A road trip of a lifetime!
Posted: Fri 15 Mar 2013 07:32
I am staying with my daughter and her family near Nelson, New Zealand, for six weeks and last week I went, alone, on a 2,000 kms return road trip to see the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, Queenstown, and Doubtful Sound. Now I can cross Norway off my 'must visit' list!
I climbed up to both glaciers - they are awe-inspiring but not pretty, being huge rivers of rather dirty blue/green ice, and the plain below them is a huge mass of brown and grey boulders. The trip to Doubtful Sound is most interesting (the commentaries are good) - you are taken by coach from your hotel to take a cruise up one lake, where you get on another coach for an exciting ride over the mountain to catch the cruiser for the Sound (another word for fiord). The Sound is vast - very deep and, we were told, very cold, with very steep, forested mountains plunging straight down into the water. We saw dolphins playing and at the outlet of the Sound into the Tasman Sea there were seals basking on the little islets.
My daughter lent me her little Punto for the six day trip, which saved me a lot of money in car hire costs!
We have had plenty of long steep walks up river valleys to waterfalls - quite normal for me as I live in the Alps. I love the little town of Richmond and the bigger town of Nelson, which is buzzing with young people, backpackers, bars, cafes, restaurants, and has a lively marina.
My grandson is in the Sea Cadets and whilst we were waiting for him on Tuesday night my daughter, son-in-law and myself had a wonderful meal on the harbour and watched the sun go down. I would be interested to hear if any other members have visited NZ, or have family here, and how they have settled in.
My grand-daughter, Lara, has got through to the final of a Love Story competition with a local jeweller, and has already won NS$600 of jewellery. If she wins the competition, she will get another $1,000. Perhaps some of you would be kind enough to vote for her, Sam and Lara, as the other entrants are all 'native' Kiwis and obviously know a lot more people here!
The link is:
http://www.jenshansen.com/news/lovestories.aspx#332
I climbed up to both glaciers - they are awe-inspiring but not pretty, being huge rivers of rather dirty blue/green ice, and the plain below them is a huge mass of brown and grey boulders. The trip to Doubtful Sound is most interesting (the commentaries are good) - you are taken by coach from your hotel to take a cruise up one lake, where you get on another coach for an exciting ride over the mountain to catch the cruiser for the Sound (another word for fiord). The Sound is vast - very deep and, we were told, very cold, with very steep, forested mountains plunging straight down into the water. We saw dolphins playing and at the outlet of the Sound into the Tasman Sea there were seals basking on the little islets.
My daughter lent me her little Punto for the six day trip, which saved me a lot of money in car hire costs!
We have had plenty of long steep walks up river valleys to waterfalls - quite normal for me as I live in the Alps. I love the little town of Richmond and the bigger town of Nelson, which is buzzing with young people, backpackers, bars, cafes, restaurants, and has a lively marina.
My grandson is in the Sea Cadets and whilst we were waiting for him on Tuesday night my daughter, son-in-law and myself had a wonderful meal on the harbour and watched the sun go down. I would be interested to hear if any other members have visited NZ, or have family here, and how they have settled in.
My grand-daughter, Lara, has got through to the final of a Love Story competition with a local jeweller, and has already won NS$600 of jewellery. If she wins the competition, she will get another $1,000. Perhaps some of you would be kind enough to vote for her, Sam and Lara, as the other entrants are all 'native' Kiwis and obviously know a lot more people here!
The link is:
http://www.jenshansen.com/news/lovestories.aspx#332