Today we explored the limestone valleys in this gold rush area. We found a town called St Bathans near the Blue Lake. Here there was a thriving town in the 1800s and gold was extracted from the hills and the lake area. As the plentiful gold depleted they used hydraulics to pump water into the rocks and then they panned the stones forced out. Eventually so little gold was being excavated they left the town.

It was so hot and people were swimming in the cold lake. There was a 50 minute walk all around the lake and so we set off, but the heat was too much and 20 minutes later we were back in the car with the air conditioning cooling down.

We have noticed some birds like lapwings but black and white with beige wings so we managed to take photo s of them today.

Just down the road from our hotel is a dammed up stream making a large lake in a conservation area. It has a gravel road down and we spent some time there this afternoon.

We both feel sunburnt tonight although we had factor 50 sunscreen on.

We move to Haast tomorrow to view 2 glaciers hopefully. If the roads aren’t to scary xxxxx

We are having really hot weather still and the sun is intense so factor 50 and sun hats!

Friday we travelled to Queenstown to see the lake. The town itself is packed with tourists and shops and shopping malls….not what we’ve been used to! We sat by the lake and then drove along the lake to the next lake.

It was a lovely drive and beautiful hills and valleys with lovely reflections in the lakes.

Today, Saturday we went down to Alexandra to see the town that is closest to us. It is small and quite busy. We then hit the highway to follow the old train line. We travelled along limestone escarpments with rocky outcrops and springs. We saw Hawks and birds like lapwngs but a different colour.

We stopped at Naseby. It is a heritage town with buildings from the mid 1800s. I took lots of photos but have just found out I had no card in my camera. Grr!!

There were gigantic fir cones outside one museum and some very old trees and a huge sequoia tree around a cricket green.

On the way back we saw fields with deer farming, sheep and cows.

i am drinking beer in an old wash house that’s been converted into a summer house at our hotel .It has very thick stone walls and is cool inside. VERY HOT outside this afternoon!

Tonight we are booked in the restaurant for a valentines dinner 😘

Missing you all very much xxxx

Hi still having problems with downloading my photos but will add yesterday’s when I can!

We travelled from Te Anau to here via Queenstown passing lakes with turquoise waters and steep gorges.

Now we are miles from nowhere on the top of limestone rocks. It’s a bit like the Yorkshire Moors but vaster and warmer. Loads of trees, sheep, and rocky out crops.

We are behind a restaurant/artists wine bar type place. There is an annex built with 3 apartments around a very English garden. It is lovely, we are here for 4 nights.

We drove through the main vine growing areas in South Island several miles along a huge sheltered valley.

 

Today we had a lazy day after 2 days of coach trips and boats down fjords.

We sat by the lake near to our motel and had an omelette and a coffee outside in the sunshine.Grandad got his hair cut and then we decided to explore the valley round Te Anua. There is a lovely picnic spot at Lake Gunn and we watched a trout jumping out of the water to catch the dragonflies. Here are some of the photos we took today . Tomorrow we move to Alexandra via Queenstown and from here we will find more lakes to explore. PS The sand flies are finding me very tasty! 😩

Hi my blog page is playing up and so I have not been able to write and send pictures for 2 nights, so I will try to send some today and they will be a mixture of what I’ve seen in fjordland. We have been to Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound on 2 separate days by coach and boat. We have really enjoyed these 2 days. The scenery is truly awesome

This is Te Anau Lake

Seals on the Tasmin Sea where Doubtful Sound meets the Tasmin Sea

Milford Sound a wonderful fjord breath taking

We are now in Fjordland and its 25c and hot. the journey here was easy and as we were to early to take up our hotel room we took the road which leads to Milford Sound. we travelled along this road for about 30 miles, stopping to take photos. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. We are in Lord of the Rings country and haven’t even seen the best yet!

We explored Te Waewae Bay today. The gales had stopped and we expected the sea to be calmer…WRONG!

We stopped at Riverton firstly and treated ourselves to breakfast. Then we hit the coast and were amazed that the sea was even wilder than yesterday. The tide was really high and the waves were huge.

I wanted to search Gemstone Beach as I figured with the storm, gems would be washed up maybe. Well walking, we battled our way down the small cove. The sea was coming in quickly so we had to retreat to the edge of the sand near the sandstone embankments. We discovered that the stones were embedded into the bank and were washed out from there by the sea. I picked up a few stones but I don’t think they are valuable! It was quite scary near the sea.

We went to Monkey Island and with the high tide it was completely cut off and looked so different from the scene we saw yesterday at low tide.

Next stop was McCracken’s Rest. The sea was wild and impressive and the wind very strong. The trees all along this road are bent right over showing the effect of the prevailing wind.

We drove to Cosy Nook. Here we took fabulous photos of the waves crashing on the rocks. Brilliant fun!

We went back to Riverton Rocks to a café over looking the sea and watched the surfers, while eating puddings with icecream, yummy

At Riverton we went to the beach at the head of the river and found the origins of the town.

We move on tomorrow to Fjordland so exciting!!

 

 

 

Last night we had an ongoing gale which is still with us 24 hours later!

We set off early and drove straight to Te Anau with no stops. The road went North  and then West before Lumsden to Te Anau. The area has lush rolling green hills, mostly farm lands. The road was easy and pleasant to drive along. We saw lots of birds of prey, even one feeding on a possum at the side of the road.

At the Te Anau information centre, we arranged a trip via “a jucy van” combined with a boat trip from the centre to travel down Milton Sound fjord next Tuesday…so excited! It will be better for Vince as not driving, he can enjoy the scenery more and take photos as the van stops at all the view points.

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon around Lake Te Anau and then Lake Manapouri. They are both backed by the huge mountains of fjord land. Felt like the beginnings of Middle Earth!

It was a very hot and clear day but very windy. The lakes had waves on them and it looked like the sea.

We took the Southern scenic route back and really saw the huge surf waves. They were like the ones we saw in California!

We stopped at Cliftden Suspension bridge. It was at one time the largest suspension bridge in NZ

Hope you like my photos. XXXX love to you all xxGrandad caught a fish!!!

This morning was slightly cooler and overcast with spots of rain and showers at times. We drove South along the headland to Bluff. There is a huge port there and an aluminium smelter there. We went to the Maritime museum. Vince was very interested in everything I here and I loved the whale bones and ships furniture. Here is granddad getting back to his roots like Otis did!

We climbed the steep hill for a view of the area and then went onto Tiwai point at the end of this headland. Everyone has their photo taken next to this sign. We are almost 9000 miles from London.

Back through Invercargill we continued along the south coast. We visited Thornbury. It is a small village with a school, Presbyterian church, a museum, a pub, an impressive war memorial and  several houses and farms. I need to do some research on it I think.

Riverton came next and was a town on both sides of an estuary with a bridge right the way across. it was a bit run down but a nice centre for the area.

As we followed the scenic coastal way we found Monkey Island and the coast of stones which was full of large rocks, pebbles, shells and sea birds nesting.

We sat on a bench eating fish and chips out of the paper at Riverton on the way back to our motel. I haven’t done that for years!

A very lovely day 25*c and not too hot xxxx

 

We spent a whole day slowly travelling down the scenic coastal way between Dunedin and Invercargill with a tourist map to guide us to the best sites. We felt like we were saying done that ticked that off. If we have time we will go back to some of the bays.

The whole day got hotter and hotter from 21c at Dunedin to 33c at Invercargill. Thank .goodness for air conditioning in the car.

We headed down the coast road at Balclutha and drove through wooded valleys and passed farm after farm.

We passed  sign to Cannibal Bay! At Okawa we visited the museum which told the story of the history of the area with all the ship wrecks and the settlers stories.

First stop was a waterfall past Owaka; Matai Falls. We  walked down below it in a rainforest area. It was very hot and humid there. Using a tripod ince got great pictures of the waterfall.

Next we saw spouting cave. It was quite impressive when the sea spouted up from the caves.

At Florence Hill Lookout we got views of Tautuku Bay. There is no road down to it. the beach was deserted.

we passed by the Cathedral caves as the tide was not low enough to view them. buty Went over the Chaslands to Waikawa. The Chaslands are hilly and go through forested areas. At Waikawa we went to Curio Bay. There is a petrified forest in the bay. You can see the tree stumps and trees laid down, all in their rock petrification. The bay was so different!

The last stretch of the Catlins was pure rainforest and very hot!

From Fortrose to Invercargill the terrain is flat and a huge wetland with many birds to see there.

Now we are in our new motel and it is like a little apartment with a sitting room and kitchen area, a bathroom, a toilet, and a bedroom. Very nice and comfortable it will suit us for 5 nights while we explore the area. Intention is to do the south coast  visit Thornbury!! and Clifton Suspension Bridge! Then Bluff and then up to Te Anau our next stop.

Love you all and am missing you. Matthew and Alex am thinkingof you as you goto Cleethorpes xxxx

PS This is Grandads favourite land

Oh and this looks like a lake but it is tidal and inland