Glenorchy, NZ, 3 March 09
Glenorchy was as glorious as ever on my 2nd visit there. It was wonderful to have a few hours to really enjoy the atmosphere and the views (we were only allowed 20 mins yesterday). Janet decided that it was her 4th favourite place in the world. We took a short walk along the lagoon and it was just spectacular - she totally loved the fact that you could find the sea and the snow capped mountains so close to each other. I also introduced her to my fav. tea garden and she fell in love with it too (her '2nd fav cafe in the world' !). The many little sparrows were an extra bonus. They'd just sit there, up to 4 in a row, on a chair back and wait for crumbs. I really have a thing for birds, I adore them.
Glenorchy was top of the list for Janet, as far as NZ is concerned - mainly due to the stunning views. It really was picture-perfect, we were so lucky with the weather as the sun brought out all the different shades of blue in the lagoon. We just 'pootled around' for a good 4 hours and ate more home made ice creams... I think we took over 100 photos within 50 yards :)
The food in NZ is quite a delight too, it has to be said. We've had some fantastic salads (I have salads every day when in the UK, as I really enjoy fruits & vegs) and they quite happily mix both here, so one day I'd have a 'pear, beetroot, walnut & lettuce', the next I'd have the 'Hippy Salad', i.e. 'mandarin, lychee, grated carrots, warm new potatoes and miso dressing' -- yummmmmy. They don't cater much for vegetarians though. In some places, if I didn't eat fish, I'd have had no option at all.
As we sat in this beautiful tea garden Janet told me a tale she'd heard yesterday on her tour about two Maori boys who had gone walking with their dog (an expensive trained dog). As they crossed a stream the dog got washed away in strong current. They couldn't afford to lose him so went looking for him, and found him further down stream, desperately trying to get on the bank... Fate had it that the dog had picked the best spot possible as, as he stratched the earth with its paws gold nuggets came up to the surface. In one afternoon the two boys had found NZ$200,000 worth of gold ! i.e. US$ 100,459 equivalent as of today's exchange rate. NOT bad for an afternoon stroll... nobody can remember the breed of the dog but the joke is that it's a 'golden retreiver' :) When Janet went gold-panning yesterday, all she found was equivalent of a speck of gold ('like a dandruff'). Not enough for a cup of tea even... she was told.
We drove back to Queenstown (again, amazing journey as it follows the lake all the way round) and went via the Shot Over River to find the spot where the shot-over jets do their 360 degree spins. Janet wanted to get a video of that for her records as they did 6 in her 20 mins ride.
We managed to get a bit more sun-tanned too... about time, though we are not tanning very fast as we are very good at applying and re-applying SF50 every chance we get, even on our arms in the car. There is a hole in the ozone layer here so it's best to take no chances (you know the slogan: 'who wants a tan to die for?').
We saw a few sandflies, but, to be fair, I can't understand what the big fear / fuss is all about. I didn't find their bites more painful than a mosquitoe bite, nor more itchy.
We then eventually drove all the way to Te Anau (2 hours non-stop). The reason we didn't stop was because there wasn't much to stop for. Though we followed another lake it didn't seem as scenic. The hills there were just too barren for my liking - Janet said it reminded her of Greece (it's truly like there is a bit of the whole world in NZ !). I'm sure the scenery would have looked better with some snow around. There, it was dramatic, but not particularly scenic.
We got to our b&b (Loch Vista) by 7pm. It was perched on top of a hill overlooking the lake and we really loved it there. Our host, Viv, was lovely and she had a lovely grey cat called Mischief. It surely felt good to cuddle a pet again...
We also kept seeing deer farms around NZ and she was telling us that before the deer farms were set up people used to go and shoot them from an helicopter but it was so dangerous that many young men lost their lives (including her husband - who died aged 32 leaving her and their 2 young sons behind) so in the end, they felt it was better to capture them live and get them to breed. I still felt so sad for the deers...
We headed for Te Anau (5kms away) for dinner and then had an early night... sleeping like logs. All this fresh air was wonderful...
Glenorchy was as glorious as ever on my 2nd visit there. It was wonderful to have a few hours to really enjoy the atmosphere and the views (we were only allowed 20 mins yesterday). Janet decided that it was her 4th favourite place in the world. We took a short walk along the lagoon and it was just spectacular - she totally loved the fact that you could find the sea and the snow capped mountains so close to each other. I also introduced her to my fav. tea garden and she fell in love with it too (her '2nd fav cafe in the world' !). The many little sparrows were an extra bonus. They'd just sit there, up to 4 in a row, on a chair back and wait for crumbs. I really have a thing for birds, I adore them.
Glenorchy was top of the list for Janet, as far as NZ is concerned - mainly due to the stunning views. It really was picture-perfect, we were so lucky with the weather as the sun brought out all the different shades of blue in the lagoon. We just 'pootled around' for a good 4 hours and ate more home made ice creams... I think we took over 100 photos within 50 yards :)
The food in NZ is quite a delight too, it has to be said. We've had some fantastic salads (I have salads every day when in the UK, as I really enjoy fruits & vegs) and they quite happily mix both here, so one day I'd have a 'pear, beetroot, walnut & lettuce', the next I'd have the 'Hippy Salad', i.e. 'mandarin, lychee, grated carrots, warm new potatoes and miso dressing' -- yummmmmy. They don't cater much for vegetarians though. In some places, if I didn't eat fish, I'd have had no option at all.
As we sat in this beautiful tea garden Janet told me a tale she'd heard yesterday on her tour about two Maori boys who had gone walking with their dog (an expensive trained dog). As they crossed a stream the dog got washed away in strong current. They couldn't afford to lose him so went looking for him, and found him further down stream, desperately trying to get on the bank... Fate had it that the dog had picked the best spot possible as, as he stratched the earth with its paws gold nuggets came up to the surface. In one afternoon the two boys had found NZ$200,000 worth of gold ! i.e. US$ 100,459 equivalent as of today's exchange rate. NOT bad for an afternoon stroll... nobody can remember the breed of the dog but the joke is that it's a 'golden retreiver' :) When Janet went gold-panning yesterday, all she found was equivalent of a speck of gold ('like a dandruff'). Not enough for a cup of tea even... she was told.
We drove back to Queenstown (again, amazing journey as it follows the lake all the way round) and went via the Shot Over River to find the spot where the shot-over jets do their 360 degree spins. Janet wanted to get a video of that for her records as they did 6 in her 20 mins ride.
We managed to get a bit more sun-tanned too... about time, though we are not tanning very fast as we are very good at applying and re-applying SF50 every chance we get, even on our arms in the car. There is a hole in the ozone layer here so it's best to take no chances (you know the slogan: 'who wants a tan to die for?').
We saw a few sandflies, but, to be fair, I can't understand what the big fear / fuss is all about. I didn't find their bites more painful than a mosquitoe bite, nor more itchy.
We then eventually drove all the way to Te Anau (2 hours non-stop). The reason we didn't stop was because there wasn't much to stop for. Though we followed another lake it didn't seem as scenic. The hills there were just too barren for my liking - Janet said it reminded her of Greece (it's truly like there is a bit of the whole world in NZ !). I'm sure the scenery would have looked better with some snow around. There, it was dramatic, but not particularly scenic.
We got to our b&b (Loch Vista) by 7pm. It was perched on top of a hill overlooking the lake and we really loved it there. Our host, Viv, was lovely and she had a lovely grey cat called Mischief. It surely felt good to cuddle a pet again...
We also kept seeing deer farms around NZ and she was telling us that before the deer farms were set up people used to go and shoot them from an helicopter but it was so dangerous that many young men lost their lives (including her husband - who died aged 32 leaving her and their 2 young sons behind) so in the end, they felt it was better to capture them live and get them to breed. I still felt so sad for the deers...
We headed for Te Anau (5kms away) for dinner and then had an early night... sleeping like logs. All this fresh air was wonderful...
posted by Sylvie at 3:46 PM
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