On the road again

We picked up our car in Queenstown and, after a visit to the local Saturday street market, set off on the road to Wanaka. Wanaka is a beautiful town having a wonderful setting on the shores of a lake and surrounded by mountains. We ate a picnic lunch on the beach and then went for a walk around the wooded shore. Lots of locals were out enjoying barbecues and the afternoon sunshine.

We met an older couple who had emigrated to NZ in 1957 and hadn't lost anything of their Larkhall accent in all that time.

Our first B&B was really nice and we were encouraged to spend the evening at the local picture house - the Cinema Paradiso. This was a different sort of cinema experience to the one offered by Vue. For a start there were 2 Morris Minor cars that you could sit in to watch the film. There were aircraft and bus seats as well. We chose a well upholstered sofa at the front and settled downtown watch '12 years a slave'. Before the film started the owner, Calum, came out and introduced the film. After an hour or so the screen went black and an intermission was declared. Everyone went our and bought beer pizza, home-made cookies or ice cream. The film was great , although a bit harrowing. It was chucking it down with rain when it finished and we got soaked walking back to our 'digs'.

The next morning we had been persuaded to take out a new mortgage and take a jet boat trip up the river into the Aspiring National Park. The jet boat was invented in NZ for navigating very shallow rivers at high speed and for scaring the s**t out of tourists. For the technically minded its 350hp engine sucks up water and blasts it out the back on a steerable nozzle at 600 l/sec. It can skim over water only 4" deep and turn on a sixpence. The powerboat equivalent of a handbrake turn was performed at every opportunity.

The river took us into a remote valley, another "Lord of the Rings" location, where we got great views of more mountains and glaciers. We got off for a walk in an Alpine meadow - just stunning.

Then on to Fox Glacier. Our B&B here is at the foot of Mt Cook. Up early tomorrow to catch its reflection in Lake Matheson. Back to bed if it's cloudy.