Blogs from Lake Pukaki, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

It’s always an aim in South Island to visit Mount Cook and to be able to see it , which I actually did back in 2011. So fingers crossed Jenny and I set off from Oamaru and again taking a route less travelled we came upon a place where there were Maori rock paintimgs and a mobile coffee van ! Yes it really was , not a camper van disguised as a coffee van .... like the famous Jucy Lucy vans ( I forgot to put a photo of one in the last blog). It’s not very often I get an uncomfortable feeling about a place ,Takirora, but as we walked under the rock face to see these paintings I didn’t like it , if there was an earthquake we wouldn’t stand a chance. My experience ... read more

So we're in Queenstown now and before our memories of Tekapo get swamped by the majesty of Queenstown, I want to reflect further on our time in and around Lake Tekapo. I was tired last night and fear that I didn't convey the depth of my love for Tekapo. I might even have been pronouncing it wrong. I was pronouncing it Tee-Car-Po but the post office lady, the waiters and the pharmacy attendant in Cromwell pronounce it Teh-Kah-Po. But, with all our walking and with feeling natures call half way through our first hike - we prefer to pronounce it Tay-Ka-Poo. Get it? Take a Poo? And hike might be too strong of a word. There's no special hiking boots or walking poles. We don't prepare and we don't take a compass. I prefer to call ... read more

Leaving the Wizard's Glen behind we started the long road back towards Queenstown. The unsealed section seemed to go on twice as far as it had when we came out. Then the road back to Queenstown was fun but hard, mainly because the local white-van-man behind me was not at all happy that I was taking the tight windy road at only a few kilometres per hour above the speed limit. Beyond Queenstown we headed onwards towards Lake Tekapo. Up to this point we had seen so much of the stunning beauty that the South Island brings forth in abundance that we thought there couldn't be any more surprises... we were wrong! Our road led us through an agricultural area before gently lifting upwards. Before long we were quite high and then suddenly below us opened ... read more

Day 2 on Contiki was not too bad. After a subpar breakfast we loaded up on the bus and headed out to Lake Ohau. We took stops every couple of hours at places and so the drive itself wasn't too bad. One of the stops was at a glacier fed lake. I forgot the name but I think one of them was something like Lake Pekaku. It was pretty amazing. The water was like this pastel blue with the snow tipped mountains in the backdrop. I had never seen water the color of that lake, which was pretty cool. We stopped at a couple lakes before we stopped for the night at Lake Ohau. On the drive we were told about the optional activities for the southern NZ island, and I think I almost checked everything. ... read more

26th March 2009 - ACHEY LEGS FOR CYCLING!!! I slept ok apart from the aching legs!! I have done a lot of exercise in my time but I have never felt pain as I did in my legs today after the walk down the mountain. My quads were killing and I could hardly walk properly they were that stiff. Partly my own fault as I failed to stretch once I had got to the bottom of the mountain but by gum…this was pain!! Nat felt pretty much the same and neither of us were looking forward to getting on the bikes today!! I managed to crawl out of bed and hobble to the shower. I hoped the warm water may help but no such luck…the pain was here to stay!! We then had a tasty breakfast ... read more