We have had
an exciting week as Ralph and Sue, two of our Wisconsin friends, are visiting
us. We’ve traveled to some fun places
with them – some new to us, some we’ve been to before.
|
A walk through the Hagley Park to help keep Ralph and Sue awake after the long plane ride |
We started
in Christchurch with the Big Band Festival and with tramping at Taylors
Mistake.
|
School big band playing in lobby |
|
The All Girl Big Band in concert |
|
Track from Taylors Mistake to Godley Head |
Mt. Cook was
our next destination with a stop on the way to see the mountains and church at
Lake Tekapo.
|
Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo |
Rain and high wind prevented us from going on our pre-booked glacial
kayaking trip but we did some more tramping around the Mt. Cook area instead.
|
On the track to the Red Tairns |
|
Above glacial Lake Tasman |
|
New friend Grace on the track |
We had read
about Ben Oahu Cheese where Matt, the owner, makes small batches of cheese in a
shipping container using only solar power.
We emailed Matt, and even though he is closed on Mondays, he agreed to
give us a taste.
|
Matt the cheesemaker (left) |
On to Wanaka
where we visited Rippon Winery for some very good wine and wonderful views.
|
The famous Wanaka tree |
|
Tasting at Rippon Winery |
|
View from Rippon Winery |
The next day we went tramping at
Mt. Iron Scenic Reserve on the edge of Wanaka.
None of us
wanted to go bungee jumping, so we passed through Queenstown and drove on
through Glenorchy to Kinloch Lodge for two nights.
|
Kinloch Lodge |
|
Cooking in the common kitchen |
|
The Richardson Range near Kinloch |
We
encountered a cow in the road on our way to the Routeburn Track, one of the
Great Walks in New Zealand.
The day was wet and rain kept increasing but
it just made waterfalls more powerful.
|
Lots of moss everywhere |
|
New Zealand robin |
|
Glacial melt river pool |
|
Hardy trampers on a suspension bridge |
|
Track toilet situated out over the gorge |
On the road
again, Cindy insisted we stop to get a photo of the large fruit at Cromwell and
we all agreed to stop at a bakery in Alexandra while we waited to check into
our lodging at Mirabell Chalets.
|
Welcome to Cromwell |
|
Yum treats from the Courthouse Bakery in Alexandra -bread pudding with cream, and macadaemia custard filled croissant. |
The Mirabell
Chalets are conveniently located across the road from Immigrant Winery. We walked over and met Lucienne and Roland and their dog
Frankie and sampled their Ruru wine. Ruru is the Maori name for the New Zealand
Morepork, the only remaining native owl.
|
Very good Ruru wine at Immigrants Vineyard |
|
Roland and Lucienne, Immigrant Winery owners |
|
Frankie |
Back at
Mirabell, Graeme arrived home from his mail delivery job and showed us how he
builds the cabins from a kit without using any nails. We explained Lincoln Logs toy building sets
to him and he liked that idea.
|
New cabin being built by Graeme |
|
The two-bedroom cabin we stayed in - very nice |
We stopped
at Jimmy’s Pies in Roxburgh on our way to Dunedin.
Close to Dunedin, we drove around
the Otago Pennisula hoping to see some Royal albatross, but none were in
view. We saw lots of red billed gulls
and beautiful scenery though.
We stopped at the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin but only had a half
hour until they closed – we will need to go back.
The Dunedin limestone train station
is the most photographed building in New Zealand, and you can see why.
In the
morning we visited the Farmers Market before starting our long drive back to
Christchurch.
|
Excellent beer from the fine couple at Steamer Basin brewery |
Stops along
the way included Shag Point to look for seals (we saw two divers, but no seals)
and the Moeraki Boulders - huge round boulders deposited on the beach.
|
Shag Point |
|
Seaweed |
|
Some of the Moeraki Boulders |
In Oamaru we talked with a
whitestone carver, saw some steampunk sculptures, visited Whitestone Cheese and
a bakery.
|
Ian Andersen, famous limestone carver |
|
Sculpture outside the steampunk museum in Oamaru |
Back in
Christchurch, Cindy pre-baked a pie shell for an asparagus quiche, filled the
crust, and put the quiche into the oven, and then the oven stopped
working. Paul called our landlord (who
was on holiday in Dunedin!) and found out this is an occasional problem with
the oven and requires a rather complex process to reset, which we couldn't do that night. Fortunately one of Cindy’s tramping friends
lives nearby and she agreed to bake the quiche in her oven, so our meal was saved.