BTDU

Having had some probs getting a good Wi-Fi connection I am now playing catch up!

Saturday 6 Jan

Today marked the end of our time in Christchurch as we headed to the airport to both return our hired car and then collect our rented Motorhome for the next 3 weeks.

Having taken a lot of interest in the city buildings, and those further afield, we concluded that NZ could make a good case for declaring itself The Bungalow Capital of the World, such is their proliferation here😉

However, other buildings are available…

The Motorhome Rental firm, Britz, were very efficient and our Brazilian assistant, Isabella, was particularly helpful 😊

…although we did wonder if some hirers got a tad nervous before embarking on their trips…🤔

Meanwhile, we got confirmation that C&M had left San Francisco in perfect weather 🛫

Our “rig” for the next wee while sorted, we set the SatNav for The Peel Forest..

More to follow – but thought to best publish this now while we have half decent Wi-Fi😉

It wasn’t long before I noticed a framed All Blacks’ rugby jersey hanging on the wall…

Wi- Fi again 😊….the first of our stops was just south of Rolleston, c. 30km into our drive, at an appropriately named watering hole…The Rolly Inn!

I could see 2 signatures on the jersey the 1st being Dan Carter (for the uninitiated, he’s arguably one of the best rugby players of all time and definitely The Best in his favoured position of Fly Half/ No. 10 – the pivotal playmaker in rugby😊)

Suitably humbled, I could then make out the other signature was that of some other bloke called Richie McCaw…😉

Mr. Google them informed me that Dan grew up in Southbridge, c.25 km away, so it all fell into place.

As we drove towards Ashburton along the arrow straight highway, we realised that the 6m high conifer hedges around farmland were much evident again..

These are simply windbreaks on steroids, but they are everywhere, so good work for the folk that trim them so expertly.

Ashburton seemed like a good sized town where we could stock up on provisions so we were enticed in by the name of this supermarket for “a few essentials”…

Reeling from the shock of how expensive food and other consumables are in NZ, and after parting with the equivalent of £155, we suggested they re-brand their business as CountUp!

Turning NW towards the Peel Forest the landscape was distinctly changing as we headed towards the mountains that are the spine of South Island, the Southern Alps 😊

Not far from our destination we stopped to check out some posers in a local deer farm..

These young stags were being reared, so we were later informed, for the velvet tips of their juvenile antlers, which, apparently, are  highly sought after for stem cell research to enable mammalian organ regeneration 😲

However, we did notice a paddock of young hinds just across the road…😉

Our first night in the Motorhome would be in this remote campsite run by the NZ Department of Conservation (DoC) – it didn’t disappoint 😊

Still trying to work out where we had re- packed everything we decided to call it a day, accompanied only by the sound of silence – cue for a song Mr. Simon 😉🎶

Sunday 7 January 24

Awakening to more blue skies (forecast to peak at 25C 😎) and the very tuneful song of the Tūī, we set off to explore the forest.

Having been recommended an excellent coffee shop 3km up the road (BTW, it’s the only one, as this wee settlement only has c.50 permanent residents!) we ambled there noting how very odd it seems to see varieties of palm trees “cheek by jowel” with more familiar European species

The other very noticeable thing was that, despite properties only being set back a few metres from the road everyone had mailboxes – and some more imaginative than others…

More sobering was the Memorial for both World Wars that showed how many folk were either Scots, or of Scottish descent…

Having elected to do the Big Tree Walk we came across a large wooden Community Hall

Unperturbed, as we could hear voices beyond the unlocked door, we tentatively entered in search of a notice board of events – only to find a retired man and woman, plus a younger man, playing table tennis 🏓🏓🏓

They were very welcoming and within less than a minute I was invited to join the Kiwis, Mary and Randall, and the younger Cornishman, Leon, in a few sets of doubles, while Julie, initially, photographed this international event for posterity😊🇳🇿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

After 3 sets partnering each of them, the subject of Scottish music soon came up; Julie then sang My Love is like a Red, Red Rose which was very warmly appreciated by our hosts.

She was then persuaded to show her talents at the table version of the game she prefers on either grass or clay, and partnered Mary against Leon and I….and we were thrashed by the largest margin of the day!

Although we then said our farewells, Mary kindly invited us to join her at her home for a cuppa the next morning 😊

The Big Tree Walk then beckoned, with some eponymous examples to wonder at, especially given some were thousands of years old

On the way back to the campsite we found an unusual, but totally fitting, example of high class street art, then took advantage of a dedicated route home😊

En route we had our first sighting of the rather comical Pūkeku bird pecking in a field…

Well fed, I admired how well SPF50 was working on my legs before dozing off in this most serene of locations 😴

Monday 8 January 24

Blessed with another clear blue sky – and a peak forecast of 26C 😎 – we decamped from this cracking campsite and set our bearings for Mount Cook, the highest mountain in NZ – think 3 x Ben Nevis🏔️

Called in at Mary’s for our cuppa, met her partner, also named Mary – most confusing – and admired their new garden room and Bike Shed, the latter of which table tennis Mary had built herself; to anyone who knows me well, yes, I was dead keen to closely inspect how both these splendid constructions had been made👷🏾‍♂️

The MH hire firm had left a large tub of liquorice allsorts in our bus and I had, quelle surprise, consumed most of them; beware this can clearly impact on your choice of attire😂

We headed due South to the local town of Geraldine, where nobody seems to have told the local supermarket that Christmas was over🎅🏾🌲

Stocked up on all the stuff we had previously forgotten, we turned west towards the Alps feeling teased by the views to come and seeing more dried up river beds

Our first stop was at the very appealing Lake Tekapu, renowned for its pedestrian bridge over the lake and ancient wee church, which is clearly a honey pot for the Instagram generation as it was mobbed by tourists keen to capture “that image”

This area reminded us both of Aviemore in the way it had become totally commercialised for the outdoor enthusiasts and was largely a “one street town” where property prices were sky high (£1 equals c. 2NZ$)

Leaving Lake Tekapo we resumed our route along the Starlight Highway, so called as the Mackenzie Basin is well known for its very clear, black skies – especially at this time of year – so has become a Mecca for star gazers ✨

We crossed over Burke’s Pass before descending to the southern end of Lake Pukaki where “gob-smacked” barely describes how we felt when we saw Mount Cook for the first time, sitting majestically on the northern shore😲

We then drove north up the west side of Lake Pukaki marveling at more exquisite views of Aoraki (the original Maori name for Mount Cook, which the Ngaī Tahu Claims Settlement Act of 1998 officially recognised, so all signage is now in both languages)

A wee while later we arrived at Glentanner Campsite, where we soon doubted whether a more scenic sight could welcome anyone

Booked in, we selected our pitch and settled in to our new abode for the next 3 nights🏔️🇳🇿

We then took a wee stroll around the site, pinching ourselves to make sure we were really here 😍