Jaypatrol

Archive for February, 2006

We Arrive in Queenstown

Sunday, February 26th, 2006

Queenstown – 21-22.11.2005

We arrive in Queenstown finally. This is such a beautiful town/city too.
There is so much you can do here. They have truly catered for the tourist.
We are staying at the Rydges Hotel overlooking the magnificent Lake Wakatipu. The view again is breathtaking, especially with the snow capped Remarkables in the background. There was plenty of activity on the Lake for us to observe from our Hotel balcony.

On arrival, we had time to wander around and check out the sites. Arthur had some fun with the Kiwi statue on the foreshore of the Lake.

We had to gather together later for yet another group photo, as we had others join our little group at Wellington and Auckland, we needed to update the group photo. Unfortunately, it was so cold and it began to rain again as we were posing for this photo session. We were very happy to reboard and get into the warm and dry coach.

The first night there we are treated to a ride on the Earnslaw to the other side of the Lake for a evening of fine food and entertainment at the Colonel’s Homestead at Walter Peak Sheep Station.

Wow! is all I can say about the evening. The journey on the Earnslaw was so exciting. It was packed with another tour group as well as ours. In the centre of the steamer we could watch the crew at work as they were shovelling coal into the furnace and there is a an information board with all the statistics of the Steamer. It was very hot where we were seated as we were next to the engine and the furnaces.

We berthed at the Station on their own pier and walked to the homestead, passing through beautiful gardens.
The food offered was so yummy and lots of it. We had views of the Lake from the dining room. We were also treated to a magnificent rainbow during the night which turned into a double rainbow before it disappeared. I don’t think that was on the agenda for the night either. But a great bonus.

Rainbow Over Lake Viewed From Dining Room Window

After our meal, we were treated to another sheep shearing and information evening, including a sheep dog showing us his stuff. He was a very good and valuable working dog. There was a couple of little lambs there also that a couple of the ladies got to cuddle throughout the shearing display.

Before we knew it the steamer had return to collect us to take us back to the other side of the Lake. But that wasn’t the end of the nights entertainment.

On board the Steamer they had a piano and a player as well. We were then encouraged to join in the sing-along on the way home. This was such an added bonus after a long day. We were all handed songbooks so that we could sing along. They sang and played all the old songs that I remember my Mum singing as I was growing up, so it was indeed a very nostalgic night to remember.

Back at the Hotel, the next morning we took a lot of photos of the mountains again as fresh snow had fallen overnight.
That next day was a free day for us to join in the many activities offered in Queenstown.
We strolled through the town for awhile, bumping into Ann & Baron everywhere we went. We watched the fast powerboats for ages as Arthur couldn’t make up his mind whether to take a ride or not. Doubt

Eventually, he left the decision too late and he didn’t get to go at all.
A lot of our group did and we have photos of them as they left and as they returned exhilarated after their ride.
We then decided to try out the Gondola here. It is a very hilly area and a hard walk to the entrance to the Skyline Gondola. This takes you up the very steep hill to the top of the Terminal. Wow! and Double Wow! To the view up there. It was certainly worth the effort to go. The views from up the top here were the best we had ever seen. At the top you overlook the Lake Wakatipu and the snow capped mountain range in the background. Awesome!

There is also a Luge here to ride on. I opted to let this one go, as it was such a warm day and I wanted to appreciate the scenery. You could walk up higher to the area where the para-gliders launch from. A few of the group did this too. There is an area beside the Gondola where bungi jumpers launch from as well.

We also were able to jump on the bus to the Shotover to sight-see the Jetboats, as they show go through their paces to provide thrills to their passengers. We were able to ride the bus for free and return when we were ready. We thought this was an opportunity too good to miss. More photos!

It was a great time at Queenstown and one we will not forget.

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Journeying Toward Arrowtown

Sunday, February 26th, 2006

Te Anau to Queenstown-21.11.2005

We finally leave the Fiordland National Park Hotel and journey on toward Queenstown.
It is raining lightly on the way as we approach Mossburn. We pass fresh snowcapped mountains again as we arrive at Mossburn.
Gordon, our coach driver encourages us to buy an ice-cream at the little store here, he guarantees us that it is the cheapest ice-cream in all of New Zealand. It was a little chilly for me, but Arthur decided at the last minute to try one. Not before crouching in a handy telephone box to take a photo of a huge deer statue that was opposite the shop. It was raining again at the time.
We travel on and come to Kingston. There were a couple of steam trains preparing for a rally after we left there. We took a couple of photos and some video too. After I had videoed the trains, I turned around and behind me were more snow covered mountain tops.
We didn’t stay here long, as we had to keep going to keep to our timetable. As we were leaving, further down the street, was a house with a wheely great fence. And behind this fence was an old stove hob with pots and pans on it too. Another photo opportunity.
We travelled further and passed Lake Wakaripu, at Frankton, on the way. Very pretty.Next stop is Arrowtown. This is an old mining town. It was quite a nice historic town. Lots of little shops and craft shops too. We decided to try the pie shop and ordered the most expensive meat pie I have ever had. It was nice, but not worth the money we paid for it. Arthur was hoping to try a venison pie, but they had sold out of them. Lucky for him as they were just as expensive.
We came across these quaint craft items here at Arrowtown. But again, these were so expensive too.

There was an area away from the main shopping area that had some quaint old miners huts that were interesting.
It was time now to board the bus again and continue the journey on to Queenstown, passing over the Shotover River on the way into the town.

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Our New Fridge

Saturday, February 25th, 2006

We have finally had our fridge in the caravan replaced.
For those who were not aware, when we went away to Portland and then onto Cohuna & Albury at Christmastime, we discovered that our fridge in the van wasn’t coping with the heat temperatures in these places.
On further investigation, we also discovered that Jayco had installed a “SN” rated fridge to our new Heritage Caravan.
The rating is on the specification plate, normally inside the door. Your refrigerator specification plate would have one of the ratings below.
There is a rating in place for fridges and the majority of imported fridges are rated. The CEN (old DIN) standard has the following ratings
Climate class N: room temperatures +16°C to +32°C
Climate class SN: room temperatures +10°C to +32°C
Climate class ST: room tempretures +14°C to +36°C
Climate class T: room temperatures +18°C to +43°C
So as you can see by this table, that the SN rated fridge would be uselesss for us whilst we are travelling up north and over in the West.

So after many phone calls to both Jayco and Dometic (manifacturer of fridge) and doing a bit of websearchng to back up what we were trying to tell them, Jayco have realised there is a big problem fitting this climate class refridgerator to their caravans.
They have also swapped the original fridge for a brand new “T” climate class refridgerator, free of charge.

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Milford Sound and the Rain

Friday, February 24th, 2006

Milford Sound-20.11.2005

Milford Sound-What can I say?
It was such an awesome place!
The boat trip was wonderful. The company better.
It was a modern boat and all needs were catered for. There is plenty of food and drink available if you desired to use the facilities.
Different levels of the boat offered different aspects to view the scenery, from at whatever comfort level you prefer.
Most of the trip, we sat in the lounge section and enjoyed the comforts offered.
But we did venture outside to view a big waterfall and got drenched as the captain put the back of the boat under the water.
There were a few other boats on the Sound at the same time as us. One of them was the overnight cruise boat. This would be an awesome trip, if the weather was kinder.
The rain got heavier as we sailed out onto the Sound and at one stage was horizontal. As the wind drove the rain horizontally, the waterfalls were breathtaking.
There were literally walls of waterfalls everywhere we looked.

We were lucky to see a seal lazing on a rock on the trip too.

And a fortunate few of us were treated to a glimpse of a penguin swimming beside the boat as we were on the way back into harbour. Unfortunately, no-one managed to get a photo as evidence.
When we finally berthed, the terminal was packed and we had to fight our way through the horde to get back to our coach.
The rain finally eased on the way home to Te Anau Downs. By the time we arrived at our accommodation it had stopped. The view of the clouds hanging around half-way up the mountain was so pretty and of course, another opportunity for a photo.
We were all weary from our big day out and after dinner that night we headed to our rooms early for a good nights sleep and an early start the next morning.

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On Toward Te Anau & Milford Sound

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006

Te Anau – 19.11.2005

We now move on to Lake Manapouri, (even seeing another statue, this time of a Romney Sheep).
We pass the river flood plain near Lumsden, viewing moutains in the distance all the way. We arrive at Lake Manapouri and take more photos for the album. This is a huge lake and there was an awesome mist hanging over it.
We finally arrive at Te Anau. There is yet another statue on the lakeside. This time, it is facing toward Milford Sound. I can’t remember who it is.

There is a huge statue of a Takahe on the corner of the main road. He is very colourful. We then get to wander around and sightsee.
We then board the coach for our journey to Te Anau, our nights accommodation.

This is set in the Fiordland National Park and where the hotel gets its name from. This is also where Grumpies Backpackers is. There we caught up on the laundry. This is the only place we have ever stayed at that they have supplied washing powder for the machines. The rooms were set out in bungalow style, but quite cosy. There is a lot of “Broom” the noxious weed, here and in the surrounding country side. Lake Te Anau gave Arthur lots of photographic material as well. Helen, Toula and I had some fun in the laundry whilst waiting for the washing machines to finish.

Early the next morning, we leave for Milford Sound. The weather didn’t look promising. We stopped off at the Ranger Station, at Hollyford, which is an information station to read all about the area. As we get back on the bus, it begins to rain. We arrive at the Homer Tunnel, where we have to wait for the lights for our turn to enter the tunnel. There was a wall of waterfalls here and also ice on the edge of the road. Time for more photos.

We enter the tunnel and there is a 3000 foot descent to the other side. When we exited the tunnel there was another wall of waterfalls and the rain was getting heavier. This was where we saw waterfalls beginning to form.

We stopped of a little further down for a walk through a rain forest area in the Claddau Canyon area, ( the rain had eased a little). Here there is a deep narrow gorge were the river water noisily rushes through. There the trees were covered in moss as it is so damp naturally. It was such an awesome place. But as the rain was getting heavier again, we had to quickly move on. We finally arrived at the port to board the boat for our cruise on Milford Sound.