And now over to our correspondent in the MCG...

Greetings from Melbourne, where we've had the final parade today for the Commonwealth Games, and sporting thoughts have started wandering to the Grand Prix next weekend.

It's been a fine festival of sport, the Aussies are sports mad and have filled the (wonderful) arenas, and plenty of visitors have come over too. Aussie TV coverage is very knowledgeable (the analysis has been quite informative), but very home dominated...if an event/final has no Aussie interest, then it will be generally ignored, and Channel 9 don't round up in the way the BBC shows ALL the results. For example, England won a stack of boxing golds on Saturday, and a couple of squash golds on Sunday - I only know about this from the BBC website!

Aussies are very patriotic, and not just in sport. For example businesses will proudly and routinely claim in the adverts and promos "100% Australian owned and managed". People wave the flag everywhere. Hearing the national anthem being sung here is quite moving (even if it did get a bit repetitive after a while!)

A few days ago in Sydney I bought a ticket for the final day's athletics in the MCG on Saturday. I hadn't expected to get such a good seat, (there were 83000 there) I was in the 5th row along the back straight, right next to the triple jump pit! You may have even seen me there ;-)

Happily England won 2 golds in the Javelin and Triple Jump (it was my expert coaching from the side that made the difference!). This is Phillips Idowu celebrating.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7d24&.dnm=b3a9.jpg&.src=ph

The evening was full of relay controversy and mistakes, the highlight being our women winning the 4x400 relay (I nearly lost my voice cheering them on!), the low point when they were disqualified over a ridiculous technicality after a whinging Aussie complained to the officials...
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7d24&.dnm=de27.jpg&.src=ph

I took various pictures of the athletes, most of which are rubbish! I never was quite in the right position at the right time...For infomation, the first one below is Jana Pitman, the second pole vaulting glamour girl Tatiana Grigorieva (you'll have to take my word for it).
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7d24&.dnm=d65f.jpg&.src=ph
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7d24&.dnm=f3ed.jpg&.src=ph

Away from the Arenas there were lots of big screens to watch the action on (I cheered on the Kiwis as they beat the Aussies in the final of the netball yesterday!) and many cultural events too. I have no idea what the below was about, but it added to the occasion (in the background is the men's hockey final, sadly the Aussies won)
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7d24&.dnm=865b.jpg&.src=ph

Melbourne is quite a nice place. It doesn't have the special sights of Sydney, but is a relaxing place to hang around, and above all a great sporting city, with so many top class arenas and events. It's time to move on though. I'm off on a tour along the Great Ocean road for the next few days. I had thought of driving, and even had a car lined up, a nice little Honda, but it was unavailable until after Sunday.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7d24&.dnm=f14c.jpg&.src=ph

Mike

G'day, strewth, fair dinkum etc

Hello from Australia. I'm in Melbourne now, enjoying the Commonwealth Games atmosphere. I'll be at the MCG Saturday night to watch the athletics (see if you can spot me in the 83000 crowd!).

My final night in NZ was spent watching some rugby, the Crusaders being the top team in NZ at the moment. Not having paid much attention to the Super 14 previously, I was surprised by the razzmatazz of the occasion. Before the game was a display of motor bike stunt riding, then some dancing girls, the the crusaders themselves, 7 men on horseback riding around the edge of the pitch (sadly one fell off and had to be taken to hospital though I understand he was ok). http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=4789&.dnm=a1afscd.jpg&.src=ph
Then after the home team scored points, there was a blast of 'pumping' music accompanied by cheerleaders! Incidentally, the score was even at half time, then the Crusaders brought on some of their star players from the bench and ran away with it 43-15. The way they kept the ball alive after the final hooter had gone until they scored yet another try was very impressive!

Incidentally, that evening the Kiwis won the Rugby Sevens at the Commonwealth games. Whereas the Aussies seem to like all sports, the Kiwis are a bit rugby fixated, which shows up in the medals table, where the Kiwis are well behind the deep fried mars bar eating Scots!

I flew to Sydney the next day. I've seen the Bridge and Opera House - both are wonderful structures. I then crossed the bridge to see the view from the other side, and did my usual endless tramps around the streets. The scale, height and business of Sydney came as a shock to the system - I think two months in NZ has turned me into a country bumpkin! The sheer number of Chinese came as a shock as well - I could have been forgiven for thinking I'd boarded the wrong plane and ended up in Singapore a month early!

One of the great Sydney trips is the ferry to Manly (a pleasant beach suburb). Sadly on the day I went to Manly, the ferry was on strike, and I had to take a bus instead!!! The notice outside a Manly bar sums it up nicely.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=17e8&.dnm=7054.jpg&.src=ph
In Manly I visited Oceanworld, where in addition to the fishy exhibits was a 'nice' display of poisonous snakes and spiders - it's always worth brushing up on these!

A highly recommended walk goes from Manly to Spit Point. It starts off going past expensive house then heads through a surprisingly dense wood, then climbs through a regenerating wood, along a beach then through a narrow ribbon of woodland between the houses and the sea (only 50ft wide, but enough to isolate you). Quite steep in parts, it takes a good 3-4 hours, especially if you do the lighthouse extension (not recommended!). There is a lot of wildlife on view, plenty of lizards and birdlife, plus my first snake! It was in the grass right by the path, and certainly looked like one of the highly poisonous ones I had seen that morning! It's the brown object on the far right of the photo (a bit like a hosepipe). Ok, not the clearest photo ever.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=17e8&.dnm=ddaa.jpg&.src=ph

From Sydney, I took the train to Canberra, the nation's slightly pointless capital (we have two great cities in Melbourne and Sydney, but can't decide which one should be the Capital so we'll build a new city between them, in the middle of nowhere). Canberra has some decent museums, but the highlight for me was wandering around the Parliament building - once you've been security checked you're free to wander around. This is the House of Representaives
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7a4f&.dnm=dd24.jpg&.src=ph
The layout of the city was done by an American, and is vaguely like Washington DC, with a massive (make that ludicrously big) lake in the middle. Unfortunately, this means that everything is excessively spread out, and walking aroud the city is extremely hard work! Very noisy parrots too.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/7a4f&.dnm=5562.jpg&.src=ph

From Canberra was an all day journey to Melbourne (by connecting coach then train). After the metropolitan sophisticates of Sydney and Canberra, it was nice to see some proper Aussie men on the train, i.e. rough looking and wearing vests!

Come on England!!!

Mike

What's hot and what's not in New Zealand

To summarise my time in New Zealand, I thought I would summarise my top ten highlights. As I couldn't limit it to ten, I decided (in honour of the national sport and obsession here) to create a first 15 instead! My selections are totally personal, I hasten to add, and others may disagree...(especially the Kiwis amongst you). I've also included a few things I didn't like, in case the Kiwis amongst us start getting too smug!

1) Glowworms
I've seen these little critters all over NZ, and they never fail to enchant me, their beautiful lights creating a fairy grotto effect! The Spellbound tour in Waitomo was the best, as you got to see them up close, but I've seen great displays elsewhere too.

2) The helicopter ride over the glaciers
NZ has many opportunities to go exciting activities, what stood out here was that the excitement of my first helicopter ride was overshadowed by what I saw of the glaciers and mountains from the air, things which a non climber like myself would never get to see elsewhere.

3) The Waka boat trip in Abel Tasman
Not only was this a great way to see the beautiful coastline, and a fun paddle too, it was also a great introduction to Mauri culture, and came across far more powerfully than the 'dead' objects in museums or the rather false 'cultural shows'

4) Speights Ale Houses
Not only do they have their range of craft beers which are quite pleasant (and the best of the 'nationals' I've tasted), their food range majors on what I would consider traditional grub, e.g enormous plates of lamb's liver or shanks, with plenty of crunchy veg and mash, and all for a very reasonable price (esp as the portions are so big, even a big eater like me didn't need starters or deserts). Apart from the Chrischurch one, whose portions seem to be half the size!

5) Wai-O-Tapu, Rotorua
Quite simply, the most dramatic of the geothermal sites in Rotorua, with amazing smells and colours from the bubbling pools and silica terraces.

6) Kauri Forests
An amazing tree, the largest specimens in the Waipoua forest standing out for their age (up to 2000 years old) and enormous size. A humbling site, and we can be thankful that there are any Kauri trees left, whilst also mourning the millions that were cleared for a quick buck.

7) Te Puke
A quick stop off that covered two unexpectedly good attractions, the Kiwi Fruit farm, and the car museum. One of the joys of NZ is the amazing number of 50s, 60s and 70s British cars left, both in museums such as the one in Te Puke, and also on the road. Such cars as the Triumph 2000 and Ford Cortina are all over the place - when was the last time you saw one back in the UK?

8) Personal number plates
As long as it has 6 digits, you have a lot of freedom here, and you can put writing around it to explain further. Hence COKE01 on a coca-cola truck, HIREME on a taxi IMABYR for a buyer, SHTYEH (how was that allowed!) and my favourite MACKEM, yes a Sunderland supporter! At least he'll have a promotion campaign to look forward to next season ;-)

9) Queen Charlotte Track
For the sense of satisfaction of completing it, for the grand views from the ridgeline, for the infrastructure enabling you to have a proper bed and meal and your bags delivered on (for a nominal cost) and for the joy of having a beer and meal in a lodge overlooking a bay, surrounded by wilderness, darkness and tranquility.

10) Milford and Doubtful Sounds
The beautiful and stunning scenery, made more spectacular by the hundreds of temporary waterfalls when there is rain (which is often!). The drive to Milford is great too, as long as you time it right to avoid the coaches and camper vans!

11) Short Walks
NZ has thousands of short walks, all very scenic, and all well signposted and described, so you know beforehand whether a darts playing sumo wrestler could manage it, or if it's the kind of walk that Sir Edmund Hillary would have found a bit steep... Favourites include Mount Victoria in Wellington for it's 360 degree (highly interesting) views and the forest parks in Rotorua and Hamner Springs, which are quite informative too.

12) NZ Tourist Offices
These are very informative and very helpful, and will always find you somewhere to stay for no fee, whether you are after motels, hostels or b&bs. Incidentally, public toilets are very good too, and they always have toilet paper!

13) Native birdlife
Despite the best efforts of the settlers, NZ has many amazing birds. Apart from the national symbol the Kiwi bird (a real biological oddity), highlights would include the Keas (mountain parrots) vandalising my car, the majestic Albatross soaring around, the Kakas (forest parrots) bred successfully at Mount Bruce wildlife reserve and released into the wild, the Wekas for being nosey, and finally the Fantails for being cute.

14) The Christchurch Antartic centre
A highly informative place, with several interesting films and exhibits and a slightly mad ride in the Hagglund all terrain vehicle. It is at the centre of a large Antartic exploration infrastructure in Christchurch - the Americans use Christchurch as their base, and you can see the unique ski fitted C130 Hercules at the end of the runway (incidentally I already knew about these, as one of the people I met on the Doubtful Sound cruise was an ex US Navy guy who used to be a Navigator on the C130s flying into Antartica, and had lived in Christchurch for many years)

15) And finally....
New Zealand itself. The friendly, helpful people, the open roads (outside the cities) with beautiful scenery all around and hardly a soul about make travelling about this country a real pleasure. I've had occasional days where I've been on the road for 5 hours or more, but really enjoyed them, whereas the equivalent journey along the M6 or M5 would be a killer!

So...what about the things I didn't like....

The early closing hours in smaller towns - you have to eat early in many places or miss out!
The poor street lighting in small towns (back in the UK the Dail Mail would be running hysterical articles about muggers' paradises etc) though here the danger is tripping up or falling into the bushes! Conversely, the lack of light pollution means great night sky viewing.
Youngsters showing off their tarted up motors around town centres, in a manner reminiscent of provincial towns in the UK (and especially Dartford one way system)
The poor public transport and heavy reliance on the car. The number of drive in fast food restaurants is worrying, for example one motel I stayed in was right next to drive in McDonalds, Burger King and KFC! Towns and cities in NZ generally lack the attractiveness of the natural features...(Napier and Wellington being notable exceptions, and Christchurch to an extent)
Camper vans, especially on the South Island. I know they're driven by foreigners (mainly British) but I can still moan when they clog up the road!
The poor tv, though the large number of British Imports means that you can catch up on the programmes you never saw first time around! The news here is quite lightweight, and relies heavily on bought in foreign coverage from the UK and US.

And above all, the constant, excessive overuse of the word AWESOME. 'That's awesome", awesome view, awesome game, awesome ride, "Awesome", awesome day, awesome excitement, awesome food, awesome time, "it's been awesome to have you with us"...even when I've pointed it out to people, they've laughed in agreement and replied without irony "awesome mate!". They can't help it, it's complusive here. In an attempt to bring some new words to the kiwi vocabulary, the thesarus link below gives a number of alternative words to use. PLEASE!!!

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=awesome

Overall though, I've had a wonderful time here. Many thanks to all the people who've helped make my time in NZ such a pleasure, the people who've showed me around, put me up and put up with me. But it's time to move on. As the nice girl in the bikini in the 'shocking' Aussie tourism advert goes "So where the bloody hell are you?"

How could I resist such an invitation?

It's nearly time to go (sob, sob)

Beer, albatross, chocolate, penguins, trains, rugby. There should be something for everyone this time!

After 2 months (I arrived in NZ on the 16th Jan) I've got just 2 days left before heading across the ditch to Sydney. I've had a great time here, but all good things come to an end, and it's time for me to move on (before the Kiwi summer and Commonwelath games come to an end). My next email will be a list of my highlights plus the things I didn't like!

My last email had me on a boat in Fiordland. From there I headed south. The south of NZ is a harsh, rugged place, cold, windy and wet. So miserable in fact, that the Scots moved in! Invercargill lived down to it's reputation, being freezing and wet, and well a bit dour really. I did meet the most famous inhabitant though, Henry, the 125 year old Tuatara (a type of primitive reptile). Henry is a bit of a grumpy old man really, not interested in breeding and quite aggressive to any other Tuatara around him. I guess I'll be like that too if I ever make it to 125!
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=a427&.dnm=c64fscd.jpg&.src=ph

Moving along the coast, after visiting Slope Point (the most southerly point of mainland NZ, and on that day the most windy too), I drove East though the Caitlins, stopping off regular to take walks, admire the scenery and generally get cold and wet (along with a select bunch of hardy tourists - our paths kept crossing). I was muddy afterwards, but not as dirty as the car, which was filthy, mainly due to the gravel roads - I had a bit of a skid on one of these, which added a bit of excitement to the day!

This took me to Dunedin, a southerly Edinburgh, even if it looks completely different! The first day, I did the nature bit, joining a tour to see Albatross and Yellow eyed Penguins. The Albatross were a wonderful sight, from our hut we could see birds soaring majestically through the air, plus a chick on the hill side. Yellow eyed penguins are quite shy, but in the colony were moulting birds, plus we got to see (from our hidden lair) a bird emerging from the sea and walking (painfully slowly) across the beach.
Incidentally, both the Albatross and Penguins mate for life, but can split up too. There are all sorts of sad tales of partners being dumped for a younger (or older) bird...
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/e5c5&.dnm=f742scd.jpg&.src=ph
The next day consisted of chocolate, a scenic train journey and a brewery tour. Yes it's a hard life.
In the morning, I visited Cadburyworld - their NZ factory is in Dundedin. All the smells and sights of a chocolate factory, just like visiting Bourneville, but with the added benefit of not having to go to Birmingham ;-) They have some unique bars in NZ too, such as the top selling Moro, a Mars bar clone...
After lunch, I took the scenic train ride to the Taieri River Gorge, a very pleasant journey in a restored 1920s carriage, and an ideal place to eat my free Cadbury samples!
Hot from the train, I did a Speights Brewery tour. The brewery is (uniquely in NZ) a tower brewery, and they still have a fair amount of original kit (I suspect the rooms they didn't show us have the more modern stuff!) For example, they have open gyles which are used for their 'craft' beers. Speights Gold Medal Ale ( the best selling kiwi beer, a sort of keg bitter) is marketed on it's "beer of the south" image, with images of hardy farmers and fishermen. However, as their Dunedin brewery is small, and can't handle this volume (a bit like Theakstons a few years ago), the bottled beer is produced 5 hours away in Christchurch, and the cans are produced right at the other end of the country, by the metropolitan, city slickers in Auckland! (That's akin to Newcastle Brown Ale being produced in Guildford). To be fair, the Speights I drank at the 'brewery tap' was much better, as it was filtered but unpasteurised, a rarity indeed. Still not a patch on real ale of course!

Leaving Dunedin, a major University city, I headed north stopping off to see the Moeraki boulders, huge boulders lying on the beach, which look like some ancient giant's game of marbles, but are actually septarian concretions ( I won't even try to explain that!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders
The rest of the day was taken up with the long and boring drive through the Canterbury Plains to Christchurch, my last day on the road, and an unusually dull one, enlivened only by hitting Christchurch in the rush hour. Rush Hour! Traffic! Multi lane roads! After being used to narrow country lanes, and being held up by flocks of sheep, a shock to the system...

Christchurch is visually the most English of the cities here, with it's formal stone buildings, narrow river with 'punting', cathedral, oak trees (watching ducks eating acorns is interesting) and private school, complete with ridiculous uniform! Yesterday I mooched about the place. Today I took the scenic train ride across the alps and back, a nice journey, but I've probably seen enough NZ scenery by now. Tomorrow, I will visit the Antartic museum.

And tomorrow night, my FINAL EVENING IN NZ.....I'm off to the Rugby! A perfect way to end a kiwi holiday, I'l be at Jade stadium in Christchurch to see the Crusaders (super successfull home team) against the Cats (not very successfull South African team) in the Super 14. Looking at the home lineup, I recognise a couple of names (Dan Carter is one), and confidently predict a comfortable victory!

A lively few days...

Greetings from NZ. I'm still here, as I extended my stay for another 6 days (without any charge) as there was too much to see and too little time! I now leave for Oz on the 18th March.

When I last emailed, I was stranded on terra firma, as my Helihike had been cancelled. I never did do a Helihike, but the next morning I finally (3rd time lucky) made it on a helicopter, and went on a flight over the glaciers, with good views too of Mounts Tasman and Cook. A breathtaking trip (and very noisy too!), and sitting next to the window I had a great view too (I'm afraid of heights but didn't have any problem with the trip). We stopped high in the mountains to have a quick look outside before flying over the Franz Glacier Helihikers (another time perhaps...) and making our way back down to earth. A real highlight of the trip. The photos are below, the later ones are from the helicopter.

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/album?.dir=9884&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/my_photos

Back on 4 wheels, I continued down through Haast to Wanaka, and then on to Queenstown (via NZ's highest road), the centre of adventure tourism. I took the cablecar up the mountain (it was rather windy which made the journey interesting), and in between being blown around by howling gales, and trying to buy a beer in the world's slowest bar, had a go at the luge, a sort of downhill cart, that went around a twisty track. Quite good fun, but nowhere near as challenging as the real roads in NZ, many of which are very twisty and have some serious drops over the other side!
Next day I took a Jetboat ride down Shotover creek, another Queenstown 'institution' Once you got used to whizzing down narrow gorges at 80km/h, steering into and narrowly avoiding rocks and logs, then doing 360 degree spins spinning on the spot, it was a lot of fun, and nowhere near as scary as an Istanbul taxi driver! (Borzou and Brian will know what I mean).
After slowing down the pace in Arrowtown, I popped over to another legendary site, the Karawau bungy jump where I watched the nutters flinging themselves off, which was scary enough for me just watching. The photos of the Jetboat are lo res (I haven't downloaded the high res ones yet) but you should be able to spot me in the boat. (A clue, I'm the manly, brave looking one!)

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/album?.dir=ef43&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/my_photos

Moving on, I headed to Fiordland (passing an ostrich farm on the way), first visiting the caves in Te Anau (which has some glowworms and a really impressive underground waterfall) before driving out to Milford. The drive is an exciting one, as the road climbs over the mountains, made more exciting by a snow blizzard at the top, and down on the other side, chasing Keas (mountain parrots) off my car at a waterfall stop, before they ripped off my windscreen wipers! Milford Sound was very beautiful, and highly dramatic. It had rained (and hailed!) a lot, so there were waterfalls everywhere (the water runs straight off the hard granite ground). Many of these waterfalls are a lot bigger than they look, the grand scale of the scenery (1km peaks rising on either side) confusing the eye. The underwater observatory there is interesting, what you are seeing is not a fish tank, but the real fiord outside!

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/album?.dir=c30d&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/my_photos

The next day, for even more peace and dramatic scenery, I took an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. To get there, you have a take a boat, followed by a coach trip along a completely unconnected road (built for the hydroelectric power station) before reaching your cruise boat. While on a side arm of the Fiord, I had a go at Kayaking (yet another first for me!). In case you're wondering, no I didn't fall in !!! It was very peaceful out there (apart from my curses as I got wetter and wetter). I managed a fair rate of knots, but had problems keeping in a straight line, and managed to beach myself on some rocks...
We anchored for the night in a quiet bay, it was very quiet, and very remote. Sadly the sleeping quarters weren't so quiet, as the Irish guy in the bunk below me had kissed the 'snoring stone' before leaving Limerick...
The first day on the boat was dry, the next morning it rained solidly. Well Fiordland does get up to 7 metres of rain a year - that well know desert, the Lake District only gets 2!
Mike

The curse of the %#$&ing helicopter strikes again!!!

Hello again
This afternoon I had my adventurous head on, and was ready to do a Helihike on Franz Josef glacier, which entails a helicopter ride onto the glacier, followed by a 2 hour trek on top of the ice....but it was cancelled due to too much wind :-( After the Grand Canyon failure, I'm not having much luck with 'choppers', so it's back on terra firma I find myself, in an internet bus (an old bus converted to be an internet cafe!)

Retracing my steps, a couple of weeks back, the night after I returned from the Queen Charlotte Trek was memorable, as a noisy Aussie group arrived back to the guest house in the early hours, waking everyone up, esp a very drunk individual who effed and blinded very loudly, then proceded to have a very long argument with his missus in the room next to mine...well he did until the police came and removed him! Clearly the convict bloodline is still there...

Moving on to more cerebral matters, my next stop was down the east coast to Kaikoura, famous for it's whale and dolphin watching. I was up early (5 o'clock alarm call!) to catch the earliest and 'smoothest' whale watching boat. It was a productive trip, we saw whales, dolphins, a seal and a couple of albatross, but it was quite rough, esp when the captain turned the power off...I just about kept my breakfast down, but one poor woman wasn't so lucky, and spent the whole journey 'visiting the kiwi fruit farms of Te Puke' if you catch my drift...I also saw seals very close up on a coastal walk around the bay, indeed I had to get right up close, as a couple were completely blocking the narrow rocky path! Seals are well camoflaged, so you tend to smell them before you see them, as they stink

Crossing back across the South Island, I stopped at Hamner Springs for it's forest walks and mineral pools, then went through the Lewis Pass to reach the West coast, where I saw the famous Pancake rocks, got lost in a dark cave looking for glowworms, saw a seal colony (mothers and pups) from a smellproof distance, then visited the former coal mining heartland of Deniston, where an amazing railway used to carry coal from the top of a mountain to the bottom, using gravity, but is now deserted and overgrown (think Welsh mining village without the singing).

In order to meet long lost relatives, I then headed back north again to the Abel Tasman Park, where I stayed at Hilary's, a lovely house with a beautiful view over the water an 'split apple' rock, along with Daphne, a friend of Hilary's from N Ireland, and Jacqui her daughter who is also doing the RTW thing (and may spot the plagiarism in the below). The highlight was a trip in a Waka, a traditional Maori carved canoe, paddled by our good selves and 10 others to Stillwell Beach, where we had a picnic lunch and a speedboat ride back. We learnt traditional Maori chanting to keep time, keep the spirits up and to ask the God of the sea to keep us safe. We also learnt some "modi" - like the Haka but with oars in hand to fight off the enemy, the enemy being tourists in passing speedboats armed with their cameras (who incidentally have much better photos of us paddling than we have!)

From there I popped over to Nelson, via the Museum of Wearable Art, to see another relative Joe. While I was in Nelson, I swapped my car (an aging Nissan Bluebird auto) for something a bit more appropriate, i.e. smaller, newer and faster, though my time in the Bluebird was good practice in case I ever need to become a minicab driver when I return home.

Retracing my steps, I headed back down the West Coast to the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, thus bringing things up to date! The walk to the base of the glaciers gives a stunning view, and if the wind dies down I may take a h********* up to have a look later today or tomorrow morning, but I'm not banking on it...

Mike