Greetings from sunny Singapore.

envious. Lovely South Island. chip shops sometimes do kumara (sweet potato) chips and sometimes deep fried scallops.
Occasionally paua (abalone) but I have never tried it. Abalone rustling can be a problem (much prized kai - food - and by Chinese as well as maori. ) The flesh is tarry black.
The one i don't get is "whitebait". they go crazy for it. Scooping baby fish out of estuaries. It really only has a faint fishy flavour but is very expensive.
Tiny cinemas are definitely worth a visit. Often you can get cake and coffee to take into the film.

Second day of my road trip and it is hard to avoid hyperbole! Last eveningI climbed up to the Fox Glacier - more awe-inspiring than pretty. A vast river of greenish ice with warnings that blocks the size of camper vans sometimes break off. Today I drove through Haast to Wanaka through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world - deep blue ocean near Haast then through gorges, surrounded by high mountains.
I am now in the Wyndham hotel at Lake Wanaka. I am off to the pool as it is about 30C here.
I love travelling to new places especially when they are as lovely as NZ so I am one very happy Greatnan!

Greatnan enjoy sounds fabulous.

How wonderful greatnan, enjoy every minute!

What an amazing experience GN. It sounds wonderful and you paint such a beguiling picture of NZ. I'm only sorry it's sooooo far away from the UK, and I don't suppose I'll ever get there. So, you'll need to keep up those detailed reports so those not able to be there can enjoy the vicarious experience.

Nice to read about your trip, gn,

It all sounds fantastic, Greatnan! And you sound so very, very happy.

Sounds lovely great nan enjoy,

Oh, we were going to go over to Haast from Wanaka but there was a ferocious wind that week and it would have been dangerous. Reading your description, I almost wish we'd risked it! Instead we picnicked at Lake Hawea, watching a man doing amazing kite surfing stunts. Yes, Jess the wee cinema at Wanaka is attached to a bar where you can buy a pizza and eat it while watching the film. The seats there looked as if they had been rescued from a tip and one was an old Morris Minor, without its engine.

That sounds like NZ. Went to one in Takaka (Golden Bay) where the seating was on old sofas.

I do hope you enjoyed Doubtful Sound as much as we did. A fantastic experience. I think we went to Motueka too - is that where those incredible boulders are?

We often go to Motueka as it is quite close to Wakefield where my daughter lives. The coast of the Abel Tasman national park is lovely. On Sunday we all went to a restaurant where they keep live eels in a stream and you can feed them - they are not on the menu!. I love Matua as well - the fish and chips on the quay are legendary.
I am off to explore some of the routes in the Aspiring Mountain Range today, then back for a dip in the hotel's hot pool before dinner!
It's a tough job,but somebody has to do it!

As I cannot post photos on here, I suggest anybody who would like to see the area looks on Google for Fox Glacier, Franz Josef, Haast, Wanaka, and Doubtful Sound - you will see professional photos which are much better than mine!

Freezing, very overcast and miserable here in Norfolk today, but you've stirred pleasant memories of a lovely country. Thank you.

Today I came to Queenstown via Cromwell, which is billed as an historic town because the oldest building dates from 1873. Many of the shops, grain store, forge, saloon, are preserved and it is very charming, like a Wild West frontier town.
Queenstown was built by gold miners but now is entirely dependent on tourism. It is on the shores of a huge lake (I have just had a 90 minute cruise) and surrounded by mountains. It is very warm and sunny but gets very cold in Winter.
Now I am off for my final drive, to the tiny town of Te Anau, where I will be picked up by coach tomorrow at 7 a.m. to take the cruise on Doubtful Sound.
I am just soaked in beautiful views!

Oh, I remember Queenstown - it's fantastic! We went for horse riding. The stables picked us up from Queenstown (nearly an hours drive) gave us tea and biscuits, provided hats, boots, waxed jackets and carrots to give the horses. Very good BIG horses. We wondered why there were no ponies and found out as we forded fast flowing mountain rivers with the water coming half way up their bellies. DH is an under duress horse rider and daren't lift his feet. He confirmed the water was definitely ice melt!

We also went white water rafting and jet boating. (We were ten years younger)

It's such an incredibly beautiful area too, especially Doubtful.

greatnan - glad you are headed to Doubtful. Its in one of the wettest spots on the planet, so I hope you get one of the dry days. One of the bits that sticks in my mind is when they take you in a small boat up to the edge of the fiord, and point out that the cliff is a kilometre high. Your brain wants it to be more like 100m. Astounding.
Here is a link to a blog I wrote in 2009 - the photo shows the frontier architecture, even in parts of the capital city.
mywellingtonblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009_05_01_archive.html

Have a great time Greatnan. Can't wait to see more of your lovely photos

It sounds wonderful, Greatnan, glad you're enjoying yourself

On the way to Doubtful our driver stopped the coach to show us a 'moss garden' - entirely natural - a display of many different and multi coloured mosses. Beautiful, and flourishing in the extremely wet climate.

I am 72, nfk, and I still enjoy white water rafting plus a few other pursuits that worry my daughter. I am planning to do some of them at the Buller Gorge before I go back to France. As long as you are physically able, I would not let age stop you doing anything. I will not be bungee jumping because I think it is dangerous.

I loved your blog, Jess - especially the dog's expression.
Most small towns here seem to consist of one main street with single-storey wooden buildings - you expect to hear a honky- tonk piano from the saloon

There is a waterfall near my daughter's house and the walls around it are covered in that thick moss.

Oh Greatnan, you have bought back memories of our wonderful long holiday in NZ/Oz of just three years ago, so many thanks.
We had a camper van in South Island, stayed at Te Anau and did the fantastic all day trip to Doubtful Sound, the hydro electric power station and boat trip out to the sea. Lucky enough to have 36 deg of heat and sunshine!
Also visited Cromwell, and agree with your comments, charming.
Queenstown was delightful and Skippers Canyon, a very scary small bus trip into the canyon and on the fast boats up the river.
I did all that except D. Sound (Milford Sound instead) when I was 22 , on a young people package from Oz where I had been working! Great to return at 62, in more comfort with my DH!
Looking forward to more of your travel information, please.

What a wonderful picture you paint Greatnan I am thoroughly enjoying reading about your travels.

Sandflies! Hope you don't get bitten, they are mostly on the West side , I was ok but DH had terrible ankles and lower leg bites, drove him mad with irritation, he picked them up at a camp site on Arthur's Pass, the owner had some excellent ? special sand fly herbal repellent which was brilliant.
Ever after that , wherever we were people looked at his bites, nodded wisely and said, " ah, sand flies from South Island" !!