Autumn Approaches

In early March a short but memorable flight over the area where Sarah had been riding and the slopes of Mount Taranaki took us back to North Island where Sue and Danny spoiled us with an excellent party before we caught the Overlander Train back to Wellington passing through some of the familiar scenery from November last year.

The Interislander ferry and Transcoastal Train delivered us back to Christchurch where a minor repair to the van's cooling system had been effected - eventually.

Thus we were ready to collect Annie, a friend from Pembrokeshire on an Australasian visit who joined us for a week which included visits and walking to Tekapo, Mount Cook and an overnight stay at South Temple Hut near Lake Ohau - all enjoyed in excellent weather. The glaciers and ice floes in the Mount Cook area were especially memorable and we were fortunate to have the S.T. Hut to ourselves.

After dropping her at Queenstown we drove the rough and at times precipitous Skippers Canyon road culminating in a stomach churning crossing of the Shotover River on a 110 year old wooden bridge 100m above the blue swirling waters. This enabled us to spend two nights at the old Mount Aurum station which 150 years ago had been at the centre of the extensive local but short lived gold mining boom.

It was a remarkable place to stay - the more so for the fact that some 2000 people had lived in this remote area and 200 of them many miles up at Bullendale where teams of horses had pulled in heavy generating equipment for the first industrial use of electricity in New Zealand.

Arrowtown provided a service night and the chance to confirm that we have been granted 12 month visas for our proposed visit to Australia as well as the charms of its excellent museum and historic buildings. We now head for the mountains around Wanaka and then the West Coast via the Haast Pass with the fine weather continuing but a definite chill in the air after sunset.

Pics below as ever - usual problems surmounted if necessary by highlighting and clicking although I have recently downloaded something or other which may resolve the problem...............

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/BirthdayWithFriendsInHighPlaces?feat=directlink