Balclutha

Some interesting driving on Monday - on dirt roads. This is probably fine in a big, 4WD truck, but in my rather light saloon I found I was slipping and slithering all over the place at anything over 25kph! NOT a happy experience. Trouble is, that by the time you've decided enough's enough and you want back to the made up roads, you realise that actually, you may just as well keep going and hope that it returns to hard surface sooner rather than later!

The highlight was probably the falls at Purakaunui - a ten minute walk down through the usual quiet rain forest to this low but wide waterfall surrounded by trees... just you, nature and the water - well, for the few minutes you are there on your own anyway... I so hate being a tourist!

Every day I send out a little prayer of thanks to whatever god/spirit/influence made me rethink my original plan to hire a campervan. I would have absolutely HATED it I know! Being stuck with the one living space for a start, as well as the enourous, neon sign that screams 'TOURIST' at every turn of the road. At least with a car I get to stay at interesting places, I don't have to worry too much about cooking, the beds are usually comfortable...

At the moment I am staying at 'Poller View' - a farm with charolais cattle, sheep and general mixed farming. The guys have given me a couple of tours, explaining sheep farming in some detial. I find it all fascinating as when I was a kid I always wanted to be a farmer! This morning I got to drive a quad bike round the fields in search of some sheep that had gotten where they shouldn't have. Scary at first until I relaxed a bit: I can see why they considered so much fun to drive! It's also great to soak in the hot tub looking out at the sky as evening draws in...

Oh, and the weather is still fabulous - especially today - glorious hot sun. Albeit friggin cold at night.

Tomorrow I head on up the coast to Dunedin and Oamaru...

Sorry about the continuing lack of photos - I've still not found anywhere I can hook up my own computer!

Lake Manapouri

Yesterday I went for a trip to Doubtful Sound (didn't bother with Milford Sound - by all accounts it's just mega-touristy with boats everywhere and helicopters and small airplanes circling overhead).

The trip started with a boat across Lake Manapouri (where I'm staying) then a visit to the extraordinary hydro-electric power station at Deep Cove. This is the one that's cut deep into the mountain and to get to it the bus takes you down a 2km tunnel...

Then a three-hour cruise round Doubtful Sound - which IS spectacular. It's quite extraordinary how the vegetation clings to these steep, smooth, granite rock faces. In all of the three hours we saw only one other commercial tourist craft and about three small local boats pottering about. Also saw the inevitable seals and a school of dolphins...

Today (Sunday) I'm pottering about Te Anau before heading on South and East...

CATCHING UP!

Well, I ain't had access to the internet for a while, so my blog's a bit behind hand... No photos in this post I'm afraid, as I'm in an internet shop!

The drive from Takaka to Westport and Cape Foulwind was very pleasant, esp thru the Motueka Valley. Sat and watched some very impressive waves from the safety of a cafe deck. Incidently, the Kiwis REALLY do a good hot chocolate - far better than anything I've had in the UK! Went and had a look at the local seal colony (brown slimy rocks with shiny brown lumps lying about on them) and then played the harp on the beach by my motel room as the sun went down...

The West Coast is very dramatic and spectacular, scenery-wise: the huge, steep mountains are all clad in green chenille and come right down to the road. I'm afraid I have found it terribly claustrophobic and have just wanted to get out of the area as fast as I can. This has meant, effectively, four days hard driving which is far from ideal.

There were some lovely 'bits' on the journey down: the wonderful, clear lake behind Hokitika and the backroads drive to get to it, a delightful little hamlet by the sea whose name escapes me right now (Oamaru or something) anyway - very quiet and peaceful. A truly fabulous setting sun at Haast Beach, a walk in the woods beyond Haast Pass - the almost total silence in these places is awesome; the beautiful Lake Mararoa, etc etc. Photos will appear in due course, when I can access via my own laptop.

Autumn Farm...

Well, I'm still at Autumn Farm up in the Golden Bay area. It's just so lovely and relaxing here that I cant tear myself away! And after all, this holiday is all about listening to my heart, not my reason.

A brisk walk through young rainforest and onto a beautiful beach - littered with shells of all sorts... Then back 'home' to Autumn Farm for a relaxed lunch and a spot of sun-bathing, then a spot of playing the harp under the trees... yawn...

Farewell Spit

Another lovely day, but really cold until the sun got warmed up. Drove up the coast to Farewell Spit. Decided not to do the tourist bus thing (the only way to get right along the spit itself). Just as well I didn't - it's all sand....... sea....... sand dunes...... more sand......... more sea..... yet more sand dunes........ oh, and some black swans way, WAY out in the estuary. Not really my sort of scenery.

But there were some lovely bits of driftwood here and there and fascinating patterns of light and shade in the scrubby trees. And tomorrow? who knows!

Takaka

The drive from Picton (ferry) across to Nelson was pretty varied - mile after mile of beautifully laid-out vineyards and orchards, followed by driving through steep-sided mountains - covered with the ubiquitous dark green velvet. However, I'm not a steep mountain person and found that bit of the drive hugely oppressive and claustrophobic. Didn't break the journey at Nelson as I rather wanted to get on to Autumn Farm. The drive over Takaka Hill (somewhat MORE than just a hill...) was also mountainous, but here the mountains didn't crowd one quite so much. It was reminiscent of the drive up from Merthyr to Brecon in many ways - only much bigger and greener - but also the road along the Amalfi coast - with lots of sheer drops! Sadly it was very misty/cloudy so the views weren't brill. one or twohouses for sale up there - WHAT a place to live that would be!
Autumn Farm is delightful. An old wooden house with verandahs everywhere, one huge central room - dining, kitchen - with bedrooms off it and a huge garden. It really IS a 'homestay' - one is quite free to treat it as one's home. Some lovely people here too: we all had one big multi-cookup meal together last night which was great.
The weather finally broke yesterday - solid, torrential rain all day, so stayed in with everyone sitting reading by the fire or snoozing, or whatever. I'm not racing off hither and yon to see this or that spectacular natural wonder - I'm finding it much more important to me to sit in the garden, or drive down to the local spring with a couple of other guests or, as this afternoon, walk down to the local river and just sun oneself on the rocks with some new friends. totally peaceful and quiet - just us and the river...

Thanks for the comment Allan - I'm glad somebody IS reading this waffle!!

A.
x

Corrugated iron Holden stationwagon

Welly

The weekend in Welly was just great - very relaxing... even tho I did do rather a ot of walking!

The Governor General's house was open (only every two years - good timing) so dropped by and wandered round the peaceful gardens and discretely luxurious house. All the staff so helpful and chatty, even the police woman who stopped to chat while I was sitting on the lawn sketching a tree...!

Then it was off to Te Papa, the national museum - quite some piece of architecture and very interesting stuff in it. The most memorable thing? The Holden station wagon with corrugated iron body (I kid you not!) put together by a NZ artist. It was used for his daily travel for many years and looked surprisingly elegant.

Drinks with Kiwi friend Dougal down by the waterfront and then the treck back up the side of the mountain to the homestay: long, steeply sloping path along with 150-odd steps - and that's not counting the final 40-odd steps up the the homestay... BUT... my hosts have a bath (well, two actually) out in the garden with the most wonderful view over the city, so I sat in luxury, drink in hand, one of my hosts in the other bath, chatting and watching the light fade and had the longest bath I've ever had!!

Sunday dawned bright and glorious and my thoughts of heading downdown slipped away as I sat in the garden tinkling on the harp - a lovely tune came to me and I spent most of the rest of the day working on it.

Drinks date with Dougal early evening to admire his new painting, then another hike home. No wonder they are all so fit round here!

Am off to Tanaka and the Abel Tasman area to a homestay with very limited internet, so this may be it for a few days...

Friday 9th

Last night was my last night in Palmerston North - for a few weeks at least. Kirstie and Adey (right) have been great hosts - just letting me chill as the mood takes me. We all went out for a meal at the local Turkish restaurant (how many towns in the UK have a local Turkish?) and a lovely evening it was.
Then, today, I took delivery of my hire car - a smart and shiny white Toyota Platz (just a small Japanese saloon). So now the journey really begins!
This weekend it's an amazing homestay in Wellington. An architectural curiosity WAY up the side of the hill and WAY up a very long set of steps! I'll try and take a photo or two. Lovely peaceful garden to sit in and play the harp as a means of relaxing after the drive...

Thursday 8th

Well, today was my first day 'out on my own' - my hosts lent me their car so I could drive over to Wanganui to visit my cousins Andy and Barabara. Not seen them for ages! So good to catch up with them and just sit chatting in the shade of their veranda, listening to the cicadas churring, the trees sighing in the breeze... bliss.
The countryside on the drive is all very flat, with a few lumpy bits here and there. Wide open agricultural land with the odd house sitting all alone in the sun. Drove thru a village called Bull where there seemed to be a running pun going on with the businesses: rent-a-bull (estate agent? car hire?) forgive-a-bull (the church) etc...
Then, back at Palmy in the evening went out with my hosts and a friend to an excellent turkish restaurant - the things one misses living in Hereford!!! he he!

Decided the harp needed a pic of its own...

FINALLY! New Zealand!

After a slight hiccup in my travel arrangements at Singapore, it was great to get to Wellington, be met by a friendly face (complete with thermos of tea in the car!!) and be driven off 'home' to my new base in Palmerston North chez Kirstie and Adey in their delightful old house. Altho it's just off a main street, it's remarkably quiet and as I sit typing this in the shade of the porch the main sound is the churr-churr of the local grasshopper population as theysing to each other in the sun... yawn... mmmmmm..........
On the way from the airport we stopped off to collect me new harp (seen on the porch) which is a very sweet little instrument. Being brand new it does need playing in...
It's been really nice to just mooch about relaxing, pottering in to town, waiting for the bits of me that seem to be travelling surface mail to catch up!

SINGAPORE!

Well, I have to say Singapore is not really my type of place: not an attractive city at all - very hot, extremely humid and all a bit commercial! Very Swiss in many ways: very clean streets and people wait for the little green man before crossing the road - even at night when not a car is in sight!!
As I'm not a shopaholic, I went for a cruise in the morning, past Sentosa Island (Singapore's playdround, pictured) and all the oil tankers queuing up for the oil refineries...
Excellent exhibition at the fabulous Asiatic Culture Museum of some ancient and huge bronze masks unearthed in China during the 1980s. The general galleries of asiatic art were some of the best thought-out I've seen.
I find it real hard to eat when I'm travelling but did manage the odd cup of Capuccino with, in one case, a slice of 'muddy mud pie' - an enORmous wedge of chocolate ice cream. Yummy!!