I didn’t have too long to miss mum and dad as it was time for another wee adventure. My friend Maaike was finishing up her travels in NZ and was down for a week before leaving. We headed off to do the Otahake Hot Pools trip. It’s a nice easy 5 hour walk and has some beautiful scenery (well, a lake and forest) along the way.

It was a bit rainy when we got there… but the hot pools were as wonderful as ever. On the way back the next morning we walked down the river gorge. In places the water was thigh deep – but not fast flowing so quite safe. It can be a nasty river if there’s a lot of rain – can rise very fast.

On the way back stopped in at Cave Stream and did the hour long through-trip there… really worth stopping at if you’re in the area.. and then a short walk around Castle Hill.

And today Maaike flew off to Chile where she starts her last three months of holiday. Poor thing ;) She’s definitely upset that her holiday is coming to an end.. but I do find it hard to feel sorry when she’s off touring around a continent I’ve never even set foot on!

Still, I think NZ cast a wee spell over her.. so who knows what’ll happen!

And now – I’m back to work.. quite enjoying it actually.. they’re a great bunch of people to work with.

I flew back up from Invercargill to Christchurch to make my friend Thor’s wedding to the lovely Jess. I’d never been to a kiwi wedding before so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Opted for a suit – which was a good choice! but it was reasonably casual too.

I didn’t bring my camera so unfortunately don’t have any pictures.. will add ’em when I get ’em.

Then it was just a few short days showing mum and dad around town – the botanics – favoured drinking and eating spots, into work to meet my friends there and also putting in a small herb garden! and all too soon they flew out.

It was a fantastic holiday with them, I really had a wonderful time – I don’t think NZ is wonderful enough to pull them away from their family and grandchildren, friends etc. over in Ireland (or their ageing parents for that matter) but I think they have more of an idea of why I do like this place so much.

I was complaining that it’s about 3K to visit Ireland… mums solution was to get a one way ticket!!

So yes… I was more than a little sad leaving them at the airport.. I think it was some pretty effective and substantial psychological warfare waged without a single explicit word!

So mum and dad dropped me in Bluff where Orla came down from Glentanner and met me in the hostel. Like true Irish (well, true stereotypical ones anyway) we headed off to the pub – and it was a great old night playing pool (we owned the table for quite a while – Orla being a bit of a pool shark) and chatting with locals & visitors.

This probably didn’t help however when we had to catch a pretty bumpy ferry the next morning to Stewart Island. It’s an hour long crossing and can get quite rough (which it did!). Apparently the deepest it gets is only 32m!! which is *so* shallow.. no wonder it gets some big swells.

Our plan was get a water taxi to Freshwater Landing (where the red line starts) and then to walk (day 1) to Masons bay where Kiwi are supposed to be in permanent residence.

So off we set.. the first 20 to 30 meters was fine. Then it turned into this:

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the scenery and dodging mud. In fact spent the next two days doing it really. Bit pointless as they were muddy by the end and it would have been quicker to just resign yourself to the fact that your shoes were going to be wrecked and get on with it. Still, there was no rush!

The hut at Masons bay was lovely – and the sunset that evening simply stunning. We didn’t see any kiwi birds unfortunately (nor even hear them – though I thought at one point I had). Shame really.

We did see some kiwi poo on the way out though.. so they were around.. just not saying hello.

The next day was pretty long – on the map it was back along the red line and along the purpley one. It was 26km .. which isn’t really tooooo far, but the route between freshwater landing and North Arm hut was pretty rough.

We were both pretty happy to get to the hut that evening.. It was fully full once we arrived!

The next day was much easier as were were back into Great Walk territory. DOC has made some tracks in NZ ‘Great Walks’. They are well promoted, more expensive to say in, in beautiful parts of the country, and designed so that anyone with moderate fitness can do them. It also means they try not to let your shoes get too muddy ;)

Finally back to Oban and a nice shower followed by Fish & Chips. We went down to check out the blue penguins too… they have nesting area just beside the town.

So a great trip with Orla, we were dead lucky with the weather – no rain for 3 days. It didn’t make me want to do the 10 day circuit though… but sure maybe someday!

The next day we drove to Milford – stopping off at lots of the short walks (I’d never done) along the way. It really is a stunning part of the country (if touristy). When visitors come to NZ they often don’t realise what a big country it actually is. If you come for 4 weeks and try to do the whole thing.. well… you can probably get everywhere – but you won’t really have time to enjoy any of it (I don’t think). Milford is one of those places that it takes time to get to and so is often left out. A shame I think.

Anyway – went for a cruise, saw some dolphins..

On the way back our captain unofficially told us that while the DOC walk to Bowen Falls was *technically* closed… lots of people still did it and it was perfectly safe. So my very law abiding mother, and not quite so father, and I .. squeezed through the conveniently sized hole in the fence and walked to the falls. Well worth doing.

After that we moved on to Gunnes Camp for the night. It’s a great stop on the Holleyford road. Well out of the way but a unique and quite historical place to spend the night. We went for a short walk and saw some glow-worms.

The next morning we did another couple of short walks to waterfalls and pools before driving towards Bluff where I was going to meet Orla for our Stewart Island experience. It was also my Birthday.. I got a cake (well muffin) and everything! A nice game of scrabble (a.k.a. I won!) and a bottle of wine and all was well. 30 Next year. Ouch.

We only really had one day in Wanaka. We stayed in the Motor Camp down by the lake. It’s a huge one – and cheap too. It’s license is up for review and one wonders if it will be renewed or if some big commercial development will come along and ruin the place. Sigh.

Anyway – headed up my favourite wee walk near Wanaka called Mt. Roy. It’s a bit of a slog so I was pretty happy that mum and dad decided to give it a go. They did very very well (you do climb about 1200m).. Dad managed to get to the top (though he cursed me for it ;) and mum about 2/3 of the way. Stunning views though.

That evening we went to Cinema Paradiso – the cinema in Wanaka. Well worth a look in. We saw the film Priceless. Excellent – really enjoyed it. Has the actress Audrey Tautou from Amélie (happy Liam!?) in it.

WE pretty much skipped Queenstown – had a short stroll around the gold mining town of Arrowtown and headed South to Te Anau. Stopped off at the Kingston Express – an old railway line which started operations about 120 years ago connecting Queenstown to the South. Two French Paragliders recently buzzed the train in their motorised paragliders. One of them skipped the country – the other was fined $1500…

After that it was down to Te Anau and Dad and I had our briefing for our Kayaking wilderness experience..

So the next day we were collected at 06:30 and taken to the Boat to bring us across Lake Manapouri to Doubtful Sound. It’s quite interesting.. NZ realises that it’s a bloody long way from anywhere – and that to get here you have to burn rather a lot of carbon. Thus the Tourism industry is trying to promote itself as a green industry (once you’re here!). This company – fiordland wilderness experience has been chosen as one of a few to try and be as green as they can – to be ambassadors for the industry.

Kayaking is a pretty low-carbon sport to begin with – but they have tried to improve all areas of their operation. The biggest eco-cost to them was the boat across Manapouri… so what they did was to team up with another operator that goes at that time of day and go on their boat. Win/Win… I’m sure we’ll see more and more of this!

Anyway.. had a great trip. There was an Irish bloke Martin on the trip who had a ridiculously sharp wit. It’d forgotten how much I enjoyed (and missed) the constant slagging / thrust and parry of Irish humour. But yes – it was a great trip. Not particularly exhausting but just good fun.

And yes, I am drinking a bottle of Monteiths Original in the above picture :) Part of any healthy kayaking diet. The campsite we stayed in for the night was pretty cool. They have a shelter set up in the bush.. it’s quite nice being inside and seeing half a bazillion sandflies outside. Makes the wine taste much better.

Mum elected not go to on the trip and instead went on a cruise on Doubtful Sound which I think she really enjoyed (even if she didn’t manage to get the boat to cruise by us.. I’m not sure that would have added to the ‘wilderness’ part of the experience.