The Stealer of our sleep gave us a bit of a reprieve after a couple of days of crashing down the mountain. Today our mission, should we accept it, was to leave at 930am for a nice 4 hour drive to Glacier Country. We left at 933am, headed north and away we went. Of course when we came to a dirt road that read "no exit" things were not looking good. Of course, instead of heading north we should have headed south, then east and then north. Why dont we make that a 4 hour and 50 minute drive.
Away we went and stopped along the way to take some classic photos. Our mission was to get to the Fox Glacier. All of a sudden as the sun got lower, 4 hours and 50 minutes didn't look good. The good news is that we made it before dark. The bad end was that we ended up the wrong road and after a short walk to a dodgy swinging bridge we saw the glacier, and cars on the other side of the river driving closer to the glacier. Back to the car, a drive up beside the river, onto the dodgy dirt road and a 20 second walk. There it was. A giant wall of ice. Whew we made it.
We went in search of somewhere to buy some mince but after finding a shop, had to keep looking as Jeremy, master chef, did not want to buy mince that didnt look like mince. We drove past our accommodation in search of real mince. Finally we found it. We turned around and found our little cottage on a farm. We made our spagetti bolognaise and settled down for a night of tv and dvds.
Our Sleep
We were advised by the owner that they were expecting a lot of rain. Apparently there had been wind and rain warnings for the west coast, as opposed to the wind warnings that Jeremy had been giving us all day.
After a long long drive, I was stuffed and hit the bed while the others watched a dvd. The rain had started and it was coming down very hard. Some time during the night, I woke up to hear and see something like an electrical explosion. I didnt know what to make of it but it freaked me out. I half expected to see some flames and was going over evacuation details in my head. This explosion kept happening and this time Annette woke up to it as well. She went to check it out buy every time we looked, couldnt see anything. Of course this was in the middle of a torrential downpour complete with huge thunderstorm. I thought it might have been the combustion fire but Annette said it was completely out. So we spent the night sleeping with one eye open waiting for the cottage to explode.
Next day we asked the kids about it. Jeremy said he was freaked out all night, while Mr Snooze never even knew there was an enourmous thunderstorm. So we survived the night, but will never know for sure what the noises were.
The Next Day
We got up really early for a change and headed out into the rain and dark for Franz Josef. It was a short drive and we arrived and decided to do a 50 minute walk to see the glacier. We hadnt really done many walks so off we went, up hill, down hill until we found another dodby bridge similar to yesterdays. We looked over at the glacier and saw.......... fog. No glacier just fog. So we headed back to the carpark to where there was a list of other walks. We then did the 20 minute walk, up hill and down hill until we got to a lookout which showed the glacier without the fog. Another big wall of ice. We headed back to the car to prepare for our 5 Hour car trip. You do the maths. If a car leaves on a 5 hour drive at 930am, what time will you get to Christchurch. Well I did stop for petrol a couple of times and purchsased a 70s cd to keep the kids amused. We drove through the mountains and the non stop rain, over the one way bridges, around the twisty bends, past the land slides, only to arrive in a place called Greymouth where we found the local toilets, ate our lunch and decided to hit the Information Centre.
Well what did they have in the way of information? Because of the rain, the road through Arthurs Pass has been closed. The only way to Christchurch is via a detour which will take another 2 hours. Nooooo. You see reader, normally I would not have been stressed out but in our first few days in Christchurch, we found the greatest 2nd hand record/cd shop in the history of the world. We didnt know what time it closed but figured between 5 and 6pm. Are you still doing the maths? So we headed off on the detour with nothing but some cookies, some shapes and a few pieces of chocolate for the trip. Yes that right, Annette still had some chocolate from over a week ago at the factory left. So I drove, while, as usual the others prepared to sleep their way to Christchurch. Just out of Greymouth, the trip hit a slight snag. The road was flooded. No worries said the local council worker. All we had to do was follow the centre line and we shouldnt get swept out into the Tasman Sea. He was right. I drove and drove and drove, each 10 minutes trying to calculate what time I would be buying my first 20 year old record. As Annette did the Wobbly Dog in the front and the kids took their usual positions in the back, I drove through the Detour Mountains with one purpose. Please dont fall asleep. But I was pumped. I had a mission. I had $200 NZ in my wallet and I was going to spend it foolishly finding the 5 songs in history that I havent collected yet. I was doing the countdown. 300, 200, 100, 50 km to go. Then we sit Christchurch and the traffic lights. But I will tell you this dear reader, we made it to the record shop on time. I think it may have been 513pm but I just dont know. I had 10000 records to go through. We looked and looked and as the DVD/CD/Records pile got bigger and bigger, I wondered if $200 was enough. At the end, over $140 worth but the owner let us have it for $125 after hearing how we had driven all the way from the end of the earth to get there.
We headed to the hotel, dumped everything and then headed out to Jeremys new favourite Nachos Restaurant, Cyotes, found our way to Maccas for an el cheapo dessert and went back to try and pack everything. Oh and the good news. Tomorrow we have to wake up really early.
The Last Day
Woke up early, found Maccas for hotcakes, found the airport, dumped the car, got ripped off with a $100 departure tax, found a duty free DVD/CD store to spend our last money, watched some movies that we havent seen before, at the kids salads, and finally made it back home.
Oh yes, customs were laughing when they looked at the photo in Rileys passport and then looked at the hairy mass on his face
Guess what? I have to get up early tomorrow for soccer. Yay, I should be used to it.
Oh By They Way
Last year on the way back from America. I didnt do a post for the last days but as we came through customs in Sydney, Annette was asked why she had a concealed weapon in her bag. She denied everything. At one stage, jail for terrorism looked on the cards until it was discovered that the sling shot weapon, was in fact a cheese slicer.
So until our next adventure, I can say that NZ was great, I didnt put on weight and one day soon I really hope I get to sleep in.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
another nz story
Day 2 from Queenstown
The sleep stealer let us have a sleep in today as we didn’t have to do anything until 10am. We packed the car, rugged up well and headed for our Shotover Jetboat ride. There is nothing like an early morning boat ride with a breeze in your face. Well the breeze was hurtling us at a rapid rate with a wind chill of minus 20 degrees. The spray coming of the water hit your face like a rock. Luckily for us, the kids were on the outside and copped the brunt of the spray.
The good news was that not only was Riley awake for the ride, but he actually enjoyed it. The wind chill made it impossible for him to blink and then open his eyes.
From there we headed in some direction. I don’t know anymore. I get told a place and head there while the rest of the family do wobbly dog impersonations while they drift in and out of sleep. We had a short stop in Arrowtown where the bad ones of the family purchased articles of the pastry types at a bakery. Me and Riley made the mistake of not getting lunch and never got around to eating until 6pm.
We arrived in Wanaka with three quarters of us asleep and headed for our accommodation. A 2 bedroom cabin with open fireplace overlooking a huge lake with a backdrop of snow capped mountains. I wonder what the poor people are doing. Oh that’s right they are in a 2 bedroom cabin with open fireplace in Wanaka,
We then headed off to the start of town to a place called puzzle world. It had all this stuff like puzzles and trick pictures and actually had the kids interested in something apart from what the next meal is. The big attraction here was a giant 2 story maze. The kids ripped into it and spent the best part of an hour looking for where to go. They ran around non stop and must have done about 10 km. The oldies just plodded around and did ok until dizziness started to set in and they made an early exit through the early exit. The kids kept going, trying to win. Jeremy came out first and we went with him to take some photos. About 5 minutes later, Riley comes out proclaiming himself to be King, until he looks up the hill and sees that Jeremy got out first.
We headed back to town, filled up with petrol (thank heavens for my 4c petrol voucher which brought it down to $1.61 a litre) and hit the local store to get some food for the next 3 days. In a country filled with cows and sheep, I can’t figure out why meat is so expensive. Then again I don’t know which direction I am going. Back to the Bayview for a roaring fire and plenty of sport on TV. The lack of internet access has totally stuffed up Riley’s chances of winning fantasy football.
Oops forgot that we had to go and hire our ski clothing for tomorrow’s big adventure
The Next Day
The sleep stealer was up to her evil ways as we had to get up to meet our bus at 755am. After a few pickups on the way we headed for Cardrona. It’s about 21 km out of town and then another 21 km straight up a very very windy road. We arrived at 910am and then went through the getting tickets, getting boots, getting skis drama before finally walking out strangely to have our lesson. Of course it had taken us so long to boot up that all the lessons were full. Finally at 1130am we started our lesson. Pretty basic stuff for some of us, but one just didn’t seem to get it. We advanced to the point that we were ready to go up the beginners slope on the pommer. It’s like being dragged up the hill with a giant plunger. The first time Jeremy went on he fell off. “It’s the skis” and “I told you snow boarding was easier” was all we could get from him. When he finally got up the hill, he would crash a couple of times and then start again. At one stage, I was standing at the front of the line for the pommer and down through the actual up track comes Jeremy. Possibly the first person to crash into the Pommer cabin. But he did keep at it. Riley was a little better and at one stage could be seen falling off the top of the hill.
Annette was hurting a bit from the exercise while Mark was doing all right in the bright sunshine. Then it was time. Mark and Riley hit the chairlift. It took forever to get to the top, and we both brilliantly fell off the chairlift at the top of the mountain. Still there was only one way to go and that was down. I don’t know why it’s called skiing because crashing would be a better term. How many times you crashed was all that was talked about when we finally hit the bottom. Jeremy went up with Annette, and both kept up the family tradition by falling off the chairlift at the top. Both crashed several times, probably about 6 on the way down for Jeremy, but to his credit, he came up with the other 2 boys and we didn’t fall off. At one stage on the way down, Riley was complimented on his crashing efforts. Riley crashed into a wooden fence at one stage with his ski going over the fence. Mark could only hit the fence and keep his skis on. In the end it was a good day and Jeremy is finally getting it without complaining.
Today
I kept waking up last night hearing strong winds and rain. Same wakeup as yesterday, same bus ride and off we went. The bus was pretty expensive but I didn’t like the idea of the mountain in the afternoon with snowchains. Good choice. As we wound our way higher and higher, snow was increasing. By the top it was full on. Being our second day, we had it down pat and in no time hit the slopes. We warmed up on the beginner’s slopes and then the boys hit the big chairlift. Now the big problem was that they changed the course today and it was hard. Crash boom bam. Riley as usual sped off into the distance while the other mere mortals practiced their falling down. We all made it down and then decided to go again. Jeremy completed his full set by falling down at the entrance to the chairlift. As we headed up the long long long trip, it started getting cold, windy and snow was blowing sideways into our eyes. Cold cold cold. As we got to the top there was one problem. It was snowing so much that we couldn’t see 10 inches in front of us. Try going down a mountain blind. We went very slowly, practicing our snow plough and our falling over on the way. Mark and Jeremy finally made it a long time after starting while Riley decided to ski half way and get the medicab the rest of the way. He used to be quick. We will wait to see what the xrays reveal, but at least he walks faster on crutches than in ski boots. And so that was it apart from hitting the beginner slopes, sitting in the café, and generally freezing our faces off.
By the end of it, Jeremy had finally figured it out, Riley couldn’t walk, Annette probably won’t ski for another 25 years, and I could take it or leave it.
Then as we got retrieved by the other people from our bus who wanted to leave early, we went down those frightening slopes with snow chains and snow and ice. Lucky the inside of the bus has fogged up so we couldn’t see our impending death miles below us. We made it home safely. Jumped in our spa, pigged out on dinner again, put another log on the fire and started looking forward to a bit of a sleep in tomorrow. Good luck on that one.
Well tomorrow we are off to Franz Josef. Each time we say it the kids start singing the song by Franz Ferdinand. Well that’s it for now. We have to give Riley his drugs and while he is out of it might shave off half of his big Grizzly Adams beard for a joke. Maybe hiding his crutches would be fun as well. No one is spared. If you can’t walk the walk, then you are wearing crutches. No more reports until we get back to Christchurch and if we find the second hand music store there again, probably won’t have time for that.
The sleep stealer let us have a sleep in today as we didn’t have to do anything until 10am. We packed the car, rugged up well and headed for our Shotover Jetboat ride. There is nothing like an early morning boat ride with a breeze in your face. Well the breeze was hurtling us at a rapid rate with a wind chill of minus 20 degrees. The spray coming of the water hit your face like a rock. Luckily for us, the kids were on the outside and copped the brunt of the spray.
The good news was that not only was Riley awake for the ride, but he actually enjoyed it. The wind chill made it impossible for him to blink and then open his eyes.
From there we headed in some direction. I don’t know anymore. I get told a place and head there while the rest of the family do wobbly dog impersonations while they drift in and out of sleep. We had a short stop in Arrowtown where the bad ones of the family purchased articles of the pastry types at a bakery. Me and Riley made the mistake of not getting lunch and never got around to eating until 6pm.
We arrived in Wanaka with three quarters of us asleep and headed for our accommodation. A 2 bedroom cabin with open fireplace overlooking a huge lake with a backdrop of snow capped mountains. I wonder what the poor people are doing. Oh that’s right they are in a 2 bedroom cabin with open fireplace in Wanaka,
We then headed off to the start of town to a place called puzzle world. It had all this stuff like puzzles and trick pictures and actually had the kids interested in something apart from what the next meal is. The big attraction here was a giant 2 story maze. The kids ripped into it and spent the best part of an hour looking for where to go. They ran around non stop and must have done about 10 km. The oldies just plodded around and did ok until dizziness started to set in and they made an early exit through the early exit. The kids kept going, trying to win. Jeremy came out first and we went with him to take some photos. About 5 minutes later, Riley comes out proclaiming himself to be King, until he looks up the hill and sees that Jeremy got out first.
We headed back to town, filled up with petrol (thank heavens for my 4c petrol voucher which brought it down to $1.61 a litre) and hit the local store to get some food for the next 3 days. In a country filled with cows and sheep, I can’t figure out why meat is so expensive. Then again I don’t know which direction I am going. Back to the Bayview for a roaring fire and plenty of sport on TV. The lack of internet access has totally stuffed up Riley’s chances of winning fantasy football.
Oops forgot that we had to go and hire our ski clothing for tomorrow’s big adventure
The Next Day
The sleep stealer was up to her evil ways as we had to get up to meet our bus at 755am. After a few pickups on the way we headed for Cardrona. It’s about 21 km out of town and then another 21 km straight up a very very windy road. We arrived at 910am and then went through the getting tickets, getting boots, getting skis drama before finally walking out strangely to have our lesson. Of course it had taken us so long to boot up that all the lessons were full. Finally at 1130am we started our lesson. Pretty basic stuff for some of us, but one just didn’t seem to get it. We advanced to the point that we were ready to go up the beginners slope on the pommer. It’s like being dragged up the hill with a giant plunger. The first time Jeremy went on he fell off. “It’s the skis” and “I told you snow boarding was easier” was all we could get from him. When he finally got up the hill, he would crash a couple of times and then start again. At one stage, I was standing at the front of the line for the pommer and down through the actual up track comes Jeremy. Possibly the first person to crash into the Pommer cabin. But he did keep at it. Riley was a little better and at one stage could be seen falling off the top of the hill.
Annette was hurting a bit from the exercise while Mark was doing all right in the bright sunshine. Then it was time. Mark and Riley hit the chairlift. It took forever to get to the top, and we both brilliantly fell off the chairlift at the top of the mountain. Still there was only one way to go and that was down. I don’t know why it’s called skiing because crashing would be a better term. How many times you crashed was all that was talked about when we finally hit the bottom. Jeremy went up with Annette, and both kept up the family tradition by falling off the chairlift at the top. Both crashed several times, probably about 6 on the way down for Jeremy, but to his credit, he came up with the other 2 boys and we didn’t fall off. At one stage on the way down, Riley was complimented on his crashing efforts. Riley crashed into a wooden fence at one stage with his ski going over the fence. Mark could only hit the fence and keep his skis on. In the end it was a good day and Jeremy is finally getting it without complaining.
Today
I kept waking up last night hearing strong winds and rain. Same wakeup as yesterday, same bus ride and off we went. The bus was pretty expensive but I didn’t like the idea of the mountain in the afternoon with snowchains. Good choice. As we wound our way higher and higher, snow was increasing. By the top it was full on. Being our second day, we had it down pat and in no time hit the slopes. We warmed up on the beginner’s slopes and then the boys hit the big chairlift. Now the big problem was that they changed the course today and it was hard. Crash boom bam. Riley as usual sped off into the distance while the other mere mortals practiced their falling down. We all made it down and then decided to go again. Jeremy completed his full set by falling down at the entrance to the chairlift. As we headed up the long long long trip, it started getting cold, windy and snow was blowing sideways into our eyes. Cold cold cold. As we got to the top there was one problem. It was snowing so much that we couldn’t see 10 inches in front of us. Try going down a mountain blind. We went very slowly, practicing our snow plough and our falling over on the way. Mark and Jeremy finally made it a long time after starting while Riley decided to ski half way and get the medicab the rest of the way. He used to be quick. We will wait to see what the xrays reveal, but at least he walks faster on crutches than in ski boots. And so that was it apart from hitting the beginner slopes, sitting in the café, and generally freezing our faces off.
By the end of it, Jeremy had finally figured it out, Riley couldn’t walk, Annette probably won’t ski for another 25 years, and I could take it or leave it.
Then as we got retrieved by the other people from our bus who wanted to leave early, we went down those frightening slopes with snow chains and snow and ice. Lucky the inside of the bus has fogged up so we couldn’t see our impending death miles below us. We made it home safely. Jumped in our spa, pigged out on dinner again, put another log on the fire and started looking forward to a bit of a sleep in tomorrow. Good luck on that one.
Well tomorrow we are off to Franz Josef. Each time we say it the kids start singing the song by Franz Ferdinand. Well that’s it for now. We have to give Riley his drugs and while he is out of it might shave off half of his big Grizzly Adams beard for a joke. Maybe hiding his crutches would be fun as well. No one is spared. If you can’t walk the walk, then you are wearing crutches. No more reports until we get back to Christchurch and if we find the second hand music store there again, probably won’t have time for that.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
second post from NZ
A Few Days Ago
Sitting in our unit in Dunedin, something seemed strange. I kept noticing that the shadows from the lights were moving a lot. Seems as though we were having an earthquake. Annette noticed a funny feeling, while Jeremy wondered why I was making the bed shake. Riley probably slept through the whole thing.
Next morning we hopped in the car and headed for Te Anau, which was some direction that I have no idea of. I get told when to drive and where to drive, except of course when everybody in the car falls asleep and leaves it up to me.
The first task of the day was to divide up all the chocolate from yesterday’s haul. Arguments ensued but in the end, it didn’t really matter as Jeremy had eaten most of his by the time we had made it to lunch time. Not much of a drive past the sheep, cows and deer. Riley continued his endless sleep whether in car or bed.
On arrival we checked out the local shopping centre, purchased some beef flavoured sausages (no idea what they were actually made of) and proceeded to set the smoke alarm off for the second night in a row when we were cooking. With the promise of an early morning wake up call we all got to sleep close to midnight.
A Few Days Ago Minus One
Our estimated departure of 7.45am was not quite met, but we headed out into the darkness not long after 8am. With the threat of frozen roads, the going was steady but we were making good time and at 9.30am and with only around 30 km to travel, our boat cruise time of 11am from Milford Sound was looking good. Then, we hit an AC/DC problem. Black Ice has closed the road ahead. Work crews passed us with loads of grit to do whatever they do with the roads. After around a one hour wait we got underway again. We kept waiting for the roads to be the terrifying ones everybody had told us about. Come on guys. I used to drive from Revesby to Sutherland through Menai before there were wussy bridges.
We arrived at the Milford Sound carpark around 11.10am, got out of the car to hear the two horns of a reversing boat go off. Yes it turns out it was our boat. They told us we could catch the next one at 1pm or go with another company at 1250pm. We decided the 1pm would be ok. Then my eagle eye noticed that some others who had missed our boat were getting onto another boat straight away. After some quick talking we departed on that boat straight away.
I don’t want to get too technical but apparently Milford Sound isn’t a Sound it’s a Fjord. We spent a lot of time upstairs checking out the nature (Riley loves nature) and got a bit of drizzle on us, which was nice as it hadn’t rained up until that point. We were lucky enough to have 3 dolphins join us on the way and I think that the kids actually enjoyed it. They even enjoyed the seal colony on the way back to the jetty. Damn, we must be slipping. We are supposed to be punishing them, not letting them enjoy themselves.
Back to the car and another solo drive home while the other 3 slept. Back into town and the kids had a lie down while the grown ups checked out the town. Back to the accommodation and then back to town to the local restaurant. As with just about every other decision made, Jeremy had to disagree and stated that the food would taste like crap.
So in we went. While 3 of us ate somewhat sensibly, as we realised that our bulging waistlines couldn’t take it anymore, Riley was in the mood for meat. Around 3 pigs later, he finally finished his dinner, but as he always says “the only reason for eating dinner is to get dessert”. Back home to watch the footy and the cricket and get the news that we were allowed a sleep in until 8am.
Today
We made a special trip into town to check out a gift shop we saw yesterday that had some stuff Jeremy would be interested in. Over $100 later we left with a big bag of stuff, and nothing for Jeremy.
We hit the car for around a 2 hour drive to Queenstown, which was mainly uneventful. I was expecting cold weather and snow, when what we got was warm weather with snow covered mountains surrounding us.
Anyway I should now share last night’s dream. We were at the Soccer Trivia night and the prizes were BBQ chickens. Somebody got a question right and they won some chewing gum. Sounds like a good night so far. Then I came up with a great idea for a trivia night – ABBA lotto. After waking up and telling the family, they all thought I was strange. We finally get to Queenstown and our unit is called the ABBA Garden Motel. Now all I have to do is buy a lotto ticket and write my resignation.
We had a bit of a look around town with its ski shops and ski shops and ski shops and then went up a gondola (by now we knew it wasn’t a boat) to the big mountain. This was a lot better than the gondola at Christchurch and we got magnificent views. On the way, we went past the bungy jumping platform. It was right at this precise moment that Riley’s plans to make a jump were suddenly cancelled, by Riley. We had purchased a ticket that gave us 6 luge rides on the track at the top of the mountain. Jeremy spent the whole time sledging that old men couldn’t luge. We hit the track. First corner, Jeremy starting at the front, comes to grief and the old man goes past him. Mum passed him, but Riley, after having trouble getting going at the starting line didn’t quite make it.
We had 2 more rides available so Mark and Jeremy head up on the chairlift again to do the advanced track. Getting on the chairlift, Jeremy pulls down the handle bar right into the middle of my thigh. He will do anything to win. So now in addition to my right knee that has been feeling bad since the Chocolate factory gift shop (yes that’s right, she trampled me on the way to chocolate as well) my right thigh is stuffed.
Jeremy got the head start, as was just travelling too slow, taking the wrong lines through the corners and generally getting in the way of the smarter and better driver. I waited until the right moment and then “whoooosh”. I was gone. At least he came second. Four hours later he is still complaining about his luge being faulty.
To the indoor putt putt and after a surprisingly close contest, Mark won again. I won’t tell you the other places but Jeremy is also complaining about a faulty putter.
We found a pizza place (because we think that healthy eating is really important) and ordered our stuff after much complaining with guess who. He who claimed his pizza would be crap, was the first to finish. Yay, he finally won something today. Back to the unit, with a night of watching tv and preparation for getting back into our jeans for tomorrow’s jet boat ride.
What have I forgotten? The chocolate factory and they made Riley wear both a hair net and a beard net. He looked absolutely stupid.
The earthquake wasn’t a result of excessive wind caused by the family.
All we do is drive and eat. I reckon I am looking at about 5 kilos by the end of the holiday. Hopefully the skiing will get rid of the kilos.
Riley says it is not his fault that the team didn’t score last week. That is about all he has said all week apart from crying because he did something stupid with his fantasy football team. Now he is saying “no no” as the Sharks have just come onto tv and Paul Gallen isn’t playing.
Ps. Mark’s achilles is stuffed.
Sitting in our unit in Dunedin, something seemed strange. I kept noticing that the shadows from the lights were moving a lot. Seems as though we were having an earthquake. Annette noticed a funny feeling, while Jeremy wondered why I was making the bed shake. Riley probably slept through the whole thing.
Next morning we hopped in the car and headed for Te Anau, which was some direction that I have no idea of. I get told when to drive and where to drive, except of course when everybody in the car falls asleep and leaves it up to me.
The first task of the day was to divide up all the chocolate from yesterday’s haul. Arguments ensued but in the end, it didn’t really matter as Jeremy had eaten most of his by the time we had made it to lunch time. Not much of a drive past the sheep, cows and deer. Riley continued his endless sleep whether in car or bed.
On arrival we checked out the local shopping centre, purchased some beef flavoured sausages (no idea what they were actually made of) and proceeded to set the smoke alarm off for the second night in a row when we were cooking. With the promise of an early morning wake up call we all got to sleep close to midnight.
A Few Days Ago Minus One
Our estimated departure of 7.45am was not quite met, but we headed out into the darkness not long after 8am. With the threat of frozen roads, the going was steady but we were making good time and at 9.30am and with only around 30 km to travel, our boat cruise time of 11am from Milford Sound was looking good. Then, we hit an AC/DC problem. Black Ice has closed the road ahead. Work crews passed us with loads of grit to do whatever they do with the roads. After around a one hour wait we got underway again. We kept waiting for the roads to be the terrifying ones everybody had told us about. Come on guys. I used to drive from Revesby to Sutherland through Menai before there were wussy bridges.
We arrived at the Milford Sound carpark around 11.10am, got out of the car to hear the two horns of a reversing boat go off. Yes it turns out it was our boat. They told us we could catch the next one at 1pm or go with another company at 1250pm. We decided the 1pm would be ok. Then my eagle eye noticed that some others who had missed our boat were getting onto another boat straight away. After some quick talking we departed on that boat straight away.
I don’t want to get too technical but apparently Milford Sound isn’t a Sound it’s a Fjord. We spent a lot of time upstairs checking out the nature (Riley loves nature) and got a bit of drizzle on us, which was nice as it hadn’t rained up until that point. We were lucky enough to have 3 dolphins join us on the way and I think that the kids actually enjoyed it. They even enjoyed the seal colony on the way back to the jetty. Damn, we must be slipping. We are supposed to be punishing them, not letting them enjoy themselves.
Back to the car and another solo drive home while the other 3 slept. Back into town and the kids had a lie down while the grown ups checked out the town. Back to the accommodation and then back to town to the local restaurant. As with just about every other decision made, Jeremy had to disagree and stated that the food would taste like crap.
So in we went. While 3 of us ate somewhat sensibly, as we realised that our bulging waistlines couldn’t take it anymore, Riley was in the mood for meat. Around 3 pigs later, he finally finished his dinner, but as he always says “the only reason for eating dinner is to get dessert”. Back home to watch the footy and the cricket and get the news that we were allowed a sleep in until 8am.
Today
We made a special trip into town to check out a gift shop we saw yesterday that had some stuff Jeremy would be interested in. Over $100 later we left with a big bag of stuff, and nothing for Jeremy.
We hit the car for around a 2 hour drive to Queenstown, which was mainly uneventful. I was expecting cold weather and snow, when what we got was warm weather with snow covered mountains surrounding us.
Anyway I should now share last night’s dream. We were at the Soccer Trivia night and the prizes were BBQ chickens. Somebody got a question right and they won some chewing gum. Sounds like a good night so far. Then I came up with a great idea for a trivia night – ABBA lotto. After waking up and telling the family, they all thought I was strange. We finally get to Queenstown and our unit is called the ABBA Garden Motel. Now all I have to do is buy a lotto ticket and write my resignation.
We had a bit of a look around town with its ski shops and ski shops and ski shops and then went up a gondola (by now we knew it wasn’t a boat) to the big mountain. This was a lot better than the gondola at Christchurch and we got magnificent views. On the way, we went past the bungy jumping platform. It was right at this precise moment that Riley’s plans to make a jump were suddenly cancelled, by Riley. We had purchased a ticket that gave us 6 luge rides on the track at the top of the mountain. Jeremy spent the whole time sledging that old men couldn’t luge. We hit the track. First corner, Jeremy starting at the front, comes to grief and the old man goes past him. Mum passed him, but Riley, after having trouble getting going at the starting line didn’t quite make it.
We had 2 more rides available so Mark and Jeremy head up on the chairlift again to do the advanced track. Getting on the chairlift, Jeremy pulls down the handle bar right into the middle of my thigh. He will do anything to win. So now in addition to my right knee that has been feeling bad since the Chocolate factory gift shop (yes that’s right, she trampled me on the way to chocolate as well) my right thigh is stuffed.
Jeremy got the head start, as was just travelling too slow, taking the wrong lines through the corners and generally getting in the way of the smarter and better driver. I waited until the right moment and then “whoooosh”. I was gone. At least he came second. Four hours later he is still complaining about his luge being faulty.
To the indoor putt putt and after a surprisingly close contest, Mark won again. I won’t tell you the other places but Jeremy is also complaining about a faulty putter.
We found a pizza place (because we think that healthy eating is really important) and ordered our stuff after much complaining with guess who. He who claimed his pizza would be crap, was the first to finish. Yay, he finally won something today. Back to the unit, with a night of watching tv and preparation for getting back into our jeans for tomorrow’s jet boat ride.
What have I forgotten? The chocolate factory and they made Riley wear both a hair net and a beard net. He looked absolutely stupid.
The earthquake wasn’t a result of excessive wind caused by the family.
All we do is drive and eat. I reckon I am looking at about 5 kilos by the end of the holiday. Hopefully the skiing will get rid of the kilos.
Riley says it is not his fault that the team didn’t score last week. That is about all he has said all week apart from crying because he did something stupid with his fantasy football team. Now he is saying “no no” as the Sharks have just come onto tv and Paul Gallen isn’t playing.
Ps. Mark’s achilles is stuffed.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Its Now Wednesday
Hello again loyal readers. Yes we have crossed the Tasman and we will start you at day 4 and then work our way back to the start. Today is the day young Jeremy will forever remember as Harry Potter Wednesday. "Can we go to see Harry Potter?" has been coming out of his mouth ever since we arrived. It has only stopped for small words like "cake" and "toilet quick".
This morning we awoke in Dunedin, to be told we were going to museums, castles and to see nature. The bearded one is not all that impressed with nature. He has just a few more questions than Jeremy. Whats for breakfast, lunch and dinner is about it. Philosophy by Riley " The only reason that you eat dinner is to get to dessert". Anyway before we were off to look at nature, we hit the Cadburys chocolate factory. MMMM chocolate. Not a bad way to start the day. How much chocolate can one family buy in a gift shop? After Annette had trampled a poor unsuspecting Korean lady who threatened to take her Creme Brulee chocolate bar, we ended up spending about $30. Take into account the free samples and we are looking at what Mark will now call "High Calorie Wednesday". I am hoping that it doesnt bring on a repeat performance of what will forever be known as "The Tasmanian Chocolate Incident". I will let you know about it when we return. Oh stuff it. Jeremy pigs out on about 100 chocolates hidden in his pockets, goes to bed, tries to drop a smelly one on dad, and spray paints his pants. Jeremy is reading this at the moment and forbids me saying anything else such as the Wattle Grove bath incident. Ask Riley about that one.
So we are eating chocolate on the way to the castle having a lovely drive and wondering how low the speed limit is on a road that has over 129 bends in 8km. We are inching our way up the mountain when we come to a bend that wants us to slow down to 65kmh. Aussie Woosies is what we are. The speed limit is 1ookm. Yikes. We went and saw some nature and went for our free cup of tea and coffee. Jeremy tried coffee for the first time. Probably the last time as well. Annette says "Who wants to go to the ice cream factory?" At that precise moment, I swear, the church type music from above sings "Hallelujah". As travellers we will not go against a sign, so off the the ice cream factory we went. Now all I can say about that is that the 100ml of ice cream I had contained over 400 calories!!! Jeremy told me to put the exclamation marks in. One for every new roll of fat that I just discovered.
From there it was to Baldwin St, (Billy Or Alec) Jeremy says. It is the Worlds steepest street. The boys made it up OK followed somewhat later by Annette. It reminded me a bit of the soccer training Jeremy has been doing most of the year.
Back to our apartment from H P and the Half Blood Prince (better study this one for trivia night) and Annette set off the smoke detector with her cooking of dinner. In fear of never getting another cooked meal, no more will be said of this incident.
Yesterday.
We had a five hour drive from Christchurch to Dunedin with stops on the way. Breakfast at McDonalds to start the day. Jeremy decided he would have some pancakes with his Maple Syrup. Into the car and off we went, mainly in the right direction apart from some small hiccups getting out of Christchurch. How nice it is driving through dark mountains with the family asleep in the car, and sipping on Coke so that you dont fall asleep yourself. For lunch we decided on some little cafe in a place starting with G. I am really focusing at the moment. Geraldine, I am told. It cost over $60 for some bread rolls, drinks and cakes. Now I know the rest of the family are pigs, but that seemed too much. We went back in ready for a fight and found out that the young waitress, probably distracted by my stunning looks, had charged us $33 for one of the drinks. Beware kiwis trying to rip us off.
The day before.
Suffering heavily from arriving at midnight and being woken up way too early, we finally exited our hotel in search of breakfast. I can honestly say that I have never spent $80 on breakfast but it was really nice. It got us through to dinner time, totally stuffing up Rileys theory that you eat breakfast to get to luch and lunch to get to dinner, and of course the dessert thing after that. Mark and Riley dug into "the big breakfast", Jeremy had the worlds biggest pancakes, with bacon and apples and a bucket full of maple syrup. To his credit, he gave me and Riley most of the bacon and finished the rest, apart from a few pieces of apple. Annette French toast with bananas and bacon and maple syrup. "Hi We are a family and we are all foodaholics".
From there we hit the local transport scene and headed to a factory outlet followed by another trip to catch a gondola up a mountain. The intellegent boys were confused as to how a boat could get to the top of a mountain. We then hit the dinner scene and 9 years after being frustrated by Jeremys inability to eat an authentic Nachos in Phoenix (he only ate the corn chips) he actually ate a real nachos with sauce and sour cream and guacomole, and liked it. Grasshopper, when you can eat the nachos from my hand, then it is time for you to leave. What on earth was that line about. Back to the hotel, where the rest of the family went for a swim and sauna. I sat in the dark and watched TV. Gee I could have done that for free at home.
The Flight
Food, Videos and Mum embarrasing Jeremy with outragiously loud laughter while watching comedy show while the flight attendant is talking to her. We arrived, tried to get into a fight with the shuttle bus driver for trying to rip us off, went to the hotel and here we are.
The Wrap
Driving, sight seeing and lots and lots and lots of calories. Read all the soccer results and am not happy. Heading further south tomorrow. Riley wants to know whats for lunch tomorrow. Just found out its 4 and a quarter drive. Bring on the coffee and coke.
This morning we awoke in Dunedin, to be told we were going to museums, castles and to see nature. The bearded one is not all that impressed with nature. He has just a few more questions than Jeremy. Whats for breakfast, lunch and dinner is about it. Philosophy by Riley " The only reason that you eat dinner is to get to dessert". Anyway before we were off to look at nature, we hit the Cadburys chocolate factory. MMMM chocolate. Not a bad way to start the day. How much chocolate can one family buy in a gift shop? After Annette had trampled a poor unsuspecting Korean lady who threatened to take her Creme Brulee chocolate bar, we ended up spending about $30. Take into account the free samples and we are looking at what Mark will now call "High Calorie Wednesday". I am hoping that it doesnt bring on a repeat performance of what will forever be known as "The Tasmanian Chocolate Incident". I will let you know about it when we return. Oh stuff it. Jeremy pigs out on about 100 chocolates hidden in his pockets, goes to bed, tries to drop a smelly one on dad, and spray paints his pants. Jeremy is reading this at the moment and forbids me saying anything else such as the Wattle Grove bath incident. Ask Riley about that one.
So we are eating chocolate on the way to the castle having a lovely drive and wondering how low the speed limit is on a road that has over 129 bends in 8km. We are inching our way up the mountain when we come to a bend that wants us to slow down to 65kmh. Aussie Woosies is what we are. The speed limit is 1ookm. Yikes. We went and saw some nature and went for our free cup of tea and coffee. Jeremy tried coffee for the first time. Probably the last time as well. Annette says "Who wants to go to the ice cream factory?" At that precise moment, I swear, the church type music from above sings "Hallelujah". As travellers we will not go against a sign, so off the the ice cream factory we went. Now all I can say about that is that the 100ml of ice cream I had contained over 400 calories!!! Jeremy told me to put the exclamation marks in. One for every new roll of fat that I just discovered.
From there it was to Baldwin St, (Billy Or Alec) Jeremy says. It is the Worlds steepest street. The boys made it up OK followed somewhat later by Annette. It reminded me a bit of the soccer training Jeremy has been doing most of the year.
Back to our apartment from H P and the Half Blood Prince (better study this one for trivia night) and Annette set off the smoke detector with her cooking of dinner. In fear of never getting another cooked meal, no more will be said of this incident.
Yesterday.
We had a five hour drive from Christchurch to Dunedin with stops on the way. Breakfast at McDonalds to start the day. Jeremy decided he would have some pancakes with his Maple Syrup. Into the car and off we went, mainly in the right direction apart from some small hiccups getting out of Christchurch. How nice it is driving through dark mountains with the family asleep in the car, and sipping on Coke so that you dont fall asleep yourself. For lunch we decided on some little cafe in a place starting with G. I am really focusing at the moment. Geraldine, I am told. It cost over $60 for some bread rolls, drinks and cakes. Now I know the rest of the family are pigs, but that seemed too much. We went back in ready for a fight and found out that the young waitress, probably distracted by my stunning looks, had charged us $33 for one of the drinks. Beware kiwis trying to rip us off.
The day before.
Suffering heavily from arriving at midnight and being woken up way too early, we finally exited our hotel in search of breakfast. I can honestly say that I have never spent $80 on breakfast but it was really nice. It got us through to dinner time, totally stuffing up Rileys theory that you eat breakfast to get to luch and lunch to get to dinner, and of course the dessert thing after that. Mark and Riley dug into "the big breakfast", Jeremy had the worlds biggest pancakes, with bacon and apples and a bucket full of maple syrup. To his credit, he gave me and Riley most of the bacon and finished the rest, apart from a few pieces of apple. Annette French toast with bananas and bacon and maple syrup. "Hi We are a family and we are all foodaholics".
From there we hit the local transport scene and headed to a factory outlet followed by another trip to catch a gondola up a mountain. The intellegent boys were confused as to how a boat could get to the top of a mountain. We then hit the dinner scene and 9 years after being frustrated by Jeremys inability to eat an authentic Nachos in Phoenix (he only ate the corn chips) he actually ate a real nachos with sauce and sour cream and guacomole, and liked it. Grasshopper, when you can eat the nachos from my hand, then it is time for you to leave. What on earth was that line about. Back to the hotel, where the rest of the family went for a swim and sauna. I sat in the dark and watched TV. Gee I could have done that for free at home.
The Flight
Food, Videos and Mum embarrasing Jeremy with outragiously loud laughter while watching comedy show while the flight attendant is talking to her. We arrived, tried to get into a fight with the shuttle bus driver for trying to rip us off, went to the hotel and here we are.
The Wrap
Driving, sight seeing and lots and lots and lots of calories. Read all the soccer results and am not happy. Heading further south tomorrow. Riley wants to know whats for lunch tomorrow. Just found out its 4 and a quarter drive. Bring on the coffee and coke.
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