Across the Ditch in 2012: A Wow Around Every Corner!

Saturday: So much for getting up early to go to the gorge today. A hat trick of failures on that count.
(For those who haven’t followed my blog, we did eventually make it to Hokitika Gorge in 2014. You can read about it here.)
So, instead, we went to the museum where, true to form, we didn’t have enough time to do it justice but did enjoy it. Small, local museums offer insights into and stories about local life that are sometimes missed in the bigger picture at the larger ones.

A minor panic this morning. I checked my emails and, despite the email confirmation from yesterday, discovered there was no availability for the Milford Sound cruise I’d booked and paid for. We managed to find an alternative – booked by phone rather than online – but it didn’t endear booking agencies to me and I’ve been wary of them ever since. Having a receipt and a confirmation may not be any guarantee. Something I’ll keep in mind.

Heading south, we stopped for lunch at the café at Hari Hari where Stu had the recommended whitebait sandwich (the last one for the day) and I had fish and chips. Mine was good. Stu said his was, but he hasn’t rushed back to sample whitebait again.

Having done our flight the day before, we didn’t feel cheated at not getting up close and personal with the glaciers this time. But a brief stop at Franz Josef Glacier had us vowing to come back to walk on the ice.

Across the Ditch in 2012: A Little One Day, A Lot The Next

Thursday – a very quite day. Stu went fishing with Ann’s friend and left us to our own devices. We took full advantage of this and went to the hairdresser. And that was about it until we got home.

Stu had caught a nice rainbow trout and had a good day out.

We had thought we might get to Hokitika Gorge but didn’t make it. Maybe tomorrow.

Across the Ditch in 2012: Pancake Day

Sometimes you meet people and just click. Ann is one of those people. We met her when she was couchsurfing and stayed with us for a few nights and now she was returning the favour.

Today we picked up Oscar – a Spanish “wooffer” – and headed north towards Tauranga Bay seal colony.

Across the Ditch in 2012: Basic Training 26 & 27 March

Yes, at last, the long awaited (by some) and much referenced first trip to New Zealand. After almost making it in 2009 but ending up in Europe instead, 2012 saw us heading across the ditch for the first time.

We flew Air New Zealand and opted for the Works option that included meals, drinks and entertainment. But, as it’s only a 3 hour flight I don’t think we’d bother again. We’d opt for the fare only and take our own food.

We’d pre-paid for a cab which was waiting for us. The driver took us on a little tour, showing us some of the earthquake damage and scarily told us they’d already had 3 aftershocks that day.

We checked into the Annabelle Court, chosen on a recommendation of a friend because it’s close to the railway station and there’s a shuttle that will pick us up. Dinner was at a nearby pub then back to try to get an early night – the time difference and daylight saving making it a challenge for our body clocks to shut down 3 hours early.

My first words in my diary entry on Tuesday morning are, “Oh god I hate daylight saving. Still pitch black at 6.30am.” But we struggled out to wait for the shuttle to pick us up for the short ride to the railway station to catch the TransAlpine express to travel to Greymouth.

I suppose we’d expected the whole of New Zealand to be green. The east coast is scenic but in a starker way than we thought. Quite dry. Once over the alps, though, it was as green as we thought it would be.

I’m a big fan of train travel. I find it relaxing and civilised and a great way to meet people. Of course, there’s one in every crowd and we drew the short straw on this one. In the next seat was a man who spent the whole trip telling us how good he was … and why he hated everyone else. I was happy to take my camera and escape to the viewing car, despite it being fairly cold.

Cruise Control: Sound Advice

Fiordland, South Island, New Zealand

Although today was classed as a port, we don’t actually dock. Scenic cruising takes us though Dusky, Thompson’s and Milford Sounds.

Of course, we know they aren’t actually sounds, but fjords. So, although they all bear the wrong name, the area is known as Fiordland (with that incorrect spelling).

Cruising Milford Sound on our first (yes, yes, still unblogged) trip in a small ship made it seem huge. In this cruise ship it seemed a lot narrower. Not surprising we needed a pilot. The sides seem close enough to touch.

Cruise Control: Gorging Ourselves

Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand

Dunedin was a favourite destination from our, as yet unblogged, first trip to New Zealand. One of the things on our list for our next visit was the Taieri Gorge Railway, so this was the perfect opportunity.

There is a trip you can book from the ship, but that is about $200 more than booking ourselves through the website. So we booked it ourselves.

For the extra money you get picked up on a train that comes right to the ship and travel in new, air conditioned carriages.

We caught the shuttle into town and had plenty of time to pick up out tickets and enjoy the beautiful station

before boarding our historic carriage for the trip.

Cruise Control – Jet Propulsion

Akaroa, South Island, New Zealand

A tender port – the only one on this cruise. The queues were long and we were almost late for our booked trip. Our ship was only able to use one side of the wharf as there was another ship in port using the other.

Whew, got there and paid just in time for our jet boat ride. A wild and fun ride but also an interesting commentary on features around the harbour and some stories and history.

Cruise Control – In the Dock

Wellington, North Island, New Zealand

I have to admit that I didn’t go ashore in Wellington. I’m afraid the lack of sleep has caught up with me so I stayed aboard in an attempt to catch up. Dad and I won a round of trivia … finally. It’s a good thing we were only in it for the fun. The prize was a little Princess torch. And, because we were in port and there were so few people still on board and playing trivia, everyone who played that day got a prize.

The others did go ashore and enjoyed themselves … a ride up in the cable car …

Cruise Control – Art Deck … Oh!

Napier, North Island, New Zealand

What a beautiful town!

Largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequent fire in 1931, Napier was rebuilt, mainly in the Art Deco style. These beautiful buildings are now sympathetically maintained and preserved, while still being functional. The people are justifiably proud of the town and celebrate its history.

Vintage cars and volunteers in period costume brought an atmosphere of celebration to the visit.

Cruise Control – Blowing Off Steam

Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand

We didn’t book the ship tour – way too expensive – but chose a similar one through Zealandier Tours. We had no problems with meeting our driver and were back at the ship in plenty of time to sail.