This morning the sun was shining, which was not
forecast or expected but certainly well received as we left Te Anau on the
drive to Twizel. The sun was shining on the mountains with snow, the rivers and
streams the colour of glacier water and with sheep and cows and little towns it
was a wonderful experience. The trip took us through Queens town, past the bungee jumps and shot-over jets and parachuting etc , before we stopped for
lunch in a place named Cromwell. We had a nice snack at a bakery and then some
shopping for tonight dinner and so laden with two nice rib eye steaks and some coleslaw and other stuff including a bottle of ‘Yellowtale’ red plonk off we
went in the direction of Twizel which overlooks the Mount Cook chain of of
mountains which are still having snow on top and looked really great. We are modelling
it tonight at the Aspen Court Motel which is very nice and recommended highly
by Trip Advisor reports.
Noel cooked the steaks, it’s always difficult when you don’t
know how hot the cooker is only this time it’s a ceramic hob with bright red
lights but anyway the steak was fine. And so the rest of the evening was spent
reading, Ipoding and watching TV. Tomorrow we go to Akaroa which is Noels
favourite place in NZ and so can’t wait to pitch the tent.
We were rather slow off the grounds this morning and
enjoyed the lay in before a quick shower and then off to breakfast followed by
Noel uploading photos to the blog and Jennifer taking care of some laundry
needs.
Bloody brilliant pies here
At about 12.30 with all jobs complete we hopped in the
car and headed off for Te Anau and as pie shop that we had espied earlier and
had good comments on trip advisor. Yes they were all correct some of the best
pies we have tasted for some while and Jennifer had Venison pie and Noel had
the steak and kidney and bacon and both were really good. The chap that owns
the place is an ex ex jockey and although we worried we might end up with an
old nag we were wrong and the pies were great. So if you ever visit Te Anau try
the ‘Miles Better’ pie shop and you will not be disappointed.
After lunch we took a leisurely drive down to Manapuri
where we drove around this semi deserted town for about ten minutes, its hard
to believe it’s the hub of the tourist boat rides to Doubtful Sound and one would
expect a certain buzz but NO its nor happening here. We have noticed what looks
to be a considerable downturn in the number of tourists in this country and it
is low compared to our previous experience.
In the evening we had a
chicken salad for dinner and then followed by a quiet music night for Noel and
reading for the Captain of the ship. Damn the group of Americans youngsters
have returned and are noisy again and I will give them stick if they get noisy again, but they didn't thank
It’s
about a two and half hour drive up to Milford Sound from Te Anau if you do not
rush. We did consider an organised trip but they tend to leave early and
include a boat trip and its several hours on a coach which neither of us really
like.
Milford Sound at low tide
So we took our own time and headed up the road to
Milford late morning initially through bendy but interesting views until later
on you end up climbing the mountainside for about an hour to reach the pass and
tunnel which connects Te Anau with Milford. This road is often closed in the
winter due to snow and so Milford is then not accessible at all. There is a
major outcry in te Anau as a investor want to build a huge complex on Te Anau Downs
which is about half an hour North of here and connect it direct to Queenstown
via a monorail. If this goes ahead it
could have a devastating effect on tourism in Te Anau as all traffic to Milford
must currently pass by here and in the event of the monorail then many tourists
will bypass this place.
Anyway after a lovely drive and a picnic lunch by the
side of the Lake we headed back to Te Anau and up the mountain one side and
through the very dark tunnel and down the mountain for about an hour. On the
way to Milford we entered the tunnel with bright sunlight outside and very dark
inside and I temporarily was lost as I could not see the road but then we
discovered that once you enter the tunnel it drops down so quickly and you are initially
looking at the tunnel ceiling and not the road.
The mountain pass
On the way back we noticed there was a cycle race
planned which we avoided by about an hour but later in the evening when we went
back to town for a dinner of Fish and Chips followed by the cinema, yes again
you say, but this time we saw a film called August-Osage County with Meryl
Streep and Julia Roberts and other good actors and it is all about an American
dysfunctional family after the death(nee
suicide) of the father, well worth seeing for Streep and Roberts performance.
And so home to bed when overnight it started raining again heavily and with
more rain planned for today and overnight it confirms our decision to take a
cabin.
The alarm went off just after 06.00 so rush down to the
showers and then back in time for a light breakfast in the cabin. By 0700 we
were at the front of the site waiting for the coach to arrive and transport
us.along with others, down to the Manapouri ferry dock for the first stage of
the trip to Doubtful Sound.
The underground road to the power station
The boat trip across Lake Manapouri first which takes about fifty minutes and
then its off the boat and on a bus for ten minutes to visit the Manapouri Power
Station which quite frankly is a bloody marvel. The power station sits in the middle
of a mountain with water coming down from the sea in to the Lake and it drives
five generating units which alone can provide enough electricity to power the
whole of South Island. The building of this complex took about six years and
just digging through the rock on a 24 hour basis for seven accomplished about 7
metres, not a lot really but they were using explosives and drills etc. They
were also hampered by the rain which as you go further West gets more than you
can imagine. At Manapouri its about 1.5 metres per year, which increases to 3 metres
per year at the power station dock and by the time you reach Doubtful Sound it’s
up to 8 metres per year, quite a lot when you think about it.
Doubtful Sound in all its glory
Then a bus ride for about 45 minutes with occasional
photo stops and you arrive at the sound and transfer to a boat which then goes
out to the sea entrance and this takes about 100 minutes. We stopped by some
Islands which had seals and also saw the odd penguin and finally on the way
back we saw a couple of schools of Dolphins but they were a bit too far away
with the lens that I had on and to change it would mean missing out totally.
We arrived back in Manapouri around 17.00 and then a
bus back to the Holiday Park and then feet up on the bed for 40 minutes then
time to cook dinner and a well-earned glass of wine.
This is the third time we have done this trip and it is
well worth it for a great day out and well worth the £ 120 per head for the
day.
The weather today has been pretty good and by the time
we got back to camp the sun was shining down and it is quite warm and we hope
that tomorrow will stay the same for our drive up to Milford Sound.
If you want to know more about the Power Station see
the following Wikipedia link.
Please be aware that all photos taken so far are on following weblink noelgroves.phanfare.com As mentioned we spent the night in the cabin and heard
the rain pouring down overnight and thankful we were not in the tent as it was
very damp and humid and cold outside in the real world.
It was clear to us that if the weather continues this
way for the next four days we will end up with a very wet tent and perhaps bad
colds and perhaps worse as we are not getting any younger. Noel inspected the
tent sites on the way to reception to discuss the problem and they agreed to
use our payment for the tent site as a contribution to the cost of the cabin
for the next four days. Later checking of the weather shows Friday is fine but
going very fast downhill on Saturday through to Tuesday next week and so a
cabin it will be.
We did some sorting of the kitchen equipment and Noel
spent some hours on catching up with photos and uploading same to the web and
checking a few more hotel bookings and also to find out now that the
Interislander has got a replacement vessel if we could catch an earlier sailing
for when we retrun to North island but it is not possible, so never mind.
We have changed our Hotel in Blenheim, as we found the
one we stayed in last time was right by the main road and a bit noisy and no
full kitchen we need and so the new Hotel is on a quiet back street we believe and
with a full kitchen, unless its next to the airport!
We went for a walk around town and also to check on the
arrangements for our Doubtful Sound trip tomorrow and it going to be an early
start as they pick us up at 07.00 and we don’t get back to the site until 17.30
so it’s a full day but really looking forward to it.
We visited the Cinema and watched a film we have seen
several times and even have on DVD all about the National Park, the film is
called ATA Whanui
and it is well photographed and shows some really amazing
scenery taken from mostly helicopters. We have also booked to see a film on Saturday
called August-Usage County with Meryl Streep and Julie Roberts and also other well-known
faces but understand the story is a bit depressing, but hey-ho! It’s something
to do rather than open copious bottles of wine!.
We did some shopping for the next couple of days and
then headed back to cook dinner and tonight we are having lamb chops with pasta
with a tomato sauce, should be good. It’s always fun cooking in a large kitchen
with other nationalities comparing recipes and notes and experiences. Jennifer
met an American couple during the washing up routine and there was riotous
laughter from the kitchen as I was working on some emails.
The time is now 8 pm and the sun is finally shining
down and we hope that this augers well for tomorrow, we hope, but we don’t really
like early starts when on holiday. This camp site is excellent and the toilet and washing facilities are very clean and quite new and the cooking and eating area are great fun as you meet people from all over the place and share dinner tables etc., perhaps not everybody's cup of tea but we enjoy it.
The Germans in the Rotel were up at 0630 and the babe
next door started crying and so by 0710 we were getting edgy and although it
rained a little bit overnight it had also been windy which had dried off the
tent and so by 0730 and after a cup of tea we were in full clear up mode.
The weather was still rather grey but this turned out
to be only on the peninsular as the nearer we got to Dunedin on the road
alongside the sea etc the town was lit up by the sun and shining of the
waterfront warehouses so not a good photo to take. We stopped in a little shop
for some batteries for the airbed pump and then headed South on Route 1 in the
direction of Invercargill. We stopped for a coffee in a rundown old town called
Clinton which they called a ‘three horse town’ as they had a statues of three
horses pulling and cart. The on to Gove where we stopped for a Subway, Gove is
a bustling little town with loads of cafes, restuarants and even has a
McDonalds and Pizza hut.
We then continued West across the lower half of the
South island and about 70 miles from Te Anau it started to spit with rain and
it got steadily worse thereafter and when we arrived at the site it was
chucking it down and there was no way either of wanted to put up a tent. So we
changed our booking and now have a little hut complete with a double bed a
kettle and toaster and not much else and you still have to use the communal
loos and it is costing us an extra £ 15.00 per night. Lo and behold not long
after we arrived so did the Germans with the Rotel cattle box on wheels and
they were setting up the table under the tarpaulin again in the pouring rain,
good luck. We were planning to do our lamb chops tonight but even the small
distance from the hut to the cooking area would have meant that everything
would have been saturated. So we remembered that there was not a bad Chinese
Restaurant in town that we have previously used and opted for that and the food
was very good but the size of portion has also increased significantly and
there was to much for us to eat. Te Anau is a lovely place when its not
raining, we do have to bear in mind that it does rain 300 days per year and so
to get the weather right is more luck
than judgement. The little town has some smashing little shops and all based on
the shores of this very large lake and in the sun is a perfect place to stay.
So we have decided to review the position tomorrow as the ground is pretty much
waterlogged in the camping areas and although we don’t mind a wet ground sheet
we do not want a very wet tent that we cannot dry out for several days as it
could go mouldy and then we are in real trouble. So we may opt to stay in the
cabin for the small amount of extra required.
After dinner we spent time on the internet and the
notebook pc is now running much better thank heavens so the giuys in Dunedin
did a good job.
Let’s see what the weather brings tomorrow but on
Friday we are on the Doubtful Sound full day outing and the weather promises at
least for Friday to be good, so let’s wait and see what happens.
What with the bed going down overnight again by about
70% which made it most uncomfortable whilst Noel’s little Acer computer was
playing up with the outlook programme which was able to send messages but not
to receive and he was not sure whether this was due to the v
ery, very slow
internet speeds which cause the problem.
From there we took a trip along the coast and out top
Port Chalmers where our friends cruise ship was due to dock today and it was
there in all its glory on a wet and windy Dunedin. We too some photos then
watched the birds cracking what looked like oyster shells by dropping them from
about twenty feet which should be enough to crack rather than smash them. On
the way back to town the computer shop called to say it was fixed but then when
discussing there was a couple of problems to be fixed and so it would not be
ready until around four pm so en route we stopped for some lunch of iced coffee
complete with ice cream and a large chunk of carrot cake, and both were really
excellent. Then some final shopping in New World supermarket to cover our food
needs for a couple of days. Dunedin was quite busy with the cruise ship people
and of course this is a University town which means lots of young people and a
huge choice of food takeaway joints. It is also home to the steepest street in
the world they say, we saw it last time we were here but not this as we had
stuff to do.
We collected to computer and headed back to Portobello
Caravan park and was nay shocked to see what looked like a converted cattle
truck ( photo to follow) with windows called Rotel something or other but later
on a large coach turned up containing loads of Germans, we think East Germany,
and mostly older folk at that who the slept the night in the large truck on
wheels, most odd and we hate to think how large the bedrooms are as they looked
miniscule based on the window size. The back of the truck was also the kitchen
and then they produced benches and tables and pulled tarpaulins out from the
roof and they all sat under the tarpaulins and had their dinner then climbed in
to what must be very small rooms. There must have been around 25 people and it
must have been most uncomfortable.
We enjoyed our ham salad which was washed down with a
nice cuppa and then drove down the coast and watched the mist come down and
Jennifer read a book and Noel caught up on some iPod music.
Tomorrow we leave for Te Aneu which is about a four
hour drive, give or take.
We needed to spend a day sorting ourselves out and
Jennifer needed to do some washing whilst Noel needed to sort out the car which
was a little disorganised by now.
Our tent in the sun
The weather was a little overcast but never mind and so
we were abale to get most of the jobs we needed doing complete by late
afternoon and so we headed in to town to see what was on at the cinema. We went to
the centre of town where there was a large Hoyt’s Cinema last time we were here
but that now appears to have disappeared but there were two other cinemas we
located and chose to see a film starring De Caprio called ‘The Wolf of Wall
Street’ an outrageous film which actually lasted for almost three hours, which
we did not realise before we went in. Prior to the film we found a really good
Italian Restaurant where we had a great dinner and bottle of New Zealand Malbec
which had rather a different taste to it.
As mentioned the film was quite over the top of drugs,
sex and language but was quite a lot to take in first time, so might arrange to
see it again or get it on DVD sometime. Anyway we did not leave the cinema
until around 11pm and then drove back on the very windy road with hills one
side and the sea the other with no safety guards, Uhmmm so one has to be a
little careful. We got back to the site around midnight and re pumped un the
inflatable bed which had started giving us some problems over the last couple
of days.
After an early start 07.30 would you believe, we left
the site at 0830 and arrived at Dunedin Station in time to connect with the six
hour ride up the gorge to Middlemarch
Unfortunately today the weather is rather overcast
which always good pho
tos rather difficult but the train was not full. The
journey took about 2.5 hours, we did a brief stop en route for some photos,
then on to the old town past a variety of gorges, houses cut off from the world
till we arrived in the main town of the area where the arrival of the train twice
a week does cause some excitement. There is a lady who has a horse and trap and
gives rides around town, perhaps ten minutes would do it, and the a few locals
who set up a BBQ and sell sausage sandwiches for the local school charity,
which we tried and they were very good.
On the way back we stopped at ‘Arthurs Knob’ not sure
why it called that but there was a guy on the train who was called Arthur who
stood in fron of the sign and took photos, its takes all types I guess.
We arrived back in Dunedin at 3.30 pm and did some
shopping at New World again and this time we fancied fish which we did with
stir fried vegetables. By this time it had started raining, great, and so
rather than sit in the tent we drove down to the sea side and listen to our
IPods for a couple of hours before returning to bed.
The sun was shining for us to pack up our tent and
leave this well organised site, apart from the wifi which was not their fault, and
two hours later or less we were all packed up, showered and breakfasted and
left the site at just about ten am. The triathlon apparently started at 0630
and so by the the time we drove through twon most of the competitrs had
departed and it was only on the outside of town did we start the see some of
themn heading back for the next part of the event, tough these people. Pity we
did not know it was taking place as we would have trained up for a couple of
days and joined in , I don’t think so!!
The drive was very enjoyable and of course not much
traffic on the road howver we did spot on the road many old historic cars with
lots of Ford Galaxy and Mustangs and many others and they were descending on a
town called Cromwell which was really jamming. Due to time constraints we could
not stop and enjoy which was a pity but there will be other car events in the
final part of our holidays on the North Island.
We arrived in to Dunedin at 2.30 pm and went to the the
station to obtain our tickets for the train ride through the Taiere gorge which
we were due to be on tomorrow. Then some shopping at New World Supermarket and
we bought some truly large and excellent Rib eye steaks plus some supporting salads
ready for tonight. We took the road over the hills to Portobello where the camp
site which was chosen in the first place to be near Port Chalmers where our
good friends would have been arriving on there cruise which they unfortunately had
to cancel. It was then we found that although Portobello is only four miles
from Port Chalmers there is three miles of sea in between and this would have
entailed an 70 minute drive, great, however it did not matter in the end.
The site is fairly quiet and not as big as the one in
Wanaka and the facilities not as good but very acceptable and situated about 30/40
minutes outside of Dunedin on the peninsula.
We pitched the tent and got set up much quicker this
time, boy are we getting good on this, and set about having a glass of wine
then cooking the steaks which as mentioned earlier were really good.
We had booked again for the cinema again tonight and so
got the same seats as the previous evening and watch a very good film called
Philomena which started Steve Coogan ( also the joint writer) and Judi Dench. The film was about a young girl in Ireland who
pregnant and was put in the work house and the baby was adopted without her
approval or knowledge until it was too late. The story follows Steve Coogan as
a journalist as tries to help her find her son. Great film and well worth watching
and these Southern Ireland nuns have a lot to answer for!!
Oh well we went back to the site which was very busy as there is due to be a triathlon in Wanaka
this Saturday when we leave and this could stop us leaving or at least delay
us, no one seems to know. Oh well whatever will be will be.
Another easy day around the site and just enjoyed doing
not much for the day as the previous few weeks including Christmas flooding
worries etc did not enable the calm departure we wanted. Add on to that a Audi
Q7 which could have done considerable damage to us and then a car crash so a
quiet day it was.
In the evening we had booked for the Jack Ryan film at
the Cinema Paradiso, (photos to be added) a unique cinema with old cars for
seating in places plus a few aircraft seats and settees etc. The film (Jack
Ryan) was very good and as usual in this place half way through the film they
stop it and everybody gets up to go and get there hot cookies and bring back in
to the cinema and so fifteen minutes later the film starts. Perhaps a little
unusual but good to do and we are also booked for tomorrow night. Watch out for
details.
We did some light shopping first thing after having
checked out the Cinema and there was nothing on that we wanted to watch today,
but tomorrow and Friday are different.
The Aspiring Camp and Caravan Park where we are staying
is really great and sometimes a little busy but this is not surprising as there
is a big family cycle this weekend plus a marathon and several other things
which means there are lots of visitors. For tonight we had bought a pack of six
lamb chops and some sausages and late afternoon, together with a bottle of red
wine, we wnt to the BBQ area and set abouty cooking our food. Several other
people also came to do the same and there was Germans and Dutch and it was
great chatting for quite a while until we decided to retire for the night. The
wind is still quite blowy and rushes through the trees and can keep you awake
and so tonight is ear plugs night.
Wanaka and its surrounds are really very beautiful and
a lovely place to visit and would a lovely place to live although perhaps a
little cold and cut off in the winter.
We had about a five hour drive today through the
glorious hills and snow covered mountains and past beautiful lakes until we
reached Wanaka about 15.00 hrs. The sun was shining and it was really quite hot
but we set about putting up the tent and in about an hour and a half we were
complete. This took longer than normal as we needed to reorganise the car a bit
first to access the stuff we needed and by 5.30 pm we were in town having our
first beer overlooking this wonderful lake.
We wandered around for a while then found a fish and
chip shop, to make up for yesterday, and had a good early meal and then got
back to the camp site where we visited the lounge for a while and watched the Melbourne
open tennis tournament.
By ten pm we were getting tired and so headed back to
the tent and our first night’s sleep in a tent for a while. We had learnt our
lessons from our last NZ trip how warm it is in the day but how cold it can be
at night andf so this time we are total prepared for anything and we were not
cold at all.
Tomorrow, apart from a little shopping will be a day of
rest.
We drove around the outside of Christchurch and looking
forward to a couple of weeks hence when we can take a look at the earthquake
damage and hope they have it under control.
OUCH!!!
South of Christchurch there is a busy place called
Asburton which we got through successfully and about 1.5 kilometres outside on
the Route 1 going South a bloody idiot in a 4x4 decided to do a u turn and did
not see us and so we were just passing him by and suddenly Jennifer shouted and
at the same time I saw this guy pulling out and so to late we hit each other and
I had to avoid cars and trucks coming the other way which we were lucky to do.
We stopped of course as the car was un driveable and I felt like punching this
guy but this would not do any good so said what was he doing for which he
apologised straight away and said he did not see us. We thing he was doing and
illegal U turn , but anyway we called the cops and he gave the same story but
as nobody hurt, thank god, they cleared off and we had to wait four hours for
the hire company to find another vehicle in Christchurch and drive it for about
50 miles to us. So we exchanged cars and arrived in Timaru rather late and our
plans for the evening had been ruined, our planned fish and chips on the beach
were out and so we ended up in the hotel with a takeaway Domino’s pizza. It
could have been a lot worse than it was so we are truly thankful it was alright
in the end.
A reasonably good night was had apart from being woken
by some rather noisy drunken louts walking along the road about 30 yards away. Unfortunately
when everything is so quiet you hear every other noise.
After a quick breakfast we drove down to the Wanganui
town centre for a brief look around and wished we had more time to spend here but
that is life. Anyway after a look around and some photos we took off in the
direction of Wellington where we are booked on a cross island ferry from
Wellington to Picton. En-route we passed through a town called ‘Bulls’ where every
other street or building or association has an ending with Bulls. Very amusing
really and quite extraordinarybull.
Our drive took us down the west coast of North Island and
there was a strong wind blowing the car all over the place and me without even a
drink, not good. We stopped after about two hours for a flat white coffee and a
nice date scone with butter, quite excellent really. We then continued down to
the Interislander ferry terminal in
Wellington in time to catch our sailing to Picton. These ships are pretty
rubbish really by modern day standards and are worthy a place in the ferries in
and around India. It even makes LD Lines look good, phew what am I saying.
The journey across the cook straight was very windy but
the vessel was quite stable really
We had booked for their club class but somehow
following a ship losing its propeller and a change of ships there was no room
for us and of course they had refunded us back in November which after a bit of
hassle was actually yesterday, or perhaps today but yesterday sounded so much
better. We arrived on time in Picton and within twenty minutes were on our way
to Blenheim where we arrived at the Two Tree lodge about half an hour later. We
had previously decided to go out for a light dinner only to find the majority
of restaurant closed, it was a Sunday, and so it was either a take away Chinese
or Malaysian or try what looked like a nice Hotel restaurant called Hotel d’Urville
in the centre of town and with a chef proudly displaying that she only sells
only the best beef and lamb that money
can buy.
We both ordered the Scallops to start which although a
little small were very tasty. Along the lamb and the preparation was very good
only the lamb was second or third rate perhaps even frozen chops and not what
we expected. Rather than let it go Noel complained to the waiter part the way
through the lamb who offered a number of excuses and then said how about a free
desert. As it happened neither of us wanted anymore and his offer was rejected
and I said look it’s not good but what I am prepared to do is pay for one lamb
plate only which the waiter had to check. He came back and said that had I
rejected the plate at the start they would have offered something else but we
did say that we did mention at the beginning of the meal but as it was a lamb
is in a rather good but strong sauce we could not think of anything on the menu
that would be suitable as a replacement. I said that I was unhappy with the
matter and that could I see the Chef which quite startled him. He then said he
has another customer complaining about the same matter just a few days ago and
that they would be sourcing the lamb elsewhere and the chef is too busy and
that the rules state that unless we reject the food up front then no discount,
so I demanded to see the Chef again and so we waited and he was still busy so I
asked for his card as the name Mark means nothing, and it was quite surprising when
the card came back it was not Mark but a lady called Maree Connolly. I said I
would write and perhaps send a copy to the local newspaper and also a full
report on Trip Advisor.
We did find on Trip Advisor a report from somebody else
on the same subject. See link
So over the next day or so I will prepare a letter and
a report for Trip Advisor. Oh well that is life but why can you not get good
lamb in New Zealand????
Tomorrow we leave early and head for Timaru en-route to
Lake Wanaka for a few nights camping
An early start for us which was not too bad as we both awoke
around 07.30 and so a light breakfast in the room and a shower and pack up the
small amount of bags left after yesterday big pack of the car.
We headed south on route one in the direction of
Hamilton but stopped about 30 minutes later to come of the motorway and visit friends
of Brian & Sheila who were holding some camping gear to await our arrival.
So a quick repack of the car and after a cup of tea and a good chat we departed
south again. We have been lent a SATNAV which we can use not only for the road
structure but mostly for finding petrol stations and places of interest, Route
one took to Hamilton which we skirted around the west side and continued south
until reaching route 4 which takes you on a gorgeous drive through mountains
and hills bypassing the odd volcano and also quite a lot of cows and sheep and
the odd Llama, yes a Llama.
We did notice the odd dead sheep by the side of the
road but decided there was no room in the car. We stopped for lunch at a place
called the Big Apple in Waitomo and the food we had was very good. Jennifer had
a venison burger and noel a fish burger; we felt the extra calories would keep
us awake. Duly refreshed we headed off at about 13.00 again through more
mountains and bypassing large rivers and this really was a great drive. We also
stopped for about fifteen minutes to give us both a break and a quick ten minutes
shut eye before continuing to Wanganui where we arrived as the Sienna Motor
Lodge at around 16.40.
The lodge is quite nice and an easy location for
shopping and we walked across the road to the New World Supermarket and
purchased some chicken quarters, and ham and a Caesar Salad and a nice bottle
of Chardonnay plus some egg and bacon for breakfast all for a lot less then
eating out but now we have enough food for a couple of days.
The sun is shining outside and it is quite warm whilst
Noel sits here blogging and the Missus is out at the washing machine with a bag
of clothes to deal with. We have been looking at the web news with trepidation
in view of the flooding news which continues with news that Chertsey has
flooded, the River Wey looks low at the moment but perhaps they have lowered it
anticipating some higher flows elsewhere.
Anyway there is nothing we can do except hope.
Tomorrow we leave for Wellington and the cross the
Cooks Straights en route to a night in Blenheim. Let’s hope the weather stays
good.
Finally a drink in the Hotel bar on the top floor with
a great view over the Harbour with all the
sail boats etc. This Hotel is not so expensive but is in dire need of a
makeover whilst its biggest benefit is that is sits squarely dead centre of
town and right by all the action.
And so back to the room to write this blog before we
forget what we did. Tomorrow will be a long day and so early nights all round.
In case you’re wondering we have not seen the sights around Auckland as we have
done them before several times and we would prefer know to be in the country
after five days and nights in the city that is Hong Kong.
The flight touched down just before 11.00 and shortly
afterwards we were doing immigration and customs and because we had the tent
which we declared this was taken away to be checked for cleanliness and was it
harbouring any animals etc. Welll it take them long to find out the tent was
quote “extremely clean” and on your way. We found the taxi rank and took a
large taxi as we had four large bags plus additional smaller bags and there is
an airport rule, airport rule only I must say, that any check in bags must go
in the trunk of the car and not anywhere in the car and there was an officious
lady checking everything and we had one small bag which would not fit and she
said tough u need another Taxi, I said u have to be joking as this was hand
carry on the aircraft and so she backed down. The Hong Kong Chinese taxi driver
told us that this was a new rule which applied to Airport pickups only and
nowhere else in the whole of New Zealand. This is Health and safety gone mad
again.
We arrived at the Mercure Hotel on Customs Street just
a short walk from the Harbour and settled in and after a shower went to bed for
about three hours as we were both a little tired.
In the evening we headed down to the Quay and walked
around for a while and found a restaurant we think we may have been to before
and had an excellent meal and Jennifer says they were the best scallops she has
ever had and also the chocolate tart also was very good and complemented by a
nice bottle of Chardonnay and finally a desert which we really don’t normally
have but it was so nice just sitting watching the people stroll by with the
harbour only yards away.
And do so back to the Hotel for some well-earned rest
We got up a little earlier today as we needed to pack
our bags ready for the off later in the afternoon and this had been completed
around 10.30 before heading downstairs for a well-earned cup of tea and a light
breakfast.
We called a cab to the house and headed off to Hang Hai
MTR for the 45 minute train ride in to Central where we got off at Admiralty
Staion, one stop early, to do a little shopping before lunch.
We arrived at the Hong Kong Club and went to your pre
booked table at 12.30 and enjoyed the buffet with an amazing cut of beef joint
which was so good but we could not manage more. After the deserts we caught the
train back to Hang Hai and then a Taxi back to the house and found that that
they have taken the Audi Q7 back to the repair yard but according to maid it
took them bloody ages manoeuvring the car back and forth before they could get
in the trailer. The wine we had purchased as a thank you present had also
arrived and so we could leave our farewell mark.
The driver appeared duly at 16.00 and fifteen minutes
later were en route to the Airport, by leaving a bit earlier we would avoid the
rush hour traffic, and so we arrived at the Terminal just after 17.00 for a
19.20 flight and so tons of time. We went to the lounge and had some nibbles
and then boarded for our ten and half hour flight to Auckland. Dinner on board
was very good indeed but the flight was very full which did surprise me a
little until I realised it was a code share with five other airlines.
Hong Kong has changed so much since last time we
visited with so much money spent on roads infrastructure what with new tunnels,
flyovers, underpasses and highways its almost baffling and we both felt that it
is somewhere we like to go again but not know on the definite to do list as it
seems to have lost its heart.
Our original plan was to take the train to Central and then a ferry to Lama for some seafood but the weather was rather cloudy and a bit blowy and Jennifer does not like rocking ships to much and also Wolfgang left the Audi Q7 for our use.
So we decided to go over to the Island by way of multiple extremely large housing estates at 30 and 40 stories high until we reached the Eastern tunnel to the Island. When we lived here in 1975/1989 there was only one tunnel across from to Kowloon to the Island and now there are four. I may have already mentioned the major increase in tunnels, fly overs, tunnels, highways etc has thrown us somewhat as we could always get around very easily but today its also quite to get lost and on a road or in a tunnel going totally the wrong way.
Anyway we went down to Big Wave bay and then on to Shek Ho beach going past the lovely golf course untouched by players just gardeners and arrived in Shek Ho which was pretty much closed as it is winter. From there we drove down the coast commenting in the significant increase in high rise expensive housing where it can cost £ 6k per month for a smallish apartment, wow not good.
We had lunch ins Stanley in the Stanley Cafe which was good and then slowly headed back to the house.
We were not more that half a mile from the house and coming down of the main road having already slowed from 50 kph down to 35 kph when suddenly car stopped responding to the steering wheel unless you used a very strong grip , wow what is happening, No warning lights nothing and then after about two minutes of not knowing what to do a sign came on saying alternator not charging battery!! but now driving very slowly with lots of effort got it back to the house. Had this happened at 70kph on a motorway u would have no chance to control the car and that makes you think.
At about 7.30 pm Wolfgang and Gigig arrived home and we all squeezed in to the Maserati and went to Sai Kung to meet with Andreas and wife for rather a boozy dinner but enjoyable all the same and returning home at around 11.30 so not to bad really.
We caught a cab from the house to Hai Hang MTR station where we purchased some Octopus Cards (similar to Oyster) which can be used for trains, buses, car pa
rks etc and it makes it easier to travel around town. The MTR took us to Central in about 30 Minutes, boy is this efficient, and from there we walked via Statute Square to the Hong Kong Club where Noel signed in and had we had a nice lunch in the Garden Room which overlooks the Square and a small view of the sea. After lunch we took another cab to The Peak Tram for a ride up the hill where we stayed for a while and then back down in the Tram to Central asnd on to Star ferry which we took over to Kowloon side. We walked around Ocean terminal and stopped for a nice cup of tea and a cake and then continued our walk around the shopping area until we reached the wine merchant where we ordered some wine for our hosts as a thank you for taking care of us. Rather than get caught up in the MTR rush hour we wandered in to Tsim Sha Tsui and and went to Ned Kelly's Last stand for a large beer and wait for the crowds to get less. Then the train back to Hai Hang and back to the house about 8.40 and anxious for a shower. We planned an early night which we succeeded to do after updating the Blog and photos. So another very nice day but it seems to take us longer to get over the jet lag as we get older.
We were a little slow following the previous evening late night and so we had a bit of a lie in and then met up ready to go out for Yum Cha or Dim Sum, with Gigi's family members in a nice Hotel in Mongkok.
We arrived about 1300 and the other eight family members we had an excellent choice of dim sum with braised pork steamed buns, prawns in a dumpling etc and many others also including crispy belly pork.
We left the Hotel at around 3pm and headed back home to Sai Kung where we both took a little rest as we are not yet adjusted to the time change of eight hours yet.
However, at 19.00 hrs were off again to meet our old friend Archie and this time we went to East Tsimshtsui at the Shangrila Hotel to the Japanese tepanyaki restaurant where the food was excellent with live lobster, yes Live when it arrived at the table and was still moving and a few other dishes including some excellent Wagu beef.
As it was a smaller crowd than the previous evening and we were all a little concerned about drinking and driving and work for the others tomorrow we were all a bit more abstemious than the previous night.
It was a great night and most enjoyable way to spend the evening
We have been lucky to have borrowed Wolfgangs company car a nice Audi Q7 and so we wanted to visit our old home which was in the New Territories and was called Shek Kong. After leaving Sai Kung we were already impressed with the amount of extra roads and fly overs that now appeared at every corner and we found our way through Shatin and on to a place called Hong Lok Yuen where we lived from 1987 until 1990. The security here was very strong and so it was not possible to visit the estate but it has certainly doubled or tripled in size compared when we lived their.
So we left their and drove to Shek Kong where there were only a few houses and mostly market gardens but now there were houses everywhere and the gardens had gone apart from the small areas where the trees were being readied for Chinese New Year which is due at the end of January.
We arrived in Shek Kong and found that the little restaurant we used to use is still there and expanded and under new owners and so we had a brief coffee and agreed we could leave the car there whilst we looked for our old Spanish house.
Golden Castle Restaurant
Initially we could not find it as there appeared to be newish houses in our ex garden but we found a side path which lead down alongside the old house and could stare up at and it is in a terrible condition. The dogs were barking at the next house and the owner came out and we started chatting about what we were doing there and then we found out that this guy had been there when we were living there but was then 7 years old but he now in his thirties.|Its a small world.
We then had a light lunch and then came back the long way over the highest mountain in Hong Kong on route TWSK and then got a little lost due to the huge amount of extra tunnels and highways and that through us for a while until we found out where we needed to go.
We arrived back in Sai Kung around 4pm and got ready to leave at afround 6.30 pm, as we were meeting some old friends at a very smart restaurant with three Michelin Stars. The 13 or so dishes we quite small but very clever with a new twist on old Chinese menus.
We stayed chatting for a long while and eventually got home around 0130 having perhaps consumed perhaps a bit to much wine but it was a great evening.
The day arrived when we finally packed our bags and cleaned up the house and off to the Airport for our Virgin flight to Hong Kong. We had a light dinner in the Club Lounge and their was a full flight with 300 passengers including 13 babies departed on time. Jen slept quite well and Noel chatted up other people on board whilst standing at the bar and you can meet some interesting people this way. We arrived on time and were through Immigration in a wink of an eye and ready to meet up with our hosts company driver for the one hour drive to Sai Kung. It was great to see Wolfgang and Gigig and again and we met their daughter who was back from New York for the holiday season. Well after a beer we went to a local open air restaurant for dinner where we tried the Spanish Pork steak which was very good and a couple of glasses of a nice white wine. Now all we needed was a good nights sleep
We had booked again for the cinema again tonight and so
got the same seats as the previous evening and watch a very good film called
Philomena which started Steve Coogan ( also the joint writer) and Judi Dench. The film was about a young girl in Ireland who
pregnant and was put in the work house and the baby was adopted without her
approval or knowledge until it was too late. The story follows Steve Coogan as
a journalist as tries to help her find her son. Great film and well worth watching
and these Southern Ireland nuns have a lot to answer for!!
A reasonably good night was had apart from being woken
by some rather noisy drunken louts walking along the road about 30 yards away. Unfortunately
when everything is so quiet you hear every other noise.
