Brave New World of Blogging

Sounds – Milford doubtful ; Doubtful certain

Such is the strangeness of the English language. Or rather the vicissitudes of the New Zealand weather.

A very early start, compounded by the complexity of daylight saving switch (will I be an hour early or late, does it go back or forward; no not the time I get that – spring forward, fall back; but the actual watch)

Fortunately along with my sleeping pod, juicy snooze (I just love using that name) offered me a wake up call so I left the time forward/back calculation to them.

So bright and early I stood at a bus shelter along with a large number of sleepy Chinese tourists. No I need to make a correction- the tourists need no correction, the brightness does. There was none, for almost the entire day.

We stood silent in the dark and rain waiting as instructed for ‘the bus’ which arrive and with it the brightness of my travelling companions, John and Carla.

Brightness is as much a thing of the heart as it of the sun and so with brightness in our hearts we set off.

To Doubtful Sound because it was doubtful we could get to our planned Milford Sound for fear of avalanches.

Which made us more confident about than Captain Cooke was when he named it and refrained from taking his ship, the mighty Endeavour in for fear he would not get her out. Ever cautious he was.

And so was our bus driver as he wound his bus along Lake Wakatipu, a huge dark mass of water (400m deep!) on one side and cliffs reaching up into the dark in the other.

From Queenstown to Kingston to Garston ( the most inland city in NZ) to Mossman to Manapouri – such a mix of names) we saw through the rain and mist, fields and fields of grass so green it reminded me of a melted green wax crayon – intense, solid. Lambs so newly born they could barely stand on their wobbly legs, sheep shorn in anticipation of the spring weather so forlorn wet and I would swear shivering as we and they prayed for clearer skies.

Freishens, thick coated heads down, backs to the wind (producing 50 000 Litres a day 😯)

We drove through old fairy tale forests- beech trees 1000 years old; gnarled, misshapen with long tendrils of moss and lichen. These trees hung of to the edge of mountains so steep that when you looked through them you saw nothing but the darkness of the rock. Definitely fairy tale forests, in this weather of the Brother’s Grimm variety.

And everywhere water, from the heavens, from the rocks, from the snow and sometimes it seemed from the very bowels of the earth

(Trivia 7-9 metres rain a year!) felt like he had most of it today 😉🌧

Oh and did I mention the wind?

Or the laughs?

Or the wine?

We went on buses, boats, buses, footbridges and buses and boats and through it all – had the most amazing time

And to round off a perfect day – the sky turned blue, the sun winked at us; the lambs on our way home were playing, the cows grazed, the passengers snoozed, and we had an extra hour of daylight to savour the gift of nature in all her disguises

Here’s hoping the weather plays ball tomorrow when we start riding

All grown up 😉

How grown up I feel sometimes.

I know I know, my Jess travelled half way round the world all alone on busses and things – but still her 60+ year old mother feels grown up today.

A lovely last walk around Mount Albert and coffee with Desna found me at the airport – alone.

Well not quite alone; I was accompanied by ‘my stomach’. Was it a butterfly 🦋 (or two, or a hundred)? Was it a knot? Or was it the excitement stirring energy? Hard to tell.

We all know I have a mixed reputation when it comes to catching flights. Add to that the modern way of phone boarding passes that scanners seem to have endless trouble with and you will understand my sense of achievement at getting onto the plane and in the right 💺 seat. Such a grown up thing to have done 😉

So all set I was – Queenstown here I come in my ‘paid extra for window seat’ because the view you understand is worth every cent. Well yesterday it was, today is raining and clouded over from whoa to go 😯 but still yesterday the view was So amazing

Approaching Queenstown above the weather – That waited for us in the tarmac ☺️

A municipal bus ride into central Queenstown, short walk up the hill and here I am – totally the wrong age for Juicy Snooze. But what fun

Reminds me of our municipal hard rubbish depot- follow the coloured line – mine was green

A Tiny pod of a room (most are shared – think backpackers) with a shower 🚿 that would not cater to a large soul but in that score I am fine.

My pod bed – I have a window (paid extra for that too 😉)

And so if the rain stops, the adventure may take a different turn but for now it is coffee and the AFL grand final

Rangitoto, boats and boardwalks

A new day.

A new adventure.

A walk to the station, (So Easy to buy a ticket , So quick, So cheap – Melbourne take note !!!!) and a ride to Britomark at the harbour

Hot coffee at Botswana Butchery (nothing to do with the country – go figure) and a glorious ferry ride to Rangitoto island saw us start

A walk through spring , ice cream galore

This island erupted from the sea about 600 years ago – a New volcano 😯

An iconic landmark in Auckland’s skyline- symmetrical cone of 260m looking over the Hauraki Gulf.

The black lava dominates and yet vegetation is taking root and the island is a mass of green, black and more green, steep slopes and amazing views in all directions.

There is a single ‘road’ built by prisoners. Interestingly there were not POW but regular prisoners in the 1920’s who,for the last 6 months of their sentence were taken to the island to work.

The whole island is a conservation area now and very tightly controlled with the reintroduction of indigenous bird life eradication of rats and the cleaning of boots and sealing bags mandatory.

The Tui serenaded us almost all the time as we walked the boardwalk to the top of crater

An amazing day finished off with a return ferry ride, G&T to share notes and thoughts and impressions in the sun at the harbour; a delicious meal , gentle train ride and good walk up the hill to home from home