New Zealand

All of NZ

A little Coffee in the am

Posted by MrFogg
image
Ask for a Latte in NZ and you have a choice of cup or bowl, bonza! A6 inch wide soup bowl of coffee in the morning is enough to make you jump for hours, oh god no I can hear Mrs Fogg scream!

So all fuelled up and it’s off to Geraldine via Twizle for our last evening (boo hoo). Tomorrow we drop the car back to Christchurch airport for our internal flight at 6pm NZ time, before the long haul. Still 48 hours to kill, Geraldine, Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo Sanctuary for the Stars here we come.

Latte Bowls at the Wrinkly Ram here.

[Posted from my super cool iPhone]

Omarama Oh Yess!!

Posted by MrsFogg
image
Imagine trying to work out your route on a road trip when you come to an area which needs crossing but is not perhaps too touristy. Then imagine picking a place in the middle of nowhere which had perhaps a couple of hotels and maybe one bar. But wait. Some bright spark decided that in a wilderness valley you need wonderful discrete wooden hot tubs heated by wood burning stoves, set them around a natural small lake with wild birds and add natural mountain views. Then screen each one so they are completely private AND tell your customers it is ok to skinny dip, AND that they can bring their own wine and watch the sun go down. Why, of course you would go to Omarama, so we did.

We had our own personal hot tub in the wilderness, watched moor hens and other wild birds, saw the sun go down and night descend while bathing in our private outdoor tub heated by a wonderful wood burner. And yes, skinny dipping in the dark sipping wine and toasting life. Pure bliss.

That is why we came to the middle of nowhere. Of course Mr Fogg believes me (hmm??)

[Posted from Mrs Foggs super cool iphone]

Bungy?? No Thanks

Posted by MrsFogg
image
Leaving Queenstown today we stopped at the famous Kawarau Bridge, home of the creation of the Bungy jumps by A J Hackett. Did we have a go?? Not likely at just shy of £100!!

Still, we did watch loads of people do it and one poor guy who did it then staggered to the bathrooms afterwards looking very shaken.

Not for me.

[Posted from Mrs Foggs super cool iphone]

Queenstown Bye Bye

Posted by MrFogg
image
How do you sum up Queenstown? quirky, intriguing, bizarre and full of gap year students.

The place has an interesting feel to it, very much a transient town for adrenalin junkies and junk food. Absolutely spectacular views and extortionate prices.

We have enjoyed the last few days here a little chance to relax without driving, see the sights of Milford Sound, the Skyline, LoTR and Segway. We even stepped into the oh so wierd Ivan Clarke Gallery for a little culture (me and culture, ha). The only reason for entering this establishment was the 6ft statue of a Bloodhound, dressed in a 3 piece suit with Brogues, why? Ah well on speaking to the cookie old bird who looked after it, Ivan is a renowned artist who was persuaded by an American (yup had to be one there somewhere), that this work was ripe for Hollywood (seen Harry Potter and thought fantasy is the way to go) and there are book rights and a movie due soon, shhh don’t tell anyone but Morgan Freman is interested.

The statue of the Basset Hound, 28,000NZD, but if you want a bronze miniature that will be 26,000NZD, let me check my wallet. The cookie old bird continued that a drawing of a Basset hound all dressed up was going to be te next Mona Lisa, now that made me howl with laughter. Some of the first editions are worth a lot of money now (tuppence springs to mind) and if you decided to sell, the gallery would take 600NZD from any sale, anything else is yours, ok then not heard of eBay have you, cheaper and quicker.

The cookie old bird finally imparted her wisdom of 3 little words she tells her husband each morning, can you guess them, no we couldn’t either, eventually she passed on her wisdom “make me money”. Stepping out of the gallery we went back to the real world.

The Matrix has you Mrs Nutter, should have taken the blue pill! (anti psychotics anyone).

Leaving Queenstown from here.

[Posted from my super cool iPhone]

The End of Boromir

Posted by MrFogg
image
Look familiar? Probably not unless you had studied the LoTR in detail and at the end of the Fellowship when Boromir is brought down by the Uruk-hai, since this is the very spot where it happened in the movie.

Interesting movie fact is that this is a national trust type of forrest and is protected, so as part o the filming they vacuumed up all the leaves on the ground, stored them, then got leaves from other unprotected areas and got local school children to paint them the correct colours. When done filming they then removed all the fake leaves and replaced the originals. And who says that movie making costs are justified?

As you can tell we have done our half day LoTR tour, finding out all the facts and about that other film that can’t be named until after Dec 12th. Incidentally this location was also used to represent the Canadian Rockies (why? here’s a task find a place that looks like the Rockies, err Canada, nope NZ) in the Wolverine Movie (see it, no, but if you did you wouldn’t remember it cos it was pants).

Not a bad day all told, fun and interesting.

Tomorrow on th road for the last 3 days of the tour.

Last night in Queenstown from here.

[Posted from my super cool iPhone]

Oh Holidays Holidays

Posted by MrsFogg
image
It seems but a moment ago that we arrived in New Zealand and started our tour and yet here we are contemplating the last few days on the South Island.

It is true that there is only one philosophy and that life is for living. Boy have we certainly done that while here. Since 2nd Feb when I last posted our list of achievements we’ve done so much more ( and have the credit card bill to prove it).

So, we have:

Completed five luge rides each in total
Done both Skyline cable cars North and South
Got splashed on the Buller Gorge Jet Boat
Raced 40kph on the tandem zipwire
Listened to Mr Fogg laughing on the Supaman zipwire
Watched the sunset over Pancake Rocks and the upside down moon
Route Marched up and down a glacier
Been munched on by Sandflies
Admired driftwood art in Hokitika
Held a large gold nugget
Nearly been poisoned in The Bushmans Cafe Pukeville
Coached, cruised and flew to Milford Sound
Ate Horace
Segwayed around Queenstown
Visited the longest place name
Looked at “my precious” at Weta Caves
Enjoyed the Interislander ferry trip
Walked barefoot in the dark
Worn flip flops everywhere and no cold feet
Slept in over 20 different beds
Bought too much
Ate too much
Slept too little
Sampled local wines at twice the price of the average cost for a bottle in the UK (nice though!!!)

And much much more…….

And next we have the LOTR tour to Glenorchy where much of the external film shots were made.

Time for a rest later then..

[Posted from Mrs Foggs super cool iphone]

Segway Around the World

Posted by MrFogg
image
And here we are on another Segway tour, this time in Queenstown. A fantastic 2 hour tour with Kevin from “Segways in Q”. It’s a brilliant way to see any city and just soooo much fun, whipping round all the sites to the amazement of all the tourists and locals.

Next stop a geeky LoTR half day scenery tour since so much was filmed here.

We Segway’d from here.

[Posted from my super cool iPhone]

How Early

Posted by MrFogg
image
Up at real silly o clock this morning for the 6 hour drive in a bus, absolutely knackered. I think I’ll need a holiday after this one to recover.

Here’s hoping Milford sound is worth this extra effort.

Let you know in 13 hours when we return.

Wanna go back to bed here.

[Posted from my super cool iPhone]

Queenstown

Posted by MrFogg
image
And here we are in Queenstown atop the Skyline tower after doing 2 more Luge.runs before finding beer.

Mrs Fogg has excelled on the hotel front with the Queenstown Bates Morel, aptly named “Amityville Hotel on the Hill”.

Queenstown from here.

[Posted from my super cool iPhone]