Blogs from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 7

I went back to the States for a week in June. While I was there, Coronet Peak closed. We had been open for 10 days with barely a cover of snow on two runs, and then a bad spout of warm weather and rain wiped us out and shut us down. The Remarkables across the way had opened for the season, so they got all the school holiday traffic while we struggled for hours. No one's fault except for everyone who has contributed to global warming ever. When I came back to Queenstown, I spent most of my time working at the office in town doing my Guest Services job and spent some hours up on Coronet where we had opened up for sightseeing and tubing. Days were long and slow, but I managed to get ... read more

We decided to take our route south east towards Dunedin to find penguins. Our crazy NZ Frenzy guidebook told us we could see them for free on a beach, without having to pay the exorbitant fees for a guided trip, (yes we are being tight!) Firstly we made a short stop at the clay cliffs, a rather unusual clay rock formation, I say quick, but the access road was a 4km dirt track, very exciting in the camper! And a 20 minute walk. The cliffs were sort of worth it, see for yourself in the photos. From Omarama we headed south east along a wonderful road along the Waitkaki valley that skirted several lakes, Benmore, Aviemore and Waitaki, to Oamaru. This was supposed to be a quick lunch stop, but we found it well worth lingering. ... read more

After my morning horse riding I obviously grab a quick shower and head off to the lunch spot recommended by the stable girl as a good veggie options place on the way to the cable car or Sky Gondolas as they prefer to call them here. In my mind gondolas are long, pointy boats quanted along by singing Italians so I'm hoping more for the cable car version as the ride up the mountain looks incredibly steep! As I'm finishing my lunch it starts to drizzle. Good job I picked the morning option for horse riding which was lovely and sunny. I decide I may as well go up the mountain anyway as the skies are still pretty clear for views from the top despite the drizzle, but I don't bother with the luge thing, not ... read more

I board the bus to Queenstown and am greeted by gold tooth Dave. For once the rules are missing and instead we just get on with our journey. Dave does give us the route plan and he gives us rough timings for arrival at various stops along the way which are 'down to driving conditions'. Hey Dave, there's virtually zero traffic on the road, it's a glorious sunny day, what driving conditions were you expecting to disrupt your schedule exactly? Think Dave needs to try driving in Iceland in winter to see how driving conditions can effect schedules. The the landscape has very quickly become a lot more hilly and I notice that we drive for mile upon mile with virtually no human habitation. Sometimes the road is climbing so steeply our bus struggles to get ... read more

Par Sylvain : Ce samedi 6 février, nous sommes au départ d’une nouvelle phase de notre voyage. Après avoir dit au revoir à Christine et Jean à l’aéroport, nous nous sommes concertés dans un parc, le temps qu’Eden se fasse changer les pneus, sur la route à suivre pour notre dernière étape d’un peu moins de deux mois sur l’ile sud. Nous repartons sur les mêmes routes vers les montagnes du sud mais sur un rythme beaucoup moins soutenu ! On commence par s’approvisionner à l’usine de cookies et c’est parti avec le soleil cette fois-ci ! Notre première étape sera sur les rives du lac Tekapo, à l’eau plus bleue que le bleu du ciel le plus pur d’hémisphère sud (c’est eux qui le disent !). C’est pour cela qu’au milieu de ces montagnes désertiques, ... read more