We had a rude awakening at 6.30 this morning when a siren went off. We looked out of the window – nobody was running about so we just went back to bed. When we did stir ourselves, we looked out of the window and there was not a cloud in the sky. The helicopters were buzzing around taking people up to the glaciers It wasn’t fair Fred wouldn’t let me go again!! We later found out that the siren was a fire alarm calling the part-time firemen out – the nearest fire station was at Greymouth, where we arrived on the train.


We set off on our drive to Wanaka - 287 kilometres away. We were told of a viewpoint not far from the Fox Glacier where we could see Mount Cook. – and there it was in all its splendour in a virtually cloudless sky.






On we went stopping many times when we spied a good camera shot. We passed Lake Paringa, Lake Moeraki and Knights Point on the coast road with a view of the Tasman Sea.




We drove through the mountain range , through Haast Pass and on through Makarora, winding through the valley and alongside Lake Wanaka for a while, then past Lake Hawea and then back to the side of Lake Wanaka again.

What a spectacle. Lake Wanaka is the fourth largest lake in NZ and about 40kms long and at the bottom sparkles on the edge of the Town.










After dropping our luggage off, set about exploring the resort. Gosh what a busy place! It is on the edge of Lake Wanaka and there were so many adventure activities on offer, sky diving, paragliding, jet boats, tandem sky diving – and of course we tried them all!!

Tomorrow we have an shorter drive of 273 kms to Te Anau where we will be staying for two nights, and I am going to take the wheel to give Fred a rest – Watch out everyone!!

Thursday 26th February 2009

Up and out by 9. Drove to Fox where we were taken out to the helipad for our 30 minute flight over the glaciers. We had booked to fly over the Fox Glacier and Mount Cook but the cloudbase was too low and Mount Cook was off the menu. So we opted to fly over both Franz Joseph and Fox and a landing on the top of the Fox Glacier. What a memory – it was AWESOME to quote the yanks. Just see for yourself…

When we landed we drove to the Franz Joseph. The glaciers are in a national park and there were walks of varying difficulty We walked along the river bed towards its base. Although pristine and white at the top, the ice at the base is quite dirty and it recedes a foot each day.

We then went to walk to Peter’s Pool for a different view of the mountains.

We finished our walk and returned to our room at 3.00. It is now 5.30 and the mountain has completely disappeared in cloud and it is pouring with rain. At 7pm we have booked a private glacier hot pool – outside in the rain!!

Wednesday 25th February 2009

We left our Pod at 7.15am and were picked up by the shuttle bus to take us to the Station. The Trans-Alpine Express – 16 carriages pulled by two engines - was to take us to Greymouth. The travel time was four and half hours – enough time to take some great pictures from the outside viewing area.




In actual fact, the “express” took five and a half hours because of repairs to the line! It was a very scenic and worthwhile journey but we had had enough of it by the time we arrived at our destination.

Here are a couple of views during the journey

There was a bit of a free for all in collecting our luggage, but in a short while we were the proud possessors of a virtually new Ford Focus – freedom at last!


We drove south to the Franz Joseph Glacier and found our next home – The Bella Vista Motel. Compared to the Pod it was five star – a king size bed and a window!!
We were both very tired but after supper at Alice May’s, we turned in at about 10 eager to see the glaciers tomorrow.

Tuesday dawned although we didn't know it 'cos there is no window. As you can see the room is little more than a pod - the brochure boasted that it was innovative and designed to be interesting fun and comfortable within a compact space. It may look large but what you see is the reflection in the mirror alongside the bed!

We set off after breakfast to explore the city - it was pouring with rain and very grey and 15 degrees. We jumped on a tram and did a tour of the city, went to the museum to learn about some maori history and about the early UK settlers.

It was still raining when we came out so it was back onto the tram and on to New Regent Street - just a small street where the houses and shops are mirrored in pastel colours along its length. Quaint little shops - in one top shop the teddies were trying to escape out of the first floor window.

The sun appeared in the afternoon - here are some pictures to show how beautiful it is.

Christchurch Cathedral

The Arts Centre

View of the RiverAvon

As you can see it is very much like any city in the UK - even down to the red buses, McDonalds and Starbucks.

Tomorrow we are off on the trans-alpine train to Greymouth where we pick up our car and travel to the glacier region.

CAPTAIN SLOG - STARDATE 230209
Well at long last, we are in Christchurch. We travelled for a total of 27 hours, Heathrow to Hong Kong (where we saw Richard Branson and his girls were nothing like the advert) to Auckland (were Fred got told off by officials for not filling in his paperwork properly) to Christchurch. We arrived at The Hotel So in Christchurch at about 2.30 to find a very compact and "bijou" room (basically its a small box about 10 x 12ft including the shower and no daylight). But we don't care cos its got a bed. Had a rekkie this afternoon and hopefully will do it justice tomorrow when we can post some photos.