Adults & Individuals

Walking Programme for 2024
Wednesday Jan. 24th – Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail OL14                      4.8miles
Park in the Speech House Road pay and display car park. Pick up a trail map, if you have not already printed from the link above, and follow the route round all 18 exhibits. Although this walk is only 4.8 miles, it is ideal for the shorter, colder days and gives us time to appreciate the art works, which will be more visible without foliage to hide them. There are plenty of opportunities to extend the walk if we so wish. Whatever we decide we will finish in the cafe for a hot drink.
Wednesday Feb. 21st – Saltway Loop  OL45                                                8.81miles
Park in the Guiting Power Village Hall car park (honesty box). Walk through the village on to Castle Street and the Diamond and Warden’s Ways. Follow the trail through Guiting Wood, leaving the Diamond Way just before entering the woods. Now solely on the Warden’s Way. On leaving the wood ignore Campden Lane but take the Salt Path south. At Roel Gate pick up the Windrush Way and follow this to Hawling. Just before the village, on the site of a medieval village, turn sharp left. At the edge of a small woodland take a left hand path to a lane and then follow the stream to join the Diamond Way back to the village hall. Unfortunately, the Old Post Office Cafe in Guiting Power is not open on a Wednesday! We could adjourn to the Cotswold Farm Park cafe, which is 6 minutes away by car.
Wednesday Mar. 20th – St Briavels Castle Loop  OL14                              6.54miles
Park in the castle car park, if it is open. Otherwise find street parking as close to the castle as possible. Leave the village along Hewelsfield Lane on to path all the way to Hewelsfield. In Hewelsfield take Basnage Lane and drop steeply to join the Gloucestershire Way. Head north on the Gloucestershire Way up to Pillsbury Farm. Turn left and follow the path back to St Briavels with time to have a look at the castle and visit The Pantry for a cup of tea.
Wednesday Apr. 17th – Moreton In Marsh – Longborough – Bourton-on-the-Hill Loop   OL45                                                                                                    8.72miles
Park in the Old Market Way, Moreton In Marsh GL56 0JY  £2.70 for all day. Leave Moreton on the Monarch’s Way to Longborough. In Longborough pick up the Heart of England Way and head north to Bourton-on-the-Hill. Head west on A44 to pick up a path heading through Bourton Woods. This joins the B4479. Head north on road towards Blockley but turn right on to path that links up with the Heart of England Way/Monarch’s Way back to Moreton. Refresh in one of the many cafes.
Wednesday May 15th – Bromyard Herefordshire Way OS Explorer 202  8.94miles
Park in Tenbury Road car park in Bromyard (Grid Ref. 653547) £1.50 over 4 hours RingGo
Leave Bromyard by heading south, crossing the A44 and bypass the hospital to pick up  the Herefordshire Trail south, passing several farms to Paunton Court. Take the lane to Acton Beauchamp. Find path leading north to Stanford Bishop, on to Scar Farm. Continue in a NNW direction until you meet up with the dismantled railway line. Follow the railway line into Bromyard and back to the car park.
Wednesday June 19th – Avening Loop to include a circuit of Chavenage House
OS Explorer 168                                                                                              8.7miles
Street parking (unless I can arrange an alternative) in Avening close to the Queen Matilda Country Inn. Head west to Church Farm to pick up the MacMillan Way. Head south to Chavenage House. Continue on MacMillan Way to west of the house, then loop round to the south of the house. Pick up the lane and head back towards the house. Continue along lane to pick up a path on the right at Ledgemoor Road Cottages. Drop down to Ledgemoor Bottom, then continue up to Shipstons Grave Lane. Follow this north, then turn east all the way back into Avening and the Avening Community Cafe.
Wednesday  July 17th  – River Frome/Stroudwater Canal Loop OS Explorer 168                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                          7.74miles 
Probably street parking in Fromebridge close to the Fromebridge Mill. The route follows the River Frome passing under the A38 and then the M5. As we head further east the hum of the motorway will diminish but we will never be far from busy roads. We stick to the River Frome as far as the outskirts of King’s Stanley where we cross the A419 to pick up the Thames and Severn Way, which now runs along the towpath of the Stroudwater Canal. This takes us all the way back to Fromebridge where we hope to take some refreshment at the Fromebridge Mill.
Wednesday Aug. 21st – Between the Rivers OS Explorer 167                    6.77miles
Park in the pay and display car park in The Park (Grid ref. 558994) just off the B4228
Cross the road and take the path across Beacon Ash and Poor’s Allotment. Join the lane and turn left to find the Gloucestershire Way and follow it to Broughspring. Head west along the lane to join Offa’s Dyke Path on the B4228. Head north, leaving the road shortly afterwards, to continue along Offa’s Dyke to Beeches Farm Camp Site. Take Miss Graces Lane south to find a path across the Park that will return us to our vehicles. If there is time, we can take the short drive into Chepstow for a cup of tea.
Wednesday 18th Sept. – Offa’s Dyke/Wye Valley Walk Loop OL14            7.32miles
Park in Lower Redbrook, either in the roadside layby or small car park close to the village shop. All the climbing is in the first half of this walk. Cross the A466 to pick up the Offa’s Dyke Path. This climbs steeply up Highbury Terrace. Most of the climbing is done by the time you reach Highbury Wood.  Follow Offa’s Dyke to Bigsweir where the A466 crosses the river. Leave Offa’s Dyke Path, cross the river and immediately pick up the Wye Valley Walk Path.  The route is now flat as it hugs the western riverbank back to Lower Redbrook.  The footpath crosses the river via the old railway bridge and then back into the village.
Wednesday Oct. 16th – Wentwood Forest Trails  OL14                          7.98miles
Park in the car park in the centre of Wentwood Forest(Grid ref. 423948). Take the A48 heading west out of Chepstow to Caerwent. Take the Usk Road to Llanyair-Discoed and beyond into Wentwood.

The walk takes us on several forest tracks, around Wentwood Reservoir and eventually back to the car park.

 

Wednesday Nov. 20th – I will be in Nepal throughout the whole of November. If anybody wants to organise a walking my place, please feel free to do so,

Wednesday Dec. 18th – A local walk around Upton or the Malverns returning to Perrins Field for hot soup, mince pies and mulled wine.
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I shall also continue leading short local Upton walks at 10am , starting from the Hill Centre every other Thursday commencing  from 4th January as part of the Worcester Walking Network and Worcestershire Health Walks.
Upton-Upon-Severn

Walking Group

 Fortnightly on Thursdays from 4th January 2024  10am start

Meet outside The Hill Centre. It’s free, just turn up, no need to book.

All abilities welcome

* meet local people *keep active

 Walks take no longer than one and a half hours and do stay for a cup of tea/coffee and biscuits before heading home!

The walking group is supported by the Worcester Walking Network

WorcestershireHealthWalks

Heading South

Leaving Queenstown on a bit of a dreary morning, we headed south in search of some sunshine.  We have revised our itinerary a little and decided not to go up the west coast after we have been to Dunedin and the Otago Peninsular but to precede that with the Catlin coast to the south.  As we left the mountains the weather began to show signs of brightening up and by the time we reached the south coast at Invercargill there were some decent blue patches of sky.

Invercargill is not an impressive town and looks as if it might fit in better in the mid-west USA with its wide streets and two storey buildings with facades that resemble those towns, which have not yet climbed out of the first half of the twentieth century.  Not overly impressed with what we saw we passed straight through and went out to Bluff, past the decaying portside industrial area to the John O’Groats of New Zealand.  Here we found an end of the world café that served up some excellent food (unlike anything I have experienced at John O’Groats).

London only 18,958km away

Following lunch we took a walk along the cliff edge, affording us views of distant Stewart Island, before returning to the car and the obligatory photo at the signpost.

Heading east, the coastal area is very flat with marshy wetlands preventing you from getting too close to the shore.  By the time we reached Fortrose the landscape was becoming more interesting and we took the scenic route, which although it did not hug the coastline, it gave us plenty of opportunity to take little detours to bays and headlands along the way.  The first of these little detours was at Waipapa Point.  On the point is a lighthouse built in 1884, three years after New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster when The Tararua was wrecked with the loss of 131 lives.

However, it was what was languishing on the beach that took my attention, a lone bull sea lion lazily scratching himself with his flippers.  It seemed not to mind that I was nearby; it is only when young are about that they might become aggressive.  Further along the beach I came across three more, including a lighter skinned youngster, who was still pretty large.  They were quietly dozing on the beach without a care in the world.

A big bull sea lion

Continuing east we called in at Curio Bay and Porpoise Bay with the dual intention of taking in the scenery and also looking for somewhere to stay for the night.  Our journey along this coast so far had revealed that places to stay were few and far between and I was beginning to get a little anxious that we might have to drive much further than I intended.  The coastal areas became more hilly and forested.  Just by chance we came across the McLean Falls Holiday Park with its Whistling Frog café and bar.  We managed to secure a very comfortable chalet for four, with all facilities.  Over an excellent meal of lamb cutlets and a bottle of red wine we decided we would stay for two nights and use our chalet as a base for further exploration.

Angela Again

Back on the road we chatted about our trip thus far and agreed that we were having a superb time even if the promise of a New Zealand summer was eluding us.

We ate more delicious seafood at Bluff, enormous mussels (I know John has!) scallops and prawns.  They have an annual Oyster Festival in May, oops missed that then, shame.

I was thrilled to see a massive bull sea-lion on the beach.  He seemed stuck to the sand by his rear quarters, happy to rear up on his front fins and peer around before languidly scratching himself then flopping down to rest again.

I am happy to be ensconced in a comfortable cabin with heating AND an electric blanket.  The wind has reached gale force, temperature is 12C (the same as UK apparently!) Cosily catching up with blog, reading, writing postcards and completing puzzles.

The Routeburn Trek

Our last full day in Queenstown turned out to be a little frustrating in the beginning.  We needed to make arrangements for getting to the start at the Routeburn Shelter and back again from The Divide.  We had discovered a service called Track Hopper, which collected your car from the starting point and delivered it to your finishing point for $250.  Unfortunately, nobody answered the phone when I tried to book them so we trudged all the way up a long hill to their address to discover they had moved, not far, just a few doors away but neither property seemed to be occupied despite doors and windows being open!  In the end we booked a shuttle bus to take us to the start at Routeburn Shelter and combined our return from The Divide with a trip to Milford Sound and a cruise.

Logistics sorted, we went next to Westpac, the bank we were recommended to patronise as it had relations with Barclays.  We had had a couple of tricky moments trying to get cash out of the hole in the wall and I had also received a couple of suspect emails, supposedly from Barclays, something which has not happened before.  We just wanted to make sure that our account had not been compromised.  They were less than helpful in Westpac and really did not care two hoots if our account had been compromised.  I left in a not very good mood, which unfortunately hung over me for the rest of the day.

Queenstown

In the afternoon we took the TSS Earsland, a 100 year old steam ship which ploughs up and down Lake Wakatipu.  As beautiful as the ship is it could not improve my mood.  I had fallen out with Queenstown and the hoards of tourists who block the streets and behave like flocks of sheep.  The lake is beautiful but the ship does the same journey on a two hourly cycle from 10.00am to 8.00pm.  It seems strange that only does this short run when the lake is so much bigger.  Still in a grump we took the gondola up to Bob’s Peak, overlooking the town and lake.  Again, it was very beautiful, and there were a whole range of activities for young and old alike, from a dry luge run to mountain biking, from paragliding to a really scary bungee jump down the cliff face with only rocks rushing up to meet you.

The following morning I felt much better; we were going to get away from the crowds and head off to the Routeburn.  Packed and ready with food for five days, we had a leisurely, large breakfast to give us energy and to make up for the five days of rations we were imposing on ourselves.  At 12.15 we boarded the minibus to the Routeburn Shelter via Glenorchy.  It was a beautiful journey along the shore of Lake Wakatipu in warm sunshine and, we were assured, a good forecast for the next few days.  The lake proved to be much bigger than I first thought.

Glenorchy is in a beautiful setting but is one of those ‘almost at the end of the road towns’ that appears to have very little going for it.  However, when people talk about it they speak very affectionately about it and the café, the pub and all those places we never saw.  We had stopped opposite the school while the children were on break.  There were about ten of them playing with about five adults supervising, not very well, as four of the children climbed over the fence into the road to talk to a chap on a bike.

A Black Robin

Having been dropped off at The Shelter we set off for the Routeburn Flats Hut and our first night’s accommodation on the trek.  We immediately found ourselves walking through a forest of red beech trees on a well-constructed and maintained path.  The path climbed steadily and our breathing was accompanied by bird song and the sound of roaring, tumbling water below.  Whilst the path was well maintained, the forest was beautifully natural.  The trees were not manicured in any way.  As they matured, bits dropped off and were allowed to rot naturally.  Whole trees fell and were consumed by the forest floor of mosses and young trees eager to take the place of their ancestors.  The variety of greens on the forest meant that our interest never waned and the birds were always very entertaining.  They seemed to have little fear of us, from the Riflemen, extremely small, almost tailless birds, which darted about the lower branches close to the ground, chattering loudly, to the Black Robin who would jump on to the path in front of us like a highwayman and confront us.  If we stood still his fear would diminish totally and he would jump on to our boots and peck away at our laces.  One jumped onto my camera case hung around my neck.  It is wonderful to have such close contact with these birds, which display an innocence and trust that birds in the UK have lost, unless we spend hours and hours patiently developing their trust.

A rare glimpse of a snowy peak

As the afternoon mellowed into evening we arrived at the hut, which had the capacity to sleep 26 but, as it turned out, only had 12 for the night.  The hut basically consisted of two dormitories with bunk beds, a kitchen a dining area and loos outside.  It was comfortable enough, particularly as it was only half full.  The windows look out onto a flat meadow (hence the name Routeburn Flats) with a meandering stream, the Routeburn, flowing through it.  On the other side the forest rises up to a snow-capped peak, which glowed in the early evening sun.

The evening was spent chatting to the other ‘trampers’ and meeting the warden, Liz, a diminutive woman committed to her role as warden of the hut and the surrounding environment.  It soon became clear that some of those we were sharing with on this first evening we would be spending subsequent evenings with, while others, travelling the route in the opposite direction would not be seen again.

At 8.30 the following morning, Liz posted the weather forecast on the board in the hut.  It did not make for very encouraging reading.  While it was fine now, it was soon going to deteriorate and rain would be spreading in.  This would also mean low cloud, obscuring any possibility of good mountain views.  The outlook did not look good either.  Having had encouraging weather forecasts in Queenstown, it was soon becoming apparent that what applies to other parts of South Island, certainly does not apply to the rain forests of the Aspiring and Fjordland National Parks.  If we got a move on we might arrive at the Routeburn Falls Hut before the rain sets in.  Before we left we chatted to Liz to discover that she had something in common with me, in that she knew some of the personalities involved with the Himalayan Trust and had been to Nepal to visit friends running the hospital at Kunde.  What a small world!

The walk up to the Routeburn Falls Hut was much of the same, only the path was significantly steeper.  The Robins still ambushed us on the path and each time they became more confident than the previous encounter.  Luckily we arrived at the hut before the rain.  This hut is much bigger, being able to sleep more than fifty trampers.  Hence all the facilities are much more extensive.  They are really well though out and are incredible structures considering the environment.  This building is largely built on stilts because of the gradient of the ground beneath.

Others began to arrive and fill up the bunks.  We decided, despite the rain, to take ourselves for a walk to Paddy’s Point, a rocky summit above the hut and about an hour’s walk away.  This took us up, past the waterfalls after which the hut is named, and on to a side track, climbing steeply to a flat rocky summit.  Had the weather been good, we would have had fantastic views.  As it was our eyes were drawn to the view below as the clouds obscured anything interesting above.  We could see beyond the Falls Hut down to the Flats and beyond.  Despite the rain, it was an enjoyable and worthwhile outing and broke up the time we would spend sitting in the communal areas of the hut.

When we returned there were more new arrivals and inevitably we were drawn to those we had spent the previous evening with, namely three Australian women and three Kiwis from North Island.  The more we chatted, the more we enjoyed their company.  A Kiwi turned Aussie, Paulette, who had recently been trekking in Nepal, also joined us.  Three Americans, two astrophysicists taking a break from working in the Antarctic on microwave telescopes, and a girl also made interesting conversation.

A playful Kea

The following morning was still damp and we were shrouded in cloud so there was absolutely nothing to see.  Keith, the hut warden put up the weather forecast for the day at 8.30 and it promised to clear as the day progressed.  We delayed our departure a little to allow the clearing process to begin.  The walk today was above the forest line and would have been stunning if the views had been forthcoming.  As it was it remained very misty for the two hours it took for us to climb up to the Harris Saddle.  The only entertainment we had on the ascent was from a group of about six Kea who were playing at the side of the path.  They would allow us to photograph them before flying off to a point about 200 metres up the path where the same would occur again, and again.  From Harris Saddle we could just about make out Lake Harris below but it looked nothing like the pictures of bright sunshine glistening on pristine blue waters in the brochures.   At the Saddle Shelter we stopped for a break and it was clear that the weather on the other side was significantly better.  There were patches of sunshine and blue skies giving us some hope of a pleasant walk down to the Lake Mackenzie Hut.  However, before that could happen I had to make the decision as to whether to climb Conical Peak first.  It was not hard to decline the opportunity as it was obscured by cloud and it seemed it would only be worth climbing for the view.

The enchanting Angela walking through the enchanted forest - or is it a Hobbit?

The Harris Saddle marks the boundary between the Mt. Aspiring National Park and the Fjordland National Park.  We were descending into the latter, the largest national park in New Zealand.  Having made a brief descent the path contoured around the hills for a long time.  Despite the weather being better, the extensive views of snow-capped peaks and tumbling glaciers were not available and, without that interest, the walk became a little long and tedious.  Eventually, we saw our target, Lake Mackenzie Hut, but it still took us an hour to descend into and through the forest to reach it.  The forest on this side of the saddle is even more magical.  The trees are Silver Beech but it is obviously even wetter on this side as the trees are covered in hanging mosses and the ground is swamped by moss.  It didn’t matter that this was a boulder-strewn area, the trees grow at every opportunity and the moss just carpets everything.  It really is an enchanted forest like the home of The Hobbit.

Mackenzie Hut, nestling into the hillside on the shore of Lake Mackenzie is also a large one catering for over fifty trampers.  We were really beginning to get to know our new friends and the more we got to know them the noisier we became.  A handsome young man joined us in the evening.  I know he was a handsome young man because Angela said so and she has impeccable taste in men!  His name is Will and he is from Chepstow on a six-month journey around the world.  He is a vet, between jobs, but what is remarkable about him is that he last worked in Bromsgrove with Tony Barnby, whose son, Tim, came to Nepal with me in 2002.  What a small world!

The warden at Mackenzie is a bit of a legend.  Clive has been warden here for twenty years.  Each evening the wardens give a safety talk and check everybody against a register.  Liz, at Routeburn Flats did her job efficiently and told us, in addition to the safety regulations, interesting things to look out for.  Keith, at Routeburn Falls, again was very efficient but was also quite amusing, particularly when talking about Clive.  Clive does an hour-long stand-up routine with the fire procedures hidden within the routine.  He is really very funny and the highlight of the evening.  All his stories are based on his twenty year’s experience.

Earland Waterfall

The next morning the rain had stopped and the mists were rising out of the forests with the promise of a reasonable day.  It was certainly the best of the five days we were walking.  Climbing out of Mackenzie it was extremely humid but once we were on the level it all became a lot more comfortable.  The walk continued through the enchanted forest with plenty of birdsong and tumbling waterfalls, including the magnificent Earland Falls, with a drop of 174m.

The Howden Hut, on the edge of Lake Howden, has probably the prettiest setting of the four huts.  The fact that the sun was shining might have influenced this opinion but to the front of the hut was like a garden with fruit blossoming trees, native shrubs and flowers and a host of chaffinches eager for a morsel or two.  Being only an hour from the finish, or the start of the trek, whichever way you look at it, this hut is smaller, like the Routeburn Flats Hut.

With our new Kiwi friends

We settled ourselves in and waited in the sunshine for others to arrive.  Soon the Kiwi women arrived and once they had settled we all went for a walk along the Greenstone Track for about an hour, when we got some superb views from a grassy meadow.  As forecast, clouds were building and the sun soon disappeared and rain threatened.  We got back to the Howden Hut just in time before the rain set in for the rest of the day and night.

Our warden, this time was Jif (Geoff), a young lad with dreadlocks, who, unlike his counterparts at the other huts was not a great socialiser and felt a little uncomfortable in our company.  Angela and I had been fairly frugal in our food consumption, not wanting to weigh ourselves down with too much to carry. For breakfast each day we had had a cereal bar, followed by another type of energy bar for lunch and a rehydrated meal in the evening.  Having eaten our last meal this evening, and having only an energy bar each until the end of the trek, I began to imagine the pie I was going to eat at the first opportunity.  Food dominated the conversation to the point that it became very silly.

In the morning, I decided we should not eat our energy bars until we had finished the trek; not eating is much easier at the beginning of the day than it is at the end.  It was still wet and the cloud was really low, so the excursion up to Key Summit was not really an option as we would not have seen anything and would have delayed getting my teeth around the energy bar.  At The Divide we were able to change before we devoured our last bit of food.  We were to be picked up by a bus to take us to Milford Sound, where we would be given a packed lunch once we were aboard the boat.  However, we were not the only ones with food on our mind.  As we waited for the bus, sandflies nibbled us wherever flesh was exposed and sometimes where it wasn’t.  The insect repellent, including the one especially for sandflies, seemed to attract them more than ever.  My mind was still preoccupied with the pies I was going to consume on the boat and Paulette, the Kiwi turned Aussie, and I found ourselves competing as to who was going to eat the most pies.

Predictably, the bus was almost half an hour late, increasing the gastronomic tension.  When it did arrive it was full of sightseers from Queenstown.  The driver gave a commentary as he drove and occasionally he would stop for people to get off and take photos.  Everybody got off like sheep took photos, mostly with inane people grinning and making stupid gestures with their fingers, while I sat on the bus with a grumbling tummy and an increasing desire not to be on the bus.  I have to confess to the scenery being absolutely stunning with shear rock faces rising from the valley floor and waterfalls tumbling over the edges at every opportunity.  Eventually we arrived at Milford Sound, boarded our boat, Monarch, and received our packed lunches.  It did not last long and sadly there were no pies for sale on board.

The impressive Stirling Falls

Milford Sound is understandably a favourite tourist destination and everybody who visits South Island has to go there at some point in their travels.  It is so worth it.  It is one of the wettest places on earth, with up to 700cm of rain a year.  With that record, you have to be very lucky to catch it on a perfect, sunny day.  We didn’t, but even in the gloomy, and sometimes wet conditions we experienced in the hour and forty minutes we were sailing, it is a truly magnificent and stunning location.  The once glaciated valley is now a flooded inlet with water 300m deep.  Rising almost vertically from the dark waters are walls of rock, beautifully carved by the forces of nature with imaginative names like Mitre Peak and Lion Peak.  Tumbling over these vertical drops were majestic waterfalls, streaks of silver and white, cascading into the sound.  The most impressive of these were Stirling Falls, which send plumes of fine spray into the air, guaranteed to give you a soaking as the boats get as close as they can.

Milford Sound

The weather conditions prevented me from getting the classic photo of Mitre Peak but I am pleased with the almost black and white shots I achieved looking down the sound.  I really wished we could have spent more time there, in fact more time in Fjordland, but it was not to be and our bus took us back to Queenstown, via Te Anau where we said goodbye to Paulette, fortunately without the commentary.

Angela Now 

Well, six days later we have had a detox; no caffeine or alcohol and lots of exercise.  Hopefully a few kilos have disappeared, even though I have been carrying about 8 extra in my back pack.

The Routeburn was a very varied trek, mossy green rain forest, swing bridges, waterfalls, rocky climbs and tantalising glimpses of snowy mountains.  We had a lot of fun with new friends who have given us a warm invitation to visit them, or, at least, to keep in e-mail contact.

Our Milford Sound cruise was enjoyable……….clear skies til we got to the open Tasman Sea then rain for the return.  This is really a Fjord because it is an ancient glaciated valley by the sea and not a Sound, which is a flooded river valley.

The 3 hour return bus journey to Queenstown was through beautiful lakeside valleys beside hilly ridges.  In addition to the views we were treated to a movie, ‘The Fastest Indian’ starring Anthony Hopkins.  The story of local hero Burt Munro breaking the land speed motor bike record in 1967.  A gentle enjoyable tale.

We ended this part of our adventure with fish & chips (blue cod of course) from Aggy’s Shack on the Waterfront in Queenstown.  YUM!

 

Did I, or didn’t I? That is the question!

At least it had stopped raining and it looked as if the clouds were going to clear with mountains beginning to show.  Then it all went bad again and as we left Twizel the clouds completely obscured the mountains and it began to rain.  We were leaving MacKenzie country, MacKenzie being famous as a sheep rustler who trained his dog well to assist him. Fortunately, as we headed south the weather began to clear consistently throughout the day.

John dwarfed by the cliffs of clay

Our first detour was to have a look at some clay cliffs we tried to find yesterday.  They are impressive, with pinnacles standing about 300m tall.  It looked as if Gaudi had sculpted them in the style of his La Familia in Barcelona.  Flitting from cliff to cliff were common or garden pidgeons while circling overhead, keeping a beady eye on what was below were harriers searching out a tasty meal.

Continuing south we stopped for lunch on the banks of the Cutha River, bathed in gloriously warm sunshine.  We were now in Otago, well known for its vineyards, and had we felt inclined, we could have called into a number of vineyards to sample the wine.

Not me, but did I do it?

On leaving Cromwell we entered the Kawatau Gorge, where you can experience jet boating and body boarding through the rapids.  It looks exciting.  Towards the other end of the gorge and still about 20km from Queenstown, we stopped at A J Hackett’s Bungee.  It was fascinating to watch and each participant had the opportunity to choose whether they got a dunking in the river or not.  Shall I have a go?  Have I still got the bottle?  Suppose I hurt myself?  I don’t know, what shall I do?………What did I do?

After the bungee jump we went to a winery next door where Angela had a little taste.  I couldn’t as I still had to drive the last 20km to Queenstown.

Queenstown

If I am brutally honest, New Zealand has not given me the wow factor I was expecting.  It has been brilliant and we have seen some fantastic places.  I suppose I have been pretty spoilt over the years but today, the arrival in Queenstown has given me the wow factor I have been looking for.  The town is nothing like I expected it to be.  Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world but it is also a very classy town.  What makes it though is the lake and the mountains which surround it.  Fantastic.  It helped that the sun was shining and everything looked perfect but this really is a stunning place.

Having found the youth hostel with ease, right on the lake shore, we ventured into town where I sought out our tickets for the Routeburn trek and bought some dehydrated meals to eat along the way.  In view of the fact that we are going to have to restrict our food when we start the Routeburn, because I am having to carry it for five days, we ate well this evening at a restaurant overlooking the lake and the fantastic view down it.  We shall do the same tomorrow.

Angela’s Bit

We travelled about 170 km today thru varied landscapes and changeable weather.  We left low cloud in Twizel, still no really satisfying view of Mt Cook.  Our first detour took us to some impressive clay cliffs.  Later we stopped for coffee at ‘The Wrinkled Ram’ and I felt merino wool fleece which was predictably very soft.  Lunch spot was by a sun-bathed lake and finally we saw bungee jumping in all its glory. Queenstown nestles beside Lake Wakatipu and belies its Maori name by looking as if it should be in Switzerland!  We enjoy a leisurely evening mooching the lakeside and shops finally having a good meal overlooking the water in the dusk.

A wet day!

As forecast, today has been wet.  We did not rush to do anything this morning but eventually moved ourselves to go and look for the Black Stilt or Kaki, a rare bird only found in certain areas of New Zealand.  It is a wetlands bird that was almost wiped out but through careful conservation and management its numbers are increasing.

We travelled a short distance from Twizel to a wetland area where they are known to be breeding.  Needless to say that we didn’t find any and satisfied ourselves watching a variety of more commonly seen ducks and oyster catchers.

Following a spot of lunch in Twizel we went to have a look at Lake Ohau, another turquoise lake.  The rain was not too bad at this stage.  All the lakes we have seen so far are linked by a huge hydro-electric scheme, making use of the natural environment for generating electricity.

As the afternoon progressed the weather deteriorated and, with the exception of Angela making a dash to the supermarket in Twizel, we confined ourselves to our cabin, hoping that tomorrow will bring an improvement.

Angela’s Bit

This is the first rain in Twizel for 4 weeks!  The parched ground will be grateful even if we are not.  Sean the farmer tells us to keep an eye out of our bedroom window for views of Mt Cook…..

Um, not sure yet.

Have bought steaks & a DVD ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’….. a delightful local story starring Anthony Hopkins.  The till girl told me she grew up down the road from Burt Munro (the real-life hero of the story!)

Happy Valentines! xxx