New Zealand Part Two - South Island

Day 7 – Christchurch to Oamaru 03.05.07

We headed for the car hire company and picked up another Diahatsu Sirion as it suited us perfectly, a small car that was big enough for our two cases and was extremely economical on petrol. In essence, all you need for a road trip.
We didn’t see much of Christchurch but that was ok as we were heading back there to fly back to Sydney, we’d be back.
The drive from Christchurch to Oamaru was the most uninspiring of our journey. Maybe it is because the European Settlers decided to turn most of the natural landscape into agrable land on the South Island, but it was very boring. The trip to Oamaru was approximately 3 hours and I fell in love with the place as soon as we reached the town.
Oamaru is a town that has some lovely sandstone buildings and I was pleased to find the one and only motel that we were stopping in for the entire trip was extremely nice. Our host at the motel was very friendly and asked if we were here to see the Penguins. Penguins? We were actually stopping at Oamaru to go and see the Moreaki Boulders but Penguins are good! She showed us on the town map where we could watch the Blue Penguin colony which you had to pay to enter as well as where the rare Yellow Eyed Penguins were which we could watch for free. I still don’t understand why there is a reserve which does its best to look after the preservation of the Blue penguins and yet the Yellow Eyed, which is dying out has nothing. Hey ho.
We decided to head for the Moreaki Boulders first as that was the main thing we wanted to see and when we arrived Mr M was not impressed! You see the Moreaki Boulders are exactly that, Boulders. They are all spherical and the majority of them are in the sea, gracefully poking out. I loved it but the weather could have done with being a bit warmer and brighter. I took quite a few photos of the boulders but it was a struggle as my hands were absolutely freezing! I found the whole experience of seeing the Boulders quite spiritual but all Mr M could say was that I took him to see some rocks. However, he was quite intrigued that they were all round.
After literally freezing certain body parts off, we headed back into town to book in for the Blue Penguin colony watching before heading to the beach to watch the Yellow Eyed Penguins come in at dusk. We waited and watched the sea along with many others to see if we would be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the rare Yellow Eyed. I had my camera primed ready and took a few pictures of the beach from the cliff top we were waiting on. Then I turned the lens to the 300mm max and looked at the beach in closer detail. Sure enough I spotted something. There camofalaged in amongst the seaweed and driftwood was a seal! I excitedly tapped Mr M’s arm and showed him, then I scanned some more of the beach and saw another! I love seals.
We stood shivering from the cold when suddenly someone said that they could see a Yellow Eyed in the sea about to come in. We watched patiently and scanned with our cameras, sure enough, there it was. After a little bit of time swimming around it came onto the beach and headed for its nest. It was so cool to see such a beautiful and now rare species of penguin. Happy that we had seen one we decided to head back and warm up before the early evening event of watching the Blue Penguins.
I was so cold that I called into a shop in the town to buy gloves and a beanie and a beanie as well for Mr M. After making our purchase we headed to the colony and drank warm tea while we waited for the penguins to arrive. I looked out to the rocky shore that the penguins would climb up and saw…. another seal! We sat down in the seated area while the guide told us about the penguins and that they will be unsure about climbing up as the seal was there. Fortunately for them, the seal was a fur seal and not the leopard seal that will kill them in the wild. We waited for the night sky to come over and then I saw what would have been the most amazing shot, the moon was out and full, we had the rocks to the left and the sea lapping onto them. It was so gorgeous and I would have loved to have captured that scene. It wasn’t to be. The penguin colony asks you not to use cameras, so we left ours in the motel. Gutted!
Never mind, we were here to witness the penguins coming home. Our first sighting of a Blue Penguin though wasn’t coming home but heading down to the sea. It was clearly unsure what to do with the seal there but soon hopped down the rocks, tentatively passed the seal and happily hopped on down to the sea. With that we saw some more penguins come from the sea. A group of them looked up the rocks and saw the seal and then it looked like they were talking to each other, trying to work out if it was safe or not and who should go first. More penguins arrived and also stopped, then two decided that they wanted to get home and ventured up the rocks. They got closer to the seal and then stopped, almost as if to have a chat. “How was your day?” “ Awful, I was stuck in a meeting most of the day. Yours?” “Not as bad as yours by the sound of it. Well, best get on home. The missus will have a fit if I’m late again. Fancy catching up for a beer later?” “I’ll let you know. See you.” And with that off the one waddles up the rocks, slowly past the seal and then across the road to head for its nest.
The group by this time had decided to give it a go. The started up the rocks and then stopped before one braved it and carried on going. When I was watching them I had the tune to Mission Impossible in my head LOL It really was like that. In the end all the group managed to get up past the seal and head home. After seeing one group get back we decided that we too would head back as even though we had beanies and I also had gloves, we were still freezing and my backside was going numb from the cold.
That evening we headed to Fat Sally’s in town for food. It was recommended by our host at the motel so we thought we would give it a go. It was a pub/restaurant that had a great atmosphere that you could feel as soon as you entered. Everyone was happy and friendly and it was nice and warm! We were seated at a table and given the menu. The one thing both of wanted to have while in NZ was lamb. We ordered two lamb dishes as our mains and I had a starter of oven baked Camembert and Plum jam. The starter was sooo good and I hoped the main would be equally as nice. The dishes came out and my eyes nearly popped from my head, the plates were huge! We had been told that the servings were generous and that it was good hearty food and the lady at the Motel was spot on. We tucked in and the first mouthful was enough. It was absolutely stunning! The lamb had been done in a sort of mint breadcrumb and the mash was so creamy. If that wasn’t made with NZ butter I’ll be very surprised. I’ve since had cravings for Anchor Butter LOL
Even though the starter was very good, it was the best choice that I made as it meant that I couldn’t finish my main meal but Mr M made sure it didn’t go to waste J
With our stomachs full with delicious food (which was the best value and best tasting NZ tucker of the whole trip) we headed back for bed.


Day 8 – Oamaru to Lake Wanaka 04.05.07

Another early morning start to head off to our next destination. Fortunatley, the drive to Wanaka was much more pleasant than the one from Christchurch to Oamaru and we arrived in Wanaka for the early afternoon. The hotel we were staying in was on Mount Aspiring Road and looked like it was quite a new development. The room was spacious and very nice, with wood panelling on the one wall and ceiling. Plus it had the extra bonus of a radiator. Mmmm, snugly!
We headed down to the Lake to take some pictures before deciding to take a drive to Mount Aspiring. We headed off and got about half the way there when the road conditions changed and we saw the sign that pretty much said if you don’t have a 4x4 you’re screwed! Bugger! We had no choice but to turn back. I looked at one of the brochures I picked up and realised that we weren’t that far from Queenstown, which we had wanted to go and see but to have stayed there would have meant doubling back on ourselves to continue on with the rest of our trip. We considered driving to Queenstown and headed back to the room to get the touring atlas. We guesstimated that it would take probably 3 hours each way and while we had the time that we could have pushed it into we instead opted for a well deserved kip. It was about quarter to three in the afternoon and we were tucked up in bed fast asleep.
We awoke around six thirty and freshened ourselves up before heading to the hotel bar and restaurant. It was a combined room and it was all done out in wood panelling and has a lovely open wood fire. It was gorgeous and It was as good as the Swiss Chalet that I have had pictured in my head for many years. For some reason, I would love to do Christmas in a wood chalet with a real fire and snow outside, doesn’t necessarily have to be in Switzerland. This hotel bar and restaurant was the closest I had come to and all I needed was snow outside but you can’t have everything.


Day 9 – Lake Wanaka to Fox Glacier 05.05.07

The drive to Fox was very nice and I spotted something on our touring atlas that sounded very intriguing that we were going to travel through – The Gates of Hasst!
I’m not sure what I was expecting but what we got was an Iron bridge over some fast rapid water running over a lot of rocks. It was actually very impressive and we stopped to walk under the bridge to take some photos and then up onto the bridge to take more. It had started to rain and by the time we got back to the car both of us and our cameras were quite wet. We turned the heating up in the car to warm up and dry off and continued our journey on to Fox Glacier.
We were staying at the Fox Lodge and I was pleased to see that it was all timber. We were shown to our room and it was another wood chalet style – I loved it! We dropped the bags off before heading into town to take a look around. Fox is a very small township that is very quaint and the town is pretty much on the main road in a blink and you’ll miss it style. But the main reason we were there was to see the glacier.
We had already agreed that we were going to do a hike on the ice but it was a question of which one. I had never been in a helicopter before so we opted to do the Heli-Hike.
We called into the guiding lodge and asked about booking for the next day. The weather wasn’t very nice so I didn’t get my hopes too high as the weather could stop us in our tracks. We booked on the 9am Heli-Hike and provisionally booked on the 1pm in case the weather was bad for the morning. As a back up from that we considered doing the half day hike in the afternoon should the 1pm Heli-Hike get called off due to the weather.
Now all we could do was wait until morning to see what the weather would give us.
It was a nice day but we headed down to Lake Matheson for a look around. We didn’t get far when we realised that we could get very wet as the drizzle was threatening to turn into full blown rain. We headed back to town and bought some rain proof jackets. Now we were cooking with gas.
We decided that even though we had protection from the rain, we would give the Lake a skip as it was very over cast and instead would head to the Glacier for a look.
We parked the car in the car park provided and walked the track to the terminal face. We hadn’t long left the car park when we reached the top of a hill and there, in front of us, was the biggest piece of ice I have seen with my own eyes. I was aghast at the sheer enormity of it, there in the valley was what looked like a huge river of water that was heading straight for us but had been frozen in time.
When you drive up to the car park, you see signs that tell you that the ice was this far down in such a year. It’s incredible to see how far it has receded and then you learn that it is now advancing. The ice is always moving as there is running water underneath that is the Fox river. At the terminal face we could hear the ice cracking and breaking off which is why there is a barrier for peoples safety and warning signs to tell you not to go beyond unless you are with a guide.
We took more photos of yet another natural wonder and headed back to the car. We decided to drive to Franz Josef which is the next town over from Fox which also has a glacier. As we reached a twisty corner section of road we saw a crane winching a coach from the drop of the corner. We wondered if there had been anyone hurt, how it happened and what those poor people must have gone through. We carried on our journey and headed for the Franz glacier terminal face. You might think that once you’ve seen one, why go to another but the glaciers, though essentially the same are very unique. They have different forms and the terminal face of Franz is a lot further to walk to. As time was getting on we opted to head for the viewing platform instead as it was nearer. What I noticed about the town of Franz Josef and the glacier there, was that it is much more touristy than Fox. I was glad we opted for the latter.
We headed back to Fox and passed the steep twisty corner which was now clear. When we reached town we asked at the local store if they had any information and I was surprised to learn that the accident had happened several weeks ago. The reason the coach was only now being pulled up was because they had to get a crane from Christchurch. We also learned that fortunately, no one had been seriously injured.
We decided to go for another drive and this time drove past Lake Matheson to head for Gillespies Beach. It wasn’t really the right weather for the beach but when we got there we realised that it wasn’t a real beach. As in, not one you would go and sun bake on. The beach was covered in large pebbles and huge chunks of driftwood and the cloudy, windy weather was churning up the waves. It was actually very nice.
That evening we headed to the local bar for food and beer.


Day 10 – Fox Glacier 06.05.07

We headed down to the guiding lodge to hear if we would be flying. The clouds were low but it was a much nicer day. After much deliberation we finally heard that the pilot was happy with conditions and we were good to go.
We headed through the back to get waterproof trousers and jacket before heading on to the quaint old bus to be taken to the heli-pad. Once there we were given hiking boots and thick socks before being given a briefing on helicopter dos & don’ts. One last check with the pilot and we were confirmed for the final and last time that we would be taking off. We were split into two groups and the first group headed for the helicopter and then left for the glacier. In the meantime we were arranged in to a seating plan and I was given the one seat in the front because I’m short – woo hoo!
I was so excited to be in a helicopter and I had a grin from ear to ear that made me look like the Cheshire Cat. The ride to the ice was amazing and then came the really fun part, walking on the ice in hiking boots. I got out and walked across to where the first group was waiting and just as I got there I did my Bambi impression – legs everywhere! Fortunately one of the girls grabbed my arm and I didn’t fall. Once we were all grouped together again we were given crampons to attach to our hiking boots. I managed to get myself in a right knot with those but fortunately the guide could see I was struggling and gave me a hand. Once we had those on we all felt much better as we now had more grip on the ice. Then we grabbed a stick with a metal spike at the bottom to give us extra grip and stability when walking and off we went in single file following our expert guide.
Hiking on the ice was one hell of an experience and I did end up on my backside, it was inevitable really. It wasn’t too bad, just a small slip really. The guide had used his pick to make steps in the ice for us to get down this one small hill and I thought my crampon had gripped but it hadn’t. My foot slipped and I ended up sat on one of the steps. All I could do was laugh!
We were guided to two stunning ice caves that we went into. They had a spectacular blue colour to them and we were all in awe at their beauty. We then carried on our hike and Mr M out did me on the fall as he also didn’t get a sure footing with his crampon and slipped. Unfortunately, he fell on his side in a puddle of muddy water but was thankfully ok but slightly dirty. The next incident involved the girl who had saved me from my Bambi moment, she had got some ice in her eye from the pick and was suffering from blurred vision. It turned out that she was a nurse but her eye was still giving her trouble when we arrived back into town. I hope she recovered ok.
We changed and headed out to the local bar to drink and recount our experience before heading to a little restaurant not far from our lodge and then going to bed.


Day 11 – Fox to Greymouth 07.05.07

We headed back to the guiding lodge in the morning to buy a few souvenirs including some Fox’s Glacier Mints which were attached to a little poem to raise money for a local community centre. I just couldn’t resist them! As it was a nice morning we headed back to Lake Matheson and walked around the Lake. We had hoped to be able to see Mount Cook and Mount Tasman reflecting in the Lake but we still has cloud cover L We did manage to get some nice shots of the glacier from the Lake though. We were both a bit disappointed in Lake Matheson because for most of the walk around the lake you don’t actually see it, instead the pathway guides you through the rain forest and gives you sneak peaks at what you are missing. That aside, it was a pleasant mornings walk even though my left thigh was hurting from my slip on the ice.
We left the lake to make it to Greymouth in time for the early afternoon and soon set about heading for the attraction that was on our list to see – Pancake Rock Geysers!
It was a little drive out from the town of Greymouth but we eventually got there. The rocks were like ant hills and between the rocks you could see the sea. The sea waves would push it into the rocks and explode out of some of the holes and craters. Sometimes with a lot of force and other times just giving a slight spray. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we headed back to Greymouth to have food before turning in for the night.
We looked around the town at the restaurants trying to decide what we wanted to eat. We decided to go for Indian and went to Priya. I saw on the menu that they had shrimp as well as doing Korma curry. I asked if it would be possible to get a shrimp korma and after the waiter checked with the chef I was told it wouldn’t be a problem. My curry was totally stunning and Mr M thoroughly enjoyed his as well. We’ve never had such a good curry in Australia or during our time in New Zealand until this one. It turned out that they also had a restaurant in Franz Josef and they also have one in Timaru, a town before Oamaru. At least we managed to find one of their magnificent restaurants and had a curry that was good enough to rival back home in the UK. How I miss a good prawn korma!


Day 12 – Greymouth to Christchurch 08.05.07

Off we went on the last leg of our journey back to Christchurch. The drive took us through Arthurs Pass where we saw a cloud on the floor! It was a beautiful clear blue sky but there was a big, long, fluffy white cloud that looked like it was on the valley floor. It really isn’t surprising that the Maori call New Zealand Aotearoa as it means land of the long white cloud!
We got in to Christchurch around midday and checked in to the hotel before jumping back in the car to go to the gondola which was just out of town. We took the ride up to the top of the mountain and looked out over Christchurch before heading back down and checking out the city. We went on the tram and saw loads of different sculptures. I like art cities, probably why I also like Melbourne. There’s always so much to see, well there is if you like art.


Day 13 – Christchurch to Sydney 09.05.07

We had the morning to look around some more and buy a few essential purchases such as All Blacks tops and more importantly my birthday pressie. I had nothing in mind for a birthday present and was happy just to have my birthday in NZ but Mr M had other ideas when he saw my face light up at the sight of a NZ blue pearl necklace. Of course I liked it, it was blue but it had so many other colours also shimmering away and was set so lovely in a silver twisted pendant, I liked it because it was so different. We didn’t have much time and it wasn’t long before we had to go to the airport. Our holiday adventure in New Zealand was over, it was time to go back to Sydney.

New Zealand Part One - North Island

Day 1 – Arrive in Auckland 27.04.07

Auckland was, I must admit, a bit of a disappointment. No offence to people who live in Auckland, but the city just didn’t do anything for me. It was ok but it felt like I could be anywhere, it had no real personality. It probably didn’t help that on the first night we ate at a place called The Loaded Hog down by the waterfront. I’d previously seen the menu and the food sounded good but I should have realised why no one else was eating there. The food was the worst I’ve ever experienced in my entire life, no word of a lie! We both ordered steak at about $28NZ each with wasn’t cheap. It looked very fancy when it came out but the test was in the tasting. The amount of meat you got was quite a chunk but then you realise that most of it is fat and gristle, and for a medium to well steak it was looking closer to being medium to rare. In short, the meat was terrible so I decided to just eat the pumpkin and kumara mash and the wilted spinach. OMG! I can someone fuck up that as well! All I could taste was oil. I love pumpkin, it’s probably my favourite veg along with fresh broad beans and I’ve enjoyed sweet potato before as well as spinach, yet it all tasted so revolting. I couldn’t eat it. Mr M managed to swallow some of it down but he clearly didn’t enjoy it either. I ended up at Burger King having large fries – Yum!
However, although the food was bad the people can be very friendly. After an afternoon walk and getting our bearings, we called into a pub which I think was called The Red Lion. It was Friday after work so it was a bit busy but we managed to get a small table that was big enough for just the two of us. It wasn’t too long before a strapping guy in what I remember was an All Blacks top, came and parked his beer on our table. After a while we made eye contact and exchanged pleasantries before nattering away about our trip and where we were going. He was a lovely and friendly young man who happened to work in the travel industry and gave us a few suggestions on things to see and more importantly taught me how to pronounce Rotorua. I do like to be able to pronounce names correctly, particularly when in a foreign land.


Day 2 – Auckland 28.04.07

It was my birthday and after the disaster of the night before with food, we wondered what was best to have for a birthday meal. In the end we opted for an Italian, it has been known that you can fuck up a good Italian meal but it is very rare. We went back to the waterfront to a lovely restaurant which had good food and excellent wine. In all a good night.
During the day we went to the Sky Tower to gaze upon Auckland. It’s quite cool as the clouds in NZ are amazing so as well as good views you get to see some lovely cloud formations. We saw the Museum from the tower and decided to head for that next.
What a walk! The Museum is a fair trek out from the City centre and there are probably easier ways to walk there instead of the very steep street that we chose to hike up. We finally reached The Domain, grounds which the museum is in and headed towards a map to figure out where we had to walk to now. The map looked to be taking us a long way round so we opted to go over the grass hill. There are the two of us hiking up this hill and when we reach the top, we see the Museum straight ahead – hoorah! Then comes the part of getting down the hill, fortunately it wasn’t to steep and the grass wasn’t too damp so I didn’t end up falling on my behind even though I thought it would happen. Across another field, and there is our goal of the Museum. The field was a little muddy and it wasn’t until we reached the other side that we saw the notice that said they had sprayed Round-Up on there. Oh well, not going get any weeds growing on our shoes then!
The Museum was very good and I could have spent much longer in there but time was running short. They had a lovely section on Maori history along with artefacts as well as a beautiful memorial for the soldiers on the top floor and when the sun hit the glass stained windows the pictures on them jumped in to life with glorious colour. It really is a fantastic Museum and with hindsight, there must have been a bus service going out there. It is well worth a visit if you are in Auckland.
We walked back down to the City, stopping at a pub to refresh ourselves with a well earned beer. Which reminds me to look and see if I can get Tui here in Sydney as that was a lovely drop of ale.


Day 3 – Travel to Rotorua 29.04.07

The drive from Auckland to Rotorua was very picturesque even though it wasn’t a particularly nice day. We made good time and got to Rotorua around 1pm. The main thing we wanted to see was the thermal waters and the nice young chap who we met at the pub in Auckland told us to go to Hells Gate! Intriguing!
But first we headed to the thermal waters of Waimangu. A lovely park area where you could spend hours walking around. The steam coming off the waters was very impressing as was their warmth when I put my fingers into a little stream. The one section has a body of water that looked like a bright blue lagoon. It made you want to go in but the fear of knowing you’d burn you skin off was enough to banish that notion at first thought. We had hoped to walk to the 3rd and final bus stop but time was against us again so we headed back early so that we could also get to Hells Gate.
So why go to two parks offering the same thing I hear you ask? Well, there is actually quite a big difference in these to parks. Waimangu is government owned and operated and is very much like walking around a national park, only there are bodies of lovely thermal waters everywhere that you just can’t help but be amazed by. Hells Gate on the other hand is Maori owned and has more Maori traditions involved, every day at about 1pm they give a demonstration of cooking with the thermal waters where you can actually eat the food. I would have adored to have tried some traditionally cooked Maori food but unfortunately we didn’t get to the park until about 4.30pm. Hells Gate was given its name by George Bernard Shaw although the real name for the area is Tikitere. After visiting Hells Gate, I can see why Shaw named it so. Maybe it was the fact that it was very overcast and late in the afternoon but it did seem eerie and yet peaceful. I still wouldn’t fancy walking around there on my own though. But we were happy with our Hells Gate experience plus we got to see some boiling mud! If you are into Spa’s and getting pampered and happen to be in Rotorua, you could pop into Hells for a nice mud spa. Something I would have loved to have tried but sadly didn’t have the time L At least I managed bring a face pack of Mud back with me, although I haven’t tried it yet.


Day 4 – Travel to Wellington 30.04.07

We got up very early as we had a 6 hour drive to the Windy City of Wellies, sorry, Wellington. The drive was surprisingly nice and we were making excellent time. We went over or through Lindis Pass, past Lake Taupo and we had hoped to see Ruapehu but the weather wasn’t nice. We were heading down hill on State Highway 1 towards the little village of Waiouru, then Mr M notices flashing lights in the mirror. Should we be like Thelma and Louise and try to out run him? We were in a rented Daihatsu Sirion, I don’t think we would have got very far. We did the proper thing you should do in such a scenario and pulled over. And then I realise why we have been making such good time, we had been speeding! 125Kph in a 100Kph zone – Busted! Please sign here, please deposit $230NZ to the nearest Westpac within x amount of days. What made me chuckle though, was when the policeman realised we were Brits he said “I had a feeling you would be, it’s usually you guys who we do for speeding here, I think your speed limits are higher than ours”. Mr Plod was actually very nice and pleasant and we first thought that the fine was to be paid on the spot. I delved into my bag for my purse so Mr M and I could put funds together and pay it, when the nice Mr Plod said that we could pay it at the bank as they weren’t allowed to take cash. To which I said that it was a shame as it would have made good beer money. Then thought I probably shouldn’t have said that but he had a sense of humour, laughed and sent us on our merry way reminding us to keep to the speed limits as we had a lot more driving to be doing in NZ. We stopped at the petrol station in the town when Mr M said to look behind. It thought it was going to be the policeman again but instead the clouds had lifted just enough to see a snow capped mountain that looked remarkably like Ruapehu! Turns out it was.
After a few more hours of driving, we made it into Wellington for early afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting our bearings for the next day and having a general look around. Unfortunately, it was raining but we found an Indian restaurant and decided to go there for dinner as it wasn’t very far.


Day 5 – Wellington 01.05.07

One of the main things I wanted to see in the lovely City of Wellington was the Fur Seal reserve. We drove to the Quarry which was by the beach front and took a look around to find out what the score was here. Hmmm, a sign that says it’s a 3 hour walk there and back and that there was no cars allowed beyond that point. Ok, so we should take water. There is nothing near the start of this walk apart from sea and houses so trying to find a shop was out and I didn’t want to waste time in heading back. Luckily we had several water bottles in the car of which some still had water in. After pouring it all into one bottle we had almost 500ml of water. That should do us. We pulled our fleece jackets on, grabbed the camera bags and set off. It was looking doubtful that we would see and seals as the season is May – September if I remember rightly, and it was literally just the beginning of May. I had hope that I would see a seal but also had the realisation that I wouldn’t. Nevertheless, it was a lovely walk around the shoreline and very quiet, We finally saw two other people who were heading towards us, they had already made it to the reserve area and told us that there were two out there. I was so excited! We headed up the hill and stopped at the crest to look out and see if we could spot them. It wasn’t long before Mr M said that he’d seen one and pointed me in the right direction. There on a rock was a wild fur seal sunbaking! It was such a thrill to see and I eagerly snapped away with the camera. After walking around and awing at the natural beauty we were witnessing, we headed back up the crest of the hill we were stopped to see of we could see any that side. At first Mr M was sure that there wasn’t any there and started walking down, I kept looking and sure enough spotted another one! I showed Mr M where it was and again the cameras started clicking away. I’m sure I don’t need 30+ images of seals but I just couldn’t resist it.
We walked back around the shoreline to the car satisfied that we had came and seen what we wanted.
We still had the afternoon and went into the City to look for the cable car. As we had walked a fair distance we stopped for a bite to eat to keep us going before arriving at the Cable Car. It’s kind of like a funicular railway that stops at the University before carrying up the hill to the Botanic Gardens. It’s not a long journey but it is very pleasant but it was getting late and the light was fading so we headed back down to the City.
We walked back to the hotel and noticed that the Welsh Bar, which we had seen the night before but was closed, had lights on and appeared to be open. We, couldn’t not go in could we. It was incredible! It turned out that they are closed on Mondays so it was lucky that we had two nights in Wellington. I noticed the food menu and drooled at the thought of Faggots & Peas and then I saw it, never before I have I seen it on a menu this side of the world – Curry & Chips! The Welsh Bar must be heaven on the other side of the world. That was it, food was sorted for that night. Unfortunately, the lad behind the bar wasn’t too keen on cooking so I was left gutted that I couldn’t have my taste of home L We had no choice but to go elsewhere for food but we decided that we’d go back for one last drink later and to sign the guest book. We headed for a Chinese restaurant across the road, but by the time I ordered I was feeling awful with major stomach cramps. I’m still not sure what caused me to be ill but I hardly touched my food, even though it was nice, and ended up in bed my 10.30pm. And then I was gutted again as I really wanted to go back to the Welsh bar, but it was pretty obvious to look at me that I wasn’t going anywhere.


Day 6 – Wellington to Christchurch 02.05.07

We had an early evening flight to Christchurch and I still wasn’t feeling very well. Mr M suggested that we fly back to Sydney but I was adamant that we weren’t going to miss our holiday. I headed for the chemist and after popping a tablet, started to feel a little better. Due to my illness, I didn’t want to do anything strenuous, actually all I wanted to do was sleep, so we spent the day driving around the outskirts of the City and making sure we knew our way to the airport. We stumbled across a reserve park and parked up to go for a walk, we saw a nice winding road on the bottom of the hill where we where and decided to try and find it. After driving through a lot of housing estates we decided to head back towards the City and just drive about. Sure enough we stumbled on to the lovely windy ocean road that we had seen and drove along that twice, taken in the beauty and splendour of the outskirts of Wellington before we had to head for the airport.
Our flight to Christchurch was delayed and by the time we reached the hotel we had enough time for a quick snack and a glass of wine before heading to bed. Tomorrow we had to be back on the road!

There are not enough swear words...

... for what happened this afternoon.

It was my own stupid mistake, which makes me even more frustrated. I went to my External Hard Drive to grab a few photos only to find that my collection of foldered photos were no longer there, all I had was four semi-recent folders. Everything was gone! I started panicing (not like me!), I couldn't breath properly, my head was spinning and i felt as if I was going to pass out. Then came the tears. I was in such a state that I couldn't even phone Mr M because my brain wasn't functioning properly and I couldn't remember his mobile. Fortunately he phoned me (must have had his spidey senses going) and it was just as well it was him and not some cold caller 'cos all they would have got was a crying hello.

As you know I had updated my OS a few months ago and put all of the photos onto the external hard drive as well as saving them on my laptop and on Mr M's computer. Thank fuck for that at least. Trouble was earlier on I was having problems finding them on my laptop as I was too busy trying to breath rather than logically think where they would be saved. As I started to calm down with the aid of a rather large glass of 42 Below (best Vodka in the world!), I managed to find the files on my laptop. Hugh sigh of relief! The only problem is that the files I lost were all in order and had been named correctly and were neat and lovely and... you get the idea. But that said, I am sooooo happy that I at least have not so tidy copies of them. I'm currently having them swished over to my Mac from Mr M's PC via SAMBA - what a great invention!

So, what happened? How did I manage to fuck up so royally? Well, after I copied all of my photos to my external hard drive I loaded on the new OS from scratch and so wiped everything that was on the Mac. Not a problem, all my photos were stored on the ext HD. Then when I had new folders of photos that I had taken recently that I wanted to back up on the ext HD I copied the main folder across to the same location, thinking, wrongly, that it would realise that I wanted to add the folders inside to the existing ones on the ext HD. But instead what happened was in overwrote the original main file meaning tha it was bye-bye to the original 20 odd folders and hello to the 4 new ones instead of there now being 24 folders.
The reason for my stupidity is that I still don't understand how to use the Western Digital External hard Drive properly and thought it would just update the original main pictures folder and not overwrite the damn thing. Lesson painfully learned!

So once I have the old photos back on my Mac an not on the ext HD, and after re-filing them all nicely my next few days are going to be taken up with buying a shed load of DVDs to burn my photos on and have an old fashioned way of storing them as well. It's something I've been meaning to start doing for awhile and this has proved to me that I need to do it sooner rather than later for fear of losing my photos completely. Yes, I could print them out as well but the cost of doing that would be phenomenal. Just on a recent holiday to NZ I took 3GB of photos and had another 3GB of memory to use as well. I enjoy snapping :-)

And that is also the reason why I haven't blogged for ages. First there was the planning of the NZ trip and then the trip itself. As soon as i can i shall do a 2 part blog of our adventures in New Zealand, but for now all I will say is WOW!



EDIT: After copying across the files and renaming and organising them, I have just started to back them up on the Ext HD only to find that what I thought I had lost I hadn't! I noticed that the scroll bar was longer than usual and after scrolling past nothingness for quite sometime, I finally come across all of my photos. Bloody thing had decided it didn't like the way that I had them set out and his jigged them around into what can only describe as a mess. But they are all there and tomorrow I will start to burn them onto DVD. Damn technology scaring the living jeebies out of me. GRRRRRR! and PHEW! :-D

I'm happy with the life I have thanks

I'm sure I must be missing something, but I just don't understand people's obsession with gaming. That's gaming and not gambling, at least I understand why people would gamble. I know people that spend hours on end playing various computer games and then there are others that have a virtual life. Yes, if you don't like you real life, just go get yourself a virtual one!

I think it's called Second Life or something and then there is also Haribo Hotel. I was not very happy to find out that there was no sweets involved as I like haribo's. Anyway.... the whole gaming, virtual worlds thing got me wondering, do people really have nothing better to do? I mean, do they have any other interests? Go to the pub with REAL friends have any REAL hobbies? And I figured maybe they don't. And then I felt sad for them.

It was interesting as there was a doco on SBS last night about the Yamakasi in Paris who created "the moving-style" where they jump off buildings and sort of bounce around and jump over a flight of stairs to reach the bottom rather than walking. It's incredible to see. I've seen it used in adverts and things like that but I never knew where it came from. It was fascinating to see that it came from a group pf people living in a poor housing estate. It fascinated me because what they were doing was incredible. They could have just hung around the streets terrorising the neighbours, turned into drug addicts or alcoholics but instead they decided to create their own entertainment to escape their everyday lives. They created something beautiful and very artisitic. They were so physically fit that they glided around poles and the moves the made were so elegant, what they do is truly art in a pure form.
I admired them for creating something out of nothing for giving people with no money and possibly no hopes, something to do, something to live for. To do Moving-Style requires great discipline and focus. It was interesting that they didn't lose themself in a game to cope with the real world or to entertain them, they used the real world for their entertainment.

So why do people get sucked in to gaming? Why is having a virtual life so important to them? I have enough trouble with a real life let alone a virtual one. Think I'll stick to having one life thanks!

Woohoo!

Last night my friend and I went to watch the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Initially Mr M and I were going to go but he said he wasn't that fussed on them so my friend came with me instead. I had been looking forward to last night for ages and my friend was also excited about us going concerting. And it was well worth the wait!

After waiting in the queue for merchandise then waiting again for food, we finally made it to our seats to watch the support act.
What we saw was the funniest thing I'd seen in ages, I nearly choked on my burger and was almost put off my food completely. The guy threw his shirt in to the mosh pit only to get it thrown back at him but undeterred he then took of his trousers and continued to perform in his pants and socks. This guy loved himself so much it was hilarious, my friend didn't think a lot of him though and wasn't very impressed. I actually thought he was quite good considering other support acts I have seen, at least the guy could sing. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to think that the only people worth watching are the group you came to see and boo at anything else, regardless of if they are good or not. Kaiser Chiefs is a casing point when they were supporting the Foo's. I adored the Kaisers, as a support act they were wasted and I would love to see them tour in their own right. They have excellent stage presence and boy can they rock! But still they got booed and for no reason whatsoever. I'd like to add that Mr M and I were cheering/screaming and clapping when they finished because they were really good. When they left the stage you could see they were pissed off with the crowd and it was such a shame.
Last night's support act was the same. Okay, so not everyone wants to be subjected to an almost nude, out of shape guy parading on a stage but he was funny for that reason. Due to the bad reaction of the crowd he retorted with vulgar language which I really didn't need or want to hear, but he reacted to the crowd and maybe he shouldn't have. Someone from the crowd threw a water bottle at him and caught him good, must admit to laughing my head of at that, it was a good shot.

Even so, I admire people who are willing to have a go. I wouldn't have the confidence to go on stage, I also don't have talent so I wouldn't even try. As I said, the guy could sing and to put you out of your misery it was Har Mar Superstar!

But onto RHCP.... I've liked them for quite some time now but this was the first time I had seen them live. I was blown away. The way that Flea and John played was just incredible and for the first time ever I actually thought that this group is better live than on studio album. On the albums you just don't get the guitars coming through enough but they make up for it live.
In one part Flea was playing a solo and the lights were dimmed with just a bit of light directed on him, with his bare torso on show and his fingers strumming all I could think at that breathtaking moment was "that would make such a nice black and white shot". This is normal isn't it?

Now don't be disillusioned, I don't fancy Flea it was purely an artistic moment. I regularly see things and think "wow, that would make such a nice picture" and it always happens when I don't have my camera with me. I don't think they would have allowed my camera into the the arena though as I use a DSLR and from the seat I would have had to have used my 70-300mm lens and my point and shoot just wouldn't have cut the mustard on it anyway. Of my lenses my 70-300 is my favourite as it helps when I can't get close and it has a fixed F5.6 aperture which proved fantastic at Taronga Zoo on Sunday afternoon. Which reminds me that I need to pull my finger out and get assignment 3 completed soon...

Bugger!

So I stuffed up before Easter which meant that we were car-less (or rather Ka-less) over the Easter break. We had intended to go driving over the Easter weekend up to Newcastle and the Hunter Valley as we have yet to see these wonderful places. All was good, I bought a new green slip and headed off to the RTA to re-register the car.
Nice chappy at the counter looks at my reg papers and asks "pink slip?" BUGGER! And there it was clear as day at the bottom of the paper work, a pink slip was needed in order to re-register. I still don't know how I missed it apart from it must have been in my blindspot. I looked at the reg paper several times before going to the RTA and I did not see that I needed a pink slip. I had also stuffed up with the due date as I thought I read the 8th April when it was actually the 1st! Must get my eyes checked LOL
The worse thing is, I had to get one last year as well because my car is over 3 years old, but it still didn't cross my mind this year. Lesson learnt!

So this morning she was booked in for the yearly tyre kicking routine that is the pink slip. We dropped her off at 8am and Ford would phone me when she was ready. About half an hour ago I decided to call Ford as I hadn't heard from them. All day I kept my mobile by my side, waiting for the call. Nothing, squat, zip, nada. So I phone Ford only when I tried to call my mobile froze dead, I couldn't do anything, couldn't even switch it off. Only one thing for it, take the battery out. Put it back and my phone jumped to life and I tried to phone Ford again. De, De, De.... De, De, De... you know that sound of the number is disconnected. I checked the time and knew that the garage closed at 5pm, it was a quarter to. Have the unplugged the phone so they can bugger off early I wondered. Next thing I know I get a text message come through saying that I have a new voicemail. Strange, my phone hasn't been switched off for long, talk about timing. Sure enough it was Ford telling me the car was ready but this message was left at 10.57am! I was certain I hadn't missed the call, the phone was always by my side. Still, I checked the missed call list to double check and sure enough there was no call! WTF? Sometimes I really despair of technology.

I have had my Sony Ericsson K300i phone for over two years and this isn't the first time the thing has frozen on me but it is the first time I've 'lost' a call. I previously had a T68i, I like Sony Ericissons and I loved that phone. It was blue and it was curvy, exactly my requirements! I loved the way it sat in my hand, it was small but because of it's shape you never felt like you were going to drop it. I did manage to slip it too quickly out of my bag one day though and broke half of the clip on the back. I could have bought a new back but it wasn't the integrated battery back that broke, it was the clip on the case, a little spring loaded thing. I was gutted! It still worked okay but the back was always a little loose after that where it wasn't clipping in properly. For some reason I could never send picture SMS from that phone even though it had the capability and I never have found out why. So the time had come to look for a new phone and the main requirement (apart from being able to make and recieve calls and SMS) was that it had to be blue! I can tell you that in a world where you can now get everything in pink as standard, trying to find a blue phone was not easy. I liked the K300i because it came in blue all be it a darker blue than I would have preferred and it was a Sony Ericsson. But given the choice, I'd rather have bought a brand new version of my old T68i.

They just don't make them like they used to.

It's officially Autumn in Sydney, in can only mean one thing....

...It's time for Sydney women to bring out their scarfs!

Seriously, today is a lovely sunny 23degreesC and I saw a woman wearing a scarf. Not a silk scarf or anything flashy, just a pink wollen (actually it's probably synthetic) winter scarf. I don't know whether it's a Sydney thing or an Australian thing but as soon as Autumn is officially announced, they are out on the streets wearing their scarfs. It's not cold, in fact today has been quite warm but the scarfs are out. They are worn almost like a normal person would wear a necklace, being tied around the neck as decoration rather than for purpose. But the fact is, scarfs are warm.

There are no coats or jackets worn, just standard casual tops with a scarf around the neck. It's very bizarre and a sight anyone visiting Sydney should look out for.

All this talk of keeping warm is making me feel like a nice cold beer :-)