Rail, Jail and Glass

Melbourne – 5th-8th January 2011

I am sat in our hotel room in Melbourne, having had a yummy tea; eating Aldi’s dark chocolate butter biscuits and watching Midsommer Murders on TV… life doesn’t get much better than this! Pretty much the highlight of Melbourne… only joking! But it is nice just to chill out once in a while and do something ‘normal’  : )

To be honest we are finding Australia quite tough. With the Australian dollar so strong at the moment everything is really expensive. Jon went out to buy a can of baked beans and a tub of margarine yesterday and it cost him $7… nearly £5. And it wasn’t the most expensive margarine either!!!

So the amount of things we’ve seen and done in Melbourne has been a little limited. There are quite few different attractions in Melbourne that are very similar to those in Sydney. An aquarium, zoo, Maritime Museum and an Immigration Museum for example. There doesn’t seem any point spending money repeating similar activities we’ve done or can do elsewhere.

We’ve also realised that we don’t get a lot of pleasure out of spending money on really posh things. Maybe you could say that most people would say that. But some people enjoy spending money on an expensive hotel or a fancy restaurant whereas there comes a point where from our point of view it’s not worth it. We don’t see the value of it. We went to a Greek Restaurant the other day and had a kind of chicken wrap thing. When it came, there was too much sauce in it, loads of lettuce and about 4 pieces of fatty chicken. This was surprising as I’d made my choice on the basis that it said chicken fillet. Anyway, by the time they’d added drinks and the basket of chips we had with it, the total came to about $40. I’ve never wanted to not pay for food before but I was very temped to walk out the restaurant without paying! Do people do that? I think I would have risked an attempt just to see what would happen – I was so appalled by the food. So that’s why I’d rather go somewhere like McDonalds. Yes, I know it’s the devil in restaurant form but at least you know who you’re off to meet. The food isn’t amazing, or good for you; and yes, no doubt the brand has huge impacts on the environment but I’m not terribly convinced about where the food from a lot of these restaurants comes from. Plus at least the dodgy bits of chicken are mashed up and seasoned to make them edible rather than them being huge chunks of fat that you have to leave on your plate! Furthermore, it’s always a basic price so a good way of getting your necessary calories (and then some!).

Ok, so rant being over… what have we been doing in Melbourne apart from being ripped off by Turkish/Greek restaurants and sitting in our hotel.

We, we arrived by the night train from Sydney and we got in at 7:30am. The night train itself was an experience. Can you believe that they only have two trains from Sydney to Melbourne each day and each takes 11 hours. Now I know Australia is big but its only about 500 miles between the two which meant the train was averaging 50mph. I mean, what on earth?!! Sydney and Melbourne are two of the largest cities in Australia and being relatively close you think they’d improve the link just for the benefit to tourists alone! I was sat next to an elderly lady from Sydney on the train, who was very pleasant and we chatted about a number of different topics during the journey. At one point I asked her why the train didn’t go quicker and she said they weren’t renowned for their train lines… and I was thinking, yes but why is it not going quicker?!! Maybe it’s because of the wildlife on the track etc. I say this because not only did it go no quicker than a local train but the driver seemed to have little control of the speed. Therefore during the night, when the lights were off, seats back and everyone’s trying to sleep, the carriage would slow down when we were climbing and then speed up and roll down the side of a hill. I wish I could have seen outside as I was having visions of the ‘runaway train’. Plus every so often there would be a bang and the carriages would judder. Skippy maybe?

We all awoke at about 6am though, when the sun rose and we had a spectacular view of the bush for a long while before the train started to near Melbourne. It was really beautiful and worth the journey for that. I was also glad that the lady was still alive as I woke a couple of times during the night and wasn’t convinced she was still breathing. Jon was just glad to get off as I’d mugged him off and made him sit next to the 50 year old largish gentleman in front who had shaved his head and left huge patches in various places. *Jon: He had food left round his mouth from the meal before and finger nails that looked like they hadn’t been cut in months. I was not happy about my plight.* Needless to say Jon hadn’t struck up a conversation with him and when we got off he was still muttering about the man having spent most of the journey reading a computer game magazine… “You can imagine he does nothing with his time; no wonder he is overweight…” he said.

Anyway, I’ve digressed again. Having found our hotel (Miami Hotel - which I would definitely recommend as high-class backpacker accommodation), we headed back into town and circled the city on the free tram (hurrah!) to see the sights. We then hopped off and walked through the treasury gardens before finding the perfect grassy patch to settle down for a nap in the shade. As lunch time approached it got quite busy so it seems that we picked a suitable activity to experience the Melbourne lifestyle! The weather wasn’t too hot and I was glad of the opportunity to try and get to the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The Fitzroy Gardens next door are also really nice and in the afternoon we walked through the glasshouse (filled with fuchsias and hydrangeas – so just like home really!) and then were heading to Cook’s parents house which was transported brick by brick from England. However, when we got there, it wasn’t dissimilar to Mr and Mr Holman’s house or any of those in Croston, so we weren’t pulled in by the advert offering us the chance to experience 18th century England!

We’ve been to the Victoria Market twice whilst we have been here. We first visited on the Wednesday evening as it is a night market with food stalls and live music. We also went the next day when it was the much bigger regular market with fruit and veg and just about everything else you get in a market. It was like Ormskirk market but about 1000 times bigger. We spent a couple of hours in there and still had only seen about half of the stalls. Deri would be in absolute heaven! There were wallets galore, reading glasses by the handful and every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable! We passed through again today and what really astounded us was that the stallholders had just thrown away any fruit they didn’t want – like the bits that were damaged or had gone soft. Loads of people were sifting through to see what was left and there was tonnes of stuff wasted! Even when we walked back an hour of so later, we still managed to find a couple of peppers that were perfectly edible. Jon was really upset about it. “There are people starving” he kept saying. “They could at the very least collect it up and feed it to farm animals”.

The previous day we went to see the Old Gaol, where Ned Kelly was hung and  we learnt all about his history. The film produced about it was filmed there and starred Mick Jagger. Is that THE Mick Jagger? Did he really have a go at acting?!! Now THAT I would pay to see! We’ll have to rent it out if we can when we get home. We were also browsing in a second hand bookshop on the same day and noticed a list of the Man Booker Prize had a Ned Kelly story listed on it.  Trouble is books are very expensive here too!

Anyway, the Gaol was very interesting, if a little creepy and disturbing, but at least the climate here wouldn’t have been too cold. It sounds silly for me to be concerned about a prisoners’ wellbeing but a lot of women who came over to Australia looking for a better life ended up in jail because they didn’t find a man to marry and so either had to steal or turn to prostitution. It just seems terribly unfair. No doubt the men were all making themselves a fortune in the gold rush and were finding themselves a wife and as many prostitutes as they fancied! Grrrrr..!

We also got to experience what it would be like to locked up in the holding cells, which only closed in 1994. We were all given sheets with a fake name and offence. Mine said racially aggravated vandalism and I was hoping she wouldn’t ask me to read out my form because there was a Muslim family stood next to me and even though it was completely made up I was even embarrassed to be linked to the idea of it! So of course I was asked to read out the whole form to answer the questions needed for the Sergeant’s book. I was so embarrassed that I giggled my way through it and got told off for not taking my offence seriously! The only thing that wasn’t listed on my form was my age, so when I made up an age of 87 (and everyone laughed) the Sergeant commented that I must use very good face cream. “Yes, Sergeant”, I replied proudly : )
The final part of the Gaol experience was a re-enactment of Ned Kelly’s trial. That also gave us a real insight into the whole Ned Kelly history, plus Jon was chosen to be Ned Kelly – Dad’s always said people from Essex are crooks ; ).

The only other formal experience we’ve taken part in Melbourne is going up the Eureka tower which is the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest skyscaper (tick for Helen’s tick list) and the tallest residential building in the world (double tick!!! Yippee!). It actually isn’t that tall, maybe around the same height as the Eiffel Tower, but it had a boxed glass room that you could go in which extended out of the building by 3m. It’s the only one in the world (TRIPLE TICK!!! Whoop Whoop! Xmas all over again for Helen!). The room was made of obscure glass that turns transparent when you pass a current through it. So as the room goes out, they make it shake and put music on to make it more atmospheric. Then they give you no warning before they flash it to see-through. I have to admit that I let slip a moderate swear word which wasn’t my greatest moment as we were sharing the lift with a lady and 3 children. Hopefully they were also scared enough not to have heard! Anyway, it was pretty cool and wasn’t too bad until you laid on the glass so you couldn’t see the floor. Then there was that whole unnatural feeling rising in your stomach that made you get up after a few seconds!

Other than that we’ve been vegging out in our room the last couple of days, making the most of a 24 hours internet connection that we paid for and keeping out of the 35 degree heat. Madness as it’s still flooding in Queensland! We are going to head out tomorrow on the Great Ocean Road and then we’re trying to get a placement on a farm or homestead for a week before we leave to keep costs down and get an experience of the real Australian life.

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Sydney New Year

Sydney, 28th December –  January 5th

We had a wonderful time staying with Kate and Yuri for New Year in Sydney. With having such a depressing Christmas (minus the exciting rumbles on Boxing Day!) it was lovely to see some family. It was also fantastic to stay in one place for a while after moving around so much – especially with it being such a plush apartment. The dishwasher wasn’t working in the apartment and we were virtually fighting to do the washing up – it was such a novelty to have a lovely washbasin rather than one out the back of a van!

Kate isn’t working yet so she was able to duly dedicate her time to showing us some of Sydney’s beaches : ). We managed to squeeze in a few other sights too but with the three of us all being so laid back and trying to fit into each other’s plans we generally only got out around mid morning!

Yuri had a day off the day we arrived so we managed to walk through the main areas of Sydney including the Botanic Gardens. Some Asian lady was having wedding photos on the front of the gardens with her bridesmaids. Yuri and Kate said this was quite common but I was a bit concerned that there wasn’t a bridegroom in sight! Yuri took us to one of his favourite cafe’s on the Rocks for lunch. He said this was the place where he’d decided that he would ask Kate to marry him. Aaaaawww! There is a romantic in there! : )

Anyway, I can’t really say that we did Sydney justice in terms of seeing all the  sights when we were there. There are some things that we’d like to so when we go there the second time but on the whole it definitely seems like a better place to go and experience living in rather than being a tourist. There are few sights that are comparable in grandness to London and the culture is the same as ours pretty much; the history, our history so there is little to sink your teeth into sightseeing-wise. A lot of the things that we would have liked to have gone to see are things we have at home, like the zoo and the aquarium. They had massive queues  over the holiday period and we’re sooooo expensive because of the strong dollar so we gave them a miss for the meanwhile.

We did go to the Barracks where the convicts lived when they originally arrived in Sydney though. Kate and Jon had looked up Raymen in the Sydney telephone book and there were a handful in there. Therefore I thought we might find one in the electronic list of convicts at the Barracks. Especially as Dad’s always saying the people from Essex are criminals! : ) We looked it up but there was no one. On the other hand, there was a Greaves from Ireland so maybe Dad should consider that before he speaks in future!

Our favourite place in Sydney is definitely Darling Harbour. Yes, possibly a bit touristy, but it has a nice warm feel about it and it’s the perfect place for people watching and a few starter drinks before a night out. The Maritime Museum is at the end of the harbour and we went there twice! What’s hilarious is that I remember going to a couple of different Maritime Museums when I was younger and they were always more my brother’s type of thing. They were full of machines and boats and complicated things I didn’t understand. The one in Sydney is awesome though! Partly because there was a free display on sharks there, but also because they had the yacht that the first women to circumnavigate the globe sailed and a display about a man who’d canoed virtually all the way from Europe  through the sluice canal to Australia.

The second time we went, we paid to go on naval ship, a submarine and an exact replica of Cook’s ship – we were given guided tours of each one so I was in my element! It was really interesting to go on a Naval ship now I’m able to appreciate them. I know my folks took me on a few when I was young but you don’t really get the perspective of things when you’re a child. I just wish my Grandad Bob was still alive so I could ask him about his time in the navy. I remember he used to tell the same few entertaining stories again and again when he starting to lose his memory but I can’t recall the details. Plus, I think I would have liked to ask him what it was like on a day to day basis rather than any dramatic events. I mean, Jon tried out one of the bunk beds and there wasn’t a lot of room! At least it explains why Granddad was so anally tidy! Jon commented that he would do well in the army or navy when he saw the tiny locker and how neatly everything had to be displayed. The sad thing is that he’d probably really enjoy it too! He was absolutely thrilled when he got to go on the submarine. I was looking around thinking, ‘this is hellish – there’s no room and all the pipes are on show..’. Jon’s looking around thinking, ‘this is awesome – there’s no room (I’d HAVE to be really tidy), and look at all the pipes and cables!’

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The thing that struck us about James Cook’s boat was that it was a bit small to be sailing across the ocean in search of new lands. I’d have wanted something a bit larger and more solid I think. There was one area inside the boat where you had to stoop right over to walk – or put your hands down on the floor. This was where the officer level would have been too! If they’d been smarter they would have left that bit for the minions! There were a few cabins where these officers worked and slept. One of them was a naturalist and drew and painted the things he found – what a life! I think that was the same guy who helped fund the trip from some inheritance money he had. He was only in his 20’s!

The most enjoyable thing about Sydney was seeing Kate and Yuri. I’ve only met them both on a few family gatherings and we’ve always had plenty to talk about, being the same age etc. But it was great to really get to know them both and it was also lovely to hear Jon and Kate reminisce about their childhood together. As my brother and I don’t have any cousins it’s interesting to see what that kind of relationship is like. Turns out Jon and Kate’s relationship is pretty near brother and sister and lucky for me, Kate wasn’t shy in putting Jon back in his place when he was teasing me. It was quite entertaining really – and it turns out that Kate and Yuri have a similar relationship to ours as they are both quite opinionated. So Kate and I have developed a kind of ‘Sister in Arms' relationship, sticking up for each other against the boys.

It was also really great to see the Hankster! Hanky was visiting an old Burscough Priory school friend. It was completely random to meet up with Hanky on Manley Beach but really awesome! It turned out that his mate is Suzie Hobb’s big brother, Matt – definite family resemblance – who I used to go to modern dancing lessons with, as well as Adelle. Also, she used to serve on at the Ship years ago and used to call my Dad Uncle Bob! Of course, being the ladies man my Dad can be – he used to love it! Anyway, Matt’s married this lovely Ozzie girl, had the cutest baby together and have child just weeks  away from being born. Yet this didn’t stop them from inviting us over for a BBQ and we had a great evening experiencing life in the Sydney suburbs. The evening finished on a bit of a downer though when we went to get the night bus back into the city. After jogging our way back to the station to make sure we would be there on time, we managed to stand at the wrong stop and miss it! The next one only came an hour later and with an hours ride home we crept into Kate and Yuri’s at about 3 in the morning!

Of course the whole reason for coming to Sydney now was for New Years Eve and it was a really great night. Considering how huge the whole event is – it turned out to be very hassle free… or we just fluked it majorly! As Yuri was only able to finish work at 6pm we didn’t get into the area by the Opera house and bridge – which we were quite grateful for on the basis I think we would have fried if we’d had to wait there all day! So we paid $5 each for a ticket for the docks area at the other side of the bridge, had a nice meal and some wine at home… wandered over to Darling Harbour for the 9pm kids fireworks and then breezed over to the docks for 11pm for a couple of beers and a great view of the New Year’s Fireworks. Seriously – everyone has to do Sydney for New Year’s once – they’re the best organised fireworks I’ve ever seen and so safe too! Kate and I are already planning a reunion in about 10 years time to see the kid’s fireworks show! ; )

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10 Things We Love About NZ!

After a month in the South Island, we’ve had a loooong time to consider what we like about NZ. In fact, there’s a lot! And lot’s that we could do better in the UK. So here’s our Top 10… plus some more photos we didn’t add and a great video of Jonathan Attenborough at the Catlin’s!

1) Music playing in toilets and showers in campsites  - gives you a bit more privacy!

2) Investment in public amenities: however small the town or village… there is ALWAYS a public toilet (useful for us) and an awesome kid’s playground (also useful on occasion).

3) Clothes charity shops being made to look cool, like a boutique… and the clothes being displayed better…

4) The Department of Conservation encompassing EVERYTHING to do with the outdoors (including search and rescue) so it all works really smoothly.

5) Effective and inventive road signs to get you to slow down when driving…
Welcome to ………
No hospital, no doctor, one cemetery

6) iSites and tourist information boards making visiting places so easy… they tell you all the places you can stay, give you prices, ring up and book it for you and tell you how to get there – and all with a smile! We love you iSite!

7) Accessibility to wildlife: tramping routes make it easy for anyone to go walking in the wild! Plus they always have conservation articles in the newspaper!

8) Screen brushes to wash your windscreen at petrol stations…

9) Asking local people for local community schemes Blue Peter Style – you know with the meter to see how much you’ve raised! I have no idea why we don’t still do this – we always just apply for external grants!

10) People that invite you back to their home, even though you’ve only just met them on the beach!

Oh! and we also liked the fact we both met people we know from home… like seeing Jemma that I used to work with in the Rufford Arms as she drifted past MacDonalds in Dunedin.

Jon Attenborough discovers Dinosaur Eggs

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Edinburgh of the South

Dunedin - 21st December 2010

I’ve been really looking forward to coming to Dunedin since we started the road trip. Whether it’s because it’s a bit Scottish or because Jon’s friend from Uni, Dom, came from here; I don’t know the reason but I had a feeling that I would like it. And so far it definitely hasn’t disappointed.

Last night we stayed at a holiday park near the beach so we had a lovely evening stroll along the sand. To get to the beach we had to pass a Links golf course so of course Jon was keen to keep me company. On the beach we had a now compulsory game of Frisbee, watched a dog dig a huge hole in the dunes and then headed back via the local play area with a dinosaur slide and Nessie-style swings. Of course, this was a children’s play area so we didn’t have a go ourselves… ; ) On the plus side, even the smallest of places in the south island have a play area and they have much better equipment than those in the UK. Not that I’ve been looking of course. : )

The caravan park we stayed in last night was a throw back from the Hi-de-Hi  era, with breezeblock buildings painted with flowers and caricatures on the walls. Needless to say that we’re in a different park tonight but it did start to grow on me and it was quite an experience in itself. I did get an awesome night’s sleep though and we’ve had a great day today.

The weather started off pretty dismally today, which is the first day we’ve had like that since we got here. Jon wanted to play golf but with it being super windy we headed out to the Otago Peninsula to see the Royal Albatross colony. The peninsula is heavily dominated by agricultural land and for that reason it felt a lot like home, maybe a bit like the islands off Scotland. It definitely felt like a peninsula and don’t think because there’s a lot of farmland that it’s less attractive than other places we’ve been. It was just as beautiful; but in it’s own distinct way.  

By the time we got to the headland with the albatrosses on it, the clouds had blown away and we had beautiful blue skies even though the winds were gale force. You guys have got snow – we’ve got 140kph winds! For this reason the albatrosses weren’t flying much but we did get a great view of 5 birds sat on eggs and they are massive! We also saw spoonbills on the cliffs (possibly a little disorientated from the wind?!), gannets, spotted shags and even a little owl flew in to say hello! We also watched a really interesting video about long line fishing; how dangerous it is to albatrosses and how easy it is to solve the problem. It was really fascinating to me as I’ve heard all about it in the past, and even post off my used stamps to the RSPB Albatross appeal but I didn’t really know much about the process. I know I’m going to sound really stupid but in my head long line fishing had always been one hook on a really really long line. Not hundreds on a line! Now I think about my version it would not be even vaguely economically viable (doh!) but hey, that’s why I’m the academic one and Jon’s the practical one!!! – cheeky madam! (Jon) I just don’t apply myself in the academic field that’s all.

This afternoon, we considered going to Lanarch Castle but as it’s not got it’s original pieces and it didn’t have a guided tour I figured I’d seen enough castles in my lifetime (thanks to my force-fed historical childhood : )) to give New Zealand’s only one a miss! What’s really sad is that my combined tick box personality and nurtured cultural interest upbringing will probably mean that I have to come back and do it sometime!

With the weather getting increasingly worse (traffic lights swinging precariously over intersections)  we headed to our campsite for the night (with a powered site – but no power due to a power cut. – the wind again!) and had a quick nap before getting tidy for an extravagant meal in town. Extravagant because we’ve hardly eaten out and because it’s a place with people and buildings and everything!!! We ate at a place recommended in the DK Picture Guide, Cafe Nova, in the Octagon. It was wonderfully scrumptious food and really good value too! I would have paid more but don’t tell them! I had a Thai chicken salad with a fabulously refreshing Pinot Gris that went perfectly together. Jon had a seafood Gumbo type thing with whole invertebrates floating around in it but we wont talk about that!!! It’s not that I don’t like seafood or anything?! It’s just that I like to be able to chose the part of the organism I am eating - rather than the whole of it!  ; ) 

High Walls and Waterfalls

The Milford Route and Sound – 13th/14th December 2010

If you ever decide you want to hike (or as the NZ’ers say – tramp?!) the Milford Track; take into account that you need to book about 6 months in advance! We had hoped that this would be the way that we would visit Milford Sound but as the walk was a no go we chose to do the full on tourist thing and drove down the Milford Road to go on a scenic cruise! Whoop whoop!

It’s a 75 mile long road that takes you in and out of Milford Sound from Te Anau.  Considering how long the road took to build (for example - the Homer tunnel was started in the 1930’s and only completed in 1953!) and the fact that it doesn’t seem to have any other use than to bring tourists to the Sound – it’s a good job it’s still popular! Saying that, it is a pretty fantastic car journey and the many DOC campsites on the way were all situated in fabulous settings. I’ll stick a photo below because we got some great shots the evening we drove down. 


The Homer Tunnel you go through is also pretty awesome – the lights on it only change every 15 minutes and when they do, you dip into a completely dark tunnel that seems to be taking you underground rather than to the other side. The most similar experience is the tunnel you go through on a log flume ride before you go down the chute! Childish? Moi?! Never.

We went to Milford Sound expecting to be impressed and  we weren’t disappointed. It’s probably one of the best things we’ve done so far. Jon says it was because the sides of the Sound were so sheer and it was as impressive as the pictures you see in the guidebooks. I enjoyed it because I got to laze around on a sunny boat for 4 hours occasionally spotting the wildlife.

We picked a nature cruise rather than a scenic cruise but I’d guess there’s little difference between the two. However, we did have the bonus of a quick witted narrator who pointed out a few things on the way. At one point he was describing a base jump that took place off the high wall in the Sound.  The guy pointed out that if you jumped off the wall without a parachute you’d have over 10 seconds to consider what you’d done before you landed ‘gently caressing the water’. The other thing that made me laugh was that when we sailed out of the Sound (and I can say that because our boat had sails – for entirely aesthetic purposes only – but sails nonetheless!) our guide pointed out some buoys which mark crayfish storage pots underneath. The man explained how the crayfish lived inside of them before being shipped live overseas to somewhere like Japan. That way, he said,they could ensure that the crayfish arrived in the best condition, fresh and ready for a hot bath and a big night out in a fancy restaurant.

 

Did you know that Milford Sound was named after Milford Haven – the hometown of the Welsh whaler who first sailed down it? Not entirely sure they’re comparable…

Wonderful Wildlife in the Catlins

Monday 20th December

I had an absolutely terrible night’s sleep last night. After getting off the ferry at Bluff we headed East along the South Coast whilst it was still light. The 21st is the longest day here so it wasn’t dark until after 10pm. I can’t believe that we are going to experience the longest day twice in one year… it’s one of my favourite days – maybe I should look into becoming a Druid or Pagan or something of that ilk…

Anyway, we wanted to follow some of the sights listed in the Catlins Tour, which are basically places of scenic and historic interest along the South Coast, and the first site on the list is a headland that sometimes has sea lions on it but is also sadly famous for a huge maritime disaster for NZ. In 1881 a steamboat heading for Melbourne I think, ran aground on the reef literally just off the shore – about 500m out.but when they hit the reef the boat started to sink and for some reason it says that there were helpless onlookers watching it sink over the course of the day. 131 people died I believe.  I don’t know whether there was a storm and that’s what made it impossible to get assistance but due to this event, an inquest later ruled that more safety provision was required on ships in the form of lifejackets and lighthouses were needed in treacherous waters. I suppose people perhaps couldn’t swim them but it seemed really sad that so many people died so near to land.  What was even sadder was that just down the road was is a field where half of the bodies were buried. The first half were sent off for a post mortem but as more and more bodies were washed ashore it became to costly to transport them. I’ve found some more information on it here.

Anyway – I started off saying I’d had a terrible night’s sleep, and I was going to explain why. So we’d had a lovely walk to the lighthouse and on the beach  last night. Lovely and slightly traumatic. We’d gone down to the beach off the cliffs to see if we could spot any sea lions in the distance. Hon spotted one about 1km away – it looked like a brown seashore slug through the binoculars so we turned our attention to taking some photos of the beach instead. We were both so enthralled in our own little photo projects that it was more luck than judgement that I turned around to see the not-so-slug-like bull sea lion bounding up the beach towards us. It wasn’t sprinting but I would say he was definitely jogging with intent and he was only about 150m away. I didn’t know they could move so fast! I didn’t know I could move so fast either!!! I was half way up the cliff path before I’d finished shouting Jonathan. Survival of the sneakiest I say! We spent another 20 minutes or so watching him from the cliff top as he made his way to the water and made Jaws-like noises as he swam in and around the kelp along the shore.

So we’d had a lovely walk, a close escape and a good laugh about it as we settled down in the van for the night. It was lovely and peaceful when I went to sleep. However, we were woken up a few hours later to the van being shaken quite strongly by the wind. The wind was howling and the rain was coming down heavy too. Well, you know me and my vivid imagination. I was picturing sea lions trying to get into the van and the ghosts of the shipwreck being angry for freedom camping on their cliffs! Even after I finally got back to sleep I was awake at 7am just in case someone came along to tell us off! Jon was less than amused as there were 3 other vans there and no sign of authority!

Getting up early did have one advantage though. It gave me another chance to go over to the top of the cliffs and have another scan for sea lions. This time I saw a smaller female lying just next to the bottom of the path to the beach. I was busy taking photos of here from the cliff when Jon arrived to watch another male run down the beach to greet her. I don’t know whether he was protecting her as he’d seen me taking photos from above but it was a very boisterous and affectionate greeting they gave each other. I like to think he’d been off for a swim in the bay whilst she was just relaxing and enjoying some rays. It’s like that with humans on holiday; the men have to go for a walk to explore or just be doing something, whilst the women will sit there reading and sunbathing all day given the chance!

If you were ever based in the South Island for a long time and were homesick from the UK, I would recommend driving through the Catlin area. There’s a lot of farmland there and it’s a bit like the area around Aberdeen. It would also be good for a flat(ish) bike ride. I stress the ‘ish’ there.

Following our wonderful sea lion encounter, we went on to see some other great things along the Catlins route. We went to another bay to see a petrified forest from the Jurassic period. It was amazing to see the eroded tree stumps and imprints of fallen trees now made of stone. We also had two more fantastic wildlife experiences. First of all we got to watch a wonderful Yellow-eyed Penguin pootling over the rocks for half an hour.

The information boards at the top of the beach said stay 20m away from them and to not get in the way of them and the scrub at the top of the rocks so they could get back to their nests as it’s the breeding period. This one either didn’t have a nest or it was an extremely chilled penguin because it didn’t seem in an hurry to get away from the handful of tourists watching its every move.

The second great bit of wildlife experience in Curio Bay was that on our way out back along the beach we rudely interrupted a nesting Variable Oystercatcher who went ape at Jon and flew at him at head height. If Jon hadn’t backed off in a hurry I think she would have been on him pecking his eyes out!

So with time moving on we decided to get a shift on and head up to Dunedin. There were more caves and waterfalls we could have stopped at on the way but we decided they probably wouldn’t even come close to the waterfalls in Fiordland so we made one final stop at a beautiful scenic point where the bush runs all the way down to a perfect sandy beach before we were on our way.

Glacier Country

9th and 10th December 2010 –

Be grateful for what you’ve got…

We had what can only be described as a somewhat stressful arrival to the Franz Josef/Fox Glacier area on Wednesday evening. I’d carefully planned a stay in a Conservation Campsite scenically situated at the northern end of Lake Mapourika, just outside Franz Josef. As we haven’t seen so many lakes in NZ so far it would have been a nice change. That’s if they hadn’t completely commandeered the campsite for use as a storage area for dumpers, diggers and every type of highway maintenance machinery necessary for a patch up job on the adjacent road. We drove past it twice and had gone all the way in to Franz Josef before I even realised it wasthe site of the campsite we were looking for! Thank the Lord that we did – I was beginning to think I was either going nuts or I had read the map totally wrong. Knowing me – either is quite a realistic option isn’t it?! 

Plan B was to stay up the road in Okarito, which is on the coast. When I say Plan B, I should clarify that it was Helen’s Plan B. Jon’s Plan B was to stay central in FJ but as I threw a bit of a tired premenstrual strop things went my way : ) – not my greatest moment I admit. Anyway, the map promised a panoramic view of the Alps (which I heartedly pointed out to Jon) and the only White Heron Breeding Ground in NZ (which I thought best kept to myself ; )). The weather had turned cloudy and overcast for the first time since we arrived in the country but I enthused that it would be brighter by the morning.

The long and short of the tale is that it wasn’t. And the panoramic view might be something I get teased about for the rest of the trip… but on the plus side,   the beach had some awesome skimming stones on it (we’re easily pleased… is it possible that this gets more fun the older you get??!) and the campsite was pretty cool too. It seemed to be a bit of a community venture. It was $10NZ each for adult to stay there but free for kids and the facilities were great. You just put your money in an honesty box and the receipt in your car/van window. This is generally the case in all the Conservation Campsites too – which are government owned. It’s a lovely wholesome system and I hope people respect it so that it stays that way. Probably what England used to be like.

I met a lady just outside the campsite walking around looking like she’d was searching for something. I said hello as she past and she asked if I’d seen a group of children around the place. I replied that I hadn’t and asked if she’d lost them. “Yes” she replied. “But only half of them are mine” she seemed to add as an afterthought.   I had to laugh to myself – if only England was still as relaxed as that too!

Anyway, the best bit is that on the way out past the lagoon, we got a really good view of a Kotuku or White Heron (Egretta alba) gulping away through some fish it was catching. The population really dropped in the past as the feathers were used in ladies headwear and I could see why… in the breeze the feathers on the rump of the bird ruffled delicately and you could imagine how pretty they would look adorning an Edwardian? hat. I think they’d probably tickle a lot too!

So we’ve managed to fritter away a couple of days in the area. Yesterday we had lunch and drove to the car park at the bottom of the Franz Josef Glacier. The idea was that we’d walk to the base but it started to rain as we got there so we had a nice afternoon nap in the back of the van. I think I may have possibly found my ideal form of transport – a portable bed. Awesome. If I’m a snail in my next life I couldn’t be happier.

As the weather didn’t ease, we headed into town to the West Coast Wildlife Centre. Probably a grander title than it deserves but it had displays about wildlife in the area, explained the glaciers and provided an opportunity to see the rarest Kiwi species, the Rowi, of which only 300 exist in a population in Okatiro. Their situation is so dire that all the individuals have been tagged with with a special transmitter that allows the heartbeat of the individual to be tracked by a receiver from a plane flying overhead. If the heartbeat is low – around 46 bpm – it means that the individual is incubating an egg and they go and track down the bird and effectively steal the egg. Harsh for the adults but the egg is then incubated back in a safe environment away from stoats and possums. The juveniles are now reared on a small predator free island in the Malborough Sounds and when they are fully mature they are returned to the Okatiro bush. In the wild, the young Rowi has a 95% death rate. This way, 95% survive.

Today we decided to bite the bullet. The heli-hike might not be available for days due to the weather and we didn’t really want to waste anymore time. Therefore we decided to go on a guided half-day walk to the base of the Fox Glacier and up on to it for an hour with a guide. Jon wasn’t convinced that this would be that different from going on snow but my tick box personality wasn’t to be argued with and we booked on the 1:30pm trip.

It was well worth the money. Yes, we could have walked to the base for free, and we did only spend an hour on the glacier. But being on a glacier is really surreal. I mean, I’ve always thought that glaciers look surreal in books. If you ever see pictures taken in the summer months, what strikes me the most is how they just don’t fit in with the vegetation surrounding them. The photos taken in winter are fine because it’s just them and snow and that makes sense. But a jagged ice river slicing through the cushioned canopies of a forest looks crazy. And it’s even crazier in the flesh. And to stand on one is both surreal and glorious at the same time.

With the rain, there was a lot of water flowing over and through the glacier. It felt bizarre to be stood on something that water was flowing into. I mean, water usually flows along next to you rather than just disappear in a hole or crevasse, doesn’t it?

It was also a lot dirtier than we expected. I think we had something almost ethereal in our minds, but the reality was smudged brown by a pebble dashing of silt, stones and occasionally a car-sized boulder.  A couple on our tour said that it had been a lot cleaner the last time they came 20 years ago. That’s probably more down to a few recent earthquake induced landslips than a lack of a cleaning rota by the local tour companies. : )
At the end of the tour, we got to stand in an ice cave that had only been accessible for two weeks and would be likely to collapse in another three. The ice at the top of the cave was about a foot thick and littered with rocks and boulders above. Water was dripping from the cave ceiling but our guide ensured us that it was ‘perfectly safe’. I questioned our guide’s dictionary definition of ‘perfectly’ safe but it was wonderful inside. Well, at least for the 20 or so seconds we allowed yourself to forget that there was at least 2 tonnes of boulder over our heads!

Little dots above are people ice climbing!

We’re on the road again now… heading down to Wanaka in the dark. I’m quite glad as there seems to have been a few very tall bridges over gorges that we have past already. Just before we left Fox Glacier we went for a coffee in the cafe across the  road from Fox Guides. We met a man inside who looked terribly gaunt, had half his teeth missing and had an injury to his leg. After Jon and I said hello, he decided to plonk himself down on our table. If I’m honest, I thought he looked like the town drunk and he certainly spoke like that, with pauses mid-sentence and repetitions of words and phrases. Anyway, as he spoke he explained that he was born in Fox Glacier and had lived in and around the area all of his 48 years. I was happy to just listen to what he had to say, although admittedly I was slightly concerned that he commented that young people who visited the area knew nothing, but he didn’t seem to have classified us under this description. However, after a momentary visit to the bathroom, I returned to find that Jonathan had typically got to the nitty-gritty of the subject and the guy was explaining that he had developed a serious case of epilepsy and could at any moment have a huge seizure and potentially die in the process. The irony, as he saw it, was that he had previously been a chef in Wanaka and he had used to complain that that had been his lot. In fact he used to get really angry about it. Now this was his lot and he accepted it and it is only now that he realised just what he had before.

So I am grateful for my lot. My chance to see the world; my camera and laptop to share it with you and check everyone’s ok; my snail bed to keep me safe and warm and of course my travelling companion to enjoy every minute with.