Queenstown

4 March 2020

We drove from Naseby to Queenstown last night and checked into the Marram holiday home in the city.  Provisions were acquired, and Marcus and Wang Theng queued for 20 mins for Fergburger.  Still a very popular meal for the backpackers.

Marcus and Tessa went kayaking in Lake Wakatipu.

And later they did some luging after taking the gondola up to the Skyline.

The China visitors has created some demand for decent chinese restaurants in Queenstown.  We found one that served delicious freshly hand pulled noodles for dinner.












5 March 2020

Today was a relaxing day.  We took a drive to Arrowtown and looked around the shops.  And on the way there, we dropped in on the original AJ Hackett bungy jumping operations.

 No one wanted to have a go.  So we contented ourselves watching the other punters.

6 March 2020

It was a longish drive to our Dunedin accomodation for an overnight stay before our flight back to Wellington in the morning.

We slept in a large barn by the wild Dunedin coast.  And that is the family tour for 2020.  Wonder when the next one will be.

Omakau Wedderburn Hyde

2 March 2020

We booked our cycling tour with Shebikeshebikes.  This included the bikes, accomodation, transporting our bags, and relocating our car.  The cycling was for 2 days, from Omakau to Wedderburn to Hyde.   The nights accomodation was in Wedderburn.

Maylene was very amused that they were listed as kids in the booking form, aged 23 and 25 year old.

We were fitted to our bikes, had a practice round, labelled our bags, handed our car keys over, and then on our way.

The trail was easy to follow because it was actually a railway line, with the rails removed and the track smoothed over (but still gravelly).

I led the way with Maylene behind me, and Marcus bringing up the rear.  Marcus yelled at Wang Theng to turn right and follow me, but she turned left.

I then found the start of the trail and the ride started properly.

There were cows to look at.  And 10 minutes into the ride, we stopped for morning tea.












The trail took us over bridges and long flat stretches of the Otago plains.  We had to dismount and walk through a few short tunnells.

There were cafes along the way for lunch.  And by mid afternoon we were at Wedderburn where our lodge and luggage awaits us.

While everyone else was resting, I checked out the local and only pub.  

They had Speights on tap and impressively, Wellington's Panhead Supercharger APA.

The menu had some meaty choices, so I told the publican lady we'll be here for dinner at 6.30.

There were a couple of Maori road gang guys having a smoke and Speights outside, so a Kia Ora to them as I cycled past back to our lodge.

At 6.30, the 3 of us walked to the pub while Wang Theng was drying her hair.  Marcus took a photo from across the road.

Then we settled down to read the menu.  

Both Marcus and I decided we'd have the roast lamb.  Me half portion and Marcus full portion.   We enjoyed the hearty meal due to the efforts of the day.

Being too tired to linger, it was a slow stroll back to the lodge.  The panorama here is quite lovely.

3 March 2020

It appears the cycling pace and the downhills was too much for Wang Theng.  She is sore all over and has shoulder cramps from tensing and braking too much on the gentle downhills on the trail.

I arranged for her to be on the bus that picks up our luggage from Wedderburn to Hyde, our final stop.  The bus has a few other pickups along the way, so it was a mini tiki tour for Wang Theng.

And then there were only 3.

The second day ride was pretty much through the same landscape as the first.

The pace was faster, because we didn't have to wait for you know who.

While I used one of the Dept of Conservation self composting toilet, Marcus and Maylene wandered down to the river.

A white horse from a farm beckoned, so Maylene stopped to say hello.

The horse was very rude, after a few moments, it turned around and farted at her.  While Marcus and I were very amused, this was not a shared feeling by the other person present.

We arrived in Hyde at noon, where we found Wang Theng and the car.  The plan was to find lunch, and then try some curling at Naseby.  Coronavirus was not much of thing down here yet.  We stopped at the Manoitoto International Curling Centre to book our curling session.  The guy there said there was a pub in Naseby.

We had fish and chips, and as I have to drive to Queenstown (shared driving with Marcus), I was not tempted to drink their beer.  The publican asked me where we are from, Wellington I said.  Back at the curling centre, the guy took us through the game, techniques and scoring.  We had to put on rubber socks over our shoes to walk on the ice.  The goal was to slide the rock with the appropriate weight to stop on the red spot on the target, or as close as.

The sweeping is to assist your own rock get to the red spot.  Sweeping the opponents rock will make their rock overshoot.  It was a fun 90 mins, especially for the winners.

Cromwell

22 Feb 2020

I was invited to Jess Tassells wedding last year 2019, which I accepted.  It was to be in Martinborough on 22 Feb.

It was a lovely day for a lovely wedding.   I caught up with Claire Cross, Sara Rossen, Ash Wilson and Ingrid Schyns.  Jess and Tommo had it at the Parehua Lodge where we celebrated Wang Theng's 50th last decade.

Wang Theng had to urgently take Catherine to the airport the next day, so she left after the dinner.   

I stayed on overnight to enjoy the post dinner festivities and caught a ride to Wellington with Ingrid the next morning.






Later that week, the kids flew over from Melbourne to cycle the Otago Rail trail as a family.

1 March 2020

Maylene had been in Wellington a week already by this time and Marcus flew in last night.  We flew to Dunedin from Wellington and picked up our rental. 

It was a clear day in Wellington, so I was able to get a nice shot of the Wellington stadium.  First night was in Marram's Cromwell holiday home.

We had lunch and a look around Dunedin first.

Then it was a 3 hour drive to Cromwell.  I'd forgotten how beautiful Central Otago was, and both Marcus and Maylene said the drive was so picturesque.  They hadn't been here since they were 3 and 5.

Tiri Connell suggested we stopped at Butchers Dam for look around.    It was a pretty place and nice walking paths around the dam.

We had some take outs from the Indian restaurant for dinner at Cromwell, and turned in early because we had an early start tomorrow.

The start of the rail trail for us was at Omakau, a 30 min drive away from Cromwell.










With our rental at the lookout above Cromwell across the river.