NZ +6: Skippers Canyon in the 4x4

Just got back from our 4x4 journey into Skippers Canyon, which is an 19th Century gold mining track up into the mountains behind Queenstown.

I'm not sure that words will adequately describe either the views, the sheer drops, the sliding about on the mud in 4-wheel drive as the Shotover River winds its way through the gorge some 80m below. So here come the photos...

This was while we were still on the metalled road going up to the ski field. And we still felt quite safe. Our driver, Del, was very reassuring. But also had that "no-one's died yet" sense of humour, which was well meaning, I'm sure.



Anyway, here comes the dangerous bit...

This was typical of the road ahead for about 17km, the distance the miners walked down the valley out of Queenstown to get to the first gold fields. The road was built by them, sometimes taking 6 months to build 20m if they had to drill through rocks...



Sheer drops on either side at all times...



And lots to see on the way...

This old bridge used to be used as a bungee jump, but it's so far out of the way and at 85m, not really thrilling enough any more. Thrilling enough for me though, even without the elastic and the throwing myself off it...



When there was a huge mining community living here, they needed a school. And they had one. It's just over the bridge and has been restored by the NZ Culture people. There was no curator there and no locks on the doors. It's so far out that you just open the door and have a look round. They ask you to shut the doors again when you leave. It's the least we could do...



It's worth remembering at this point that this school house is an hour and a half's drive along roads like the ones in the previous pictures. It says on the wall that they were subject to inspection like every other school, but when they saw the inspectors coming up the road, they just taught some English and Maths for a couple of hours till they went away again...



This is Del, making tea for us. They think of everything...



And now for the Lord of the Rings bit. If either Roger or Anne Bailey is reading this, they will correct any factual errors.

This is the bit where Harry, fleeing from the death eaters is pursued across the river. He's unconscious and on a white horse (good) with Professor McGonagle. The baddies (black horses) get washed away by a (thankfully absent) CGI wave which comes round this corner...




Anyway, we got back safely. More to come tomorrow...

NZ +6: Corporate Hot Chocolate

Needed after being out in the cold, but only a 4/10. Hanmer Springs rated 8/10. There will be a top ten leagure by then end of the holiday.

NZ +5: The Ice Bar

We went into Queenstown yesterday evening for food and drink and generally to stretch our car weary legs. There's a free shuttle minibus from the lodge, so no need for the car here yet.

It was very weird being out at 7pm and it being dark, as we've just come from British summer, but anyone who knows me knows that I prefer winter, so am really in my element. It should be dark when you go out in the evening!



The town is very bustling, even in mid-winter, as it's a ski centre. Lots of nice places to eat and drink but probably not enough time to try them all in the three days we are here.

But we did go to Minus 5, which was actually minus 8 last night. It's commonly known as the Ice Bar. Basically a refrigerated room of the sort you get in supermarkets to keep meat in. But done up as a bar. Everything is made of ice, including the glasses you drink out of...

You're only allowed to stay in there for half an hour, or you might get hyperthermia, and they do you up in a big coat and gloves before you're allowed through the door.



(I include this photo of me only to show I am actually here and not just sitting in my room at home a la Shelley from the Rovers, getting the photos of someone else's holiday off the internet.)

When I say that everything is made of ice, I obviously mean most things. A cash register of ice would be just impractical. You get a free cocktail, and the whole thing is sponsored by a popular brand of vodka.



I have lots of photos from in the bar, partly because you had to keep your fingers moving otherwise they would seize up, and partly because I was experimenting with different modes on the camera. The whole place had a very blue tinge to it, which didn't really come out if you used the flash...



...but did if you didn't...



We enjoyed ourselves anyway...



...and, replete with vodka, we came back out into the relative warm and went off back to the lodge to bed.

Footnote: before we went out into Queenstown in the evening, we booked 4x4 off road trailing, which we are doing this afternoon. And jet boating which we are doing tomorrow morning. And a helicopter journey up into the mountains which we are doing tomorrow afternoon. Thought for several seconds about jumping off a bridge suspended only by a piece of rubber band, but decided that dollar per minute, there were better ways of spending money... And also it looked too scary.

NZ +5: The Journey to Queenstown

It's actually Wednesday morning now, so really NZ +6,(and Happy Birthday, Chris Chappell!) but I'm going to post some photos of the journey yesterday which, although long, was just amazing. To be honest, if we had stopped at every view which was worth a photo, or greater appreciation than just zipping past at 120 (that's kph, so don't worry!). we would have never got here.

Here's a sample:



This was our first really good view of mountains in the distance. The first part of the journey (about 4 hours) was characterised by views like this, mountains which never seemed to get any closer and very long straight roads.



More of the same, which makes it seem very tedious, which it wasn't at all. Every two minutes the view seemed to change completely as the long straight road turned a slight bend into another stretch of long straight road.

And of course, we got our closest to Mount Cook, NZ's highest mountain, which, going the way we went, yout get a view of for about 5 minutes. You can't see it before you get to the viewpoint at all, and it disappears completely after you leave. Being as it is the middle of winter, there were about 3 other people there...



It was a bit hazy, and that photo was on 11x digital zoom. The next one gives you a fairer impression of how far we were away from it still..



We stopped at a place called Omarama for coffee, that's where I posted the last entry



The word fast was somwhat of a misnomer as I think the whole of the town communications infrastructure was carried thus:



Anyway, after Omaramamama, we got into the mountains. High passess and narrower, twistier, altogether more dangerous roads. But still with views British people would pack a picnic for...



Finally arrived at Queenstown about 5.30pm and settled into the lodge...



..and we were all a bit disappointed with the view from the window...



All for the equivalent of £40 a night, breakfast included. That's £40 for the room, for all three of us. Not each.

NZ +5: Arrived in Queenstown

The journey to Queenstown took about 8 hours in total, stopping for lunch and regular coffee.

The scenery was just breathtaking. I'll describe it all better when I have time.

I can't share any of it with you at the moment, as the computer I'm on is not equipped with any form of plug to attach a digital camera. It's barely equipped with a keyboard, but a high percentage of the most common letters are here. If I have to write anything in Maori, I've had it. I suspect that might be the case over the next four days, and you will have to wait until the weekend for the slideshow.

We stopped at Mount Cook. Well, at the Mount Cook viewpoint - it was still another 50km away or thereabouts. Again, you will have to wait for photos. But you've probably seen it anyway...

The view from the lodge window is fantastic, as is the view from the bathroom window, which has no blinds. Hence you can shower while looking out over snow capped mountains.

It's actually nothing but snow capped mountains here. But scenery fatigue hasn't set in yet...!

NZ +5: Off to Queenstown

We're up early this morning as we are off to Queenstown. Hoping to get some good views as we drive into the mountains, particularly of Aoraki (Mount Cook), NZ's highest mountain.

Depending on Internet access, I might not be posting until we get back to Christchurch at the weekend, so see you then!

NZ +4: Cemetery and Sulphur

Today we drove north out of Christchurch into Northern Canterbury...
(click the map for a better view)



...to a small village called Waikari.

We went there because David's dad grew up in the village and his grandparents are buried here. Their final resting place has an amazing view...



We also went to see his Dad's old school...



(notice map of NZ on playground)

...where we had a chat with the peripetetic drama and music teacher. She wasn't really rushed off her feet as the school only had 30 pupils with her, a principal and two other full-time teachers. And if you think that would be expensive to run, you are right. She was saying that a lot of the schools in villages such as Waikari had been closed down and children were bussed away to larger towns. Here though, the principal had obviously done her NPQH and worked out her vision of how to up pupil numbers...



Helen was the principal. We didn't see her. She was at the school house having lunch and, perhaps, taking calls.

We then drove further up Route 7 to Hanmer Springs, which is a lovely little resort village. They have strong smelling sulphorous hot springs which you can go and wallow in, if you feel inclined. I didn't. I had a hot chocolate instead. It was the absolute best hot chocolate ever - very silky and smooth, swirly chocolate syrup in the top and marshmallows - and it was served in something the size of a cereal bowl...



(Phone cameras are useful when you don't want to attract attention to the fact that you are trying to take a picture of your drink in case they cart you off to the funny farm.)

Hanmer nestles in the foothills of the Southern Alps, so there's a lot of scenery like this, which isn't really done justice by a photo.



You also have to cross this bridge to get to it...



...which, if we'd seen it from this angle before we did so, we might not have done. It is single track and has a rather pleading sign at each end asking for only one heavy vehicle to use it at once. Were we heavy? What if we weren't heavy, but someone following us was? The additional weight of someone bunjy jumping from the sides might have have left us starring in When Bridges Collapse on Channel 5.

As promised, here's the photo of the car and some scenery...

NZ +3: The Maori Experience

Had the full cultural experience this evening at Willowbank. New Zealand history, culture, wildlife, bumper stickers etc all in an hour and a half. I can safely come home now knowing there is nothing left to see...

I was chosen as tribal chief and had to stand there while a Maori warrior came out and gave it all the sticks and waving and shouting and generally scary stuff about two feet away. Then he dropped a leaf on the ground and I had two choices. I could either (a) tread on it, precipitating war or (b) pick it up and rub his nose with mine, meaning we were allowed to go in and watch the singin'n'dancin'. Advised well by the Maori guide (General Grievous in a rug) I chose the latter.

This is the Poi. Basically it's what the women do instead of the Haka* and involves swinging some oversized tennis balls around their heads on the end of a bit of string. I'm sure it had immense cultural significance.



It perhaps has less cultutral significance when done by women in anoraks...



This bit involved them chucking sticks at each other. I think we have to remember that this is the equivalent to something at home like Ye Olde Sherwood Forest Experience, where some students dress up like Robin Hood and his merry men, while perhaps still wearing their trainers, and pretend shoot arrows and steal your wallet as entertainment for tourists.

The give-away that these people were not quite the full Maori ticket was that they dropped the sticks. A lot.



The singing was outstandingly good though. I hope you spotted the genuine Maori guitar in the background.

They then did do the Haka, sans rugby kit, bringing the good ones to the front.

They did the mad staring eyes and the sticking their tongues out.





(* Although, apparently, women do the Haka too.)


We then went on a bit of a wildlife tour and saw eels and kias and lizardy things and pigs and kiwis. Now, I thought kiwis were little birds which sat in the palm of your hand, but they are about as big as chucks (**). They are also very shy, and despite being nocturnal, seemed to be very inactive even though it was pitch black and the Crocodile-Hunter-esque guide had to pick them out of the dark with a torch.

Much more entertaining were the kias, which performed and flew past your ears when you least expected giving you the fright of your life...



(** chickens)

NZ +3: Touristy Christchurch

We went into Christchurch today and spent a little more time there. Much of this time was spent eating, which seems to be a developing theme of the holiday so far, but that's not a bad thing. Here's a quick synopsis of the non-food related aspects of being a tourist in the city...



I take back what I said about Christchurch Cathedral. It's actually really lovely. Just like a mini version of a "proper" cathedral! We climbed to the top of the tower, as mentioned in Breakfast Blog Below, so you're going to get the obligatory "view from the top"...



The Minnellium Flowery Chip Cone is evident again...

This is the Lord's Prayer in Maori from a wall inside the cathedral...*



*Also available on a tea towel in the gift shop.



And the permit to take photos inside the cathedral cost $4.00, so appreciate them!



The tram is more of a tourist trap than it is a useful mode of transport for anyone. It's a circular route which seems to take about five minutes. You could possibly walk it in six. It does, however, go "ding, ding" as they should, and lends a sort of colonial aspect to the city which I thought it would have in abundance, but which actually it doesn't. (Apart from it being called Christchurch and being in Canterbury, I suppose...)



This is Scott.
Of the Antarctic.

It was while I was taking this picture that I realised, to my shame, that that's really all I know about him. Don't know when he was about, don't know his first name, don't know whether he was British or a New Zealander, don't know if he was the "I may be gone some time" man or if that was someone else. Surmised he went to the South Pole and was very brave, but have made mental note to self to learn new facts about him. Will let you know how I get on...

And finally and very quickly. As you will know, it's compulsory to take a photo of a strange telephone box. So here it is:

NZ +3: The Mirror Project

When I was in Dublin two years ago, I took a photo which showed my reflection in a plinth near a statue of Oscar Wilde. You can see that photo in The Mirror Project, which defines itself as follows...

The Mirror Project is a growing community of like-minded individuals who have photographed themselves in all manner of reflective surfaces. The Mirror Project is about self-portraiture. You should be the one holding the camera, taking the picture. You, or some part of you, and the camera should be visible within the reflection.

Two years later, and better late than never, I took another one for The Mirror Project today while we were having breakfast in Christchurch.



You'll need to click on it to enlarge and see us, but we are there, reflected in the bulb above the table. Clockwise from the top... Nessie, Me (holding the camera), Lisa and Dave.

And breakfast was lovely. Eggs, bacon (for the hypocrite vegetarians), hash browns, toast and pancakes with maple syrup. Very welcome after climbing the 134 steps to the top of the Cathedral Tower.