Blogs from Cromwell, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Cooked! Stuffed! Buggered! Rooted! Challenged, physically and mentally. We cannot remember a time when we were so exhausted. A difficult trail in undertaken during the rising heat of the day. There was no escape. Shade was non-existent unless one hugged the side of the cliff face which we did numerous times in our exhaustion. We coped with the first 20km from Cromwell to the “Coffee Float”, two small river craft selling coffee, icecream, burgers, muffins, cold drinks, etc, quite well. Literally metres from the Coffee Float the trail morphed into one out of a horror movie. The Cairnmuir Ladder began with steep climbing switchbacks with steep drop offs that seemed never ending. (Watch the 2min and 1min 20 sec videos) We walked most of them. It rose 130 vertical metres. There is a total of 580m ... read more

I spent the morning doing laundry. I stayed to watch my clothes, though I noticed that most people did not bother to do so, and I was able to help a teenaged boy who wasn't sure what settings he should choose on the washer. There was a separate laundry building, shared by the Pinot Lodge backpackers and the Chalets RV park. Laundry was a reasonable $6 a load -- three to wash; three to dry. Unfortunately, once again my wash did not dry in an hour, even though I selected Perm Press rather than Delicate. So I had a long wait, especially since it was hard to read Plum in the sunlight. The benches near the laundry were a bit low, too. In the afternoon, after trying and failing to chat with Jim -- I do ... read more

Wireless internet is back up, at least for the moment. I bought four hours' worth at $15 and had a good chat with Jim. I hope it is 4 hours total and not four continuous hours! I went down to Rainbow Takeaways for breakfast, having no other practical option, and bought a nearly-inedible bacon and egg sandwich on New Zealand's equivalent of Wonder Bread, which set me back $5. I choked it down, and decided that a trip to the supermarket should be my top priority. The owner did drive me in, at about 11:30, and came back for me at 2. I spent the time in Cromwell's shopping district. The town was largely drowned by a dam in the 1970's, so everything was comparatively new, and somewhat quickly and cheaply built. It is warm ... read more

On slopes above the Lowburn Valley, north of Cromwell, is an unusual and fascinating home. It is filled with art, and the laughter of its owners, Sally and John. It was a wonderful place to stay. As we arrived, the angles and shapes in the house design stood out in stark relief in the hot late summer sun. Sally and John are enthusiastic about their art and they have some very wonderful pieces displayed, not the least of which is the house itself. The many corners and many roofs evoked the feel of a jumbled cluster of buildings. As the hillside on which it was nestled was dry and stoney, images of a Mediterranean village came to mind. The house is in two sections with a path (road) running through it. We were housed in the ... read more

Well it has been a while since the last update, but as no one has chased us (all getting bored now??) we thought we would wait till we had lots to tell. Well we left you just after Ian’s parents left us. After saying goodbye in the airport, we headed south to Central Otago on the work trail. We had already confirmed some work in Queenstown, but had trouble finding reasonably priced accommodation, so found another job on arrival in the area, it was working on vineyards mainly in a small town called Cromwell. We also managed to stay on, one of the vineyards, so it was a good money saver. Here we did some bud rubbing - clearing trunks, shoot thinning - picking the best shoots and clearing the rest and we also did some ... read more