Off to Kaikoura- a 2 hour drive from Blenheim. Our intention was to go on a whale-watch trip, but when we got there all the sailings were booked till late in the evening,it was a 15 mile trip out to sea and rough conditions so we decided we didn't want to wait the 6 hours and agreed that we should continue to a place recommended to us called Hanmer springs. This is an Alpine type village that has the thermal springs etc. This was another 2-3 hour drive inland and was worth the effort. It was a lovely spot with great scenery and also a lovely golf course! So we chalked up yet another round in this "non golfing holiday".
We spent 2 nights there in a lovely self -catering apartment.
Our next destination was the adventure capital of NZ - Queenstown. Too far to make in one day so we stopped at lake Tekapo. A beautiful lake but the motel was crap--the worst so far. Needless to state but all the driving between these places is absolutely stunning. You almost become a bit blase about it all. So another scenic drive through the Lindis Pass and we arrived in spectacular Queenstown.
We immediately felt part of the fit, young,adventure-seeking under thirties that filled the town! The information centre booked us into some terrific apartments on the lakeside, with great views. The first night we had the most incredible thunderclaps reverberating around the mountains. It sounded more like explosions than thunder and woke us up.
The morning was quieter and we went into Queenstown and booked a trip to Milford Sound for the next day. This left the afternoon to fill- so you guessed it- we golfed! It was one of the most spectacular courses we have ever played with stunning views over the lake and surrounded by the "Remarkables"-mountains. The pro at the club was from north yorkshire so gave us a very nice discount!The pro was from Yarm.
When we got back to the appartment there was a message that because of land slides and other storm damage from the previous night,the trip to milford sound had been cancelled. So we were offered another trip to Doubtful Sound which is where we were thinking of going anyway but was a bit pricey. So it saved us about a £100! The trip involved a 2 hour coach trip then an hour boat trip across lake manapouri, then another 40 minute coach trip to the Doubtful sound. This is serious wildernes we are talking about here, ancient rain forests and the infrastructure only recently put in to accomodate a large hydro-electric scheme. on arrival at Doubtful Sound we set off on a 3 hour trip up the fijord--as you can probably imagine the scenery is incredible with waterfalls tumbling off the sheer rockfaces 300 meters up. the weather is very changeable there--it rains 2 days out of 3 through the year. Captain Cook discovered the fijord and labelled it as a "doubtful harbour" which is how it got it's name. There are many examples here of places getting named for completely the wrong reasons. We arrived home after a long 13 hour- but enthralling day .
Today was spent recovering from the long day yesterday. We visited a couple of places nearby and sorted out stuff for our trip to Christchurch. We should get there for friday, which is a bit earlier than we wanted as we don't fly till tuesday.
It is a lot colder here today with a slight scattering of snow on top of the mountains, so it is time to move on!
Have had to buy another bottle of gin and it is far more expensive here than in the UK. Just have to finish it before we fly to SydneyBangkok!!!!!

Have tried to download some more photos but the website is crap so I am abandoning anymore photo downloads.