Fox glacier

Today some wanted to do the heli hike which would have taken them up to the top of the glacier, but unfortunately it couldn't take off as there was too much cloud.  2 others went on the guided glacier walk.  The rest of us did a lovely walk round a mirror lake, and then up to the glacier viewpoint where we could see all the glacier walkers down below us.  It was fascinating to see.
After lunch we drove to Franz Josef and had a lazy afternoon in some hot pools!

Arrowtown to Fox glacier

A lot of driving today, with a few stops for walks, one of about a hour that we could only walk half of due to a bridge under repair.
Lunch was invaded by lots of sandflies which are apparently all over the west coast, so lots of insect repellent needed and we ate on the bus!  They are worse in some places, so hopefully we won't encounter too many.
We are staying in a motel which apparently has great views of Fox glacier and mount cook - when the clouds lift!

Arrowtown 2

Had a free day today, so we hired bikes for the morning and rode some of the tracks around Arrowtown.  They were lovely tracks except there was quite a lot of up! - and I had 27 gears this time!
We spent the afternoon catching up with washing and looking round the Arrowtown town and museum. 

I don't seem to be able to upload photos at the moment, it must be something to do with th internet connections.

Arrowtown

Today we walked through lovely forest beside waiau river for about 4 hours.  After lunch we drove to Arrowtown stopping at the famous bridge for bunny jumping - unfortunatly we were just a bit late to see any jumps, but it is quite an impressive sight. 
Then we arrived at our motel in Arrowtown and had a quick look round before a nice BBQ.  Arrowtown is one of those gold mining towns, so looking forward to exploring a bit more tomorrow.

Milford sound

Today was a scenic day!  We drove from Te Anau on the only road to Milford sound which took about 2 1/2 hours, then took a large ferry type boat out into the sound for a couple of hours.  These sounds are actually fjords as they have been formed by glaciers.  It was incredibly busy, there were about 3 large double decker ferries, and hundreds of people who had come on coaches along this one windy road!  I've never seen quite so many Chinese either! There we're also little planes taking off and flying over the area, anyway, hopefully you get the idea that it was a tourist trap. It was howeve quite spectacular scenery.  After the boat trip and lunch we made our way back to Te Anau stopping a few times for short walks to scenic places. 

Te Anau

We got the 8am ferry back to the mainland - I was wrong about the size of Stewart island, it's actually about twice the size of the isle of Wight!
We drove through invercargill (all these Scottish names, I forgot to mention that we met a couple on Ulva who actually lived on the isle if Ulva in Scotland). We gradually made our way up to lake Manapouri for lunch, followed by a lovely walk along part of the Kepler track to Te Anau. 
We've got great accommodation again over looking lake Te Anau - photo from our room.

Stewart island 2

Today was a free day, so got up later for once!  We made our way up and over to Golden bay, - you do an awful lot of walking up then down, then up, then down again here!  From golden bay we took a water taxi over to Ulva island which took about 10 mins to get to.  It's a completly natural island with lots of birds to see.  We had a lovely few hours wandering through the paths and getting to unspoilt beaches.  The weather by the way has turned out beautiful, it's sunny and warm, but with a slightly chilly wind.
Got back to hotel and went for another short walk up and down a few hills!  We leave the island early tomorrow.

Photo is the Stewart island robin, and not my photo, although we did see a few.

Stewart island

We found some yellow eyed penguins on the beach in the Catlins area, it was great to see them, including 2 young ones.
The next day we  drove down to Bluff, parked the minibus, and caught the ferry to Stewart island.  It's quite a bit bigger than I imagined, I suppose isle of Wight size, but most of it you can't get to.  We had a nice afternoon walk up into the bush area and around the coast line.  At about 9pm we boarded a boat which took us to another part of the island where we walked through a bit of bush to the beach, we all had torches, but our guide then tells you to turn them off if he sees or hears a kiwi.  We saw one on the way to the beach and we watched one for a long time on the beach feeding.  The Stewart island kiwi Is the  Brown one, and does well here as there are no preditors.

The photo is not from our window today, but about 100 metres away.

Catlins

Well, you know I said we had been having hot weather - cancel that! Today had been much cooler with a little rain.  Having said that it has brightened up nicely this evening.  We spent quite a lot of time on the bus today as we travelled down to the far south east corner of New Zealand, to the Catlins area.  This is a beautiful area, and we did about 3 short walks, one along cliffs to a lighthouse, then to a waterfall, and through bush to the beach.  We saw lots of seals enjoying the water, along with lots of different sea birds. I actually picked up a paua shell off the beach - It's the one that they use to make all sorts of jewelry, so hopefully I can get it home in one piece.
Our accommodation is a lovely house next to an inlet.  Tonight we're going somewhere in the hope of seeing penguins! 
The 3rd photo is taken from our accommodation.

Clyde

We've had really hot weather over the last few days, it was 30degrees c or more! There was a good breeze today though, just sticky at night.  Sorry to everyone in UK with more wet weather ;)
We made our way today to Clyde which is in the middle of the Otago region.  Lovely village - with another great Marino wool shop (weve seen a few now ) and walk in the surrounding hills and lakes - there was a flooded valley nearby. and a  town called Cromwell with a massive dam and hydro power station.  Interesting hotel which dates back to 1899, and Peter Jackson stayed here for 6 months while directing the Lord of the rings, some of which was filmed near here.  This area was were the first gold was discovered and statred the good rush in the 1860 s.
Photos from the balcony of the hotel. 

Mount cook

Had a lovely day walking up to a glacial lake fairly close to mount cook.  Weather is extremely warm which is a bit unexpected, but glorious views - which I've forgotten to take on my phone, so you've got one from our bedroom window!  Got a BBQ tonight. 

To lake pukaki

Once we had been collected by the minibus, we drove through the Canterbury plains to lake Tekapo  which has the most gorgeous colour.  We had a 3 hour walk up to view points and back round.  There are 11 in the group and 2 guides - both girls.  There are 5 English, 5 Aussie and 1 south African.  After the walk we drove towards lake pukaki and views of mount cook in the southern alps.  Our accommodation is great, but no free WiFi, so doing blogging etc in one hit!

Christchurch and beyond.

We took the scenic kiwi rail from Picton to Christchurch which took about 5 hours.  It was great to see the countryside and coastline. We spent the night in Christchurch before being picked up by minibus for the start of our walking tour. When we arrived in nz, I had an email from the b & b we were supposed to have been staying to say that they could no longer put us up as their insurance company had finally given the go-ahead for earthquake repairs to start, and they had to move out.  Fortunately they found us an alternative.  We didn't see too much damage where we were. 

Queen Charlotte sound

We have just had an amazing 2 days messing about in Kelvin and Linda's boat.  The first day we had a great lunch in a cafe that was in a small bay which is only accessible by water: there are lots of properties like this that have no road access at all.  There is a water taxi that goes around and it brings the post and your Tesco shop (except they don't have tescos - yet! ) after that Kelvin took us to Ships cove, which is the start of the Queen charlotte walk.  The whole walk is about 71km, but the first part to Endeavour was about 16k and took Steve and I about 3 1/2 hours, Kelvin took the boat round to the end of that section to meet us, and we had a meal there at the lodges.  If you were walking the whole trail you could stay in these lodges and the water taxi would bring your bags.  We spent 2 nights on the boat which was great fun, and such amazing scenery.  Today we managed to catch up on washing and visit another winery for more tasting!  Photos are of the sounds and our new granddaughter.

Baby arrived!

Just happened to check for text messages whilst having a meal with kelvin, Linda and friends, and found the long awaited text from Holly saying baby Abigail Rose had arrived and we were now grand parents!  Congratulations to Holly and Chris:). Can't wait for the pics.

To Picton

Had a great day in Wellington, john and Janice took us all over, from mount Victoria to the sea front, harbour and Te Papa museum, so we got a good feel for the city.  Had some great food and took the hired car back.
This morning john dropped us at the ferry for the 3 hour crossing to Picton which is at the top of the south island.  The ferry went through some beautiful water ways to get to the port.  Kelvin met us and took us to his and lindas home, a short drive along the coast, to a house with an amazing view across the sounds. 

We have already been to a vineyard for wine tasting!

Photos

Photos of the way up to john and Janice's house!  The pics don't really give a true impression of steps and slopes.

Turangi to Wellington

Had a great day in Turangi, we borrowed some mountain bikes and cycled along the river path, it was about 15km and lovely, if a bit challenging in parts - mainly because I've never riden a bike with more than 3 gears before! So trying to anticipate which gear for a sudden hill was interesting, and resulted in quite a bit if walking too - anyway it was a bit of a giggle.  The afternoon had us white water rafting, which was brilliant, we were on the water for about 2 1/2 hours: very well organised, they even gave us a beer and a hot dog at the end.
Sunday we travelled south again on highway 1 and ended up in the afternoon at Wiakanae - about an hour before Wellington. We called in on Pauline and Friedl and lots of other family arrived, and we had a great time getting to know everyone and working out relationships.  The BBQ was well cooked by Friedl outside, under cover, while it rained cats and dogs! - we ate inside:)  later in the evening we drove down to Wellington with John and Janice where we are staying for 2 nights.  I think we've worked out that John and Pauline must be my 2nd cousins.  John and Janice said the lived up a few steps - an understatement! I'll try and get some photos later, but we drove up a steep hill with a couple of hairpin bends, then carried our luggage (well - Steve and John did) up loads of steps to the house, there are fantastic views though.  More later.

Hamilton and beyond

We picked up a hired car from the Auckland hotel, found our way out of the city and headed south.  Hamilton wasn't very far, so took our time. We found the Auckland botanical gardens, which were great with unusual sculptures all through, and loads of roses that seem to do well in NZ.
  When we arrived in Hamilton we had a pleasant walk along the river before heading to our b & b.  This was good, with a lovely retired couple, (was going to put elderly, but we're nearly that age!) the man had 3 classic cars, - morris Cowley, morris 8 and Morris oxford, so Steve had a good look at these!
Today we set out from Hamilton and went to Hobiton where they filmed the hobbit and lord of the rings.  We saw all the hobbit houses - only fronts as the insides were studios.  It was quite fascinating, they even gave you a drink in the green dragon. 
Tonight we are at Turangi, just south of lake Taupo, we've had our first glimpse of the snow covered volcano, and we also learnt that this huge lake is actually a crater, that was formed in the 2nd century AD.   We're here for 2 nights.

Auckland

Arrived in New Zealand and haven't felt too tired after having dozed on the plane.  had to declare that we had walking boots, and although we had both washed the mud off them before travelling, they weren't clean enough for the kiwis! So - if you want someone to clean your boots, come to NZ !
Caught the airport bus into the city which dropped us very close to the hotel.
We've done some washing and Steve is ironing :) 
We had a look around the harbour area, found an icecream;) then tonight we  met up for a meal with Hayley and Si, - Chris' sister and husband who emigrated a year ago. It was great to catch up with all their news and that they are happy with jobs and life in NZ - except    Christmas will never be the same though!
Weather pleasant, but a few raindrops on the way from the airport!

Singapore again.

Yesterday We had a walk to China town, as its the Chinese New year - or they seem to call it the Luna New year, there are loads of decorations for the year of the horse.  There are shops that sell nothing but decorations, just like our Christmas shops.  In the afternoon, we had our tour which included high tea at raffles Tiffin room, which was excellent! In the evening we went to the night safari at the zoo.  It was an experience to get there - we took the tube and a bus.  The tubes are amazing, they arrive behind a wall with doors, so there's no jumping onto the rails!  The zoo was really busy, we understand because there are more of Chinese on holiday for the new year.  however, once we got on the tram and walked around, it was quite fun.  The trip back to hotel was better as we found a shuttle bus. 
We booked our flights with Singapore airlines using their stop over facility: they gave us loads of vouchers for various attractions, so hardly any of what we've seen has cost us anything! 
Today we took bus to the botanic and orchid gardens, they are very beautiful; it was much hotter and humid today though, so felt it walking around!  Now at airport waiting to go to Auckland.

Singapore

Arrived to wonderfully cloudy but warm weather. Went on the flyer yesterday, it's slightly bigger than the London eye. Had a very early night as we seemed to have lost a nights sleep.  Today we have walked miles it seems, having gone round sentosa island, over on the cable car, into various attractions, and then back to a new attraction called the garden in the bay: its got these huge tree like structures and eden project style green houses.  Have a look on Google!   Hopefully all ok at home.  I can only post photos taken with my phone, so will try and remember to take a few.

Ready for the off

We'll it's 11.48, Steve's buying a meal deal at Boots, and its 10 mins before we find out the gate number.     

How to view.

Just a reminder that when you want to view the blog click the title, - not the part the says to 'view or comment'  A x

Steve watching raiders of the lost arc!

2 weeks to go.

Just setting up the blog page so that I can get it loaded onto the tablets and phone.  Have just booked the taxi too and from Heathrow, so that is sorted, we leave at about 9am on the 17th January.  Got lots to do before then, but really looking forward to the off now :)