19 November - 4 December 2006
Wow - what a breathtaking flight into Queenstown, although scary at the end 'cos it looks like you are gently cruising in to land then the ground just suddenly rises. Amazing. More amazing than the one into Las Vegas and an even more amazing landing than the one where Grandpa ski'd off a cliff ... he though Dada and uncle Scotty were waiting next to a jump, when they were indeed on the edge of a precipiss.
The first night was very exciting - we were going to sleep in a car with a bedroom, or as Dada calls it; 'a campervan'. Next morning, Dada (with BIG bags under his eyes) woke up and said 'Never again'
And he traded the now called 'bloody hippy wagon' in for normal car. So we had to find somewhere to stay, which is where I come in ... yesterday we were delayed at Auckland airport for several hours and as normal I entertained everyone by charging around and yelling, particularly Holly & Emma. Their Mama had a house to rent at the top of the hill
Dada joined Nicole's team for an 'important' sailing race. You can just see them in this picture. I can't really tell which way they are going or whoever is winning, but the rear is where you'll find Dada 'cos they came last. Twice. Dada said it wasn't his fault, he was 'Beer Boy'
We stayed for ages in Queenstown and had many adventures. We saw glow worms, Dada met Alan at More FM 99.2, we went to a ski resort in summer (Coronet Peak), we saw a haka, I did a poopoo kaka, we gave up on the idea of going to Fiji because of the planned military coup (well, I say planned, it was then postponed because of a rugby match between the police and the army), Dada did the same downhill mountain bike course twice and caught onto the same tree both times as he went over the handlebars and we played in an ice bar. But we also did escape QTown; we took this road to go see some Lord of the Rings
This is a scene straight out of the film, near Glenorchy. Mama said she didn't recognise it, then Dada pointed out she hadn't seen that one. We also took a diversion to Paradise. This was a bit of a disaster. There were no toy shops. The fjords / streams that we had to illegally take the not-to-go-offroad-hire car thru got deeper and deeper and when we finally made it we were attacked by hoards of sandflies. We locked ourselves in the car to hunt down the 50 or so that had already got in. That was great fun watching Mama convulse around!
The best thing Dada did in Queenstown was river boarding. This is where they dump you in one of the fastest rivers in the world then pull you out 5km later. Dada had to seriously think about growing his hair because some girls were yelling out for their friend 'Michelle' and apologised when he turned round and said 'I'm not Michelle' - the girls were shocked and apologised then giggled. Dada never did see Michelle from the front or behind, but was secretly hoping she was well fit. A pretty common thing to do is a bungy jump, using Mama's bra elastic (thanks to Grandpa for that joke, circa 1983)
Right, thats enough about Dada - now its all about me 'cos I know you want some pics of me looking cute. First up is me in the river at the former gold prospecting Arrowtown. To say I froze my little ginger nuts is an understatement! Then comes the start of an obsession with Mama - Babychinos, sometimes called Fluffys. Sometimes free, sometimes $1. This was my first at Fergburger
We had to look after Mama one day because she decided to walk to the top of Queenstown Hill. Here's the proof. She was pooped after!
There's so much to tell you about Queenstown, that I can't be bothered as Dada is keen to tell you about THE MOST AMAZING DRIVE he's ever done, even better than the one where he beat his time to get to work on the M25 by taking the slip road at each junction and re-joining ahead of where he would have been
The drive is from Te Anau (2 hours from Queenstown) to Milford Sound. As you can see I did most of it. You go thru The Homer Tunnel and that bit, where you come out of a mountain and wiggle down the valley is breathtaking. I couldn't really see because Dada couldn't be bothered to bring my big boys car seat, so I'm stuck with the rear facer. But I let him off because he bought an FM transmitter for the ipod and now I can have endless Baa Baa Black Sheep. And I mean endless. Dada gets annoyed when I keep saying Baa Baa but he doesn't appreciate I can only max out on 2 words at a time, so it takes a while to learn a song
I can also say 'Moo' which is why we stopped to look at theses cows
So it was a sad day to pack up and leave Wakatipu Heights, but venture round the rest of the South Island we must. And we did. First stop Wanka. Here you can see me holding up a building and in the next shot look closely because Mama is going to the loo with her trousers still on and I'm IN the loo
Dada got up early in Wanka to cycle round Lake Roy and gaze admiringly at (the rather small) Mount Roy. Just before we left we did a Jet Boat ride with a guy with one ear who hated Lord Of The Rings (must be rubbish in mono)
From Wanka we pumped up the Postman Pat, mixed in some Twinkle Twinkle and interjected some Baa Baa and undertook a 2,500km drive, stopping only to take in the view ... and some of the place names. Mama and Dada both said 'Steve Redgrave' at the same time when we went thru Whataroa and Dada giggled at Farter Wee Wee (spelt Whatewiwi, the 'Wh' is pronounced 'F' by some Maori tribes)
From Wanka we went to the West and encountered nothing but rain as we passed the Haast Pass. We arrived at The Fox Glacier and stayed at The Franz Josef Glacier, our spirits saved only by the sheer amount of jokes Mama made about Fox's Glacier mints. Spent a lot of time in the car and Dada got annoyed by how lazy nursery rhyme writers were, most 'rhymes' being a minute long at most. But then look how happy we got, and thats because Punakaiki Rocks!
Very impressive as the ground shook as the waves hit and burst threw the cracks. Dub no head with your bass man, it was thunderous. Then me & Jay Kay had a lovely walk along a river
From Punakaiki, the terrain changed and was less impressive, and by all accounts Greymouth was a bit of a hole. The only place open with a play area happened to be a McD's, which seemed to make Mama and Dada sad as I enjoyed my little bit of heaven. Man that stuff tastes good. From there we had a couple of days with Ganny & Day-Day's old friends; the Perrins in Nelson. Managed to feed some eels in a river near their house and had a day trip to the Abel Tasman National Park, but by then we were all bored of spectacular views. So me & Mama tried to re-enact a famous film scene
From Nelson we went to the boringly gorgeous Picton, took the Queen Charlotte Highway and ended up in Kaikora where the sea was too choppy for me to go whale spotting so we got into position for Dada to try and do an arty photo. Bring on The Aussies ...
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