Advertisement
Published: April 13th 2007
Route:
Queenstown - Manapouri - Clifton - Invercargill - Slope Point - Tautuku - Pounawea - kaka point - Dunedin Miles:
270 Parenting:
On the road parenting is extremely difficult. You have so little to bargain with, there is no naughty step and every run in with your child is in a public space, so you are always trying to avoid any hint of a tantrum, tears or screaming - especially on campsites where people expect a peaceful holiday. Most of the time the girls are great and they engage with anyone willing to have a chat or play with them - just for a change from us I am sure. But when things go wrong it is really challenging and fluffy bribery has become a daily mantra.
The girls have also become very feral in nature, clambering over anything in their path, sculptures, shopping trolleys, railings, bike racks, parked mopeds, cars, fences! They want to bounce on anything and everything and draw with any pen they can get their hands on - despite the fact we have felt tip pens, colouring books and daily visits to clamber around playparks. They also like to push
shopping baskets along the floor and routinely lie across the aisles, or commando crawl along them getting under other shoppers feet. The only way to avoid it is to keep them completely occupied and plan outings like a military operation so they cannot be outside your command or vision at any point. Initially I thought it was just lots of pent up energy, but they tend to be worse on the days when we don’t cycle and do lots of walking. The bonus of this is that they play together absolutely brilliantly and make toys out of anything to hand, and Lily’s imagination is just incredible when it comes to inventing scenarios. It will be really interesting to see if and how they change when we get back home. Caroline we MISS YOU!
Language:
Manchester: Now so far we have come across signs for places such as: Sheffield, Oxford, Lincoln and the like, but signs for Manchester assault you in the most unexpected places, and in a town the size of Dunedin there are in excess of 20 Manchesters! Go into any big department store and there will be a signpost for Manchester, but don’t expect trams
and the Royal Exchange Theatre, all you will find are curtains, bed linen and towels. Manchester is the Kiwi term for household linens, I guess it is because that is where they all used to come from? Odd!
Diary:
We left Queenstown for the south with the clouds in hot pursuit from the north. But they couldn't catch us as we were on a bus. And what an experience the trip to Doubtful Sound was, it involved a bus trip followed by a lake crossing followed by another bus to get to the boat. For the entire journey there was a commentary from the drivers, covering farming methods, local flora and fauna and history. It was really interesting to finally learn what we had been cycling past! We also managed to squeeze in a trip on a steam engine (The Kingston Flyer) en route.
The overnight trip was complete luxury. We had paid a basic cabin rate but travelling with Lily and Thea mean't we all had to be in one cabin, which turned out to be an en-suite with 4 bunks. On top of this the food was magnificent, afternoon tea, early evening soup then
a full three course evening meal and excellent breakfast...all cooked by a Derby chap, who did his catering training in Buxton. We just had to have 3rds to show our complete approval. We were very pleased that the weather was dry but apparently you want it to be raining to see Doubtful Sound at it's most majestic. The great steep sides of the fjord (it is really a glacial valley) are covered in rain forest and following rains there are endless cascades of water all along the valley walls. In between gorging ourselves, I enjoyed a paddle around in a kayak whilst the girls went out with Ben on a launch. We saw very little birdlife, but saw a seal colony nice and close up, and we twice had a group of dolphins swimming in the wake of the boat - which the girls thought fantastic. Ben even had an early morning swim off the back of the boat at a refreshing 15 degrees. On the way back we had the briefest of visits to the hydroelectric power station.
From Manapouri we cycled onto Clifton and camped next to the old suspension bridge - which provided hours of amusement for
pooh sticks. The day started pretty overcast but turned bright but chilly. Both girls needed all their clothes on plus hats under their helmets. from Clifton we did a long day into Invercargill, stopping at a farm we had been invited to. The girls really enjoyed holding chickens, and feeding lambs and pigs. They also met their first Alpacas and a Donkey. Things turned really chilly after that and we stooped for warming fish and chips just outside Invercargill and once there opted to stay in a cabin. We spent a pleasant couple of days in Invercargill, visting the museum to meet 120 year old Henry the Tuatara, and the rest of the mottley collection - they are all different shapes and sizes and are camouflaged so well spotting them is a lot of fun especially as they range from 3 - 15 cms as well. We also went swimming and visited a few galleries. The girls also enjoyed a couple of great play parks, one with a big water play area where there was everything from water pistols to great fountains that operated by press button. Thea managed to fall off a big swing whilst Ben was swinging her
with his usual vigour. She completed a full 360 somersault round and over the swing and landed in a crumpled pile on the floor..without a single break or bruise. Incredble.
The weather forecast for the following week whilst we planned to be in the Caitlins did not look good, and we set off again in very chilly weather, with the girls wrapped up in everything. It was a long cycle to Slope point but with a strong tail wind we made it in good time. We settled into the camp site and visited the point just as the sun was setting - the most southerly point on the New Zealand mainland. The following day we ambled along, stopping at the petrified forest at Curio Bay, which was wonderful, you could clearly see all the tree stumps and the fallen tree trunks. We went to a museum and I spent the whole time wrestling artifacts which clearly said 'Do Not Touch' from the vice like grip of those too small to read. That night we stayed at a Forest and Wildlife Society hut and we had the whole place to ourselves for about £12. In the morning we trekked back a
few kms to see the tidal Cathedral caves, though the girls thought little of the cavernous space and just wanted to make sand pies on the beach.
From there we cycled to Pounawea and because it was good Friday found the campsite chocca block with Kiwi's. A bouncy castle had been laid on and the girls just bounced until they could bounce no more. We took the following day off to visit Surat bay and walk amongst the Sea Lions - literally you just walk alongside them (keeping at a good distance) along the beach. It was an amazing experience and the girls could for once really see some of the wildlife - in fact I almost tripped over one on our way back! After that the girls played on the beach and in the park - fully wrapped up - as despite being sunny it was very chilly.
On Easter Sunday we cycled to Nugget point with a visit to an old railway tunnel. With our backs turned we suddely heard Lily burst into tears and yell that someone had hit her hard in the back. With no one around, and Thea adamant that she hadn't hit or thrown
a stone at Lily I was mistified. She cried long and hard and eventually Ben worked out she had been swinging on the fence and touched the electric wire on the other side, despite her protestations to the contrary! At Nugget point most of the marine life was too far away for the girls to see apart from 5 yellow eyed penguins - these are incredibly rare and with only 20 breeding pairs we felt lucky to see so many on the beach. The girls thought them uninteresting until one tried to land and the waves kept knocking it over each time it attempted to waddle up the beach. We camped at Kaka point and then cycled off to Balclutha the following day. Within 5 minutes Lily was complaining of cold and so both were decked out in all clothes and ski gloves for the journey. Since leaving Queenstown the average temperature has dropped below 10 degrees and neither Ben or I have enough clothes to keep warm continuously (unless of course we stopped washing them). By the time we got to Balclutha rain was threatening, there was a stong cross wind and the roads were getting very busy due
to the end of the easter bank holiday. With a bus due in within the hour, we opted for the cosy route. Amazingly as we approached Dunedin the weather cleared and it was warm and sunny.
So here we are in Dunedin. We've had 5 fabulous days here spending time with a family we met at Fox glacier (they saw us cycling and identified us a British because of our trailer. Sothey waited for us and when we arrived invited us to stay). Not only have we luxuriated in white fluffy towels, excellent dining every night and toys for the girls, one of their family lent us their car for 3 days so we could drive out onto the penninsula to see Albatrosses. A true blessing as it was foul weather when we got there. Sadly not the best time to view albatrosses actually flying as they are away collecting food for their offspring who are quite large by this time of year. So we saw 4 very large downy birds sat squarely on their nest waiting for their bi-daily feeds. The best time to see the adults in flight is Nov-Jan when they are breeding and hatching their young.
Besides that we've visited a number of museums, and a friend of Suzy and Ali's whose family are the most amazing collectors I have ever met. Apart from vintage cars, tractors, cans, enamel signs, childrens toys, pedal cars, and chain saws there were also lighters, calculators and spark plugs. We even went for a drive in one of the old cars.
So tomorrow morning bright and early we set off on the Taiteri gorge railway to Middlemarch and then cycle the rest of the disused track to Clyde..we just hope that the snow predicted for Tuesday doesn't materialise. We need to head north and quickly!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.121s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0542s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 7;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jenny
non-member comment
my jugs
Have just caught up on everything you've been doing. Apologies for the weather (I feel personally responsible) and the crappy internet but pleased most other things have been OK. Warm clothes will be winging their way towards you in a week. Very impressed by the blog - can't believe you have energy to do anything after a day in the saddle. Only disappointment was - no photos of my jugs!!