Te Anau

Anne here catching up with the last few days … Weds 2nd April

I’ve loved Queenstown and am not really ready to leave this breathtaking scenery. Although I am slightly fed up of the comment “Why you haven’t done a bungee jump yet?” Queenstown is teeming with extreme sports fanatics, mostly under 30 years old! But everyone here has a fascinating background and I’ve loved chatting to strangers and people watching. Everyone is genuinely friendly and I love that. And we will be coming back briefly.

So off to Te Anau, about 2 hours drive from here. The roads are so quiet, and there are two men operating stop/go boards at the roadworks instead of temporary traffic lights. After half an hour, we are into farming country. I have never seen so many sheep in each field, about double the density compared to Wales. Also dairy and deer farming.

And Lake Te Anau is just as stunning as Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. The weather is still gorgeous although some of the trees are just starting to get their autumn colours.

We are staying in cheapish motel style rooms but they are brilliant so far. Clean, ensuite, a small kitchenette and usually guest laundry facilities. And so far with outstandingly breathtaking views.

Lake Te Anau is genuinely stunning but has one downside . . . Sandflies! Which like mosquitos suck blood. I’ve been taking vitamin B1 tablets for a month (I don’t like marmite) which is meant to deter mosquitos but it has no effect on sandflies at all. I am still tastier than Paul, who does eat marmite!

Photos

Anne here. We are having a few technical problems posting photos to the blog. Paul is on the case. But send me a Facebook friends request if you would like to see more photos in the meantime.

P. S. Hannah we did get to Glenorchy and it was just as special as you said it would be. We also did our good turn for the day and gave two hitchhikers a lift back to Queenstown. I’ll post about  it fully later. 

Bob’s Peake

Anne here. Wow wow wow. Amazing stunning breathtaking awesome stupendously awesome. We got the gondola cable car up Bob’s Peake  overlooking Queenstown and the lake and the Remarkable mountains. They genuinely are remarkable! The cider I drank sat on a bar stool, gasping at the view, was very good as well.

Anne’s Associations

My first two long haul flights will be forever associated with a Sigingstone book club book: the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It’s a very gentle collection of letters between a journalist and the Guernsey literary society but is all about the Nazi invasion of Guernsey. In my mind the two flights and the book will be forever linked.

Anne’s Hong Kong

Anne here. Some thoughts about Hong Kong:

  • The skyline really is iconic
  • Tropical storms are very dramatic, lashing rain, and bolts of thunder and lightning
  • Hong Kong’s skyscrapers can look rather grey in the fog
  • I learnt a lot about the history of Hong Kong and what a mad, wonderful anomaly it is
  • I loved the traditional boats
  • The Queen Elizabeth ship is huge
  • Good customer service in Hong Kong is exemplary
  • I loved the Star Ferry.
  • Early morning Tai chi in the park should be a worldwide custom

The weather meant that we didn’t see the best of Hong Kong but I would love to come back and explore more.