The water is just like new life all tumbling to the shore
And at the end we only have the memories to keep
The rest is lost and oft too soon, and that does make us weep


The Distinction Te Anau Hotel provides our stay this evening. It has been a long day and the weather has been rather wet with a great deal of low cloud. Looking back over the day, though, the rain has ensured that the myriad of waterfalls have been spectacular and that the wetness of the rock has brought out the multitude of colours to give us views that I can only describe, as I said earlier, as 'awesome'! Other minor successes were the sighting of Fur Seals, a pair of Paradise Shelducks and a very cheeky Kea.



23rd Feb TE ANAU • DUNEDIN 'This morning we depart for Southland’s largest town, Gore, where in the Hokonui Hills the illicit brewing of whisky once took place. Our day progresses to the glorious city of Dunedin [ah, home of Radio Dunedin our favourite internet radio station! WilF] with its rich Scottish heritage and strong University influence. The hotel during our stay in this city is the Scenic Hotel Southern Cross, where tonight the true Scottish influence can be experienced in a typical soiree'.

Well, that was taken from our itinerary but there has been no chance to take any useful photographs today because we spent nearly all day travelling. True enough the scenery between Te Anau and Gore and then Dunedin has been nice enough but unremarkable when compared to yesterday's spectaculars. The road between Gore and the next town which is Clinton has been named Presidential Highway of course.

The dinner put on by the hotel this evening includes the piping-in of the haggis, not sure why, it isn't Burns Night or New Years Eve but they seem to want to do it so we go along with it. It turns out that the haggis is not a proper haggis because the main ingredients are illegal in New Zealand. (Unfortunately bagpipes are NOT illegal in New Zealand so we have to suffer in silence). But the meal is quite nice (well, mine is). Tomorrow we may skip the harbour cruise and go looking for Radio Dunedin, well it seems a pity not to ............. On the other hand the Albatrossi may be an unmissable draw, we shall have to see. We go for an evening stroll in this, New Zealand's fourth largest city, from what we can see in a few minutes it looks to be very nice with some very interesting old buildings, the railway station is NZ's oldest and used to be the busiest. That, unfortunately is no longer the case as only freight trains and the odd tourist train now pass through here; sad is it not, that the NZ railway network has suffered the same fate as the UK's?



24th Feb DUNEDIN • PALMERSTON • DUNEDIN This morning we enjoy a scenic harbour cruise aboard the MV Monarch, during which we may have the opportunity for wildlife sightings. The cruise is over two hours during which we sail along the Otago Harbour which is 22 km in length and we manage to sight a number of different wildlife species including Little, Stewart Island and Spotted Shag, Blue penguin, Leopard Seal, New Zealand Sea Lion, Fur Seal, several species of Gull and Tern, and our Piece de resistance, the Bullers Albatross, one of which was in flight very close to our boat and gave us a magnificent sighting. We also saw several nesting Bullers Albatross with two chicks. Ronnie became very excited at this as it was another species to tick off her World Species Sighting List!

We returned to Dunedin for a quick lunch and this afternoon we were to take a trip on the Taieri Gorge Railway, but there are forest fires raging since yesterday afternoon and this particular train journey has been cancelled because the fires are too close to the rail route. Instead we board another train which takes us on the coastal route from Dunedin all the way up to Palmerston a journey of 66 km. We leave soon after 2:30 pm and are not back in Dunedin until almost 7:30. This is a marvellously scenic coastal railway and it is difficult for any of us to believe that the cancelled route could have been any more interesting or spectacular. nevertheless there is some moan from a few who find the trains aircon too fierce and others who have reserved tables for dinner for 7:30. (You can't please all of the people all of the time .........) Dunedin railway station is a most impressive building, the current version (there were two previous ones) dating back to 1906.

I have no time to put photographs on this evening as it is already almost 11:00 pm and Vera has decreed that I need to get to bed as we have an early start tomorrow. I can promise you some PGP (pretty good pictures) when I am allowed to upload them (hopefully tomorrow).

This distant view of the harbour entrance shows how much smoke pollution there is this morning from the forest fire. It is filtering the sun to give an eerie pallour to the daylight quality.	In this wider-angle view the smoke can be clearly seen drifting across the harbour, maybe we won't see very much today!	But later as we go further out and look back towards the north of Dunedin it begins to clear and so we may be in luck after all!
Ron's new friend, Bullers Albatross (call me Bully) photos cribbed from professional	White Fronted Terns	New Zealand Fur Seals, all posing shamelessly
Stewart Island Shag	Female New Zealand Sea Lion	Mature Bullers Albatross

25th Feb DUNEDIN • CHRISTCHURCH This morning we return to Christchurch, stopping off en route to view the Moeraki Boulders. These are huge, spherical stones up to three metres in diameter, which are formed in ancient sea floor sediments and scattered over the sandy beaches. On arrival in Christchurch, we check-in to the Holiday Inn City Centre again. This afternoon we again meet up with Maureen and we take a pleasant stroll through some of the green parts of Christchurch, alongside the River Avon and later we end up at the Oxford on Avon Restaurant for dinner, where they offer a carvery or a smorgasbord so we opt for the latter, which is excellent.

This morning I am coming down from the room in the lift when it stops at the third floor and a grumpy Welshman gets in, I ask him if he is enjoying his holiday and he grunts a reply in a Welsh accent and I just take him for a slightly rude Taff. Turns out he is some singer who calls himself Tom Jones ......... well I wouldn't know would I?

OK Poli, this is just for you. The reason I am having problems with putting videos on the blog is nothing to do with my site's bandwidth. In NZ internet access is a bit limited (and expensive), generally you get 30 mins or an hour's access but with a data limit of 10 or 20 Mb. Once I have upoaded a few photos, my blog text, checked the chatroom and the stats pages to see who is visiting plus downloaded my emails, I have used-up my data allowance. Even a short video is several Mb of data so there is no chance to upload them. I am already compressing my photos to 160Kb which seems a reasonable compromise between quality and size.

This Maori carved wooden post in Christchurch caught my eye	Explanatory plaque for the post	Christchurch has brought its trams back!

This tentatively completes the Week 3 page of my travel blog as we leave for Hong Kong tomorrow; there are lots of gaps in the story so I want to revisit and amend this page later, probably after I get home. I have tried hard to keep it all up to date as we have travelled around but, as you can imagine, I have not been able to find enough time to do New Zealand justice on this blog. It is a beautiful country; North and South Island each have their own beauty but my preference (and Ronnie's I know) is for the South Island, it is so beautiful!

With all these sheep
To help me sleep
I should have rest aplenty
NZ has still some thirty mil
But we've seen only twenty

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