Ankie by the lighthouse in Nugget Bay.
donderdag 12 november 2009
Today is Thursday 12th. November 2009.
We drove from Portobello (Otago Peninsula)
to the most southern point of the south Island
of New Zealand.
It’s called Slope Point.
The weather is not to good (rain now and
than) and it is cold. According to the
weather report on the radio it would rain and
it did and the temperature would be like 16
degrees Celsius. This last part was not right.
Although we don’t have a thermometer it is
Probably something like 10 degrees and the
fierce wind (from the Arctic) makes it a lot
colder.
But since we have a holiday and a heater in
the van we shouldn’t complain.
Lots of people wear ski-jacks, woolen caps,
etc. like it is winter (and it seems like that).
We only brought summer-clothes.
During our trip today we stopped at a place,
called Nugget Point near a village called
Kaimataitai.
At Nugget Point there is a lighthouse.
We took a hike to the lighthouse and on the
rocks, below the lighthouse we saw (and
photographed) some seals or sea-lions.
From the top of the cliff to the sea is more
than hundred meters or even more, but still
it was nice to see.
Big waves on the rocks make always nice
views.
So that I don’t forget I have to tell you that we
saw yesterday a Maori woman in the Albatros
Observation Centre, with facial tattoos.
It just looked like she was wearing a beard.
On our way we visited the New Zealand Niagara
Falls. The falls were only very, very small.
Here in New Zealand they do everywhere
everything to attract tourists.
All villages have a museum, old buildings
(even older than 1900) and everything is advertised
on colourfull signs. You can’t miss them.
Today we saw again thousands and thousands
of sheep (for people who love sheep, it must be
heaven overhere).
They have lots of cows here too (Blaarkoppen
and Lakenvelders); I don’t know the English
names. These cows we used to have in
Holland too (50 years ago or so) before the
nowadays cows who just give milk and that’s it.
For people who love cows (and especially older
races or versions or whatever) it must be heaven
too.
We are camping now at Slope Point, a few miles
from the ocean.
It is a campground (farm-camping) for some tents
(no tents today because it is to cold) and two
campers.
We are the only people camping here tonight.
Buys Ballot’s law doesn’t seem to apply here,
because there are (the last so many days) only
westerly winds and I thought that in the southern
hemisphere the winds come from the east??
The trees think so too, because they all have
grown with their branches and treetops to the
east.
We enjoy our trip here very much because every
time the landscape differs from meadows to
rainforests and from flat country to high, snow-
topped mountains.
The coast does resemble Scotland and Nova
Scotia very much and is, for that, beautiful and
sometimes even awesome.
This is it for today.
Hope to “post” this tomorrow.
We drove from Portobello (Otago Peninsula)
to the most southern point of the south Island
of New Zealand.
It’s called Slope Point.
The weather is not to good (rain now and
than) and it is cold. According to the
weather report on the radio it would rain and
it did and the temperature would be like 16
degrees Celsius. This last part was not right.
Although we don’t have a thermometer it is
Probably something like 10 degrees and the
fierce wind (from the Arctic) makes it a lot
colder.
But since we have a holiday and a heater in
the van we shouldn’t complain.
Lots of people wear ski-jacks, woolen caps,
etc. like it is winter (and it seems like that).
We only brought summer-clothes.
During our trip today we stopped at a place,
called Nugget Point near a village called
Kaimataitai.
At Nugget Point there is a lighthouse.
We took a hike to the lighthouse and on the
rocks, below the lighthouse we saw (and
photographed) some seals or sea-lions.
From the top of the cliff to the sea is more
than hundred meters or even more, but still
it was nice to see.
Big waves on the rocks make always nice
views.
So that I don’t forget I have to tell you that we
saw yesterday a Maori woman in the Albatros
Observation Centre, with facial tattoos.
It just looked like she was wearing a beard.
On our way we visited the New Zealand Niagara
Falls. The falls were only very, very small.
Here in New Zealand they do everywhere
everything to attract tourists.
All villages have a museum, old buildings
(even older than 1900) and everything is advertised
on colourfull signs. You can’t miss them.
Today we saw again thousands and thousands
of sheep (for people who love sheep, it must be
heaven overhere).
They have lots of cows here too (Blaarkoppen
and Lakenvelders); I don’t know the English
names. These cows we used to have in
Holland too (50 years ago or so) before the
nowadays cows who just give milk and that’s it.
For people who love cows (and especially older
races or versions or whatever) it must be heaven
too.
We are camping now at Slope Point, a few miles
from the ocean.
It is a campground (farm-camping) for some tents
(no tents today because it is to cold) and two
campers.
We are the only people camping here tonight.
Buys Ballot’s law doesn’t seem to apply here,
because there are (the last so many days) only
westerly winds and I thought that in the southern
hemisphere the winds come from the east??
The trees think so too, because they all have
grown with their branches and treetops to the
east.
We enjoy our trip here very much because every
time the landscape differs from meadows to
rainforests and from flat country to high, snow-
topped mountains.
The coast does resemble Scotland and Nova
Scotia very much and is, for that, beautiful and
sometimes even awesome.
This is it for today.
Hope to “post” this tomorrow.
Aheap of (three) sealions.
You can see other lions lying on the beach, somewhat further away.
There was an icecold, fierce wind blowing from the sea (sometimes so hard we couldn't look at the beach) and we both had sand in our hair, clothes, shoes and other places (for instance later also in bed).
The water was almost freezing cold.
Today, Tuesday, we woke up at 8 in the morning.
It was cold tonight (must have been around zero
or so) and there were a few tents on the camping,so they must have been cold in the night.
At 9 we drove to the big town of Twizel, well
known in Twizel itself and surroundings.
In Twizel we bought groceries and after this main
event we set for Oumarua, a town on the seaside.
Here we will see (we hope) penguins.
And………………..yes, we saw two penguins.
We visited a special place on the beach where
Penguins come from the sea, where they were
fishing, for their partners who stay on the beach
to hatch or to look after little penguins or
whatever.
Lots of people were looking from a special
shed (they paid $ 20,- for a busride to the beach
and back and we just drove down there) at the
beach where one penguin was standing, looking
at the sea.
He (or she) stood there almost for one and a half
hour and almost didn’t move.
Because no other penguin showed itself all the
people left again and Ankie and I waited a little
longer and “YES” there came another penguin
out of the sea and I have the beast on video.
Of course this is very spectacular.
This morning we set for Dunedin (a sort of copy
of Edinburg) also on the east coast of New Zealand,
Southern Island.
We found ourselves a nice campingplace on the
Otago peninsula, in a very little village, called
Portobello.
We àrrived early (we were the first today) and
after doing the administration we went to a
beach, called Sandfly beach.
We should see there:
- Sealions (Pakaka in Maori)
- Penguins.
As I wrote there was a strong wind (I think at
least 9 or 10 beaufort) because you could lean into
the wind and the sand bit in our eyes.
We started on the high cliffs and walked down to
the beach via a “long and winding road”, through
the sanddunes beneath the cliffs.
We were halfway and we thought to see a sealion
on the beach and soon it turned out there were at
least 15 big sealions (and a small dead one too) on
the beach, sleeping.
You could walk up to them, as close as a few
meters.
It was amazing to be so near to these big animals
who didn’t give a shit about us, being close by.
We photographed them all.
They just lay around on the beach and although
now and than one looked at us, they didn’t pay us
any further attention, flipped a little with their
flippers and went on sleeping.
The way back, up the cliffs was tiresome.
And……….…we didn’t see any penguins today.
Maybe tomorrow, who knows.
All the villages and towns have their own penguins
and we’ll be able to see some more, I think in the
coming days.
We also went to an albatross observation centre.
Prince Charles of England was there before us, in
2005. Maybe he chased the birds away.
It was cold outside, because of the strong cold
wind, so we decided to drink something and looked,
in vain, for an albatross (a bird with a wingspan of
3,5 or 4 meters when mature) from the observatory.
Probably the birds were doing something else than
having us have a look at them.
After this event we went home.
No pictures today (no wifi although we paid for it).
Shit happens.
Till the next time.
It was cold tonight (must have been around zero
or so) and there were a few tents on the camping,so they must have been cold in the night.
At 9 we drove to the big town of Twizel, well
known in Twizel itself and surroundings.
In Twizel we bought groceries and after this main
event we set for Oumarua, a town on the seaside.
Here we will see (we hope) penguins.
And………………..yes, we saw two penguins.
We visited a special place on the beach where
Penguins come from the sea, where they were
fishing, for their partners who stay on the beach
to hatch or to look after little penguins or
whatever.
Lots of people were looking from a special
shed (they paid $ 20,- for a busride to the beach
and back and we just drove down there) at the
beach where one penguin was standing, looking
at the sea.
He (or she) stood there almost for one and a half
hour and almost didn’t move.
Because no other penguin showed itself all the
people left again and Ankie and I waited a little
longer and “YES” there came another penguin
out of the sea and I have the beast on video.
Of course this is very spectacular.
This morning we set for Dunedin (a sort of copy
of Edinburg) also on the east coast of New Zealand,
Southern Island.
We found ourselves a nice campingplace on the
Otago peninsula, in a very little village, called
Portobello.
We àrrived early (we were the first today) and
after doing the administration we went to a
beach, called Sandfly beach.
We should see there:
- Sealions (Pakaka in Maori)
- Penguins.
As I wrote there was a strong wind (I think at
least 9 or 10 beaufort) because you could lean into
the wind and the sand bit in our eyes.
We started on the high cliffs and walked down to
the beach via a “long and winding road”, through
the sanddunes beneath the cliffs.
We were halfway and we thought to see a sealion
on the beach and soon it turned out there were at
least 15 big sealions (and a small dead one too) on
the beach, sleeping.
You could walk up to them, as close as a few
meters.
It was amazing to be so near to these big animals
who didn’t give a shit about us, being close by.
We photographed them all.
They just lay around on the beach and although
now and than one looked at us, they didn’t pay us
any further attention, flipped a little with their
flippers and went on sleeping.
The way back, up the cliffs was tiresome.
And……….…we didn’t see any penguins today.
Maybe tomorrow, who knows.
All the villages and towns have their own penguins
and we’ll be able to see some more, I think in the
coming days.
We also went to an albatross observation centre.
Prince Charles of England was there before us, in
2005. Maybe he chased the birds away.
It was cold outside, because of the strong cold
wind, so we decided to drink something and looked,
in vain, for an albatross (a bird with a wingspan of
3,5 or 4 meters when mature) from the observatory.
Probably the birds were doing something else than
having us have a look at them.
After this event we went home.
No pictures today (no wifi although we paid for it).
Shit happens.
Till the next time.
maandag 9 november 2009
Wat heb ik nou an me fiets hange???
Ik heb nu "volgers" o.a. uit China: Muslimah4life.
Ik wist niet dat ik zo populair was.
Enfin, dit kan er ook nog wel bij. Ik ben benieuwd of ik nog word bekeerd en tot welk geloof.
Ik wist niet dat ik zo populair was.
Enfin, dit kan er ook nog wel bij. Ik ben benieuwd of ik nog word bekeerd en tot welk geloof.
To make it a little easier I show the map of New Zealand.
We arrived in Christchurch (See southern island on the east coast) and now we are somewhat north of Dunedin. On the west coast (it seems but that is not the case) you see the little yellow triangle (Mount Cook). That's the place where we were yesterday.
It's not on the west coast and to visit this place you have to start from the east coast.
To Oumarua (those names!!!)
Today, Tuesday, we woke up at 8.00 in the morning.
It was cold tonight (must have been around zero
or so) and there were a few tents on the camping, so they must have been cold in the night.
At 9.00 we drove to the big town of Twizel, well
known in Twizel itself and surroundings.
In Twizel we bought groceries and after this main
event we set for Oumarua, a town on the seaside.
Here we will see (we hope) penguins.
On our way to Oumarua we passed a place called
Vanished World Elephant Rocks.
The boulders look like elephants (in the dark and you have to be stark drunk) and we took
some pictures (Ankie more than me) and on the the pic I made you see Ankie on such a boulder.
The weather is OK now while I am writing, but this morning we had lots of clouds and it rained
a little, so the picture is dark.
The camping where we are now is OK. We took a shower and in a while we will visit the
Town Centre about which more the next time.
It was cold tonight (must have been around zero
or so) and there were a few tents on the camping, so they must have been cold in the night.
At 9.00 we drove to the big town of Twizel, well
known in Twizel itself and surroundings.
In Twizel we bought groceries and after this main
event we set for Oumarua, a town on the seaside.
Here we will see (we hope) penguins.
On our way to Oumarua we passed a place called
Vanished World Elephant Rocks.
The boulders look like elephants (in the dark and you have to be stark drunk) and we took
some pictures (Ankie more than me) and on the the pic I made you see Ankie on such a boulder.
The weather is OK now while I am writing, but this morning we had lots of clouds and it rained
a little, so the picture is dark.
The camping where we are now is OK. We took a shower and in a while we will visit the
Town Centre about which more the next time.
After a while we had to cross the river again and there it was, another Dr. Jones hangbridge. Ankie didn't allow me to swing the bridge when she was on it.
Look at the last picture. That's mount Cook, some 3750 high. We were lucky (our guide of the day told us) because there were no clouds around the top of the mountain (clouds are there usually).
Our goal was to climb Mount Cook but now we know that many climbers died on this mountain, and although I am a climber myself, we decided to look at the mountain from the valley.
During our walk up the mountain (well a little bit up) we heared lots of noise and we saw an avalanche. The pics of the avalanche are not OK so, no pics of the avalanche.
We saw beautiful white flowers when we walked along the river. See pic.
On monday we set for Mount Cook. The drive from Geraldine to Mount Cook took us about 4 hours.
On the raod to Mount Cook we came upon Lake Tekapo (or Tepako or whatever) and it was very nice.
On one of the pics here under you see the lake.
Iceblue and beautifull to see. The weather was nice and the road clear.
Somewhere in the afternoon we reached Mount Cook and in Hooker Valley we made camp. I looked everywhere but no single hooker in sight.
It is the only campground in Mount Cook and the only thing they have is a place to park your camper and there are toilets with water. It cost only 6 Euro's for the night.
Right after we arrived we took a hike direction Mount Cook. The first thing you see, apart from the mountains all around us, was a monument for climbers who lost their lives climbing Mount Cook. Apperently it is a tough mountain to climb (Edmund Hillary - no family of Hillary Clinton as far as I know - climbed this mountain a few times) and since the 1970's about 40 climbers died on this mountain. All their names were on the monument.
After the monument we soon arrived at a Dr. Jones hangbridge over the river (water flowing down from Mount Cook) and in the middle of the bridge you can see Ankie.
Geraldine, New Zealand.
This is a pretty town (our touring guide of today
says so).
And it has many, many features like:
- an old building that used to be the town hall,
- another old building which is now the town museum*,
- other buildings and shops and everything what you
can find in a little town which is one hundred years
old and is still sleepy.
On a vacation in a certain country or wherever, you
see their most interesting sites. In this case the sites
are as mentioned above.
* Behind the museum (closed, because it is Sunday) is
our campground.
The campground is very neat (as far as I can see it used
to be the town hortus - they have lots of different trees,
amongst which one giant Pine tree, original of North America -).
Price for one night: 30 New Zealand dollars, which is about 15 Euro’s. And what do you get:
- water
- electricity
- an internet shed (only one PC)
- a large kitchen with everything you need for cooking
and doing the dishes (Ankie cooked and I did the
dishes)
- a TV-room with TV (!!) and chairs
- a place to loose your grey waste
- a laundry (washers and dryers)
- large places to park your camper
- only 2 minutes to the city centre
- etc.
In town there are at least ten shops. You can get almost everything you want, except today (Sunday every shop is closed except bars, café’s, the local juiceshop and the souvenirsshop).
As you can see this is a very exciting town which thrives like unreal (even on Sunday).
We met at least ten people.
We started this morning late. We slept until ten and
we left the campground in Akaroa around eleven.
We had to drive back to Christchurch (75 Km’s) on “the long and winding road” with hairpin corners here and there.
After Christchurch we headed south, direction Mount Cook, which we are to see tomorrow.
From Christchurch we took the scenic road (nr. 72) and came trough very interesting villages like:
- Darfield
- Mount Somers (no mountains to see in the
neighbourhood)
- Mayfield
and suddenly we arrived in Geraldine.
Look on your maps at home and see where we are.
The weather is nice. Some 20 degrees or so and sunshine. Tonight it will be like 10 or so.
It was a very exciting day (we gassed up in Mount Somers) and I am looking forward to another day with lots of interesting things like cows, sheep (for people who like sheep, it must be really heaven), birds, lots of roadkill, sleeping villages, mountains far away (with snow on the tops), a car now and than and many, many other things.
This was it for today.
Tomorrow we head for Mount Cook (3754 meters) and
probably experience: snow and cold. We’ll see.
Greetings to you all from Geraldine, New Zealand.
This is a pretty town (our touring guide of today
says so).
And it has many, many features like:
- an old building that used to be the town hall,
- another old building which is now the town museum*,
- other buildings and shops and everything what you
can find in a little town which is one hundred years
old and is still sleepy.
On a vacation in a certain country or wherever, you
see their most interesting sites. In this case the sites
are as mentioned above.
* Behind the museum (closed, because it is Sunday) is
our campground.
The campground is very neat (as far as I can see it used
to be the town hortus - they have lots of different trees,
amongst which one giant Pine tree, original of North America -).
Price for one night: 30 New Zealand dollars, which is about 15 Euro’s. And what do you get:
- water
- electricity
- an internet shed (only one PC)
- a large kitchen with everything you need for cooking
and doing the dishes (Ankie cooked and I did the
dishes)
- a TV-room with TV (!!) and chairs
- a place to loose your grey waste
- a laundry (washers and dryers)
- large places to park your camper
- only 2 minutes to the city centre
- etc.
In town there are at least ten shops. You can get almost everything you want, except today (Sunday every shop is closed except bars, café’s, the local juiceshop and the souvenirsshop).
As you can see this is a very exciting town which thrives like unreal (even on Sunday).
We met at least ten people.
We started this morning late. We slept until ten and
we left the campground in Akaroa around eleven.
We had to drive back to Christchurch (75 Km’s) on “the long and winding road” with hairpin corners here and there.
After Christchurch we headed south, direction Mount Cook, which we are to see tomorrow.
From Christchurch we took the scenic road (nr. 72) and came trough very interesting villages like:
- Darfield
- Mount Somers (no mountains to see in the
neighbourhood)
- Mayfield
and suddenly we arrived in Geraldine.
Look on your maps at home and see where we are.
The weather is nice. Some 20 degrees or so and sunshine. Tonight it will be like 10 or so.
It was a very exciting day (we gassed up in Mount Somers) and I am looking forward to another day with lots of interesting things like cows, sheep (for people who like sheep, it must be really heaven), birds, lots of roadkill, sleeping villages, mountains far away (with snow on the tops), a car now and than and many, many other things.
This was it for today.
Tomorrow we head for Mount Cook (3754 meters) and
probably experience: snow and cold. We’ll see.
Greetings to you all from Geraldine, New Zealand.
Today is November 7th. (Saturday).
So yesterday was Friday. And the day before that was.......
On Friday we arrived from Sydney in New Zealand in
Christchurch.
Our suitcases arrived too, so everything was OK.
We were brought, from the airport, to our hotel in
the middle of the city.
Christchurch centre is nice, for a New Zealand town.
We visited the cathedral (Church of England or so) and
the boyschoire (spelled right?) was singing and it was
nice. After that we walked around a little.
More than half of the shops sell typical NZ things like:
- sheepskins
- woolen whatevers (by the thousends, because they
have like 5 million sheep over here; for people who like
sheep, it must be really heaven),
- Alpaca woolen vests, pullovers, etc.
- Maori art
- T-shirts with New Zealand and all other texts
- sheepskin boots (popular overhere too)
- caps with New Zealand
- all kinds of goods with "All Blacks"
- pictures of penguins and dolphins (for people who like
dolphins, it must be really heaven),
New Zealand is also well known because of its sandfly
and I'll tell you about it (I fear) later.
No caps with "sandflies" however.
For people who like sandflies, it must be really heaven.
The hotel was OK again and we slept well.
This morning a taxi came to bring us to the "rent
a motorhome" and around 12 we were heading east,
to Akaroa.
This little town is famous for its dolphins (for
people who like dolphins, it must be really heaven),
its french history (some streets even have french
names!!) and for its bay in which the dolphins.
It could somewhere in Nova Scotia but than
without dolphins.
Our camper is much better than we expected.
It has everything:
- TV
- radio
- soundsystem
- heating
- a boiler for water
- a shower
- a toilet
- two beds (but the camper sleeps 3 if neccesary)
- a kitchen with almost everythying like
. exhauster
. microwave
. watercooker
. fridge
. stove
. etc.
Tonight is the first night we will sleep in the camper.
This was it.
Greetings from Akaroa, New Zealand, famous for its
sheep and dolphins and penguins and All Blacks
and Kiwi's.
So yesterday was Friday. And the day before that was.......
On Friday we arrived from Sydney in New Zealand in
Christchurch.
Our suitcases arrived too, so everything was OK.
We were brought, from the airport, to our hotel in
the middle of the city.
Christchurch centre is nice, for a New Zealand town.
We visited the cathedral (Church of England or so) and
the boyschoire (spelled right?) was singing and it was
nice. After that we walked around a little.
More than half of the shops sell typical NZ things like:
- sheepskins
- woolen whatevers (by the thousends, because they
have like 5 million sheep over here; for people who like
sheep, it must be really heaven),
- Alpaca woolen vests, pullovers, etc.
- Maori art
- T-shirts with New Zealand and all other texts
- sheepskin boots (popular overhere too)
- caps with New Zealand
- all kinds of goods with "All Blacks"
- pictures of penguins and dolphins (for people who like
dolphins, it must be really heaven),
New Zealand is also well known because of its sandfly
and I'll tell you about it (I fear) later.
No caps with "sandflies" however.
For people who like sandflies, it must be really heaven.
The hotel was OK again and we slept well.
This morning a taxi came to bring us to the "rent
a motorhome" and around 12 we were heading east,
to Akaroa.
This little town is famous for its dolphins (for
people who like dolphins, it must be really heaven),
its french history (some streets even have french
names!!) and for its bay in which the dolphins.
It could somewhere in Nova Scotia but than
without dolphins.
Our camper is much better than we expected.
It has everything:
- TV
- radio
- soundsystem
- heating
- a boiler for water
- a shower
- a toilet
- two beds (but the camper sleeps 3 if neccesary)
- a kitchen with almost everythying like
. exhauster
. microwave
. watercooker
. fridge
. stove
. etc.
Tonight is the first night we will sleep in the camper.
This was it.
Greetings from Akaroa, New Zealand, famous for its
sheep and dolphins and penguins and All Blacks
and Kiwi's.
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