A log about those Silly Folks and their Escapades

Friday morning we went for a walk along the beach before breakfast. The ocean side walk is beautiful with lots of apartments and condos in the area. But you can tell that this is where the real high end real estate is in the Adelaide’s area.
Glenelg is a southern suburb of the City of Adelaide and it is very well connected by a tram system, public bus transportation and road network.
once we got the day started we visited the local tourist information office and got a ton of advice on things to see and do in the Adelaide area.
So, we hopped on the tram to downtown Adelaide and our first stop was at Adelaide Central Market Market. This was a very traditional market where they sold fruits, veggies, meat, spices and everything food related. Look at the size of these local watermelons.

Afterwards we jumped on the free bus and got off at the Botanical Gardens where there is currently a glass art display throughout the grounds by Seattle artist Dale Chihuly.

After the Botanical Gardens we returned to the central shopping area. The ladies went to look at Opals and the various settings.

Then we boarded a very busy tram and headed back to our Condo for a quiet dinner in.

This morning we left Robe in full sunshine and beautiful warmth. The destination today was Adelaide and the drive was going to be over 4 1/2 hrs.
Along the way we stopped to see Larry the Lobster who is 17 metres high. Larry is located in Kingston Australia.

The road and country side to Adelaide was mostly dry scrub grass and quite barren. Then after about 4 hrs driving we reached Hahndorf a cute little German town that was founded in the early 1800’s.
By contrast Hahndorf was lush and green and had Palm Trees.

After a quick lunch we headed towards Adelaide and specifically Glenelg where our condo is for the next few days.

After we got the luggage unloaded Dean and Larry took the rental car back and Brenda and Judy went shopping for dinner. After a long day of travel we had a quiet evening.

We started out the day with a great breakfast at the local bakery. Then on to the iCentre for more detailed travel planning.
From the Information Centre we drove to the local Gannet Colony at Point Danger. They are trying to rebuild the colony so they limit access and the closest you can get is about 300 metres. There is a once a day guided tour but it is later in the day and we had to get moving.

From here we drove to Cape Nelson Lightstation. It was a beautiful and grand lighthouse but they only did a tour once per day at 11:30 am and we were there after lunch.

Tonight we stayed at Harbour View Hotel in Robe. Robe is a great little resort town with lots of shops and a few pretty nice restaurants. It’s very beautiful.

The following are a few of the funny oddities that we found about New Zealand

#1? Roadside Coffee Kiosk’s that pop up anywhere. This includes at the various private Holiday Camping Parks.
#2? Sheep on the North Island are generally used for food and Sheep on the South Island are used for Merino Wool clothing.
#3? Freedom Camping is very structured and you can’t just pull off and park on the side of the road. It must be an approved site with only so many spots. Fines can be quite heavy if the rules are not followed.
#4. Holiday Park Campsites have a fairly standard layout. This includes Women and Men standard showers and toilet facilities. Everyone we stayed at had an expansive kitchen and mygathering area. Plus shelves and cupboard for storing your dry goods if you are tenting or freestyle. Plus there is always an area where you can leave extra food and or spices, etc that you can give away at the end of your vacation. Plus every Park had Washer and Dryer facilities ; although the price and number of machines varied greatly. Also, all Holiday Parks had a kids playground area and many organized kid activity events and/or kid activity days. In additions most had a jumping pillow, disc golf, mini golf, BMX track, large chess games, etc etc

#5? Road Kill was 95% Possums, 4% Hedgehog and 1% Deer

#6? A lot of the clothing is now Merino and Possum; not just Merino Sheep Wool. They have displays in the stored to show and demonstrate the softness of Possum Merino.

#7? Meat Pies – You can get them almost anywhere and they are delicious. A few varieties we have has include; Steak and Mushroom, Steak and Cheese, Bacon and Egg, Steak and Kidney, Mince Pie, Quiche Lorraine, etc – they are perfect for lunch

#8. Road Signs! The New Zealand people have an amazing sense of humour. You will drive through 30 to 40 km of twisty turned roads with the speed limits posted from 25 km to 50 km. Then and all of a sudden you come around a corner and there is a straight road stretch of 200 metres and the sign posted is 100 km! This is immediately followed by twisty turning sections for the next 30 to 40 km.

#9? One Lane Bridge – “Right of Way”. The signs show an arrow in both directions of travel. If you have the “Right of Way” there is a large arrow on your side of the road sign. Conversely if the arrow is small you must give way to approaching traffic.

#10? 99.9% of the time there is no biking on the roads as the roads are too narrow and there is no defined bike route or paved area.

#11? Pedestrians do not have the right of way on any roads or side streets. The only time they are given leeway is when the crosswalk has 2 well defined orange markers on poles at the crosswalk.

#12? Security at the Airport is very tight. Absolutely every person must walk past a drug sniffing dog and a food inspection dog. Also you must declare and be prepared to answer questions about what you are bringing in to the Country and where you have been and where you are going.

We arrived in Melbourne from Christchurch around 7pm and went to a local pub for dinner.

In the morning we caught the local free tram to the Queen Victoria Market.

The market is made up of 2 huge buildings/warehouses. The first building is just seafood and meats of every kind. The next building was massive and was full of fruits, vegetables, material, electronics, fishing equipment, clothes and anything else you could think of.

After that we caught the tram back to near our hotel and then headed to the Queen Victoria Gardens which included the Shrine of Remembrance and the Royal Botanical Gardens. So much to see and a lot of walking on a rainy day. It was a +20,000 step day.

On Sunday we went on a tour to the Koala & Animal Wildlife Park and to the Philip Island Woolamai Beach for the Parade of Penguins.
We toured the Koala sanctuary first and saw many Koala’s both sleeping and awake. The parks is amazing as it provides a safe place for Koala’s to thrive.

We saw tons of Wallabies in the grasses before reaching the penguin site.
Then we were off to the Penguin Parade. The adult little blue penguins return to land and their burrows at dusk.

They seem to come out in small groups all over the beach. We were told between 700-1000 per night is the average. It was fun to watch the babies come out of their underground nests, scurry around and wait for their parent(s) to return with food. It wa a long day and we did not get back to our hotel until 12 midnight.

February 17 , we started our trip to Adelaide along the Great Coastal Road. It was a sunny day so the views were spectacular.

Along the way we had heard of a road to take to view Koalas and Kangaroos in the wild. We did a short hike and another group of tourists somehow spotted a lone Koala asleep at the top of a distant tree.
We ended our day at a 2 bedroom motel at Apollo Bay

Feb 18 was cloudy and chilly and was the day we saw lots of beaches and sand and limestone creations on the beach and surrounding cliffs, etc. Some of these included, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, London Arch, the Twelve Apostles, The Bay of Martyrs and The Grotto.

On one of the hikes we saw an Echidna (kind of like a large hedgehog) in the wild.

Tonight we are in Port Fairy at the Seacombe House Motor Inn. It is a lovely older property.

Today is Thursday and this is the last leg in our Campervan in New Zealand. After emptying the holding tanks and fueling up we headed to Christchurch to return the Campervan.

When we arrived Dean and Judy were waiting for us. After answering a few questions and the Wilderness folks checking everything, we were on our way to downtown Christchurch. 

We used Uber (our first time using Uber) to get downtown. The experience went smoothly and Uber seems to have their systems worked out pretty well, even down to letting you add a tip for the driver to the cost of the ride afterwards. 
Once in downtown Christchurch we checked into the hotel and the headed out to explore the city. Christchurch had major earthquake in 2019 and even today rebuilding and reconstruction is ongoing.

They are trying to return the buildings to their original glory and at the same time build them robust enough for future earthquakes. 
We headed for the Botanical Gardens and had a great walk through a small part of the Gardens. 

On the way back to the hotel we did some shopping and walking through some local markets. Look at the selection of candy ropes from one of the shops and also the Valentines sweet treats.

After shopping we went to an Irish Pub for dinner.

Christchurch is a beautiful city and we enjoyed our short time here.

This is the last night camping on our New Zealand adventure.
Tomorrow we return the Campervan and spend the night in downtown Christchurch.
Our destination today was Geraldine, it’s a really nice little town that we had passed through on our way south and we enjoyed the couple hours we had spent here on our way south so much that we decided to make it an overnight stop on the way back to Christchurch.
When we left Moeraki Village we stopped at a local tourist site called Moeraki Boulders which was about 5 km north of the village.
The boulders are spherical shaped rocks and for a full explanation go to Google to get a better geological explanation.
Trust us they are cool and not sure where else they can be found. On the beach we were at in about a 400 metre stretch there were about 45 boulders or pieces of boulders. Plus you could see on the hillside evidence of another boulder waiting for winds and sea to expose it from the hillside.

Once we arrived in Geraldine we got the Campervan set up and went for a walk through town and visited a few souvenir shops. Then back to the campsite to pack our suitcases for our next adventure to Australia.

This morning we left Queenstown to spend the night in Moeraki.
Today was going to be a bit of a drive as we have to start heading north to get back to Christchurch on Thursday, as we fly to Melbourne Australia on Friday.
Driving today was not on generally travelled routes, lots of farm country with sheep’s, cows and vineyards. Much that we drove through reminded us of the Oliver, Osoyoos and Keremeos area of BC.

Our stop tonight was at Moeraki Village Holiday park. It was an older camper park, but a tidy holiday park and our view was of the local harbour which was beautiful.

A later lunch today was at the local tavern. We shared a lunch called fishermen’s catch which consisted of blue cod, shrimp, prawns, calamari rings and fries. Nice view from the Tavern deck Eh?

Our plan was to spend 2 nights in Queenstown and use one of those days to go to Milford Sound.
Milford Sound is a fiord which is a long narrow inlet of sea with steep sides gouged out by a glacier.
There are 4 ways to get to Milford Sound
#1 Drive your own vehicle. Bad decision it’s an 8 hr return trip on very narrow and steep roads
#2 Take a tour bus. Same on the roads and travel time and your with 50 of your closest friends
#3 Fly into Milford Airport. A much better solution, however flights are hit and miss due to local cloud banks and a short runway
#4 Take a Helicopter flight. Now we’re talking. Take off on time, pick your way amongst the clouds find a whole in the clouds that opens up to sunny weather, land on a glacier on the top and side of mountain for a photo opportunity. Land at the Milford Sound airport, take a 2 hr return trip cruise then board your helicopter to take you back to home base.
JUST GUESS WHICH ONE WE PICKED?

You got it we opted for the helicopter flight and it was amazing. An extremely memorable experience and moment!

Where we landed, three of the sides were a 3 – 4 thousand foot drop to the valley floor. That in itself is invigorating.

A glacier lake

Approaching Milford Sound airport

Pictures from the Milford Sound Cruise

A final picture from the helicopter

We left Lake Tekapo and headed towards Lake Pukaki and specifically the White Horse Hills hiking trails which are at the foot of Mt Cook.

We had hopes of freedom camping but checking online showed all the sites were taken. Oh well we’ll figure it out when we get there.
The traffic all the way was pretty steady so we figured by the time we got there that parking would be at a premium.

We first stopped at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre which is next to the DOC (Department of Conservation) tourist information desk. We queried if they had any spots available, referencing the website information and the attendant said they had lots since they only put up 100 openings on the web booking. So we grabbed a site for the night. Basically it ended up that we were in a parking lot, but it was approved and perfect for the night.
We found a spot on the side of the road to park the Campervan since all the parking lots were full then we went for a 2 hr hike

After the hike we moved the Campervan to our spot for the evening.

The following are some of the photos from the hike

Our camping spot in the parking lot, we could have moved but decided not to.

This is the view we woke up to the next morning

We got an early start and headed towards Queenstown. Queenstown reminds us a lot of Whistler. There is a gondola from the town to a peak overlooking the city, lots of young people working in the stores trying to afford the lifestyle, high end clothing stores and lots of outdoor activities.