Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania - page 2391

Regnet fortsatter osa ner over Punakaiki under natten och vi kastar om planerna. Vi lyckas boka in oss pa buss och tag och ta oss till Arthurs Pass, uppe i de Nya Zeelandska alperna. Vi packar ur lite onodiga prylar och liftar sedan med en armbruten kvinna, som ska till Christchurch och operera sig, ut till vandringens borjan. Forsta kvallen gar vi bara ett litet stycke i latt duggregn innan vi kommer fram till en enslig hydda dar vi stannar over natten. Pa julaftons morgon vaknar vi till solsken och vi traskar vidare langs med en flod upp i dalen. Vi stannar och badar i en fjallback och ater lite senare jullunch bestande av agg och skinkmackor med senap. Mums. Pa eftermiddagen kommer vi fram till en stor stuga (36 baddar, fordelat pa 4 olika sovrum) ... read more

We tried to get a late checkout but they were so busy we couldn’t, however they did clean our room last so we were able to stay in it until 11:00 am instead of 10:00 am. We had breakfast in our room and I made some phone calls on some rentals I saw in the Park City newspaper. We are starting to get anxious to get a rental for ski season. We stored our bags and went into town to complete some errands. The towns we will be in for the next week or so will be even smaller than Te Anau so we had to take inventory on anything we might need until we get back to Christchurch on January 4th. Michael spent some time on the Fantasy Football website and I worked on getting ... read more

We rented a car and drove to Whakatane to meet Steve and his family and spent the Christmas with them. We had a really nice time with them and enjoyed our first Christmas outside Finland. In New Zealand the Christmas is the warmest time of the year so we had barbeques, played games, went for beach and ate a lot. So it felt more like the midsummer festival in Finland. We also did some sightseeing around Whakatane and visited the town of Kawerau. Entering the town brought us memories of Oulu, feeling the familiar scent of the paper mill in our noses. Apparently this is not most popular tourist attraction around the area, judging on the laughter of Steve and Richard when they heard of our visit. However, we learned that when the mill was built ... read more

Det borjar lacka mot jul och vi maste bestamma oss for vad vi da ska hitta pa. En vandring kallad "Inland Pack-track" lockar genom att erbjuda overnattning under ett flera hundra meter langt grottoverhang, dar vi kan ata julmiddag. Darfor aker vi langs vastkusten ner till Punakaiki, dar denna vandring utgar ifran. Pa vagen stannar vi ett par timmar i Westport dar vi koper julklappar och julmat. Dock regnar det under hela resan dit och har tydligen regnat en hel del innan och kommer tydligen att regna en hel del mer. Darfor avrader personalen pa info-kontoret oss fran att ga denna vandring (vi kommer inte kunna komma over floden innan grottan) sa det blev inget med det. Vi trostar oss med att titta pa "Pancake Rocks" vilket ar den stora turistattraktionen i Punakaiki. Stenformationerna i havet ... read more

It's still raining!! It has been raining for the last 3.5 days pretty much non stop. I did not realise it could rain that much. I think the following poem entitled "Rain" pretty much sums it up! It rained, and it rained, and rained and rained. The average fall was well maintained. And when the tracks were simply bogs, It started raining cats and dogs. After a drought of half an hour We had the most refreshing shower. And then, the most curious thing of all A gentle rain began to fall. Next day was also fairly dry (save for the deluge from the sky) which wet the party to the skin, And after that.... the rain set in! We have managed a bit of walking but it has all been a bit on the wet ... read more