We have a whole day of wine tasting to do in line with our itinerary, and who am I to argue. Dad has a saying “plan the dive, dive the plan”. In this case I have a new saying “plan to drink, drink”

As we made up driving time yesterday we only had an hour this morning so that was good news. Heading straight to Waipara which turns out to be more of an area rather than a town. A short lunch of “battered steak!” and a couple of tips on the best place to stay and we’re off to the vineyards with Li in her element

Disappointing start with the first two shut but then things get better with 3 open tasting sessions. Around 25 tastings later, 6 bottles off wine on board and we’re back on the road to Hanmer Springs. A diversion from our plan but we’ve got the time and its meant to be good

Arriving at Hanmer Springs it turns out its a thermal spa town. So that’s now on the plan for tomorrow I’m told! 😉

Evening meal out tonight in Saints bar. Pizza and a hot stone meal with lamb. Good food but rubbish service so ended up getting billed reduced. It’s our anniversary today, Li got a heart pendant and earrings, I got a nice email from the currency exchange company agreeing they had ripped me off and would refund £125 to my bank! Happy days!

Tony

Up late today as we sat up watching downloaded tv last night and drinking whisky. Main aim for today is to get from one side on New Zealand to (or at least some of the way) the other. The road of choice in this case is Arthurs Pass which goes over the mountains in the centre of NZ.

The drive is not far but with all the bends and steep gradients it takes a while to get to the top but we had some worthwhile views on the way. In the village of Arthurs Pass itself are a number of walks but the key one is to a waterfall called Devils Punchbowl. 30 minutes climb up a few hundred steps and you’re at the base of the waterfall. Really worth seeing despite the rain that was starting to get a bit heavy

Originally the plan was to stay the night in Arthurs Pass, but given our new electric hookup requirement we decided to press on to stay in a town called springfield. No Homer, but a one legged bloke who lives in a caravan on the site that quite obviously hasn’t moved or cleaned it in 25 years….and he’s the caretaker! Still, our nightly costs have dropped each night, from around $50 to a bargain $15 tonight, so who cares

Tomorrow, wine tasting… Tony

Bit of a relaxing start to the day with a nice bacon sandwich and then on our way. With the additional mileage clocked up yesterday we managed to still make good time and arrived at Fox Glacier. The view of the valley was spectacular and there was a strange looking bird called a Kea when we pulled up, which looks basically like an oversize parrot on steroids. Certainly wouldn’t like it’s beak coming anywhere near us.

Back in 1935, which doesn’t seem that long ago in the big scheme of things, the glacier was a way down the road, at least a few hundred yards, but now has retreated. Lunch in the van and then an hours walk down to the glacier front. You aren’t able to get that close as its too dangerous but still amazing and the size of the overall place with the cliffs on either side just can’t be put into words. It’s just bloody big and a river flows out of the base of the glacier front.

Ideally we were looking to do a flight over the glacier as well but the weather turned on us and it just wasn’t going to happen so we took the opportunity to get ahead of the game for tomorrows big drive. Ended up in a little old gold mining town on a very basic site at the side of a pub. Electric hookup available and we’ve now decided this is pretty essential due to the cold weather so that’s good enough for us. Writing this now in the pub about to have a big old steak and chips with a beer in hand. Hopefully after the additional drive today, tomorrow will be a lot better than originally planned

Tony

How good was that steak! The steak over here is amazing, obviously the reason we don’t get any in the UK. There’s more cattle over here than sheep as far as we’ve seen so far so it can only be they eat it all.

A world record was achieved this morning in getting out before 10am! The aim today is driving, wine tasting and seeing some waterfalls. First stop around 10:45 is our first wine tasting place; 6 tastings, one bottle purchased and we’re off again. A few more stops for photos and we arrived in Wanaka around lunch time just in time for some more wine tasting! Had a great lunch, Seafood Chouder and then off to see some waterfalls.

First stop was the blue pools; which were’t blue as its rained quite a bit recently, and more river, than pool; still a nice half hour walk over a couple of suspension bridges and I got to try out the new rucksack sling thing for Rebecca which worked really well. More driving and some very good waterfalls including Gate of Haast and Thunder Creek Falls, lots of photos and eventually we’re in Haast for the night

Not a very interesting day today, spent a while returning to Queenstown as we stopped quite a bit on the way for petrol, honey, coffee…etc. once back in Queenstown though we headed straight to the same campsite as before and then once settled in headed into the town itself. A bit of shopping in all the outdoor shops was swiftly followed by some beer and a good meal with one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Rebecca proved that evening that still is only 18 months and can be a real pain! Up early in the morning for a packed day
Tony

Up early this morning for the 2 hour drive from our camp to Milford Sounds. Strange situation where you have a road 120km long that ends up in a Fiord and that’s about it! Anyway needed to be away at a good time to beat the coaches, which we did nicely .

Milford Sounds itself is basically a big lake that ends up in the sea created by a glacier. The sides of the cliff either side are stupidly high and you really get no senses of how big until a little waterfall is over 500ft high. Some of the cliffs are over a mile high! You see all this from a boat that wanders along the sound to the sea and back; along the way seals can be seen as well which is nice

Returned after a cuppa back the same 2 hours and grabbed some good and beer in the supermarket. Li cooked dinner; huge mussels! And finally spent an hour playing with toilet waste as it decided to pour all over the shower; lovely
Tony

A late start to the day, the motor home looked like a bomb had hit it. We spent some time finally storing everything away and off we went in to Queenstown to head up the gondola. The views were fab on the way up and Rebecca was all excited saying wow all the time.

Tony talked me in to taking the plunge and go up in a paraglider (something unplanned but what the heck) eek! The good news was I weighed in less than I thought I was. The bad news was there was no wind in the usual spot they take off from and made me trek up a very steep mountain path to get to the top. Boy was I shattered by the time I got up there, which shortly followed by the guy Dean telling me to run off the edge! Hmmmm now why didn’t that appeal to me. Anyway went for it and the views were spectacular and the the experience was fab. Until Dean decided to do a few tricks which made my stomach turn which by then I think it was time to head down.

This was followed by 2.5 hours drive to Te Anau and we checked in to our camping grounds and took off for an evening trip to see some glow worms. A 25 minute boat ride took us across the lake (largest freshwater lake in Australasia). Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any photos but we did go into the glow worm caves and saw them all over the place. A short walk along a suspended platform (over a raging river) in the cave was followed by a peaceful boat trip in the caves in the dark. Expensive but worth doing.

Li

Yet another plane to take us from Auckland to Queenstown. Bit of a nightmare after the flight as I left my wallet on the plane but all good in the end. 3 flights down and Rebecca still was a perfect travelling child. It can’t continue!

Picked up out campervan. It’s big! 6 berth and like driving a bus but made it into Queenstown without issue. A really cool place; feels like a ski resort. Loads of outdoor shops, cold, blue skies and everyone seems cheerful. Had a really good pub dinner with a beer then off to our site and thankfully we got the last emergency place. Shattered but NZ looks stunning

Tony

Started the day of relaxing a bit then out to lunch with Uncle Jim. Walked most of the way back to Shirley’s place. Packed up and headed to the airport checkin in central Hong Kong. Checked in and started the first part of our flight to Auckland

Started the day nice and chilled in Tsim Sha Tsui. We went back to an old dim sum place we know and then for a wander up Nathan Road which stretches from Tsim Sha Tsui to Mong Kok.  Found a nice outdoor shop which makes clothing in London but does not sell it anywhere else except Hong Kong.  Great ski jackets too though makes me look like the marshmellow man.

Rebecca got a lot of attention and I look like the paid help as she looks so English, had one guy in Broadway (Electronics shop) asking if he can take a photo of her as she is so lovely…I’m also sure a girl was filming her yesterday bopping to some music.

Weather was a little bit cooler after the torrential rainfall yesterday but still very muggy and sticky.  We popped in to my cousin’s amplifier store and Rebecca jigged against to some music…think we have a dancer in the making.

Finally made it back down to the harbour and Rebecca decided to throw a wobbly and refuse to have her photo taken but managed to tempt her with some marshmellows and ‘pose’.

Li