Month: April 2016

As we set off from Haast down the Haast Pass Highway 6 we stopped at the Blue Pools. The Blue Pools derive their name from the distinctive blue of the water. Blue colour is a result of light refraction on the clear, snow-fed, icy cold water in fact it’s azure glacier-fed water just to be absolutely precise.
Well into the azure glacier-fed water did this kid dive.

Oh how I wish I was so carefree and brave – how do you do that ? Where is my adrenalin desire – I am severely lacking in that, enormous deficit – his mates did however did think he was crazy – I asked them if they were up next but they said “no way!!!”. I did not expect them to dive in as they had their jackets still on, which was a relief really, otherwise I might have felt compelled to dive as well…..it was hard, but I managed to resist 😄

Passed Lake Wannake

Passed Lake Huwea

Arrived in Queenstown

We spent three nights in Queenstown, the longest we’ve spent anywhere in New Zealand. So what do you do here?
You can go Bungy jumping, canyon swinging, or take a weird bumpy boat ride with a safety helmet on. So having done all of these already…. (just joking …..the boat ride I’ve done without a helmet in Thailand and that was REALLY bumpy and a fraction of the price) – anyway so you can go on the Sky Gondola and see a rainbow…

and do the Queenstown Hill Track/Timewalk (hard work) but somehow rewarding 😄

but eat an amazing burger after – you just have to stand an hour in the queue before you can order and then wait 20 mins with your order number – but it’s fine because you can eat a big fat hokey pokey ice cream while you’re waiting – New Zealand you have contributed massively to my hippo waistline

but I still ❤️ you and could roam your shores and swear my way up your treks forever – please ❤️ me back and say you want my footprints on your sands and hear my beautiful words in the winds up the hills……..and while I wait for your answer…..

on our last day in Queenstown we did the 12 hour coach tour to……
Milford Sounds.

Mmmhhhh shall I be honest? Ok, well at one point I wasn’t quite sure what country I was in as we seemed to be on one of the hundreds of Asian coaches travelling New Zealand. I did get a picture of the mirror lakes without one single Chinese in it which was amazing as there was the usual line up of a Chinese taking a photo of the person taking a photo of the person taking a photo of the person taking a photo of the person taking a photo of the mirror lakes…..

Milton sounds boat trip (2 hours of the 12 hour trip) and the best part….the other 10 hours I choose to forget.

From Queenstown to Mount Cook……

Mount Cook/Aoraki

Breathtaking views of Mount Cook and glacier valleys. The air, the cool blue water, the snow on the peaks accompanied by sunshine pure – unforgettable moments – a steep walk up to the Red Tarns, silence as pure as the air – simply stunning (apart from the ascent obviously – I dug really deep – but offered many expletives along the way as ever – this happens when I climb the flights of stairs at work, so you can imagine an hour into an ascent I’m offering an array of swear words in a couple of different languages to avoid being terribly boring).
Love it, love it, love it, or as the woman in a London Burberry store once said to me “lurv lurv lurv” as she drooled over a shawl thing I once extravagantly bought) – if my husband is reading this – honestly I’ve had thst shawl thingy for “ages” 😂😂😂 – and anyway aren’t we all a little L’oreal – ie. worth it.
I think because of the sunshine, the height of Mount Cook capped in snow, the glacier lake, the red tarns, hooker valley, the clear icy fresh air, that the Mount Cook area is one of my favorites – we had the red tarns to ourselves – it was so beautiful all of the surrounding area.

After this we drove to Christchurch and I’m sat in a restaurant with a couple of glasses of New Zealand wine intus and Boney M is the preferred music – I like Boney M but there’s other music I love more!!!!!
Just heard someone saying they’re going to wipe the tables down which means wine is over as is Boney M and it’s over and out from me. Tomorrow I will explore Christchurch get my grey roots turned into something new and prepare myself for South America 👵🏼

Wellington – Interislander Ferry to South Island – Picton – Kaikoura – Punakaiki – Greymouth – Franz Josef – Fox Glacier – Haast

The day after the Tongariro Crossing hopped into the van…….correction…….hobbled to the van and heaved myself in – yes that’s a more accurate description – hopped in sounds like I am a gazelle or something – totally ridiculous really.
Thinking of the mountains and hills yesterday, I often ask myself if I were reborn what talents I would ask for in the genetics queue. One would be to be an amazing singer, but if I had to be an animal I think it would be a sheep in New Zealand – not any old sheep designated to lie on a plate next to somebody’s mint sauce, but a sheep who starred in “Lord of the Rings” who would live off the royalties from the film and graze forever in the Shire…..

Anyway back to reality…..
we then made our way to the capital city of Wellington. It is literally possible to eat your way through Wellington and I’m always there where there’s good food and drink 🍔🍩🍝🍰🎂🍡🍢🍹🍨🍷🍸
We started eating samples at the tiny peanut butter factory and I haven’t stopped eating peanut butter even 4 days later after buying a big pot of the dark chocolate crunchy variety…..then came the Wellington chocolate factory – well….it would be rude not to go in – wouldn’t it? After sampling the beer chocolate (what a GREAT combination) we drank hot chocolate and I had a raspberry marshmallow.

We could have sampled a soda in the soda shop but I forgot to mention the “Hanger Flight Coffee” where we drank coffee and ate a blueberry ginger muffin – this was all in the space of about 90mins at the most and I had to skip the soda.

However evening meal time came around and we found a restaurant called “The Library” – another wonderful combination of food and a restaurant surrounded by shelves and shelves of books – paradise for book nerds like me.

The next morning returning to the city of Wellington for more food – a sumptuous breakfast of poached eggs on thick seeded toast, crumpets and coconut yoghurt with lemon curd, English breakfast tea and then hot lemon with honey and ginger. Those people who have been on a whale watching trip and not seen a whale have obviously not been on the same boat as me – what I lost in pounds in India has been replenished by stones in New Zealand – thin to fat – just like that.

The Interislander ferry, a 3 hour ferry trip took us from Wellington at the bottom of North Island to Picton at the top of South Island – a small picturesque harbor town.

The next day we travelled to Kaikoura – a lovely seaside town on the east – with a peninsula walkway, up to whale watchers bay and beyond. Also hosts a seal colony.

From Kaikoura a magical 5 hour drive back through mountains to the west side of the island to Punakaiki, – the drive listed as one of the top three most beautiful drives in New Zealand. Arthur’s pass with an elevation of 920 metres or 3,020 feet is a mountain pass in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand. The pass lies in a saddle between the valleys of the Otira River, in the west and the Bealey River in the east. Arthur’s Pass lies on the border of the Selwyn and Westland districts. It really is a breathtaking ride!!!

Sometimes a short break for stray sheep is required.

On arrival in Punakaiki you can see the pancake rocks and blowholes – and the Chinese tourists taking pictures of each other taking pictures of each other taking picture of the rocks.

From there to Greymouth – unfortunately really was grey as it rained continuously as we passed through Franz Josef and Fox Glacier. Note the blue water at Fox Glacier – wonderful – is that where the mints come from I wonder?

We travelled down to a nest called Haast, which boasts a population of 300 people and offers two tours. We really are in the middle of the back of beyond this evening – but believe it or not, I have spotted 3 Chinese taking pictures – one taking a picture of the other taking a picture of the other taking a picture of a random mountain.
Tomorrow we head on to Queenstown – 8 more sleeps in this cramped space !!!!

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is an extending trek over steep volcanic terrain. The amount of climbing is apparently minimized if you start at Mangatepopo Valley which is the preferred route. However I cannot confirm that the amount of climbing is minimized as I just wanted to cry most of the way up which is pathetic really, but true. There’s a part where you have to pull yourself up with chains – yes chains – I was at this point thinking “you cannot be serious” – but serious it was.
First of all you start on a track with a “gentle” gradient to Soda Springs – where you can go to the loo and this is advisable even though it stinks 😷 as there ain’t no more till 6k before the end and no bush if you do 🙄
Then it’s a steep climb to the Mangatepopo Saddle between Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. Poles lead across the South Crater to the tracks high point at Red Crater (1886m) a still and steaming vent. Beyond Red Crater the track passes Emerald Lakes and skirts Te Wai Whakaata-o-te Rangihiora the Blue Lake. Incidently Wh is pronounced as an F – so not Whakaata but Fakaata – fak being a phrase I used more times than the number of scooters in the centre of Hanoi after reaching the Ketetahi Shelter 6km from the end. Here my knee decided to not play the descent game and having been told no one would rescue someone with a bad knee only a broken leg, I seriously hobbled my way down in excruciating pain saying “fak fak fak fak fak” whilst Dani kindly told me some stories to try and take my mind off it. As soon as the terrain became straight again at approx. 10cm away from the car park I became a little ray of sunshine again – a cable car down would’ve been greatly appreciated – however it was not to be – but what was to be as another eventful day full of stunning scenery and amazing, magnificent views – just fantastic!!

After Matamata which is where Hobbiton was, we travelled to Rotorura – a hot spring park, wonderful lake and great village were the main features.

On our way to Lake Taupo we stopped at Waiotapu – a sheer amazing thermal spring park. I have never seen anything like this – a natural volcanic reserve.

Lake Taupo

It is getting difficult to find new words to describe the views in NZ – it’s simply sheer beauty.

“Oh misty eye of the Mountain
below….”

so the song goes by the great Ed Sheeran…so setting the scene for the epic films…Lord of the rings and the Hobbit – and for all fans out there in the World, there can’t be a better place to come than good old middle Earth in NZ

Now here’s a fact I’d be surprised if you know – the sheep used on set were imported from England – the NZ sheep were too modern and old fashioned sheep with black feet were required…..

This is one of the events I was really looking forward too – the only problem is, I now know it’s all not real and I find that quite disturbing as I really wanted a cup of tea with Bilbo Baggins and to walk through the Shire with Sam and Frodo – alas it was not to be.
Maybe I’ll forget and it’ll all become real again 😃

The beast!

Our home for the next 19 days 😊

First stop Coromandel

Cathedral Cove

Hot water beach

At the end of a long day!!
There’s still work to be done 😬

New Zealand – here till May 1st.
Met my lovely friend Bernadette Shea on day 1. Slightly jetlagged after a 10 hour + flight, Bernie took us in a wonderful tour of New Zealand. I instantaneously thought how lucky people are to live here. How do some people get to be born here? (biologically I know) but what luck to be biologically produced here….and believe me it gets even better.

Thanks to Bernie for our first day.

Tomorrow we pick up our mobile home……

Phuket

Our last stop in Thailand – Phuket.
Facials, manicures, pedicures, massages all readily available in Phuket – it was so hard to decide, so we just had one of everything. The thing is you don’t want to come away having had a pedicure and wishing you’d had a manicure or having a massage and wished you’d had a facial – best to get the whole works done – no regrets – cheap cheap cheap (that’s not a bird – that’s the woman telling us how much it all was) and it was cheap cheap cheap to quote a bird 😄
Our last day we did a “tour” of the Phi Phi Islands. Never believe what it says in the brochure – where you exactly go is all made up on the day and don’t expect to get back to the hotel at the time stated – add a minimum of two hours – for boats stuck in the sand, rough seas and traffic jams.
Did I say rough sea? What I meant was – the roughest seas EVER – when I was little I cried on the ferry from Fleetwood to Knott End, threw myself on the floor and screamed that we would all drown during the 8 minute journey. Had I have known what was to lie before me on this particular day, I think I would’ve pirouetted around the sides of the Fleetwood Ferry.
The speed boat back to Phuket from Bamboo Island (one whole hour – 60 minutes of hell) had us holding onto the sides of the boat for dear life – being flung up and down like rag dolls, smashing my delicate bone structure – there were people laughing – I did not understand this – I did not want to be flung into that sea – I really didn’t – 🚣 – I wanted to throw myself on the floor and scream that we were all going to die – this was an impossibility as my fists and fingers were clenched so tightly round the rails at the front of the boat and it was so loud, no one would’ve heard me anyway – I didn’t like the thought of people thinking “what’s that silly woman doing” so I closed my eyes and prayed for inner peace and a tranquil sea 😳

Singapore

The next day we flew to Singapore. We had a fantastic hotel – a Christmas present for me (last Christmas) – so now I’m thinking maybe I’ll put it on my list again 😄
The hotel has the longest infinity pool in the World – 200m. Imagine how many people fit in that – an awful lot!!!

I had my birthday there – a wonderful day – birthdays are great because most people want to make you happy and poor Dani was the only one around for this – at 6:15am I thought it would be nice to see the sunrise on the roof – “daniiiiii, it’s my birthday, I’d like to see the sunrise” “of course mother” she said (at least it sounded like that”.
Then a marvellous breakfast, spot of shopping and a red bus tour which took us to the botanical gardens – ginger beer in the ginger garden and then a walk down Orchard Road – a wonderful day!!

Singapore has a little India and Chinatown and as we drove through these places and walked through Chinatown – it was like doing a little revision of our journey so far. We watched some Chinese line dancing in an open square – it was hilarious – they were giving it everything……everything!!!

Singapore was a great introduction back into civilization – clean, good roads, great shops and great food. A perfect three days before our 10 hour early morning flight to New Zealand and yet another time change of plus 4 hours.

New Zealand, Auckland

We have been in New Zealand less than 24 hours and already I ❤️ it.

Met up with Bernie who I got to know in Vietnam. She took us on a great tour of Auckland – on the ferry to Devonport, kiwi style fish and chips on the beach and some hikes to some amazing viewpoints – finishing with English tea, scones with jam and cream. Perfect day, great company – thank you.

Tomorrow we start our three week road trip – watch this space 👀
– could be a bumpy ride!!!

Koh Yao Yai
On Sunday the 27th March we flew from Koh Samui to Phuket,then caught a bus and then a speed boat to the island.
Koh Yao Yai promises a secret getaway island – just what I’ve always dreamed of – the bit they forget to mention is the bit about the other 3 trillion tourists in the one and only resort here. Why do they call it a resort? Is it because you have to resort to other measures to getaway or is it because you have to re sort your expectations about the whole experience or maybe you just have to accept the whole situation and resort never to go to another resort again. See…already resorted for me 👍
However there are worse things than other tourists – correction – there’s nothing worse than other tourists – so what do you do on this getaway island?
With promises of free bicycles to explore the island outside of the resort (starting to slightly hate that word) we were lucky enough to borrow two of the four bicycles provided for the 3 trillion tourists – a probability which exceeds any chance of winning the national or any other lottery.
Have you ever been on a cycle ride in the blazing sun, 38 degrees C, already drunk your water and got lost? No? ……Well you ain’t lived……..Aiming for a beach on a sign which said 3,8km (already an hour after burning the last skin on my scalp) we ended up on a steep slope in the middle of a jungle. Do we go back? Do we carry on?
Dani – go back
Mum – go on
So….on we go. The path was too steep and rugged to cycle so God forbid we had to push those damned bicycles as well, fully aware of the fact that what goes down must go up (I think it’s the other way round – but if you’d been as dazed and confused as we were you would’ve said the same thing). Suddenly I heard trickling water (and it definately wasn’t me – I was far too dehydrated to be trickling!!) and I remembered Bear Grylls saying if you’re ever lost in a Thai jungle – you’re completely fucked!!! No actually, he said, water leads to civilization – so on we pushed….and guess what…..Bear Grylls was wrong!!!!
This is what we did see though……

The perfect getaway….

But no one serving at this deserted bar!!!!

However in the heavens above there was a God looking down who just happened to have sent down a cement lorry with some sandbags in and a bunch of Thai workers…..surreal I know – but here it is……

“Would it be possible for you to put our bikes on the top of your lorry and take us back up the hill?” we asked in our best Thai.
No sooner asked, no sooner loaded and cop this – he put his purple disco lights on in his truck where we all squeezed in listening to the Scorpions “always somewhere” trundling up the hill in the searing heat.

Today I have decided to eat ice cream all day and have a massage, as my throat resembles something out of a horror movie and refuses to disappear even after swallowing tons of Thai antibiotics. I like these days where we permit ourselves to eat ice cream all day under the pretence of “it’ll do you the world of good” and “just what the doctor ordered”.
During the massage she started to massage my knees. Have you ever had your knees massaged? Its so weird. It felt like she was singing a little song to herself and with my in-depth knowledge of the Thai language it must’ve been something like this…
“La la knobbly knees,
La La knobbly knees,
This lady has wobbly belly,
This lady has knobbly knees,
I just hope she doesn’t sneeze”
In my opinion an expert interpretation of her little song 😄 the tune sounded really nice and my knees loved it – so sing what you like, I shall be back for more knobbly wobbly massaging 😄

Oh island life could be sooo schön..