Michael and Gabriel came up to visit for a few days over their holidays last week. The forecast wasn't very good but thankfully we got some nice weather to do outside things!
The first day we went for a paddle on the harbour with EJ
It was a really nice afternoon and perfect day for it I think
Even so, everyone apart from me, managed to get really wet! It was good exercise too, paddling against the wind to get back to our base was a good bit of cardio!
The next day we went up to Mt Bruce. It's a 2 hour drive but more than worth it for the boys, who'd never seen a kiwi...
So here's one of the 2 that we saw - didn't want to use the flash so not such a great photo, but you can see it!
We started the day with another fantastic view - this time of Mt Cook from the western side (compared to our view the previous week from Central Otago).
After a nice breaky we hit the road, today we wanted to get to Nelson, and I wanted to get there ASAP to see my family! (I'm sure Simon winced as I explained this to him - yet another day of me being a timing nazi)
As we travelled up the West Coast we saw plenty of one of the things it's famous for - Nikau Palms. These are the only native palm in NZ and the southern most growing palm in the world... ooOOoooo
They are also very cool and sculptural!
The Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki were very... pancakey... what a surprise! Nice to look at but the place was crawling with tourists of all shapes, sizes and volumes, and I really wasn't in the mood for them :P
Further north on the Buller River we had a wander across the longest swing bridge in NZ... It was quite long I guess, but I don't see why that means we had to pay $10 to go over it... Can you tell I was becoming a bit bitter and ready to go home?!?!
Nelson!! Once we arrived we went down to Tahuna beach with Mum and the boys. It was a beautiful day there, and it was nice to have a relaxing stroll as the sun went down :) Ahhhhhh
Shadows of Si, Mum and myself
Back at Mum's place we kept watching the sun go down and she made us dinner - a very nice shepherds pie :) I started to become quite excited about the fact that the same time tomorrow I'd be home with Fenn, I was certainly ready to see my wee puppy again!
The sun going down across the bay
The last day! Sometimes the last day of your holiday is a sad day, but this time I was ready to head home. The holiday had been amazing don't get me wrong, but the sort of holiday which involves lots of travelling (like my trip to the UK last Oct) does get VERY tiring, and I was tired!
That morning we had breakfast at The Boat Shed, went visiting my old flattie Michelle quickly, and spent another few hours with Mum and the boys before we headed back to Picton to catch our boat.
Family pic
We hit the road with plenty of time to get to Picton, but I'm sure you can imagine how pissed off I was when a cop stopped me as we were about to leave Nelson... He started giving my car a once over, and without properly reading my drivers licence assumed I was on my learners... (my licence is learners bike and full car, it says that on the bottom and surely it would make sense for police to learn to read it properly before they start being dicks?!)
Anyway, I REALLY wasn't in the mood (boat to catch and generally tired) and was probably quite abrupt in the way I told him "If you read it properly you'll see I've got a learner bike and full car". He had to go back to his car, I assume to check in his book 'Policing for Dicks 101' and realise that I was actually right, before letting me go... such a nice guy...
The rest of the drive back was pretty uneventful, I just feel sorry for Simon having to listen to me rant about the stupid cop for the next half an hour... but at least now you can all share his pain!
We got home at about 10.30, gave Fenn lots of hugs, and crashed.
There was another big day of driving ahead, with lots to see. We started the day looking over Lake Wanaka with the mountains behind. wow Next, the view down Lake Hawea
Diving to the West coast you go through lots and LOTS of beech forest, very green!
The road seemed to carve avenues through the forest (I guess it didn't just seem to but it did really!). Very spectacular, especially when a mountain appeared through the cut on the forest in front of you...
Si was driving... I was taking WAY too many photos again....
Finally something of interest to you all - The impressive Mt Thomas :P With Thomas Bluff coming down towards the road, and of course Thomas Me too :)
Once we hit the coast, we headed south to the furthest point south you can get to by road (on the West Coast I mean...) Jackson Bay.
Must be said it wasn't the most amazing place - but I guess we'd been spoilt over the last week!
Pictures of pretty things...
What I liked most about this part of the coast was all of the Rimu and Kahikatea swamp forest - really nice to see as there isn't much of this type of forest left in New Zealand...
Then on to the Glaciers -first - Fox Glacier, with Aoraki/Mt Cook behind, and Simon/impersonating signs in front
It really was bigger than I was expecting! And we could get pretty close too
Not as close as these people though... they were naughty...
Si saw a bit of it fall off, leaving this blue freshly exposed bit of ice! (I was busy investigating the alpine plants... lesson learned!!)
ooOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!!
Then on to Lake Matheson - which was a waste of time really as we didn't see anything like this - it wasn't still enough to see anything amazing
Then to Franz Josef Glacier, by which time it was getting dark, but no less impressive!
In the car park after we also met a very inquisitive young Kea, who liked the noise my keys made on the ground. I held onto them tightly!
It was the first time I'd seen one in the wild in 9 years so I was pleased we did - even if it was dark!
Then we drove on to spend the night in Hokitika, before the final push to Nelson the next day...
Today was our last day in Fiordland... our plan was to slowly make our way to Deep Cove, and then over Wilmot Pass to the West Arm (Site of the Power Station) of Lake Manaopuri and then ac cross the lake to Manapouri and back to the cars...
Before I forget one thing I forgot to show you from 2 days ago was my swim with the seals in Luncheon Cove (Named as Cook had a 'luncheon' of crayfish there back in 1773)
Not the best photos, but it was nice to see them in action under water
Marty with the Totoku behind
Anther day was of course started with a paddle, this time first thing just as the sun was rising which was really nice :)
Here is a vid of some of my kayaking to give you an idea of what it was like with all of the bird song, and... um... Simon
Here is a pic of the boy's having their last attempt at deer hunting... no luck again, but at least they got a few nice tramps out of it - and you can't complain about this scenery!
I can't believe how much crayfish we ate... it seriously was breakfast (in the scrambled eggs) lunch (cold in sandwiches) and dinner (entree every night)... I think I've had enough for a while!
No words needed
A few 'reflective' shots ;)
We got a bus over the Wilmot Pass road, and stopped at the top, looking down towards Deep Cove and Doubtful Sound beyond. Mt Barber is the impressive one on the right of the photo ;)
Our last group photo... ahhhhhh
So that was the last of Fiordland. I've decided to end with a photo which really sums up that part of the trip for me, Dusky Sound with its glassy water and rain on the mountains. I'm glad most of my time there it was spent in cloud with rain never far away - I really felt like I got to see the read Fiordland and loved every minute of it :)
After getting back to the old Corrado at about 5pm, Si and I headed off on our merry way towards the West Coast - our route north. We decided the best plan was to get to Wanaka that night so that we had a nice start to the following day by the lake, and could get a head start on our next leg. This meant a bit of night driving but it was a clear night and a big moon so we actually had good views of the land around us.
It was a really nice afternoon and perfect day for it I think
Even so, everyone apart from me, managed to get really wet! It was good exercise too, paddling against the wind to get back to our base was a good bit of cardio!
We also found out that the kokako which they have there is the one in the genesis energy tree people adverts...
And Gabriel 
