Yoohoo from Glendhu

Another still and stunning  morning on the shores of a lake.  What a great day we got.  We jumped into the kayak and had a paddle around Glendhu Bay.
Took the bikes into town and rode from the Roy's Bay Reserve to Waterfall Creek Reserve (that has no waterfall in it...  confirmed by the lovely Dutch hitch hiker we gave a lift to!)
We rode back into Wanaka and had a play on the dinosaur slide playground and PB climbed all over a lovely hand sculpture.
Puzzling World is where we spent the rest of our afternoon, which was a lot of fun.
Home again to enjoy our beautiful campsite on the lake.

Lakefront Locations

Waking on lakefront real estate for a second day in a row was pretty special! We are loving this freedom camping caper.  (Lowburn Harbour, Cromwell).
Went to visit some school friends who now live in Cromwell and was lucky to see the husband - as he runs a vineyard and harvest is just kicking off.  But had a lovely visit to their place,  such a gorgeous spot.
Bought a HEAPS of yummy fruit for $6.80 before heading out of town .
Made for Wanaka with a quick stop at the playground in Luggate, and on around to Glendhu, our THIRD night in a row of being right beside a lake.  So lucky!
DH had a kayak on Lake Wanaka.  The day was so still the water was glassy! PB had a go at kayaking too, as well as surfing on the kayak and using it as a paddleboard.  Provided great entertainment for his parents on shore.
Lovely sunset and off to bed.

A Central Otago Vineyard (or two)

Waking to a magnificent lake and mountain vista is just something else.  Magical.
The day dawned a little grey and blowy and we debated going for a walk as planned or just skipping it.  The old 'let's just do it' motto came out again and so we headed back from 25 Mile Creek to Glenorchy and did the Glenorchy Lagoon trail at the north end of town.  Really cool walk,  with mountains around you, the river, and a lagoon area, as well as boardwalks and viewing platforms.  (1 - 2 hour walk).
On our way back, PB saw some people walking towards us and said "Those guys could be our friends, eh?" ...and sure enough, it was the lovely family we had met in Te Anau!  PB was over the moon and raced over to see his two wee friends.
The parents told us about a couple of nice wineries on the road to Cromwell, so after a very quick stop in Queenstown and a quick stroll through beautiful Arrowtown, we were off to Peregrine Winery and Kinross.
The day had settled into a stunner and it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon. We found another freedom camping spot,  this time on the shores of Lake Dunstan, near Cromwell and settled in for the night.

Winding Around Wakatipu

From Te Anau, we travelled up towards Lake Wakatipu, stopping for the night at Kingston,  at the southern end of the lake.
We had a quick paddle around in the kayak, observing at a distance a skinny dipper who decided to enter the freezing lake in the nuddy to impress (questionable!) the other blokes on the stag do with him.
The next morning, we followed the lake up to Queenstown, then on up to Glenorchy.  St Queenstown we stopped to watch these 'Seabreacher' things - kinda like a jetski crossed with a dolphin.  They have the people inside and they can go along the water, dive under the water and leap out of the water.  Quite cool!
What a beautiful drive it is from Queenstown to Glenorchy.  Just stunning.  Even with the cloud hanging about, it was still captivating.
Hung out at the north end of the lake and were treated to find that where we had parked was right on the finishing line of a jet boat race,  complete with helicopters trailing the boats!  PB was impressed!
The late afternoon was spent poking our noses into the start of the Routeburn Track.  I have wanted to do that track for about 4 years now,  so it was fun to explore the start of it.
We managed to find a freedom camp site RIGHT on the lake side at about the 25 Mile mark.  (i.e: 25 miles from Queenstown).  Absolutely magic spot.   And the other magic word we love - freeeeeeeee!!

Memorable Mirror Lakes

We said an emotional farewell to a cool family we met at the campsite.  Two little girls that Carlos had played with and had stories with the night before.  Turns out they are from Cockle Bay (virtually just down the road from us at home!) and go to the same athletics!  We exchanged numbers in case of future play date opportunities.  This seemed to appease a heart broken PB.
A cruisey day today, given we were only travelling from Manapouri to Te Anau and it took about 20 minutes!
Found a spot in the association campsite and headed for the Mirror Lakes, about 54kms out of town on the Te Anau - Milford road.
Being down here brought back very fond memories of the Milford Track and finding out about PB!
The Mirror Lakes were lovely and reflected the Earl Mountains beautifully, and it was definitely a tourist spot,  lots of buses stopped here too! We made our way back to Lake Te Anau to find a more private and quiet place for lunch. 
DH had a paddle from the north edge of town down to a boat ramp at the south end, while PB and I explored the playground  (complete with a new and improved moon slide!). We tried out an adult and kid swing - where you each got a swing and can swing together safely - quite cute. And PB hid his stone for a new kid to find.  (We wrote on it that it had been found in Niagara in the Catlins, so kids can see its well travelled! ).
Off to Kingston tomorrow.

Downright Delightful Doubtful Sound

Up early today! Alarm went off at 6.30am and we were out to catch a boat across Lake Manapouri.  From there, we were collected by bus and driven across the Wilmot Pass (NZ'S most expensive road)
to Doubtful Sound, where we boarded another boat and explored the sound.
It was a stunning day!  They get about 11 metres of rain a year here and 200 rainy days, so the weather geek did well yet again to pick us this glorious day.
We followed the sound (which is actually a fiord) out to the Tasman Sea, where we saw some seals basking on the rocks.
On the way back in we ventured up Crooked Arm, where we saw bottle nosed dolphins!  They were quite big,  the guide says that is because they have to eat a lot and store a lot of fat because the sounds are so cold.  They were gorgeous.
Back to Deep Cove, back on the bus, back to Lake Manapouri and back on a boat.
PB met a little friend and they had heaps of fun together on the way home (Adrian from California).
Beautiful day in a beautiful spot.

Gemstones and Gold on the Beach!

Riverton was a lovely place to start the day, we took in a 5 local buildings that are listed in the Historic Places records.
Boy, it was bitterly cold with a cold, stiff breeze blowing in from what felt like the South Pole.  (And probably was,  given where we are!)
We headed off towards tonight's destination - Manapouri.  On the way, we stopped at Otepuri,  or Gemstone Beach.  Here, you can find gorgeous rocks of different colours lying on the beach.  (Let's call them gems...)
We wandered along the beach through the freezing wind to chat to a guy who had a gold panning system set up on the back of his four wheeler!  It was amazing!  He literally shoveled sand off the beach into his contraption, had a little water pump sluicing it over a washboard-like set up on the back.
He said he does it every day and that he makes a living out of it. So interesting!
So, after gold and gems, we carried on to a 1899 suspension bridge north of Tuatapere.
Made it to our campsite on the road into Manapouri.  What a stunning site! The grass was immaculate, heaps of space and the bathrooms big and private and clean and modern.  The lady was a quiet soul who you got the feeling really didn't want to deal with people,  but hey,  it's also the cheapest in town,  so who is complaining?
PB had an absolute blast playing with some little friends who were also at Riverton last night.  (Skyler and Cora).  We chatted to two lots of parents at the play ground and discovered one set were from Holland & Austria and the other were from Cockle Bay!!  Small world!
Off on a big adventure to Doubtful Sound tomorrow,  so need to be up early!

Hectors Dolphins and Hokonui Moonshine

The day began with what we thought would be a quick trip down the road to Curio Bay.  It was another spot in the Catlins that we didn't want to miss.  However, after talking to our neighbours in the campsite,  we were also intrigued by Slope Point,  which purports to be the most southern point of the south island.  So,  off we went to locate that spot first.
We were fairly ill prepared for the jaunt out over farmland to the significant cliffs.  (Both DH and I were in jandals, DH in shorts and squeezed himself into my windbreaker! ) It was freezing ! But we had the obligatory photo by the sign and viewed the wild seas below.
Daredevil PB insisted on throwing stones over the cliff, of course,  much to his mother's concern.   But we all made it back to the car safely.
Off to Curio Bay and Porpoise Bay, where we spotted some Hectors Dolphins!   Very rare little creatures,  only grow to about 1.5metres.  Light grey with a rounded dark dorsal fin.  Really cool to see them.  Also at Curio Bay are some petrified trees.  (Don't know what scared them , but whatever it was,  it turned them to stone!  Oh ho ho, apologies for the Dad joke).
From there,  we headed to Gore, to take in the Hokonui Moonshine Museum and sample some moonshine at the end!  Very cool story about prohibition and whisky stills being hidden in the bush.
Packed up and ended the day in Riverton.  The campsite was lovely, up the hill but with a view to the beach, an open fire, ping pong table and record player WITH RECORDS(!) in the open area. Lovely. Riverton is quite quaint with sweet little old homes and some quite stately old homes too.  

More Catlins Capers

Given we sped through the Catlins in order to catch a good weather window for Stewart Island,  we felt it necessary to backtrack and come back to this beautiful part of the world.
We based ourselves at the association  campground at Niagara, and prepared an epic picnic for an epic day.
We headed out at 9.30am and made it back to camp at 5.30pm and in between, we:
- walked to McLeans Falls through a beautiful bush track
- visited Lake Wilkie, just off the main road
- walked into see Purakaunui Falls
- visited Cannibal Bay, where we saw seal lions
- walked out to the Lighthouse at Nugget Point
- had afternoon tea on a beach between Nugget and Kaka Point
Some of the roads were a bit hair raising.   Very, very narrow,  gravel,  with a drop off on one side.  You held your breath hoping that no one came the other way!
Cannibal Bay was a highlight, we got to see a massive bull sea lion walking out of the water and up the beach. Wow, it was huge and it was stunning to watch.
Nugget Point was magic, too.  Such a stunning view from out there, and on the way, you could see baby seals play in a little pool down below.
Made it home pretty worn out, but had an awesome Catlins experience.  Hope to get to Curio Bay in the morning.
PB managed to find ANOTHER  painted rock in our campground in Niagara!  This one from Marton!

Back in the 'Cargill

We made it back safely from Stewie Islie (I think it's going to catch on...) and collected our car from Bluff, our caravan from Invercargill, before bunking down in the campsite to enjoy some thai from Thai Thai on the main street.  Yum!
In the morning,  we headed to Queens Park.  It was a lovely park, so we planned to come back again in the afternoon.
We took a quick detour out of town to do a ride around the Roger Sutton Boardwalk.   (Meh.  It was partially over some ground reclaimed from a refuse station  so wasn't fabulous). Loads of birds seemed to enjoy the spot though. 
We went back to town to see the Bill Richardson Transport Museum.  Wow, that was an amazing collection of vintage cars, trucks, pedal cars and all sorts.  Well worth the visit.  Even a kids room for the kids to play with lego,  trains and screens!
Back to Queens Park, where PB and I explored the rose garden (where they were having scones, cucumber sandwiches and tea to mark 100 years since the rose garden was established). There was a Steampunk afternoon tea at the band rotunda,  and we found a cool playground and a rock garden.  We could have explored more,  as there was apparently  an aviary there,  but we wanted to hit the road. Carlos managed to find a painted rock on the Peter Pan statue, so we had fun hiding it again. Headed back to Bluff through blustery conditions,  congratulating ourselves for not being on the Foveaux ferry today in the fierce winds!  
Got a photo that DH wanted and then hit the road again to the association campsite in Niagara.  DH (and my lovely Mum, would you believe it? ) have taken great pleasure in mispronouncing this place name to sound more like an erectile enhancing medication.  Shame on them both!  :-)