SOUTH ISLAND NEW ZEALAND Nov 17

[Southwest Dave]

One for you Dave. :)

How did you know Keith !?!

Me polishing my Dads new Mk 1 GT. haha

2015-02-19_15.jpg

(Sorry, no more distractions) lol

Dave.

PS. Enough talk of fuel prices, It depresses me ! A US gallon costs around $6.50 in the UK !!

[glc]

I didn't know that. Wonder why they have different names. Confusing.

Best explained here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

[keithg]

Great Hat indeed!

Loving the photos and the wry commentary.

Mark

Thanks Mark. I'm getting puffed and i'm only half way. That hat. Cant remember where it was now but there were lots of people around. May have been in Akaroa where there was a cruise ship in port. This gentleman kept staring at my hat. Thought he must be staring at something else so I moved but he kept staring at hat. May have been a member. I didn't get a chance to ask. I'm pretty sure I didn't have any big blow flies hovering above my head. :)

[keithg]

How did you know Keith !?!

Me polishing my Dads new Mk 1 GT. haha

2015-02-19_15.jpg

(Sorry, no more distractions) lol

Dave.

PS. Enough talk of fuel prices, It depresses me ! A US gallon costs around $6.50 in the UK !!

Hahaha I took a guess Dave. You did a great job polishing your dad's car. I have owned 2. Must have been a Mk2. Square one and also a later one, station wagon with a 6 cyl in it.

[keithg]

After we finished our little snack at the Transport World café, we headed for Dunedin, a city with a lot of Scottish heritage. We wanted to take the scenic route but lots of road works that way so we took the direct route. Resealing of road and we didn't want to get the rental car in a mess. We found a motel ok and we booked in for 2 nights. Garden Motel had everything we needed including laundry which we made use of. Hosts were real friendly and gave us lots of advice on where to go and what to see. Lots of old magnificent buildings around the south island and Dunedin is no exception. The railway building is worth a look. Margaret wants to go back again at some time in the future. Loved the shops.









The Railway Station.

We drove out to some old castle that some friends told us was pretty spooky to stay at but didn't go in. I wasn't going to pay 40 odd dollars to see some old junk. Bit different to the Transport museum. You could drive that stuff. lol. Drove to Portobello and had a coffee. I talked to a gentleman about photography for ages while Margaret took some pics.



Not a lot there but a pretty drive out there. If we had carried on another few miles, we could have seen the Gannetts take off.



I'm in there and i'm drinking coffee. Never had an ice cream.

We headed back into town and then went north to see the Moeraki Boulders. On the way we called into this other place called Shag Point. Lots of seals sun bathing and swimming in the extremely clear water. No, I have no idea why it was called that. lol.
Moeraki Boulders is quite a few perfectly round boulders at the waters edge and a couple in the earth bank. Have no idea what they are about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders









It was time for another snack. I'm a growing boy.

Then it was on to Oamaru. What a neat little town this was. We both loved all the buildings. We have a good friend who grew up there and we wondered why he left.





We then left for Omarama where we stayed the night. Village is at a T intersection where if you turn left, you head for Wanaka and right to go to Lake Tekapo.



Right across the road from Motel. How could I not go in. Have to support local business.



About 1 or 2 miles out of town towards Tekapo was this bridge looking down on all the wild Lupins. Campers in amongst them all.



Ahuriri river is what the bridge crosses. I need a break. My eyes need to look at something different. Back soon.

Keith

[keithg]

Had some grapes for breakfast and then headed out crossing the bridge with the Lupins beneath. Went up through Twizel and then took the Mt Cook turn off. If it had been a nice sunny day we would probably gone all the way to Mt Cook but it wasn't so about 3/4 of the way there turned around and came back with thought in back of head that we may be lucky and get some accommodation in Tekapo.



It was time for a rest. Margaret said I was mad but I already knew that. Saw a photo of a friend from the Netherlands doing it once and I thought if she could do it, I could. Got back to Tekapo but place booked out and unfortunately weather still slightly overcast. Cant complain though. On the whole trip we had 2 or 3 overcast days and not one wet day. Fairly hot up to 30c but no humidity. We had coffee and some lunch and then walked down to lake for some shots. This is where we were expecting our best shots of the flowers. With lake in background and hoping for a bit of snow on mountains way in background. Clouds a bit low but if we looked hard enough we could see it.



Native boy again with that hat.





Church of the Good Shepard in the distance. I read somewhere once that the church is the most photographed church in the world.



I have seen photo's taken from inside looking out that big window of the lake and Mt Cook covered in snow in the distance. This day there was a wedding on there so couldn't do it.





Margaret and I spent some time explaining to people about this dog. The story goes that its master used to go into the shepherds huts and keep the shepherd talking while the dog used to round the sheep up and chase them into another valley. The dog was pretty smart and seemed to know when Shepherd was going to come out and would hide down in the grass until he went back inside. They were finally caught and the guy went to prison and the dog was put down. I think they should have used the dog for breeding it was that smart. They should put a sign up explaining the story. I have since spoken with Brendan Dugan who had a hit with a song "McKenzie and his dog." Asked him if there was anything he could do to have a better sign explaining the story there. He said, " Funny you should say that. I just finished recording the song for a DVD for NZ tourism to be released any time in the new year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKjxjN0GbRo&t=10s The song. Brendan Dugan.

We decided we better get moving after taking lots of pics and head for Timaru back on the east coast. Had a great run except for a 15 min stop waiting for a house to go past. It was on the back of a truck. Didn't have a steering wheel or anything. :) Stayed the night in Timaru but we didn't really like the place. Sorry Timaru. Main st looked nice with all the decorations up.



Tomorrow we head for Akaroa for a night and then the last two nights back in Christchurch before flying home.

[keithg]

We left Timaru and headed up through Ashburton where we drove around a few streets of shops there and kept going much to Margaret's disappointment. I didn't see any parking spots. Margaret likes shops but I was the driver and the brakes failed. :-) We stopped at Rakaia and had coffee and meat pie's. Well, you have to stop for food don't you. Margaret took a pic of a giant Salmon.



We drove on and instead of heading straight for Christchurch, turned right and headed over lots of hills towards Akaroa. Lots of tight curves and some crazy driving. Wish some people would concentrate on where there driving. Akaroa was originally a French settlement but they were a bit slow in putting there flag up. The British heard the French were planning on raising there flag there and raced down and put there's up. The town still keeps some of the French flavour though. Le Hotel. We had been there before in 09 and there were a lot of buildings painted with bright colours like blue, yellow. But after the 2011 Christchurch quake, it changed apparently. Some damage was done in Akaroa and when the repairs were done, they didn't put the colours back which we thought was a shame. There was a cruise ship in port when we arrived there so lots of people looking around. A different cruise ship came in the next day as well. Apparently they cant get into Christchurch since the quake. We parked the car and went walking, found the I Shop and booked a motel. The Akaroa Waterfront Motel was right on the edge of lake. Great room with view.



We walked down town along side the lake and drank more coffee and scones with cream and fresh raspberry jam.



Can go out on a boat and swim with the Hector Dolphins, the only place in the world I read that you can do that.



One of the buildings that still has the bright colours.

Bit more looking around and then we bought some Fish and Chips and took it back to our motel where we sat on the balcony and enjoyed the view while we demolished them. Next morning Margaret was up and out hoping to catch a photo of a nearby jetty with reflections like the one on the wall in room. I think she did a good job.



We went for a walk again along side the lake and found this artist. Didn't look to busy so thought he may want to paint a picture of us.





He did a better job of Margaret than me.





Couple of ways you could get to see around. That bike had a V8 in it.



Some clever people in the world.



What a waste. lol



The wharf where you leave from to go and swim with the Hector Dolphins.

Margaret went for a walk up this steep hill to have a look at the Giants House. Lots of stuff made out of Mosaic tiles.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attra...th_Island.html

I didn't go as I was puffed. I sat on a seat just by the ice cream shop until she came back.





Time to head out. We wound our way out over the hills back to Christchurch where we would stay the last two nights. Stayed at same motel as our first two nights. Parkview over Hagley. They updated us to a better room. Had a spa bath. We had a walk in the park



The next day, Saturday we drove up Riccarton Rd to a shopping centre. Margaret didn't buy anything though. Likes to study things for a few visits before buying in case she changes mind on wether she likes it or not. Crazy thing is we wernt going back. Hope she dosn't read this. I'm happy she dosn't waste money. :) Riccarton road is still very damaged from the quake and its a roller coaster ride driving along it. We went to a car wash and washed all the bugs off it ready for return to depot at airport.
Back to the motel and went for another last walk into the city. Looked at a couple of things we had missed before and then headed back through park where a bagpipe band was practicing. Watched for a few minutes and back to motel to make sure everything was ready for departure next morning. Lucky we went down to the car a bit later as someone had backed there car in along side and we couldn't even get in to open the door. Margaret being the slimmer of us both got in the other side and managed to climb over to driver seat and get the car out. Shifted it to another spot.
We left the motel at 3-30am so we could drop car back ezi car rental by 4am. Did that easy right outside the door of airport. Flight left at about 6-30am NZ daylight saving time and arrived back in Brisbane at about 7am Brisbane time. A 3 1/2hr flight.

Be back with a summery.

[keithg]

We had an awesome trip and were really lucky with the weather. Had 2 or 3 days that were overcast but a couple of them improved to sunshine as the day went on. Temperature's ranged from low 20's to low 30's Celsius but no humidity. Was very busy in places but that had to be expected as in peak tourist season. Our visit apart from visiting a beautiful Island was to see the wild flowers, the Lupins. We did that but a week later would have been better but it may have rained as well. We both grew up in the North Island and left in 71. Went back in mid 74 for 21 months and then left again. North Island is beautiful as well but the South Island is the best. Amazing place. If you could only go to one Island, pick the South.

Costs. Air Fares. Two return airfares from Brisbane to Christchurch. $1034 88 Au.

Car Rental with full tank of fuel. Take car back low as possible. $1057 19 NZ.

Car had full insurance but we covered the excess with our travel insurance.

Travel Insurance $171 76 NZ

Fuel or Gas, call it whatever plus a $18 NZ car wash. $386 40 NZ.

Accommodation $2219 00 NZ.

Food and drink. $792 38 NZ.

Incidentals witch included my hospital visit of $100. I didn't claim it
as it was my own fault and the insurance would probably go way up
next trip. Also bought a usb hard drive, Few other small items. $446 11 NZ

TOTAL COSTS including the Australian priced air fares.
Not a lot of difference in NZ and Aussie dollar. $6107 72 NZ

Hope everyone enjoyed the journey. We certainly did. Have so many great memories and photo's. Roughly about 1800 lol.
Margaret and I aren't fans of cities but we always tell people that everyone should once in there life time visit Las Vegas. Same
goes for the South Island of New Zealand.

Until the next time. Cheers. Keith.

[Southwest Dave]

I sat on a seat just by the ice cream shop until she came back.

So glad you wasn't overcome by temptation !! Yeah right. Haha.

Dave.

[keithg]

hahahahaha I tried to behave but the Ice creams were just to tempting. The road that Margaret had to walk up to get to the Giants house was straight opposite so I had no choice but to wait by the Ice cream shop. I didn't want the shop to think I was up to no good hanging around so I had to become a customer. :-)

Keith.