25th July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Tekapo Revisited
Ally and Paul carried on up the West Coast for another few days away. Steph, having delayed her flight 5 times/4 months was due to fly out the following day so Greg and I thought we should escort her home and make sure she did finally leave (we were starting to wonder if she was going to come to Asia with us). This time at Tekapo the fog had lifted but there was still a lot of cloud. And snow. So perfect for a snowball fight which I refereed, and as the pictures will prove, I think Steph won :o)



24th July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Dart River and Bob's Cove
Today we drove out of Queenstown to Paradise (I’m not joking), although maybe funnier than the name is the fact that we couldn’t find it! But we did end up at the Dart River which is a really beautiful valley so we had a few hours walk up the valley and were entertained by Ally trying to play cricket with an apple core...



22nd-24th July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Queenstown
We put Ally and Paul’s driving abilities to the test on the luge in Queenstown. Steph had hurt her back on the North Island so she was given refereeing duties. Unfortunately due to the big signs saying ‘no group races’ we couldn’t have a proper race. Although Ally did run me off the track, and I got my revenge by running G off...

We also went to see Anika Moa play a bar in Queenstown which was brilliant. I’m not sure how much she’s made it in the UK yet but look out for her!



22nd July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Milford Sound
Ally and Paul had been to Doubtful Sound while we went to Alexandra and unfortunately didn’t get our message telling them not to drive back to Queenstown and that we would meet them in Te Anau.

We didn’t know they hadn’t got the message so set off towards Te Anau and soon got a text from them saying they were 45 mins from Queenstown. Uh oh! By chance we were just passing them when we phoned them so we managed to stop together while they decided what to do. Their car didn’t have enough petrol in it to turn back so we piled everyone/everything into our borrowed car, abandoned our little red one and set off with bags on our knees back to Te Anau.

It was a really overcast day but Fiordland had had quite a bit of rain so Milford Sound had a lot of waterfalls ? Now G had recovered but Ally and I are feeling pretty rubbish. Should have been more sympathetic to Greg when he was sick...



21st July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Alexandra
Uh oh. G has man flu. And it’s really serious because G, Steph and I went on a walk in Alexandra and he was behind us most of the way and when we asked him if he was ok, he said he needed to make sure he took it steady and not to push himself. So half way round he took the short cut home, gave Steph and I the ‘map’ and left us to it.

So we continue and soon find that there’s a choice of two paths but definitely only one is shown on the map. But we can’t turn round now because G would laugh and say we can’t read maps. So we carried on and soon found a bigger track that looked like it would lead round the hill and back down. So we took it and both felt pretty pleased with ourselves, especially as the path did start leading back down to the lake.

The smugness didn’t last. We eventually noticed that the path was familiar and that we had just done a loop and were now walking back the way we’d came. Oops. We continued and took Gs shortcut back hoping he wouldn’t notice but he did. But was too ill to give us too many can’t-read-map jokes!



19th-21st July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Wanaka
We then went to Wanaka where the fog left us but the clouds followed. We had a lovely walk though up to Rock Peak (original name!) where we all lost feeling in our feet as the snow was pretty deep and none of our shoes were waterproof.



18th July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Tekapo
Hmm things aren’t going as planned. The blue skies I promised were there all morning as we drove to Tekapo, which is a really beautiful drive. And just as we got to about 20 minutes away from the lake (which is probably G and my favourite spot), we drove into dense fog.

We went up to the observatory where there was an amazing view of the mountains above the fog. Then we went to the church where there was a good view of the lake and the bottom of the mountains. So now all they have to do is stick their photos together and cut out the fog layer and we’re good...



14th-15th July 2008
Ally and Paul's Trip - Christchurch and Kaikoura
The South Island had a bit of a shock this month when another Cole sister and her husband arrived for a South Island tour.

Ally has wanted to swim with dolphins for ages so the second day they were here, we drove to Kaikoura. The weather was perfect and the sea was calm so perfect swimming conditions (apart from the water is only 10 degrees). Only the trip was cancelled as a big whale or shark had swum through and scared the dolphins away :o( so we took them to Hanmer to the thermal hot pools to try and cheer them up.

They then tried the following day in Akaroa, where they were kitted out with dry suits, got on the boat and even got in the water but the dolphins swam away and that was the end of that.

So they tried again the next day back at Kaikoura and the boat searched for about 45 minutes and were just about to give up when they saw a pod of dolphins and Ally and Paul finally got to swim with dolphins!



Sunday 13th July 2008
Skiing at Mt Hutt
We went to Mt Hutt in Chch for another afternoon of skiing, to see if we could manage it without any help (ie Hannah and Des). Steph came with us to watch us fall over, and we stopped on route and hired the equipment and snow chains. This is when we first needed help (ie Des) cos the car was filthy from the slushy dirt road and it took us ages to get the snow chains on (after finding that there was a vital link missing).

We managed the lift no problems, and had a couple of beginner runs down without trouble. Steph had bought a scenic lift pass which took her on the big lift right to the top of the mountain and back down again. There also happened to be a blue run going down from there. So we bravely went up with Steph to see the view which was pretty amazing. And we set off down the blue run.

Which was a bit of a mistake. We really needed Des and Hannah at this point. It was pretty steep and it took us ages to get down! Back to the green’s I think...



June 27th-29th 2008
Queenstown Skiing
We thought it was time to put our 4 lessons at Tamworth Snowdome two years ago into practice so met up with some friends, Des and Hannah, in Queenstown for a weekend. We hired all the gear and a set of snow chains and set off in the sun into the mountains.

As we got higher and higher though it got snowier and snowier. So it was time for Des and Greg to get very very cold trying to get the chains over the wheels. This, it turns out, isn’t a straight forward job and involves lying under the car to attach them. Hannah and I half-heartedly offered to help from the warmth of the car.

It turned out G and I hadn’t forgotten too much of our lessons and so were encouraged from the beginner’s slopes onto the ski lifts by Des and Hannah (who fortunately could ski pretty well). We managed the lifts successfully, and didn’t end up in a pile at the top like I had imagined. This time.

Coming down was a bit harder. The visibility was awful and I’m still unsure if that made things easier or not – not knowing what was the other side of the cliffs was nice, but knowing there were cliffs and not knowing what was on the other side was not that nice!

The ski lift did eventually cause a tumble, Greg fell getting off the last one and caused a pile-up with people coming off the ones after him. And instead of stopping the lift as I thought they would do, the guy instead just yelled for everyone to get up and move away. Now something tells me he should know that once on the floor, it’s very hard to get back up when you’ve got 5 ft feet!

I discovered that my joints are already in their 50s as they ached and creaked a lot. As did my calves but we discovered afterwards that I’d got too many layers of leg warmers on…



June 24th-27th 2008
Wanaka Revisited
To recover from the rain on the North Island we went to Wanaka. And it snowed instead. So we had to abort one walk, but not until after we had braved it through a field full of cows that were standing right by the stile and who moo’d menacingly as we walked through.

But it made the mountains so so pretty for the next day when the weather was back to it’s normal bright blue skies. We climbed Roy’s Peak which I had done with Ness last year while G was mountaineering. We walked most of it on snow which was fine apart from when it became ankle deep and so soaked our shoes… Coming down was good though – I wished I’d had a sledge…



June 21st 2008
All Blacks vs England
Steph was very excited about going to the All Blacks V England match in Chch and got Mum to send over a giant England flag.

And I think with hindsight realised that was a wasted effort, she got to wave it twice in the whole match.

The All Blacks are fab.



June 19th 2008
Heather and Steph's North Island Trip (Part 5)
What more can I say – I love the South Island. Clear blue skies and a heat wave…



June 18th 2008
Heather and Steph's North Island Trip (Part 4)
After another day of rain we decided to give up on the sandy beaches and headed back to Auckland via the giant Kauri trees and Dargaville,a town that is meant to be the home of Kumara (sweet potato) but doesn’t seem to sell them anywhere.

For Steph’s birthday we took a ferry to Rangitoto, a volcanic island not far from Auckland, and had a lovely walk round the island. We even got some sun – finally! Then we went to the revolving restaurant in the sky tower for tea.

We didn’t do much other sightseeing; we’d seen most of it that first night trying to find the motorway…



June 15th 2008
Heather and Steph's North Island Trip (Part 3)
Ok so I think I’m being punished for having too much holiday. There’s not even grey sky now, it’s black and it’s raining. What better day than to go to the very North of the North Island. So we drove in the rain to Cape Rienga to see the lighthouse and the place where the two oceans collide (the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea). We had to get pretty close to the lighthouse to see it through the fog…

We decided not to let the weather stop us having fun and went sandboarding. Most people do this through a company and pay $150. We rented a board each for $10 and set off. The weather wasn’t too bad when we started and being in the sand dunes was great – I’ve never been in such huge hills of sand. Perfect! So after what seemed like a 1000m climb vertically to the top of the dunes, we set off in search for a good hill down. I courageously had the first go down a small one, found it far too slow and declared it boring. So we found another hill that Steph went first down and this was much more fun. Apart from the bit when you hit the bottom and it jolts your spine. But a small price to pay for so much fun. So we had a few go’s at this, during which time the not-too-bad afternoon had turned into gale force winds throwing painful sand and rain into our faces.

It was time to go. But not before attempting a big one.

We stood at the top of the big one (the one that had felt like we were climbing Everest when we first got here) each wanting the other to go first. Steph decided she’d be brave and pushed herself over the edge. It looked fast and fun. But then something happened and she flew off the board, landing in the sand and the wind picked up her sandboard. And she lay there for a while. And here I wish I could say that I threw everything down and sprinted to her aid.

If I am honest however it took me a while to stop laughing. And then I started wondering if she was really hurt and that I didn’t want to be climbing back up this hill if I got to her and she was fine.

However she started moving and shouting at me but the winds were so strong I couldn’t hear a thing. So now I should definitely be running to her aid. But I still waited, just incase she was fine. And fortunately she was - through a bit of sign language and the odd word, it was clear she was laughing rather than crying, and she set off in search of her sandboard.

I stayed at the top planning my route down, and telling myself that having seen Steph fly off, that I really must hold on tight.

And I set off. And it was fast and really fun.

But then the powers-that-be decided to punish me for laughing at Steph. And I too flew off my board, head first into the sand, did a somersault (just to make sure that every part of me was covered in sand) and ended up on my back. I saw stars and my neck and chest were really painful and I started to imagine life in a wheelchair.

It was now Steph’s turn not to be able to move for laughing but eventually she did and went to retrieve my board which another big gust of wind had taken.

It was definitely time to go home. And we now realise that part of the $150 guided tour included expert knowledge of a) how to sandboard and b) which dunes to tackle!



 
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