Well we are on the homeward journey now. Have had many adventures on this trip and Liz has endured them all. Spent a couple of days with Liz's niece and family at Wanaka where the weather was not so kind but was great for museums - warbirds, toy & car museums and the Puzzling House.
We did however experience a wonderful day when we travelled from Queenstown to Wanaka. Left Wanaka for Aoraki (Mt Cook) not at all hopeful that we were going to see it because of the weather. This time though the sun goddess shone on us and apart from some strong winds we had another good day of travelling as far as Twizel. We have found that Liz is better if we make our travelling shorter with lots of stops - has taken us 3 weeks to work that out! She still has some not so good days where we don't travel at all because it would be too exhausting for her. Left Twizel for Aoraki and again the travelling was good - exceptional scenery with mountains and lakes. Arrived at Aoraki in time for the weather to turn nasty. Was really miserable and we couldn't see Aoraki at all. However I really wanted to see the icebergs that had broken away from the Tasman glacier and fallen into Lake Tasman. Drove over a gravel road to a car park and I left Liz to sleep in the van while I walked to the Lake - about 20 minutes of good walking but the weather was very windy, some rain and snow. Oh but was it worth it - wow! What an awesome sight. I walked right down to lakes edge and onto the jetty and was surrounded by icebergs. I have never seen anything such as these massive pieces of ice. Well worth the walk. On the way out the weather cleared and we were able to see Aoraki. Travelled on through to Tekapo and it was lovely at our campsite on the lake edge that we decided to stay 2 nights. Liz needed some recovery time and the sun shone brightly for us. Finally able to get out in T shirts! Beautiful to walk along the lake edge into the township in sunshine. Of course we had to visit the lovely church & dog monument as all good tourists do. Tekapo camp was absolutely full both nights we stayed - a very popular spot for campers. Moved out of Tekapo this morning and now camping at Ashburton - managed to score a campsite right by the railway line - not sure how that happened. Hopefully not too many trains at night! We move on to Christchurch tomorrow to clean out our house on wheels and return it on Thursday. Only a few days holiday left but we still have plenty to do. Love to all Lynn & Liz
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Hi to all, just to let you know that we have not got frost bite and are still alive.
It has been an amazing experience to be in heavy snow yet it fall so softly and have a beauty all of its own. We arrived at Invercargill Friday afternoon having braved gales, sleet, hail and snow on route from Bluff. Lynn did a great job of driving and keeping the van on the road. Since being in this camping ground we have had nothing but hail and snow and it was about 10cms deep around the campsite, quite a memory feeling of crunching across to the loos in ankle deep snow. The last time I had done this was on a snow field, preferred that experience actually!! Have had fun watching other campers manoeuvre their vans into spaces with some missing the concrete pad and getting bogged in the grass, poor camp owners will have some deep patches to even out once they leave. About 6 other campers have stayed on as roads are closed or driving conditions too risky for us. Lynn has had fun with photography but will be pleased to move on tomorrow and head for Queenstown and stay with Kathy and Don. For those of us who enjoy an afternoon nap time passed easily, Lynn not quite cabin fever but may be close to it. Fortunately we have lots of books and card playing passes the time and the occasional DVD helps too. We are both well and enjoying the life on the road, beach walks, bird watching and grand countryside to see, wonder how the other half are surviving. Love to all, Liz & Lynn Hi to all - the happy campers reporting in!
We are now a third into our trip and loving it. It is so simple to sort of plan each day as it comes within the big framework of a 30 day holiday. We are both well, Lynn continues to be the wonderful minder and supporter as I still seem to have the occasional day of yuck but mainly all good days and it is great to be able to just stay put for a day if I feel the need to do so. We travelled south from Geraldine to Timaru and stayed with Lynn's niece for a night then on to my niece Joanne and her children, Lewis and Elizabeth. Had 3 wonderful days there catching up with Eris for a lunch date, Simon for a dinner meet and stalking the little blue penguin behind the dock yard sheds. Some rainy days so good to stay put, revive the energy levels and keep dry. Next step on to Dunedin and have had 5 nights/days here. Unfortunately the albotross was away for the weekend so we left our visiting cards, went on a fantastic tour of seals and penguins at Natures Wonder farm. What a fantastic establishment, a family farm with a tourist venture attached. They are into conservation and we were impressed with the work they are doing. The yellow eyed penguin was seen from above, no human has been allowed onto this particular beach for 10 years so the penguins have returned and are slowly multiplying. We were surprised at how big the yellow eyed is. Another highlight was to stand among some seal pups by a fresh water pool atop a fairly steep cliff/bank above the sea. The pups and their mother had no fear of us at all and came up to sniff our shoes and gaze into our faces with those big soulful brown eyes, the guides said that they have known no harm from humans so have no fear of us. Truely a magic experience. We travelled for an hour over the farm and cliff edges in an 8 wheeled vehicle,amphibian type thing that could tackle any terrain, thick mud, water pools and steep hills. Great fun. Toured the high road from Portobello back to Dunedin on a supurb sunny day and viewed ancestors homes/sites. Thanks Jeanette for the detail of the sites. We have been camped at a friends home, Lyn Anderson, for the last 3 days and enjoyed excellent hospitality and company. Lyn and Barry forced us to visit the casino but I had much the same luck as other places, break even to a small loss. Dreams are free! We also visited the Sports Hall of Fame at dunedin railway station, The Settlers museum and the Chinese Gardens - all very informative and interesting. We are off to Gore today, another long day??? 150 kms. such is our pace. We then intend to spend 4-5 days to explore the Catlins and deep south and work our way to Queenstown to visit Kathy then on to Wanaka to visit Megan. Depending on the weather, we will 'do' the Tasman glacier pre or post Wanaka, aiming for van return on the 30th September. Love to you all Liz & Lynn Hi all, apologies for the incorrect e-mail address I initially sent below - it is [email protected].
We are 6 days into the campervan trip having enjoyed 2 days in Kaikoura and 3 in Christchurch. We did the alpine trip by train on a beautiful clear sunny day last Wednesday, fabulous trip. Headed back over Arthurs Pass the next day but were turned back with snow and wind warnings. Being the flexible pair that we are, we turned left and ended down to Geraldine. Lovely spot and we were pleased that we were there and not Darfield. We certainly rocked and rolled with the earthquake but how amazing that there was so little people casualty. What a shock for ChCh. My family all well in ChCh We are thus doing our planned trip in reverse, east before west coast. Hence we may be seeing folk earlier than planned. Megan, we will probably catch Margaret this way so that is a bonus. Probably 3rd week Sept. Otherwise Oamaru today and tomorrow, Then Dunedin by the Friday/Saturday. then the Catlins, then Invercargill, possibly Gore after that . A lot depends on how I feel as I seem to need a day off every now and then. Do give us a ring 027 457 8875 / 027 232 4875 if you need a definite date. We are loving our van, very smooth ride, easy to drive (says Lynn) top bunk comfortable, all mod cons and we are snug. Look forward to catching up with everyone. |
Liz & Lynn's Blog
This is where Liz and Lynn can talk about anything they want to, and where family and friends can post comments. Archives
January 2011
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