Thursday 22 October 2009

Sydney






Only a brief 5 days in Sydney, but nice to get back into the warm, mind you I have to get back to blighty after the heat of Asia again so I'm going to be girly cold when I get back. Anyway anyone that goes to Sydney has to come back with pics of the opera house and bridge so here they are. I took a tour of the Opera house, which is facinating. An international competition won by a Danish architect, so radically different from any other entry. Estmated time and budget was 4 years and 7 million dollars, It took 14 years & 104 million dollars and has apparently 4 times as much steel as the main arch in the harbour bridge.

I also had the opportunity to do a bit of diving while I was there, blody cold though at 18C.

Monday 19 October 2009

Wellington

The Crossing from Piction (South Island) to Wellington (North Island) was entertaining with a rough sea, Strong winds and lots of rain. Standing out on deck getting battered by the elements is kinda fun, with the ferry pitching and yawing like a child playing with a plastic duck in a bath. The only thing that concerned me about this crossing, was avoiding the line of distinctly green looking people on the inside of the door,waiting in eager readiness to add just a little more volume to the Cook straight. The Video clip is going from Christchurch to Picton following the Pacific Ocean coast in places literally only meters away. The bad weather continued for a few days while I was in the capital, so I hired a car for a day to trot around in. I'm guessing the staff thought I was a little forgetful so they decided to put my name on the side of the car just to make sure I brought the right one back. I spent almost 7 hours in the Te Papa museum, 5 floors containing art and history about New Zealand and it's Original Maori descendants. Very interesting and free to get in.

Lake Tekaop

In the heart of the South Island there is a plateau called the MacKensy basin, almost in the centre of this is Lake Tekapo, with practically no light polution and the surrounding mountains keeping the clouds at bay. This area gets the most consistently clear nights in New Zealand. These conditions make this place the ideal location for an observatory, partly sponsered by the Japanise the 7million dollar telescope is the most advanced astronomic resaerch facillity the kiwi's have, so a little better than bog roll 2 lenses and some sticky back plastic. Along with several other smaller telescopes, all this set up on Mount John only 4km away from the very small town of Tekapo. I went to the observatory on a night tour and during the day, to get the pic's I have posted here. The views as incredible, this basin was also used in the filming of 'Lord of the rings'. If you look closley at the video clip, tilt your head to one side and squint you may be lucky enough to see Gandalf charging around on Shadofax weilding a beer.

Queenstown





The good weather finally stopped just as I arrived in Queenstown, which hosted a huge number of people from the UK. As is the norm in NZ the views coming into Queenstown are incredible. Its cold here at around 18C and strong winds. The morning I left its was snowing as the pic shows.

Ironically as I left on the Monday morning, the snow was settling. The ski season and slopes all closed on the Sunday afternoon, just before the big dump of snow.

On the way out the bus driver mentioned several of the tour coaches making there way to Milford sound were returning because the mountain pass was impassable due to bad weather. Shame as it's one of the most rugged and beautiful areas of New Zealand.

Franz Joseph

Called a township, in the UK it would be a village. The countryside around New Zealand never ceases to amaize, and this place certainly does not. I chose to go to Franz Joseph Glacier over Fox Glacier (which is only another 25km down the road) because the name sounded cooler. Most things in NZ are not cheap, and this was no exception at 150NZ dollars for a guided walk for the day. However how often do you get the chance to walk through cravases, tunnels and into caves. All with a lush blue tint and on another fantastic day being able to look down the vally across the path where the glacier met the sea, now long retreated. Moving at approximatly 50mm per month, this outstreched finger of ice with its cargo of moraine is a veritable sprinter.... well in gegraphical terms anyway. Hope you like these as for me this is one of the most unique experiences that has made my trip to New Zealand.

Nelson






A moderate size town on the North coast of the South Island, and a great base to get into Able Tasman National park, where most of these pictures were taken. The trip was 1 days kayaking, a night in a hut (purpose built by the local council for walkers) then a 5 hour hike back to the water taxi pick up point.

We were all in 2 person sea kayaks, staying close to the coast line having a laugh with our guide, when he points out if were interested that there is a blue penguin about 10m off our starboard bow (front right hand side) watching us in between diving for fish.

The views from the sea and the coastal path are stunning and we were very lucky with the weather. As the weather in New Zealand can be very changeable. The street scene is Nelson, I also managed to get a pic of a seal leaping from a rock. The rest are on the way back to the pick up point.