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Published: August 6th 2007
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Just woken up from a very weird and vivid dream. I dreamt that we had been travelling round the world for 5 months visiting all sorts of exotic, hot places. It would appear that I have woken up and am back in England in late December. Outside it is very cold and crisp. Everyone looks like they do back home and the place seems very familiar. You can see your breath when you breathe and Mrs Deane is complaining of the cold. Unless....
...Just maybe it wasn't a dream and we've ended up in a version of England on the other side of the world. Maybe we're in New Zealand. That could be it.
In the dream I was having we were just about to leave Australia and had headed to Cairns airport to wait for our plane. If you ever need a cheap bed for the night you could do a lot worse than this airport. Very comfy benches ensured a very cosy nights sleep. Highly cost effective.
After 3 flights we were in a strange new land that looked just like England. Green, cold and very lush. Well, it looked like England would have done about
100 years ago. Incidentally, one of our flights was by LAN airways so I managed a cheeky Chilean beer as we were technically on Chilean land (or air). Whilst waiting for a connecting flight I managed my first NZ beer and it was delicious.
When we finally arrived in Christchurch we found our way to the New Excelsior on Manchester St and collapsed ready for an early start the next day.
Our first day in NZ was our organisation day. As you can imagine, coming from tropical Queensland we weren't exactly prepared for the cold. It topped out at 10C on day 1 so we needed some warm clobber. I transformed myself into winter Dave with the addition of one coat. Mrs Deane managed the same transformation with the aid of one coat, a pair of gloves, a hat, two tops and some trackie bottoms. We now look suitably like models from the latest C&A and Burtons catalogues.
We had a gander round the town of Christchurch and it's lovely. Its like a slightly more modern version of Oxford or Cambridge with a lovely river (the Avon) flowing through the middle. It's got a beautiful cathedral slap
bang in the middle so we had a climb to the top of the tower for the views out and about. We had a picnic lunch in the botanical gardens which are looking very autumnal with browns and reds everywhere.
And then it was time to pick up the transport. Our campervan. Nice and colourful with beautiful drawings of birds all over it. Unfortunately we're not talking exotic page three lovelies here - it's birds of the ornathilogical (sp!) variety. It's a decent van though with everything a man could want for life on the road - a steering wheel, 4 tyres, a bed and a gas cooker.
In the evening we headed out to New Brighton for our first night in the van. Was very comfy and we both had an excellent nights sleep. In the AM we headed up to summit hill (straight up a road to about 700m) for views out over town and all the way to the Southern Alps. And then we hit the road heading south. Just out of town and we pulled to a dramatic stop, did a u-turn and stopped in at a cookie factory. We needed supplies for the
trip and this looked like a decent place to pick them up.
It was at this point tht we gave a name to our little van - Cookie. Not only due to the great biscuit shop but also as we were on our way to Mount Cook. It seemed very appropriate in a completely unmanly way.
The rest of our day passed in a blur of stunning scenery with snow topped mountains, beautiful lakes, barren plains, the full works basically. So far this country is shaping up to be the most naturally stunning place we have ever been. We rolled into the town of Lake Tekapo in the late afternoon for views of the Southern Alps over the turquoise lake with a beautiful little church stood on the shore and a statue of a sheepdog. We then trundled (as that is as fast as the van goes) round to the next small lake and pulled up for the night. I cooked a delightful chilli and we settled down for the evening in the back of our van with a box of wine and a few beers and some books and cards.
Lake Pukaki was the first stop
in the morning with crystal clear views of Mount Cook at the far end. We would have stayed longer gazing at the view but we had to get out of the way of some Japanese tourists and we realised that the clouds were rolling over the mountain so we had better get a wriggle on.
It was another hours drive up to Mount Cook which was a stunning drive. We got held up for a bit by about 1000 sheep on the road and we had to wait for them to make their way baaa-ck to the side of the road to pass. Once at Mount Cook we set off for our walk.
When hiking in the mountains you must always be prepared especially if it snowing, close to zero and gusting at 80kph. So we set off with no water and Mrs Deane sporting her best Michelin man look and me in my ASBO gear complete with knock-off South East Asian Adidas pumps. We were gone about an hour and 45 minutes up through the Hooker Valley in search of our very first glacier. I was awestruck when I first saw it and Mrs Deane thought it
was just a little dirty looking. Oh well. The scenery was dramatic with raging rivers, snow (including all over us) and cliffs and crags. We could just imagine where the summit was as the cloud had rolled over completely.
After the walk we were in need of a tonic so headed to The Hermitage - posh hotel with the best views of the mountain. Of course they count for nothing if the cloud obscures the view. Then we headed back down the long route back to civilisation. Mount Cook is a great trip and a good start to our wilderness tour. Incidentally, the Southern Alps were used as the Misty Mountains in LOTR so it was our first movie set of the new country. And our second wasn't far away as we rumbled through Twizel. This place was a small backwards kind of town which they used as the base for filming the Battle of Pellennor Fields in the surrounding vales.
We then pulled up in a layby 20km south for our sleep time. It was a very dark layby and Mrs Deane insisted on all doors being locked and double checked. She was a little worried. Did
she need to be....
That's all for this episode (thought I'd leave it on a cliff hanger...)
Beer 106: Fosters, Australia, Bottle, 5.0%, 6.0, Can't believe it took to my final night in Oz to get a Fosters. Tastes just like it does at home - very average.
Beer 107: Cristal Lager, Chile, Can, 4.6%, 7.0, Better than Fosters but not by too much
Beer 108; Mac's Sassy Red, New Zealand, Draught, 4.5%, 8.5, off to a cracker in NZ - a fine beer
Beer 109: Tui IPa, New Zealand, Can, 4.0%, 7.5, the firt beer ampled in Cookie and a decent start.
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