Lake Moeraki
Saw seven penguins today - can you imagine? They are so cute, just like in the movies ..... Also did a rain forest walk which was great, looking at all the native species.
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Yesterday we left our lovely hostess - and drove south in brilliant sunshine towards the Southern Alps. Two-lane roads with single-lane bridges over wide creeks with cold glacier-grey water all the way - and no traffic to speak of.
This is obviously the right season to come, early so you risk poor weather but very few tourists. Scenery wonderful, approaching snow-capped mountains, forests and meadows with sheep cattle and occasionally farmed deer, lovely crystal-clear lakes, just stunning all round.
Stopped at glacier and did helicopter flight - we were crammed in with a Yorkshire family - Felt a bit miffed at this and were puzzled at the route and length of the flight - discovered later we had been upgraded from the 20-minute $170.00 trip to the 40-minute $345.00 one with landing on the snowfield included - so felt a lot less miffed!
Flight terrific, lucky timing too as they had been grounded by the bad weather for four days, I have endless shots of snow to prove it! J. confessed after that she had been v. nervous
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After the glacier walk we grabbed a quick lunch then drove slowly down here to the wilderness lodge on Lake Moeraki - again marvelling at the lack of traffic. Some more mountainous roads now but nothing we don't see in Scotland or indeed parts of the Dales.
This place very pretentious and poncy with staff all trained at the same charm school but large comfy room with excellent facilities. After the usual collapse and shower and change we drifted into the dining room and had an excellent meal - slightly nouvelle but more than enough to eat. Breakfast also very good so we figure we can cope - particularly with free internet and free laundry facilities thrown in.
Glow-worm walk last night was a hoot (literally as we heard an owl too) We walked along the middle of the main road - as I said there's no traffic here - and marvelled at the little beasties lighting up the trees like Christmas, it was wierd. Apparently these are not mating lights but lures to catch prey rather like some spiders - they dangle sticky threads down and wait to grab anything that comes looking for the light source.
We also got to look at the night sky a bit - southern cross and alpha centauri plus some faint galaxies (far far away no doubt .....) and Scorpio setting. We were out too early to catch Orion rising though.
Today we plan a little self-guided stroll to the beach with a picnic lunch to see if we can spot penguins then we have a guided forest walk before supper. Forecast is dry today, it is cloudy but no rain as yet. We leave tomorrow to drive to Queenstown so I'll try to get on the internet from there. We HAVE to come here, it's lovely and the natives are very friendly - favourite Kiwi phrase is "no worries" - and the scenery and wild flrowers and trees are wonderful.
-----------
Yesterday we left our lovely hostess - and drove south in brilliant sunshine towards the Southern Alps. Two-lane roads with single-lane bridges over wide creeks with cold glacier-grey water all the way - and no traffic to speak of.
This is obviously the right season to come, early so you risk poor weather but very few tourists. Scenery wonderful, approaching snow-capped mountains, forests and meadows with sheep cattle and occasionally farmed deer, lovely crystal-clear lakes, just stunning all round.
Stopped at glacier and did helicopter flight - we were crammed in with a Yorkshire family - Felt a bit miffed at this and were puzzled at the route and length of the flight - discovered later we had been upgraded from the 20-minute $170.00 trip to the 40-minute $345.00 one with landing on the snowfield included - so felt a lot less miffed!
Flight terrific, lucky timing too as they had been grounded by the bad weather for four days, I have endless shots of snow to prove it! J. confessed after that she had been v. nervous
---------------------
After the glacier walk we grabbed a quick lunch then drove slowly down here to the wilderness lodge on Lake Moeraki - again marvelling at the lack of traffic. Some more mountainous roads now but nothing we don't see in Scotland or indeed parts of the Dales.
This place very pretentious and poncy with staff all trained at the same charm school but large comfy room with excellent facilities. After the usual collapse and shower and change we drifted into the dining room and had an excellent meal - slightly nouvelle but more than enough to eat. Breakfast also very good so we figure we can cope - particularly with free internet and free laundry facilities thrown in.
Glow-worm walk last night was a hoot (literally as we heard an owl too) We walked along the middle of the main road - as I said there's no traffic here - and marvelled at the little beasties lighting up the trees like Christmas, it was wierd. Apparently these are not mating lights but lures to catch prey rather like some spiders - they dangle sticky threads down and wait to grab anything that comes looking for the light source.
We also got to look at the night sky a bit - southern cross and alpha centauri plus some faint galaxies (far far away no doubt .....) and Scorpio setting. We were out too early to catch Orion rising though.
Today we plan a little self-guided stroll to the beach with a picnic lunch to see if we can spot penguins then we have a guided forest walk before supper. Forecast is dry today, it is cloudy but no rain as yet. We leave tomorrow to drive to Queenstown so I'll try to get on the internet from there. We HAVE to come here, it's lovely and the natives are very friendly - favourite Kiwi phrase is "no worries" - and the scenery and wild flrowers and trees are wonderful.
posted by Adrian Smith at 11:19 PM
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