Wanaka

The drive to Wanaka went over many bridges. We lost count of how many one lane bridges we went over.

Once we arrived in town, we set our tent up at the Top 10 park. Then we visited Puzzle World where we took this fun photo of Dennis.

Wanaka is on a lake and has mountain views. We really liked the town. The bonus was that it was cherry season. We bought cherries on the main street from a vendor who named his fruit, "Dam Good Cherries." They were amazing.

Fox Glacier and Lake Matheson

On Friday, 17 December, we stopped at Lake Matheson for some photos (bridge and deck) and a view of Mount Cook.

Then we headed for the Fox Glacier and walked along the riverbed to get close. Our camera did not get a great picture. It was cool and we wore jackets.

That was our morning, then we headed to Wanaka for the afternoon.

The Glaciers

On Thursday, 16 December we headed for the Franz Josef glacier. We walked along a riverbed to get 100 metres from the glacier. While we were driving to the glacier we saw a sign that said, "The glacier was here in 1860."

We stayed at the Top 10 in town. Tom really liked it there. We had a Mount Cook view, it wasn't too hot and our campsite was pleasant. Near the kitchen were some planters with herbs saying to help yourself but leave some for others.

Sailing model boats on our Last Day of Vaction

I promise a few more postings on the vacation, however this was in the Picton Newspaper and I thought I would put it on the blog.

The West Coast

After making knives, we stayed at the Greymouth Top 10 Holiday Park. Dennis likes the Top 10 parks since they usually have things like a trampoline or bouncy pillow. As the sun was setting over the Tasman Sea, I motioned Tom and Dennis to come and see it. We were rewarded with a "green flash."

On Wednesday, 15 December we headed south along the West Coast. On our right side was the sea and on our left was bush and mountains. We stopped in Hokitika for me to do some walking and shopping. I bought a pair of wool socks from a store that uses old fashioned hand machines to knit them. I also bought some tasty looking bread from a bakery since Tom wasn't baking while we were traveling around.

In Hokitika we could see the Southern Alps in the distance and the town is also along the sea. The South Island has many places with a combination of mountains and water.

We started looking for where we would camp for the night. We wanted to try out a DOC (Dept of Conservation) place. DOC camping is basic--toilets and water, no showers, no kitchens, no playgrounds. It is also cheap. We considered Lake Paringa but decided to go further on down the road to Pleasant Flat.

At Pleasant Flat we found out how hungry the sandflies were. I thought mosquito bites were unpleasant! We brought along insect repellent. However, I found out my skin doesn't like DEET.

It was interesting cooking sausages on Tom's unconventional wood-gas stove. It took a while and I was wanting a more conventional camp stove.

Barrytown Knifemaking

Knifemaking started at 9:30 a.m. We put on our safety goggles, work gloves and work shirts. Next we were given a piece of steel to put in the coal fire. Then we got to pound it on the anvil to flatten the steel on one edge. When that was done, they put a chalk mark on our steel. Then we put it in the coal fire a final time and then cooled it in water to the chalk line. Actually it wasn't pure water, it had duck sh*t in it. That's how you carbonize steel. After that we got to use a hacksaw to cut our metal down to knife size. We added a handle and then took a lunch break. During break Dennis threw axes and stars. After lunch we did lots of sanding. That was followed by polishing. We got to sit down looking out at the Tasman sea while we polished our knives. At 4:30 p.m. our knives were completed. We drank glasses of "Barrypagne" to celebrate.

Map

View the larger map at the right for a high level view of where we went on vacation. I have more work to do but it will give you an idea.

Blue are the stops before Christmas, Green is Christmas day, and Red are the post Christmas stops. I will get pictures in there as soon as I figure it out!

Pancake Rocks in Punakaikai

We headed to the West Coast first. In Punakaikai we saw the Pancake Rocks. They are accessible via a paved footpath with railings at strategic places. The photos are misty looking because it was raining. That's to be expected on the West Coast! We didn't linger since we needed to get to Barrytown.

On the Ferry

We got on the ferry 13 December to start our South Island Holiday. Here's our car packed to the gills with camping gear. We borrowed the cartop carrier from a friend. We went on the Blubridge ferry. Behind Dennis is the competitor company Interislander ferry. Crossing the Cook Straight was smooth.

Musing of a baker

I have been spending more time baking than updating the blog. After three weeks of admiring all the ovens I saw on holiday, and dreaming of making my own brick fire bread oven (very similar to a pizza oven) I am making up for lost time here at home.

I have resurrected my starter, gone through 12Kg of flour making bagettes, batards, rolls, pizza and a few other things.

I am reading up on how to handle slack dough as my high hydration bagettes (>72%) have been visual flops! (However they tasted great according to all.) My latest effort is trying to get some fire bricks as my current (fifth) oven stone has split in two. But I may just wait on that until after I get a real oven. This small kiwi oven in this place is hard to work with. But as they say ... practice ... practice ... practice.

I'm published!

My good friend Jeremy has put one of my very own pictures on his Blog! As this is the Wellington Daily Photo I am very honored.

http://blandforddailyphoto.blogspot.com/2011/01/1318-stationary-ending.html

Were back

The trip was amazing! The South Island is truly beautiful and I can't wait to go back. Next time it will include less driving (3800K) and I will spend more time in one place.

I am not sure where as all the places were lovely, come to mind as I write are Manapouri (the most awesome inland lake) Wanaka (a city beautiful beyond description) Queenstown (must go there) Stewart Island (remote beauty in isolation) Kaikoura (snow covered mountains and ocean vistas) Amberly Beach (where we met a delightful family) Mount Cook (everyone must see this moutain) the glaciers (my favorite Holiday Park) and Blenhem (wine, wine, wine!) They are all worthy of another visit.

Well more to come when I get the pictures downloaded and go through our notes. I would have like to keep a running update however I managed to leave my power supply at home and did not have access to a computer the whole time!