The last weeks activities (or non-activities!) have been dictated by the weather. After a perfect weekend, things started to deteriorate from Sunday afternoon; forcing us to abandon our plans to tramp the Rees-Dart track, as heavy rain made the unbridged river crossings treacherous. However, we haven't walked for years in the U.K. for nothing; all those hours spent in Petes Eats looking miserably at the rain outside had to come in useful sometime and we found other amusements! We had a fab time in Wanaka! On Saturday night we went to the local cinema; which combined a bar, cafe (huge pizza and chocolate cookies the size of a satellite dish) with a small theatre; but no rows of seats here. You make yourself comfy on one of a selection of sofas, armchairs and even the shell of a bright yellow moggie minor to watch the film; called 'The Band's Visit', it was an incredibly funny Israeli film about an Egyptian Police Orchestra who get lost in a small Israeli town (keep up!), subtitled in Hebrew, Arabic and English. They even stop the film halfway through so you can top up your beer and wine glasses! To prove that civilisation reaches all corners of this country, we set our alarm clock for 6am on Sunday morning to watch Liverpool (live) rescue the points against Portsmouth. Dragging ourselves away from Wanaka, we drove to Glenorchy; a hamlet at the head of the Wakatipu Lake where the peaks of the Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks come face to face. Incredibly scenic, the town is called the 'Gateway to Paradise' (literally, there is a farming settlement called Paradise a little further up the road) and was a filming venue for the Lord of the Rings films (as the volume of LOTR tours would testify!). Lowering skies and blustery winds and a nasty weather forecast greeted us. Rain soon followed. The Rees-Dart looked improbable. Did we sit out a day and wait? Given the only accommodation available was a cabin, the size of a dog kennel, on the local camp site and the unsettled forecast we decided we'd be barking mad to stay there and the following day, our tails between our legs, we drove back down the valley and based ourselves at Queenstown. Queenstown is the home of the bungy (we went to the bridge to view those prepared to pay $165 to throw themselves off. Didn't inspire us to follow) and any other extreme, knicker wetting activity you are daft enough and rich enough to want to do. We went for a couple of day walks, including an ascent of Ben Lomond, the local day-walk peak. The cloud cleared as we descended to give us a good view over the town and lake (picture). Fab scenery though; especially when the sun came out in the evening and you could sit and look a the views and the paragliders circling above. Yesterday, we headed south to Manapouri. Another wet, cold, windy day. So we took a boat ride across the lake to visit the largest Hydro-electric plant in NZ. You go underground and descend, in a bus, for 2km to the machine room, where water from the lake, which has dropped 170m from an intake above ground, drove huge turbines. Impressive. We also had the opportunity to drive up the Wilmot Pass (the most isolated road in NZ and can only be reached by boat- the buses were taken over by barge. The road was excavated to carry supplies in from the sea when the power station was being constructed) where we had a great view of Doubtful Sound. We are now in Te Anau; ready to start our first 'Great Walk' - the Kepler Track. Four Days and Three nights of (we hope!) wonderful Alpine scenery - and we hope last nights snow on the route doesn't linger!
Friday, 13 February 2009
Friday 13th February 2009
The last weeks activities (or non-activities!) have been dictated by the weather. After a perfect weekend, things started to deteriorate from Sunday afternoon; forcing us to abandon our plans to tramp the Rees-Dart track, as heavy rain made the unbridged river crossings treacherous. However, we haven't walked for years in the U.K. for nothing; all those hours spent in Petes Eats looking miserably at the rain outside had to come in useful sometime and we found other amusements! We had a fab time in Wanaka! On Saturday night we went to the local cinema; which combined a bar, cafe (huge pizza and chocolate cookies the size of a satellite dish) with a small theatre; but no rows of seats here. You make yourself comfy on one of a selection of sofas, armchairs and even the shell of a bright yellow moggie minor to watch the film; called 'The Band's Visit', it was an incredibly funny Israeli film about an Egyptian Police Orchestra who get lost in a small Israeli town (keep up!), subtitled in Hebrew, Arabic and English. They even stop the film halfway through so you can top up your beer and wine glasses! To prove that civilisation reaches all corners of this country, we set our alarm clock for 6am on Sunday morning to watch Liverpool (live) rescue the points against Portsmouth. Dragging ourselves away from Wanaka, we drove to Glenorchy; a hamlet at the head of the Wakatipu Lake where the peaks of the Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks come face to face. Incredibly scenic, the town is called the 'Gateway to Paradise' (literally, there is a farming settlement called Paradise a little further up the road) and was a filming venue for the Lord of the Rings films (as the volume of LOTR tours would testify!). Lowering skies and blustery winds and a nasty weather forecast greeted us. Rain soon followed. The Rees-Dart looked improbable. Did we sit out a day and wait? Given the only accommodation available was a cabin, the size of a dog kennel, on the local camp site and the unsettled forecast we decided we'd be barking mad to stay there and the following day, our tails between our legs, we drove back down the valley and based ourselves at Queenstown. Queenstown is the home of the bungy (we went to the bridge to view those prepared to pay $165 to throw themselves off. Didn't inspire us to follow) and any other extreme, knicker wetting activity you are daft enough and rich enough to want to do. We went for a couple of day walks, including an ascent of Ben Lomond, the local day-walk peak. The cloud cleared as we descended to give us a good view over the town and lake (picture). Fab scenery though; especially when the sun came out in the evening and you could sit and look a the views and the paragliders circling above. Yesterday, we headed south to Manapouri. Another wet, cold, windy day. So we took a boat ride across the lake to visit the largest Hydro-electric plant in NZ. You go underground and descend, in a bus, for 2km to the machine room, where water from the lake, which has dropped 170m from an intake above ground, drove huge turbines. Impressive. We also had the opportunity to drive up the Wilmot Pass (the most isolated road in NZ and can only be reached by boat- the buses were taken over by barge. The road was excavated to carry supplies in from the sea when the power station was being constructed) where we had a great view of Doubtful Sound. We are now in Te Anau; ready to start our first 'Great Walk' - the Kepler Track. Four Days and Three nights of (we hope!) wonderful Alpine scenery - and we hope last nights snow on the route doesn't linger!
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