Thursday, January 23, 2014

Thursday 23 January 2014- Need to sort out our accommodation

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.