Friday, April 30, 2010
24 - 30 April
The last week has been a drizzly one and we don’t have a lot to report! We spent a couple more days in Wanaka where we made use of the “rainy day activities” - the Toy Museum, Puzzle World and the library.
Thankfully we had a couple of “dry” hours each day and had some fun with the autumn leaves.
We’ve spent the last few days in and around Queenstown. We all enjoyed a relaxing morning at the swimming pool where the lazy river was a big hit. And we headed to Arrowtown on the one fine morning - the colours of autumn were truly on show, very beautiful!
Queenstown park
Arrowtown...
I wonder why our camping spot at Lake Moke was so empty...
Thankfully we had a couple of “dry” hours each day and had some fun with the autumn leaves.
We’ve spent the last few days in and around Queenstown. We all enjoyed a relaxing morning at the swimming pool where the lazy river was a big hit. And we headed to Arrowtown on the one fine morning - the colours of autumn were truly on show, very beautiful!
Queenstown park
Arrowtown...
I wonder why our camping spot at Lake Moke was so empty...
Friday, April 23, 2010
17 - 23 April
Glaciers were next on our “to see” list. Unfortunately the west coast lived up to its reputation and most of our days there were pretty grey and drizzly. Still we managed to fit in a walk to the face of Franz Josef and passed some great waterfalls on the route -“they would make great wash-downs”, yes Jack still has a one track mind (pun intended).
On our way to Fox we detoured to Lake Matheson but given the cloud the “reflection value” of the lake was somewhat redundant. The playground we found on the way was a goody though and Lucy also enjoyed the walk around the lake – asleep in the stroller!
Leaving the glaciers, we drove into and promptly out of Haast – all we saw from the safety of inside D was dozens of sandflies! Enough of the west coast we thought, and so continued on our journey through the Haast Pass. It was our longest day of driving (about 2.5 hours), thankfully the scenery was beautiful and both Jack and Lucy slept for a good part of it! We crossed the Gates of Haast and the sun shone down on us. We stopped for the night at Cameron Flat, a beautiful little DOC spot and did a walk to the Blue Pool the next morning. Actually more of a run as Lucy found masses of energy and ran the downwards leg – quite funny to watch as she negotiated her way speedily over the tree roots.
We passed this while Jack was sleeping and had to take a photo for him - he loves talking about and making pretend stinkbombs and finds anything stinky hilarious.
The morning view from Cameron Flat..
Swing bridges are a dime a dozen over here - but always a favourite...
After our walk we drove to Lake Hawea (next door to Lake Wanaka) and spent a couple of days at another fabulous DOC site. We weren’t quite sure what was going on when within half an hour of us arriving a helicopter circled overhead with a man hanging out from it shooting. Thankfully it was the geese that he was aiming for - it was a yearly geese cull. The weather here was amazing and we spent both days on the mirror-like lake.
We would have stayed longer but Jack was still not over his tummy upset and so we headed to Wanaka to visit the doctor. The reflux-type medication the Dr prescribed did the trick and we are all now sleeping better! Wanaka is beautiful and it is fun to be back in a “town” again. We’ve been enjoying the cafes, playground and just chilling out in the sun.
Gotta love those pigtails...
On our way to Fox we detoured to Lake Matheson but given the cloud the “reflection value” of the lake was somewhat redundant. The playground we found on the way was a goody though and Lucy also enjoyed the walk around the lake – asleep in the stroller!
Leaving the glaciers, we drove into and promptly out of Haast – all we saw from the safety of inside D was dozens of sandflies! Enough of the west coast we thought, and so continued on our journey through the Haast Pass. It was our longest day of driving (about 2.5 hours), thankfully the scenery was beautiful and both Jack and Lucy slept for a good part of it! We crossed the Gates of Haast and the sun shone down on us. We stopped for the night at Cameron Flat, a beautiful little DOC spot and did a walk to the Blue Pool the next morning. Actually more of a run as Lucy found masses of energy and ran the downwards leg – quite funny to watch as she negotiated her way speedily over the tree roots.
We passed this while Jack was sleeping and had to take a photo for him - he loves talking about and making pretend stinkbombs and finds anything stinky hilarious.
The morning view from Cameron Flat..
Swing bridges are a dime a dozen over here - but always a favourite...
After our walk we drove to Lake Hawea (next door to Lake Wanaka) and spent a couple of days at another fabulous DOC site. We weren’t quite sure what was going on when within half an hour of us arriving a helicopter circled overhead with a man hanging out from it shooting. Thankfully it was the geese that he was aiming for - it was a yearly geese cull. The weather here was amazing and we spent both days on the mirror-like lake.
We would have stayed longer but Jack was still not over his tummy upset and so we headed to Wanaka to visit the doctor. The reflux-type medication the Dr prescribed did the trick and we are all now sleeping better! Wanaka is beautiful and it is fun to be back in a “town” again. We’ve been enjoying the cafes, playground and just chilling out in the sun.
Gotta love those pigtails...
Sunday, April 18, 2010
8 - 16 April
Our next stop was Kohaihai further up the West Coast (in fact as far north as we could drive). This is the start of the Heaphy Track and we did the first half hour of it. It was through a Nikau Palm forest and was very pretty. Afterwards the kids had fabulous fun being buried in the sand and doing “123 run, jump” into the nearby lagoon. We were lucky it was such a beautiful day as the water was, as Jack described it, “refreshing”.
Morning tea on route to Karamea
The start of the Heaphy Track
Kohaihai
On the way back down the West Coast we stopped at Ngakawau to do the Charming Creek walk. It was a goodie for Jack as the walk followed an old coal railway and there were numerous train relics on the way. Both Jack and Lucy were very excited whenever we came across a section of tracks that had fallen off the hillside or were bent out of shape and there were lots of conversations about train accidents.
This day really was a train day as after the walk we headed to Charleston and headed up the Nile River valley on Dorothy. Jack and Lucy both got to operate the switch tracks, very exciting stuff….
Jack took his "switch track" job very seriously...
We had a beautiful morning at Punakaiki, lovely for walking in but the blow-holes were not much of a spectacle.
Greymouth was our next stop and we don’t have much to write about that! Shantytown filled our next morning – Lucy’s favourite spot was the playground while Jack, surprise surprise, enjoyed the train ride best.
Enough of the fast life we thought so we then headed to Lake Brunner. A pretty lake but the weather was the pits – and Jack throwing up in the garden of the one café didn’t add to the enjoyment. The poor wee thing had a terrible night and, unfortunately is still "poorly". We headed to the south side of the lake and found a lovely wee camp spot for the night but as the weather didn’t improve the next day we headed onwards.
The rain continued so we headed to Hokitika library for the morning. The Thomas collection was very impressive…to Jack at least. The rain abated for a little walk around Hokitika but, as there didn’t seem much to see, we hit the road again. We ended up at a lovely DOC camp spot at Lake Mahinapua and spent a couple of days here. Despite the on-off drizzly weather, the boat had a couple of outings, we went for some walks and even had perch for breakfast one morning!
Walking with Lucy is very slow as she loves playing in the puddles and playing with the leaves...
packing up "B" in the rain...
After a week of drizzles, we woke to a beautiful day and headed to Lake Ianthe to spend a few hours soaking up the sun. It was divine. Mike did some fishing and Jack and Lucy made a stink bomb pie and then had fun with the trains...
Lucy found my chocolate stash...
Mike gets a little sick of the kids music...
Morning tea on route to Karamea
The start of the Heaphy Track
Kohaihai
On the way back down the West Coast we stopped at Ngakawau to do the Charming Creek walk. It was a goodie for Jack as the walk followed an old coal railway and there were numerous train relics on the way. Both Jack and Lucy were very excited whenever we came across a section of tracks that had fallen off the hillside or were bent out of shape and there were lots of conversations about train accidents.
This day really was a train day as after the walk we headed to Charleston and headed up the Nile River valley on Dorothy. Jack and Lucy both got to operate the switch tracks, very exciting stuff….
Jack took his "switch track" job very seriously...
We had a beautiful morning at Punakaiki, lovely for walking in but the blow-holes were not much of a spectacle.
Greymouth was our next stop and we don’t have much to write about that! Shantytown filled our next morning – Lucy’s favourite spot was the playground while Jack, surprise surprise, enjoyed the train ride best.
Enough of the fast life we thought so we then headed to Lake Brunner. A pretty lake but the weather was the pits – and Jack throwing up in the garden of the one café didn’t add to the enjoyment. The poor wee thing had a terrible night and, unfortunately is still "poorly". We headed to the south side of the lake and found a lovely wee camp spot for the night but as the weather didn’t improve the next day we headed onwards.
The rain continued so we headed to Hokitika library for the morning. The Thomas collection was very impressive…to Jack at least. The rain abated for a little walk around Hokitika but, as there didn’t seem much to see, we hit the road again. We ended up at a lovely DOC camp spot at Lake Mahinapua and spent a couple of days here. Despite the on-off drizzly weather, the boat had a couple of outings, we went for some walks and even had perch for breakfast one morning!
Walking with Lucy is very slow as she loves playing in the puddles and playing with the leaves...
packing up "B" in the rain...
After a week of drizzles, we woke to a beautiful day and headed to Lake Ianthe to spend a few hours soaking up the sun. It was divine. Mike did some fishing and Jack and Lucy made a stink bomb pie and then had fun with the trains...
Lucy found my chocolate stash...
Mike gets a little sick of the kids music...
