Homeward bound

Here I am, almost at the end of my small adventure. Just the one day stop off in Auckland to go after the flight up from Queenstown this afternoon and then I'll be on the long haul home. So what has it been like?
Well you've been with me since the start, so you should have a pretty good idea of what I've been up to. However, there are hundreds of small things which have never featured in my blog, which make NZ such a fun and unique place to visit and I will miss those small things as much as the more obvious features.
To give you just a few examples, heaps of small towns here feel the need to make themselves special in some way. My favourite is a tiny town called Tuatapere in the south of the South Island, which welcomes visitors with a big sign proclaiming itself as "New Zealand's sausage capital"! Fantastic. I love the fact that the tandem paragliders in Queenstown land on the playing field of the primary school - even when the kids are outside at playtime. It doesn't seem to phase the kids and the paragliders just head for a relatively quiet area. When I filled up with petrol in the east cape, the cashier didn't even bother to look at the pump to see how much petrol I had put in, he just trusted me to tell him the truth. People in smaller towns leave their cars outside shops with the engine running and the door wide open while they natter for 10 minutes. Little things like this are as important as the crystal clear air and water, the huge wide open spaces, the lush rain forests and the welcoming people.
So what have I missed while I have been away? To tell you the truth, only two things. The first is people - family and friends - who I am really looking forward to seeing. The second is a pillow. The best part of six months spent sleeping with your head on a pile of clothes every night really makes you appreciate the simple pleasure of a pillow on the rare occasions that one is available!
I hope that you have enjoyed travelling through NZ with me. It's been great to get comments and emails from everyone and I thank you all very, very much. If anyone wants information about anything New Zealand, places to visit, contact details for any trips, or just general information please get in touch. I can thoroughly recommend this as a holiday destination if you are into the outdoors, big scenery, the lord of the rings films, rugby and having fun. If I had to sum up my trip in a few words, it would have to be "sweet as".

By the way, new photos below . . . .

Ahhh, Wanaka. 

Ahhh, Queenstown. 

You didn't know I did this . . . 

You didn't know I did this . . . 

You know I did this . .  

Queen

So here I am, back in Queenstown for my last week in NZ. My flight out of here is on Saturday, so I've still got a few more days to go. I've been out doing more walking in the hills and by the shores of fabulous blue lakes and, between marvelling at how lovely it is, thinking that I'm going to miss all of this when I come home.
Not sure what I am going to do for the next few days, the weather is supposed to be pretty good - it's warm and sunny at the moment - so keeping out and about seems like a good idea.
Sorry this is a short (but sweet (as)) post, but not too much to tell you at the moment. After all, you know by now what Queenstown is like. I'll try to come up with something more interesting and then post again . . . .

Lots of nothing

So what have I been doing for the last few days? Lots of nothing, that's what! I have been out walking in the fabulous Otago countryside, just drinking in the views and the wide open spaces. I am back in Wanaka at the momnet, where the sun is shining and the autumnal colours are bright and fabulous. The days are still warm, with shorts and jandals being most popular, but night time is a different story. As soon as the sun goes down, the temperature plummets, especially with the cloudless skies we have got at the moment. It doesn't quite seem possible that in about three months this quiet town will be packed with snowboarders and skiers and that the surrounding hills, and possibly the town, will be blanketed in snow.
I haven't got much to tell you, because trying to convey the feeling of sitting on a hill top looking out over the hills and mountains is an utterly thankless and pointless task. Unfortunately my vocabulary simply isn't up to the job. All I can tell you is that I could happily spend hours just looking at the scenery here, despite that fact that I can see it would not be to everyone's taste. I'll have photo's when I get back, but they will never provide the feeling of space, the clarity of the air and the warmth of the sun. I just hope they will be enough to trigger my memory in years to come. In the meantime, I'll be making sure that those memories get as much reinforcement as possible before I leave. Right, got to go and find a hill to climb up . . .

Lake district

Ok, decision made. I have wended my way back over to the southern lakes area, which is not as warm as some other areas, but is just beautiful as. Big mountains and gorgeous lakes. I am going to stay in this area for the next couple of weeks and then I have a flight from Queenstown to Auckland booked for April 16 and then fly home a couple of days later. The flight from Queenstown was cheaper than travelling overland and just a touch quicker.
I was lucky enough to stay with friends in Christchurch. Although Gordon, the guy I met on the interislander ferry wasn't in CHCH that night, his lodger was. It was good to see Ely (the lodger) again, such a nice guy. Bless is heart, he fed me breakfast, drove me to the bus stop in the city centre and even left me with a packed lunch for the journey! Good people these Kiwis you know.
Anyway, I'm in Queenstown yet again at the moment, but am looking at a couple of possible tramps and thinking of popping over to Wanaka for a few days as well. Right now I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the place for a day or two though. As plans develop, I'll let you know. In the meantime, take care all.

If you want more online mumblings (of a more cerebral nature), get yourself to:
http://robsog.typepad.com/robsog/