Lucy & Jack received activity books from Connie last week... Jack found the jokes amusing... this one has ended up his (and Lucy's) favourite
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
1 - 13 May
The rain finally stopped – hurrah! After a quick look to check out the flood waters in Queenstown…
...we headed to Glenorchy, at the north end of Lake Wakatipu. The rain had left its mark up here as the lakeside bbq area was under water...
as was our planned camping spot at Kinloch!
Instead we headed to Lake Sylvan and after a forest walk to the lake, settled down for the night. We awoke to our first frost and a very chilly 3.8 degrees. Thankfully our gas heater worked like a dream!
Given it was so cold we decided exercise was in order so we did a 5k loop walk along the Routeburn track to Bridal Veil falls & gorge. It took us 2 ½ hours with the second quarter all uphill. Jack did a great job and, after a 5 min kip on Mike’s shoulders, so did Lucy!
Jack was pretty pooped at the end...
After the walk we headed back to Glenorchy. It was a stunning day and the kids spent the afternoon at the local skate park while Mike and I relaxed in the sun.
After a day stop in Queenstown, the sun continued to shine and so we spent the next couple of days at Lake Dunstan – the lake created by the Clyde Dam. B was assembled and we all spent some time on the lake. Lucy was rocked to sleep once again and we stopped at Trotter Island to let her have a wee nap.
Mike caught his first south island rainbow and within the hour we all enjoyed trout sammies for lunch – can’t get much fresher than that!
The rest of the time was spent playing outside in the sun making lots of ‘muddy ditches’ and the like…
Then it was time to head back to Queenstown via Clyde Dam in time for me to fly to Auckland for Rachel’s wedding. I had a lovely 3 days, thanks Sarah and Sarah for transporting and housing me!
The weekend in QT was spent traversing between the library, swimming pool and a multitude of playgrounds, cafes and bookshops. Jack and Lucy also managed to watch some rugby, and thanks to some strategic campsite selection, a bit of night fishing was even embarked upon.
Tuesday was another sunny day so we boarded the SS Earnslaw for a trip to Walter Peak Station. We all enjoyed a bbq lunch in the sun before feeding and patting the farm animals. The smiley sheep had us all in giggles!
Time for us to finally leave Queenstown so we headed south to Kingston and while Lucy had a nap, Jack was in his element checking out the Kingston Flyer trains, carriages and related paraphernalia.
Jack and Lucy were in fits of laughter playing hide and seek...
Lucy likes her hats..
Coluring in has become a favourite indoor activity...
...we headed to Glenorchy, at the north end of Lake Wakatipu. The rain had left its mark up here as the lakeside bbq area was under water...
as was our planned camping spot at Kinloch!
Instead we headed to Lake Sylvan and after a forest walk to the lake, settled down for the night. We awoke to our first frost and a very chilly 3.8 degrees. Thankfully our gas heater worked like a dream!
Given it was so cold we decided exercise was in order so we did a 5k loop walk along the Routeburn track to Bridal Veil falls & gorge. It took us 2 ½ hours with the second quarter all uphill. Jack did a great job and, after a 5 min kip on Mike’s shoulders, so did Lucy!
Jack was pretty pooped at the end...
After the walk we headed back to Glenorchy. It was a stunning day and the kids spent the afternoon at the local skate park while Mike and I relaxed in the sun.
After a day stop in Queenstown, the sun continued to shine and so we spent the next couple of days at Lake Dunstan – the lake created by the Clyde Dam. B was assembled and we all spent some time on the lake. Lucy was rocked to sleep once again and we stopped at Trotter Island to let her have a wee nap.
Mike caught his first south island rainbow and within the hour we all enjoyed trout sammies for lunch – can’t get much fresher than that!
The rest of the time was spent playing outside in the sun making lots of ‘muddy ditches’ and the like…
Then it was time to head back to Queenstown via Clyde Dam in time for me to fly to Auckland for Rachel’s wedding. I had a lovely 3 days, thanks Sarah and Sarah for transporting and housing me!
The weekend in QT was spent traversing between the library, swimming pool and a multitude of playgrounds, cafes and bookshops. Jack and Lucy also managed to watch some rugby, and thanks to some strategic campsite selection, a bit of night fishing was even embarked upon.
Tuesday was another sunny day so we boarded the SS Earnslaw for a trip to Walter Peak Station. We all enjoyed a bbq lunch in the sun before feeding and patting the farm animals. The smiley sheep had us all in giggles!
Time for us to finally leave Queenstown so we headed south to Kingston and while Lucy had a nap, Jack was in his element checking out the Kingston Flyer trains, carriages and related paraphernalia.
Jack and Lucy were in fits of laughter playing hide and seek...
Lucy likes her hats..
Coluring in has become a favourite indoor activity...
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...
