Blogs from Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 8

Det kloer over det hele. Hele tiden. Jeg kan huske, Nikolajs mor en gang sagde: "Saa lad det dog kloe, det er ikke saa meget at goere ved det," men lige nu kan jeg se fordelen ved Nikolajs ide om at tage godt med toej paa og blive indenfor med Anders And indtil insekterne forsvandt. Bastarderne her hedder sandflyes. De maa vaere faetre og kusiner til det der i Norge hedder knot. De bider, bider og bider. Den foerste hele dag jea havde i Wanaka var det det mest fantastiske solskinsvejr. Jeg koerte ud i Mt. Aspiring nationalpark, en times koersel nord for byen. Gik en tur opad Rob Roy Valley, en slugt der foerer op til et sneklaedt bjaerg og vandfald der loeber ud fra gletcherens underside. Vandreruden var 10 km og havde 300 m ... read more

A scaled-down version of the Kepler Track. The Kepler is a loop hike, but because of my knee, I'll only be doing the last part of the loop. There's a forty-five minute walk from town to the start of the trail, then I'll be hiking through the bush along the course of the Waiau River for about three hours before finally cutting across to Motorau Hut (another two hours). It was a rainy day. Yes, it rained for pretty much the entire walk in, but as I was mostly in the bush, the trees kept the worst of the rain off and it was really quite pleasant. For the most part the trail was well groomed and not terribly rocky (almost what you might find in a city park). Oh, and the Waiau River is big ... read more

Saturday 12-18 We went to the local Christmas market today – very quaint with crafts and baked goods, fresh meats and x-mas toys. I found my favorite souvenir in NZ there: possum fur nipple warmers. If I could buy one for all you girls I would! They don’t leave the boys out either; they have possum fur willy warmers of you need those too. :o) We walked around Te Anau; it’s a small town mostly set up as a stop over for backpackers going to and from the treks and the fiord lands. We got to our motel (a holiday park) and, once again, my cheap ass was amazed at how much this country costs! Maybe I just don’t understand what “holiday park” means in NZ but they charge you a base price for a room; ... read more

Yippeeeeeeeeee we did it!!! xx... read more

Diana ‘struck gold’ with her on the spot decision to turn right rather than left out of the campsite and to head further into the Otago goldfields before heading south into Southland (!) … if only navigating in Auckland was as easy. The journey to Arrowtown was short but very beautiful, through a valley reminiscent of Glencoe in the sunshine! We were immediately taken with this quiet, little community which obviously serves as a refuge from the frantic activity of Wanaka and Queenstown. The clapboard buildings of this goldrush town were well-maintained, and although gentrified by beautiful gardens and attractive street furniture, you could still imagine what this place would have been like as a frontier town. The assay scales in the NZ Bank window, the town gaol, the shanty cottages of the miners and the ... read more