24/11/06 - Drove to Lake Tekapo and WOW, WOW, WOW!  What a beautiful peaceful place!  I checked into Lakefront Lodge and my room was in a unit with 3 other rooms, with a lounge and a kitchen and a toilet and shower room.  It was just lovely.  You opened the sliding patio doors onto a verandah and there was Lake Tekapo right infront of you!  I walked along the lake into the village centre, the water is such a beautiful torquoise colour, caused by the 'flour dust' carried down off the mountains and surrounding glaciers.  I found the Little Church of the Good Shepherd and got some nice photos and also the statue of a sheepdog, there to commemorate all those muster dogs who round up the sheep off the mountains every year.  I then went and asked about the helicopter rides and the tours around the St John's Observatory, which do night tours, so you can see all the stars in the southern hemisphere.  This observatory is used for research also by NZ and Japanese scientists, it must be fascinating listening to what goes on up there!  Unfortunately, it was too windy for the heli tours and too cloudy for the observatory tours, so I put my name down for tomorrow.

25/11/06 -  Woke up to it being even windier than yesterday, oh no! that will mean no flights again!  Contacted the office and yes no flights today, unless things change, but looked unlikely and there were also storm clouds over the glaciers anyway also, so we wouldn't see much!  Oh well, I resigned myself to a day of reading, relaxing and it turned out that I watched a few movies with Alison, who's sharing the lodge unit.  Later on, I tried to drive up to the observatory to at least see where it was, I got half way up and got quite frightened.  The roads were very steep and winding round and up this big mountain, with no fencing or barriers and it was very very windy.  I got round one bend and saw the observatory looming high even further up the mountain, there was a really big gust of wind and the car moved ALOT!, so I turned right back around and got down that mountain track as quickly, but as safely as possible!  There seems to be a recurring theme with me and heights and bad weather!  The skies had been a beautiful clear blue all day (not surprised really, the wind was keeping all the clouds away!), but it decided to get cloudy later on, so no tour again tonight!  Never mind, I had a good lesson in the stars at Ayers Rock, so wasn't too upset about that.  Had dinner, then settled down and watched Hotel Rwanda, which was fabulous, even though a sad, true story and then Shakespeare In Love.

26/11/06 - Got up and checked out with high hopes that I could do a helicopter ride before setting off to Christchurch, as the winds had dropped completely, but unfortunately it was very overcast.  Got to the office and he said they weren't flying yet, as the cloud cover was too thick over both Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, so there would be no visibility at all.  He said it was annoying, as it was windy yesterday but no clouds, then the opposite today, I agreed!!  I could hang around a few more hours, but I had a feeling it just wasn't meant to be and that even if I did wait, the cloud probably wouldn't clear.  So, I decided to call it a day and got on the road back to Christchurch.  I decided to take the Inland Scenic Route 72, which took me through more LOTR country, namely, Methven, Mount Somers, Mount Hutt and Potts Point.  It was a good drive and I did good time, getting to Christchurch in 3 hours.  Checked in and went straight into the centre where I am now updating this journal!  I can't believe I've only got just over 3 weeks left, time is just flying by!

27/11/06 - Drove up the coast to Kaikoura and unfortunately it did nothing but pour down of rain!  Checked into Dusky Lodge and treated myself to one of their new ensuite double rooms, it was only $65 (about 23 quid) and I basically stayed in there reading and watching telly and using the nice tea/coffee facilites - I was soooo bored, but there was just no point in going out for a walk, only to get soaking wet and blown down the esplanade.  NZ weather is certainly changeable!

28/11/06 - Got up early for the drive up to Golden Bay, I had calculated that this should take around 5 hours.  The weather had cleared and it was a lovely, sunny day, great considering I would be driving most of it!  Decided to drive actually into Picton to check where the ferry port is, so I knew for when I needed to get there on the 30th.  I then tried to find the cut through road from Picton to Havelock, but unfortunately no-one has seemed to remembered to put any signs whatsoever for Havelock!!  Ended up wasting alot of time and driving back the way I came in order to pick up route 6 again towards Nelson.  This invariably stuffed up my time schedule!  Never mind though, the scenery was still beautiful.  Got into Nelson and decided to go and book somewhere to stay there for tomorrow night, Dave's Palace was full, but they put me on to a nice lady called Lyn who runs Honeysuckle House just up the road, so I booked a double room there.  I then set off to finally make my way through the mountains to Golden Bay, more specifically Pohara, near Takaka.  OH MY BUDDHA!  Whether it was because by this time I was flagging or what, but this journey seemed to take forever.  The roads were steep and winding round and round the mountains and to make it worse there were roadworks at about 3 separate turns!!  I then made it back down the mountain on the other side into Takaka, to then find that the road out to Pohara seemed to be never ending!  I don't know how I found 'The Nook' (where I was staying the night) but I did, I seem to have a homing pigeon like quality, as I just follow what I sense to be right, no maps involved and manage to get there!  It was now 5pm and I left Kaikoura this morning at 9.45am!!  I was shattered and there was a glimmer of a headache on the horizon, I think I was dehydrated, as managed to gulp down 3 glasses of water when I got in!  'The Nook' is owned and run by Rana and Dale, who only took it over 3 weeks ago, so they were a bit lost, bless 'em!  They had come over from Hawaii and are lovely and Rana is an artist.  The house is very quirky and it had a lovely feel about it, the views were magnificent, but unfortunately storm clouds were brewing and by 7pm it was batten down the hatches time, as the wind really picked up.  Another night in, cosy with a cup of tea and my book.  Gosh, was I tired!

29/11/06 - Decided to set off early (around 9am) as even though the weather was now quite nice, I had a feeling I needed to get back over the other side of those mountains before anymore dark clouds came over (as per forecast!)  I must have been weary yesterday, as the drive back didn't seem as bad.  Again, the scenery was just breathtaking, at one point I was practically at the top of one mountain and the views back down and across the bay were just eye opening!  Golden Bay and the Able Tasman area is just beautiful, I wished I was staying here longer, but now back to Nelson before getting the ferry at Picton tomorrow.  News about the Fiji crisis was being talked about continously on the radio, doesn't look likely that I'll be going there after all, I'll look into changes to my flights, etc. when I get into Auckland around the 5th Dec.  Got into Nelson around 11.45am, after having detoured down to the beach for a bit and found Honeysuckle House.  WOW!  Met Lyn just inside the front door and she showed me immediately to my double room and it is just so sweet.  She had put dried lavender arrangements on my pillows, the room was light and airey.  The toilet/shower are just next door and there is free tea/coffee in the kitchen, just help yourself, Lyn and her husband live upstairs.  What a lovely place, I parked up and decided to walk into the town centre, the sun was out, yippee!  I think I will have a nice day, then off to Wellington and the North Island tomorrow.