The Chinese are Coming!!!

In the 1880s, New Zealanders (British Colonialists), feared the Russians were coming and built some impressive coastal defences. The Russian vessel sailed peacefully around a few British colonies and created the hysteria. It turned out they bought the vessel from the British navy and had no hostile ambitions. It seems "Fund Raisers" existed even then. The current fear is that the Chinese are coming. Some form of economic takeover. I wonder where I've heard that before. However, if they met the Chinese woman we encountered while waiting for a cruise boat, then they will realise they have nothing to fear. She was inside a cafe looking out the windows at the cruise boat being prepared. She got up, walked to the window and started calmly repeating "Die, DIe, DIE" as she satisfyingly squashed each Sand Fly one by one. Her Anglo husband looked on with loving pride.

The good, bad, and horrific

Good

Mountains, beaches, awesome scenery, whales, seals, penguins, jet boats, cruises.

Bad

Our campervan contract did not permit us to go on unsealed roads.

Two weeks is nowhere near enough for the South Island.

Horrific

We saw dolphins on the first two days then they vanished.

There are no grizzlies, no coyotes, no lions, not even any snakes. However, the deep dark secret of New Zealand is that they are home to the equal worst man/woman eater on the planet. Sand flies.

These ecotourist terrorists are seriously not fun.

Ooooh, look at that beautiful stream, these flowers, that mountain range, let's get out of the van and take some photos.  Then wham. 5 gazillion sand flies have latched on to you, your clothing, your camera, everything.

Looking through the view finder you see nothing but "All Black" . Did I forget to take the lens cap off again? No. The cause is Sand Flies trying to eat your lens. But the main problem is that every millimetre of your flesh is now red, itchy and expanding rapidly. You look like a red Michellen man ballooning out of control.

The dolphins probably just had enough.

[photos censored by NZ tourism board]

Last Supper

Still in Dunedin. Trawled all the non-snearable artist galleries and one that wasn't.

Lost a couple of hours looking at... Shags, seals, birds. The wind was incredible.

Arrived at Fleurs world famous boat shack. As expected, it was the best meal of the trip.

Speed Wildlife

Tricia, van, rally cross, me shaken till unconscious, screeching stop. Te Anau to Dunedin, job done.

I then cruised us along the insanely scenic Portabello road to the albatross and other stuff cruise while Tricia checked her emails???

The previous victims disembarked the cruise boat and squeezed gallons of water from their clothing. It's rough out today.

This surely means Tricia's lucky streak is about to end.

She sat at the front. Now this is really asking for it. Hold on a minute, she's sitting right next to me.

The boat heaved all over the place, tons of bird life, a few Albatross, but still no lunch. And we didn't get wet. Apparently the last group got unlucky when hit by one giant wave.

Speed to eco tour #2, the penguin trenches. We sneaked around in the trenches and peaked out at the nests. Chicks and adults.

Speed to eco tour #3 the Albatross viewing. Gulped a coffee and pie in the 5 minutes we had to spare.

This is awesome. 270 degree views down the bay to sunset over Dunedin and right around to the Albatross runway. Sometimes they pass so close to the window you could reach out and touch them.

Speed to eco tour #4 the fully operational 1880 Armstrong cannon. This was constructed to defend against the imminent Russian invasion. OZ had them too. It's an eco tour because the gun cannot be fired due to nesting albatross right outside.

Speed to eco tour #5 the penguin parade.

Much smaller viewing platform than Phillip Island but a far superior experience. Especially with sunset over the bay.

Speed to the motel we phoned in between tours.

Double Vision

In the common traditions of both Irish and Maori, we went on the Doubtful Sound cruise,  twice.

Irish version: to be sure,  to be sure.

Maori version: Hari Hari, Pu Pu Springs,  ...  and a thousand other repeat names like that.

The cruise was so good they couldn't drag Tricia off the boat. After she chatted up the Skipper, again, we got to sail all afternoon as well as the morning.

Two,  now bright red faces (wind burn) suggest we will regret this.

But we did see baby humpback, twice. And an adult just showing off.

Plus the usual suspects of penguins and seals.

Where have all the dolphins gone?

The restaurant at the end of the universe, perhaps.

Sunny in Milford Sound too

Had brecky watching the paragliders land at Queenstown. Lunch at a rustic gallery and coffee shop. Did the late cruise down Milford Sound. Booked for Doubtful Sound tomorrow.

A glorious sunny day.

A sunny day in the south

The jet boat trip from Wanaka was a relaxing way to spend 4 hours. A short beech forest hike to waterfall was included.

We then went to Queenstown.

We had no idea that Queenstown could be sunny. Or that it has Botanic gardens.

It turned out that the ducks were decoys for the sand flies to inflict yet more pain to Tricia. I'm not sure she thinks the 500 duck photos were worth it.

Some people were swimming!! Unbelievable based on our previous Arctic experiences here.

Dinner with a view as usual.