After stepping off the beloved Shokalskiy, I board the shuttle bus and get a lift to the airport of Invercargill where I pick up my rental car.
I drive around town, looking for a bank and some accommodation. In the end, I pull into a service station and tell the attendant that I need a loo, a bank and some accommodation in exactly th
at order. To be fair on the man, I get a coffee as well in the end.
I settle into a nearby motel and catch up on my diary. Then I leave the car behind and walk the three blocks into town to find a hole in the wall and some lunch.
Walking back to the motel, I have every intention to have a little rest when I get there. Instead, I connect to the internet for the first time in weeks and busy myself trawling through the huge backlog of emails.
Later in the afternoon, I drive to the airport to pick up my friend Nannette who is flying over from Melbourne to be my travel mate. I'm informed that the flight from Christchurch will be arriving at Gate 1, the one and only.
We have barely arrived at the motel when we have to leave again and walk downtown to catch up with some of the Polar Pals for a pub dinner as well as a lot of laughter and reminiscing.
Wednesday, February 3rd
I'm up early and working on the laptop which is frustratingly slow and complicated, until I have to wake Nannette so we can check out.
We haven't had any breakfast and the day is already heading into a heat wave. We drive to the park for something to eat and a little look around. Annie and Wally have the same idea.
Nannette and I find the Info and check out our possibilities. In the end, we book accommodation for the next two nights - in two different places - and an excursion to the Milford Sound.
We depart shortly after and drive as far as Manapouri where we are booked to stay for tonight.
I had been talked into booking a visit to the Glowworm cave for this afternoon, but that's in Te Anau which is a little farther on and I'm already running out of time to get there.
Apparently, the visit cannot be rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon when I would be already in Te Anau anyway, so I have to let it go - without a refund.
There is a restaurant attached to the motel and we make the most of it for our dinner.
It is uncomfortably hot and our room is very tiny and therefore stifling. We keep the door open for as long as we dare to get a bit of a breeze from the lake, but once we turn the lights out, the door has to be closed.
Thursday, February 4th
We have to pack and leave very early as we need to drive into Te Anau for our excursion. It's not far and we soon find the place where we have to pick up our bus. Waiting for the bus, there is at last a moment to grab a coffee and a nibble. This running off without breakfast doesn't suit me at all. I makes for a bad start of the day.
The little bus takes us all the way across the mountains to Milford. The driver is giving us plenty of commentaries and makes a few stops along the way.
The weather is not so nice anymore and on the other side of the mountains it rains on and off and immediately, there are little waterfalls running down the mountainside everywhere.
The bus drops us at the centre where we are to catch the boat for our cruise in the fjord.
Lunch is served and here too, we get lots of commentaries. I do a lot of moving in and out, taking photos. It is very impressive, but I'm sure with a bit of sunshine it would be quite unbeatable.
On the way back, we get off the boat to look at an underwater observatory.
After this brief visit, we catch another boat which takes us back to the center where our bus is waiting.
As soon as we are over and through the mountains, the weather fines up again considerably.
Our motel room is very big. We are still wondering which way to travel from here when Nannette catches up with her ex-sister-in-law who tells her immediately that we are to go and stay with her in Queenstown.
We drive into town and wander around for somewhere to have dinner and then buy some things for tomorrow's breakfast. We have been told that accommodation is a bit scarce everywhere because of the Chinese New Year. We were beginning to think that was an excuse, but as we wander around Te Anau this evening, we start to see the Chinese arrive in droves.
Friday, February 5th
Today, we head for Queenstown, stopping many times along the way to admire the beautiful sights. The weather is absolutely glorious.
We arrive in Queenstown around midday and look forward to getting ourselves a picnic luncheon to have at the park by the lake. Unfortunately, that remains wishful thinking as the whole town is teeming with people and there is nowhere to park the car. After a fair bit of driving round in circles, we find a spot in some hill street. We walk down to the shops and restaurants and eventually find ourselves a bit of lunch. Then we have to scramble back up the hill and get to the car before the traffic warden gets to it.
We do a little bit more driving around until eventually we find Mary's address. To my surprise, I find a lady who reminds me very much of my old friend Yvonne who used to mind the gallery for me on weekends. It turns out that Mary is also an artist and we find a lot of common ground and chat away as if we'd know each other for years.
We go and do some shopping with Mary and she directs us around the town a bit. She is cooking up a storm for tonight and won't let us help.
After a rather late dinner and a lot more chatting, we finally get to bed around midnight - and Mary is still watching TV.
Saturday, February 6th
There is a bit of sleeping in going on this morning. That gives me time to write up my diary and fiddle with the computer.
When we get going, Mary guides out of town a bit to a little place called Arrow Town which goes back to gold mining times and was largely settled by Chinese.
From there, we track back to the bottom of the mountain in order to catch the cable car and have lunch at the top. Mary used to work up there and still has a pass. She can also get us 20% off. But before any of this can happen, we need to be able to park the car somewhere. In case we have to park far away, we drop Mary off at the entrance and go looking. It is an absolute nightmare! Eventually, we get back to the entrance and Nannette hops out to go in and tell Mary of our plight while I sit in the car, inching back and forth in an effort to keep out of everybody's way and still getting honked at.
Suddenly, Nannette comes back with a nice young lady who works there and hands me a staff pass so that I can go round the back and park in the staff car park. It seems that Mary still knows some of the people working here.
After some lunch and a good look around, we head back down and then drive on to the park where we have a little look around the rose garden before going home.
In the end, he takes pity on me and tells me to give him the keys so that he might look after it while we enjoy dinner.
Needless to say, that he gets a handsome tip afterwards.
That was a very enjoyable day in lovely company.
