Mackenzie Country

Leaving Big Tree about 1/4 past 4, I headed out towards Mayfield & Geraldine, wanting to use a different route than the one I'd used to Staveley.

This one included a straight bit of road 13k long - wow ! ! !

I stopped in Geraldine for gas & directions to Rivendell Lodge, having realised Joan's E mails didn't include the address - oops.
The older lady at the petrol station looked in the phone book with no luck, then the young girl had the nous to go online & found it was on Stanton Road in Kimbell. She was even able to tell me it was on the left after the pub!

I told you everyone was helpfull here :-))

The road out of Geraldine - SH79 was a lovely drive as the sun set, & had I not been in a hurry to get to Kimbell I'd've stopped for pics.

As promised, Stanton Rd was about 100y past the pub, & Joan came out to greet me.

The first 2 pics - taken the following morning show Rivendell Lodge & bits of the garden.

Joan is a big LOR fan, but said she only thought Gimli's character to have been well cast, but that Sean did a good job with Sam. She thought Elijah looked too young for Frodo & seemed quite upset that they made so much of Arwen's role & missed Tom Bombadill.

Maybe he'll be in The Hobbit?

The guest rooms are named after places in the book: Lorien, Edoras (mine), Rauros & Nimrais, & the bed made me feel like the Princess & the Pea - without the pea, though!

Joan gave me lovely home made cakes & a brew on arrival, & because of that (& the 2 lamb shanks at Mt Hutt), I didn't feel I needed food - unusually for me ;-p

Instead I headed out to the pub to catch the end of the England/Georgia game on the telly, leaving Joan to watch the delightful Daniel in Casino Royale.

I had a nice malt, watched the match and chatted to a lady who'd just had dinner.
Apparently, she called Joan when she got home & said she thought my hair was lovely!
She must like Rangas!

Within a few min everyone but me had left, & the barman looked like he wanted to shut shop for the night, so I headed back up the SH8 to Fairlie in search of a pub to watch the Canada/France game.
Fairlie seemed fairly dead, so I popped into its gas station hoping for similar luck as Geraldine.
The girl said the best pub was the Gladstone, but there was another called Top Pub.

The Gladstone was empty & the barman about to turn out the lights when I walked in. So I turned about & walked out in search of the other pub!

This one was open - & occupied by a bunch of young folk, so I ordered a ginger beer (not wanting to risk anything by having another malt!)

The next game was about to start, so I planted myself in front of one of the screens & settled down for an hour & a half's rugger :-)
I seemed to be the only 1 watching, which was unusual, but a Maori girl kept popping by to chat & said the juke box was free so I should choose something. So, at 1/2 time & put Eminem on.
Betcha didn't know I liked Eminem, did ya!

I didn't hang about once it was game over, & drove back to Kimbell. It's well weird driving down those straight roads in the dark: The headlights of approaching traffic approach for yonks before they actually get to you!

Next morning there was a fresh baked breakfast & I met the cat who calls Rivendell Lodge home (well 1 of his homes, anyway). That's him in the 3rd pic.

Then it was load up & off towards Tekapo & Twizel.

At Fairlie, the SH79 ends as it's joined by the 8 coming in from Timaru on the east coast, so I followed it all the way to Twizel, stopping briefly in Tekapo on the way.

Today, Lake Tekapo was a great turquoise colour, too. Apparently it's not just Lake Pukaki that's that colour.

Having checked in & noted the day had gone a bit cloudy, I went on the net for a bit, & then headed off back towards Aoraki/Mt Cook. This was back up the SH79 a bit & then left onto the SH80 which runs north along Lake Pukaki & up to the Tasman Glacier road & The Hermitage.

The stream & bridges had names relating to the blokes of mountaineering fame - Fred, Jack & Will, but no idea why one was called Dead Horse as the info centre at the Hermitage didn't mention it.

Pics 4 & 5 show drops of rain on the windscreen & Lake Pukaki.

Pics 6 & 7 are Mt Cook/Aoraki from points on the SH80

The valley on the right of pic 8 leads to the Tasman Glacier, taken from the road near the airport.

The next one's the mountains on the other side of the same valley.


The statue is of Sir Edmund Hillary, & there's a big info centre at the Hermitage all about his exploits.

The weather was cloudy & I was in the shadow of a bloody great mountain, so it's not very clear, but it's him, honest!

After a wander around a bit I went into the "Snowline Lounge Bar" for a brew & had a malt as well. And some orgasmatronic chocolates.

There was a pic of the brew, the Laphroaig bottle & the chocs, next to the bar guest book (a massive one which I signed), & looking through the window to the bloody great mountain, but I accidentally deleted it tidying up the gaps in the blog - doh !

The bald headed bloke is holding a piece of paper describing what's in the chocs. He's called Allen.

While I was drinking & eating I read about the Maori legends & their names for the mountains.

Dampier is Rakiroa, Teichelmann is Rakirua, & Tasman is Rarakiroa. Mt Cook is Aoraki (obviously).

Raki means Sky Father.

All are Tapu (sacred) to the Iwi (tribe) Ngai Tahu

While I was reading they were playing Sade, which was a blast from the past.
I also read a book about England vs the All Blacks games which had some great photos.

The last pic is my final view of Aoraki that day - another sunset one (you don't say, Shirl!?)

Back at Twizel, I asked Chris (landlord) whether Ohau was still open & about going to the observatory on St John. He was telling some asians about a hot tub in Omarama while I was waiting, so I decided to save the St John trip until next time & go in the hot tub instead.

Then it was tea & Speights, but I ended up watching Criminal Minds on my telly in bed as I was the only 1 in the pub after about 10 min & the Irish barman was looking to close up. He said it would be busier for the game tomorrow. Well, that wouldn't've been difficult - hahaha

About to be logged out here at the lobrary, so until next blog

OAO

Mt Hutt

Still here at the keyboard in Sydney.
Incidentally, the difference in attitudes of the Oz peeps & the Kiwi peeps is noticeable. Much less friendly & helpful at this airport !


Lee arranged for me to go up the mountain with mate Jonno, whose parents are Dutch. This explains why they were all watching a Dutch film when I got in the night before. Dean from Ashburton was also in the car, & all 3 smoked. At least they opened the windows.

Anyway, Jonno drove & skidded up the mountain road at a great rate - it was supposed to be a 40 limit, but he was doing >60 at 1 point. He also overtook a bus & 4 cars on the straight bits - he obviously knows the road! ! !

In the top pic, Jonno's in the red hat & Lee's in the shorts. I told you there was a plethora of short wearing peeps here!

After getting skis & pass I went up the Summit 6-man chair, & the next 2 are views from the top.

The river is the Rakaia - where I'd taken pics the day before.You can see the sea, too, & Christchurch is just off shot on the left.

The glove is for a bit of perspective of the drop off onto Hubers Run - mmmm

On the chair I chatted to another local up for a Sunday's ski. I kept bumping into him all day as we skied at a similar speed.


The 3rd is a view of Hubers & Fascination from the 6-man, & the 4th someone dropping off down Hubers.


After starting on Fascination, I worked across from Hubers, skiing the left, central & right of the run (looking downhill), then doing the same on Fascination.

Next I did the bumps down the far R before heading off up the quad chair & doing Exhibition Bowl, a black down to base. It was great, nice & steep, lovely snow & a gulley at the bottom :-))

There's a pic of the bump run by Fascination - they weren't that big, & fairly even, so no mishaps, like at Treble Cone ;-P

Then I did Morning Glory & Wayleggo a couple of times, & hung around near the Terrain Park where an Arials contest was being held.


Skiers & boarders were jumping off a couple of ramps.


You can see they got pretty high!

The next one's looking over the back - the skiing's mainly down the eastern area, which is why you got to see the sea in the first few pics!


Aoraki / Mt Cook is out there somewhere?

I then decided to do some of the difficult runs down the south face.


There is a gate you ski through, & there are a quite a lot of signs dotted about warning you it's expert terrain.

Then there's a pic of my pole which went valleywards when I stopped to take a pic.


I'm glad it stopped only a few turns down.


I didn't fancy skiing the whole run with 1 pole, as it was steepish & the snow was pretty cruddy in places.

The next is a pic of the same run (off the Towers), & you can get an idea how big it was by the little blokes skiing down!


It was where I'd stopped to retrieve my pole




I just deleted 1 getting ready to publish, & lost track of which 1. I'm sure you'll get the gist, though?

Next ditto, looking up from where I'd stopped to get my pole, & again, the 2 little figures give some perspective of the size & steepness.


I'd hung around for a few min waiting for skiers to come!


There were very few boarders this side - too bumpy !


Boarders like steep & deeps & not moguls as a rule.

Then there's 1 of the 2 blokes skiing down.
His mate's on the left, as well.
You can just see his arm & pole

The next is from my 2nd run down the Towers after going to the bottom on International, up the Triple chair, down Fascination & Exhibition again (I kept doing it because it was fun!), & up the 6-man.


I did 7 runs over this side - 2 before lunch & the other 5 after.


I found different ways back to the bottom of the Triple - some brill, some downright nasty.


I only sat down once, though :-)

In between the shadows you can see the run I did on the 6th time down. It was under the triple chair & quite narrow - one of the nasty ones!

And those are my skis!

The sun moved round - like it does, & this is a long shot of the Towers runs from the Triple chair.


It was taken after the 6th run when I'd decided the legs had had enough & only had 1 more run in them!




Re lunch, I'd packed a picnic, but saw the lamb shanks & chups (chips to us Poms).
I ate them outside on the Terrace. Yum yum
And a brew of course ;-)

I handed back the skis, & as Jonno's deadline of 2.30 had passed, decided to hitch back to Methven.
Only about 10 cars passed before Jonno's car peeped & I didn't recognise him or it. He'd lost the red hat, & his car had gained a roof rack!

That's my excuse, anyway.
I met 2 more Kiwis in the car: Ollie from somewhere I can't read from my notes, & Paul from Hastings - that's on North Island & famous for its wine.

I got Jonno to dump me at the I-Site to see if there was a Mt Hutt patch for my ruckie, but no luck.

Then it was back to Big Tree, load up, & off to Rivendell Lodge in Kimbell.
But that's another story. . .
OAO

Dinner with the Stars - 19 9 11

This has to be reel qwik. I'm at Sydney airport, on a free machine so will have to keep saving, logging out & back in

OK:1st 3 are after we'd been picked up in Methven & taken up Mt Hutt in a bus. Our guide was Ronan from Dublin & the driver was Dave. Ronan was a piste patroller & part of his job was to blow up slopes before they avalanched.

Everyone disembarked & some peeps had paid for ride on piste-bashers (they called them Groomers here) & skidoos.

These are them up the hill from the restaurant.

There were no stars, though - too cloudy :-(

The next's a view of the upstairs mezzanine in the restaurant, Hubers Hut. I'd taken the prev 3 from the balcony.

There was a duo of jazz guitarists playing downstairs, & during the evening they did Ronda Alla Turca, Careless Whisper, the William Tell Overture (the Lone Ranger bit!), Drunken Sailor & the Benny Hill Theme, plus loads I knew but couldn't name.

They were called Burke & Jason - from Christchurch & Ashburton respectively


There was a girl behind the bar called Fiona whose Mum was born in St Andrews, & who gave me a sangiovese as I'd missed the caviar going round due to gassing with peeps.

The next's Pudding, & the remains of what I'd drunk. I discovered Wild Turkey - Nice!

This is downstairs from my seat where I'd been served by a Welsh girl from Cardiff

Not my bottle - see below

I just accidentally deleted the pic of the menu - doh!

Not sure if it was readable, anyway? But it was tasty

A bit of background info. Hope it's readable


Anyway, about the bottle

I'd grabbed it off the mantle, but it belonged to Shirley, Trevor & Marianne.
Marianne is the general manager of an open cast coalmine on the Denniston Plateau. She gave me a written precis on the back of their menu, but I didn't ask why she'd put it was historic? She lives in Westport on the west coast & gave me her mobno in case I'm in the area one day.
Shirley & Trevor are Canturbury locals who ski Mt Hutt all the time. I actually bumped into them all (not literally, but during a loo stop!) the following day while I was up skiing. More about that eventually!

Jusr read in the paper while I was checking in that the Denniston Plateau thing is a bit controversial due to environmental issues

They told me they liked 'Rangas'. These are redheads, & I'm posing as one at the mo. The idea was to make me more noticeable in the stadium crowds. No idea if it worked ? ? ?
Plan to post this now & see if I can snatch enough time on the free to manage the Mt Hutt stuff before I have to board
OAO

Stanley

Up earlyish again & off to Staveley - that's it in the 2nd pic! Bruce bought me a butty for lunch at the shop

I helped Bruce get them in the trailer & said "is that Goliath?" he affirmed, & asked if I recognised mine. I likewise affirmed I certainly did :-))

It was my partner from the Edoras adventure & my Rohan steed, Stanley :-))
We set off about 10
The chap is Bruce. The nags're in the trailer (they're called floats here)









Well you can see that in the 3rd pic.


Guess which one's Goliath ;-)

Pic 4 is where we were going - Lake Emma & then up by Mt Harper.

The pointy bit above the middle of the sign is Mt Arrowsmith

Almost tacked-up & ready to go.

Mt Sunday is along the same track we used to get there, which runs westish out of Mt Somers village. Quite a long way along actually!

The next few are of the old mining hut by Lake Emma
These oldtimers were tough, eh?

If you look (really hard ;-p ) you can just see the white of the trailer across the lake.

We continued out of shot to the left . . . . . . . . . . .

Nice BIG horsees :-)) Unlike Monty at Rubicon
Our route lay along the lakeside - L to R

After riding round most of Emma, we saw a couple of cyclists comming down the valley west of Harper
We went up the valley for about an hour - as far as the snow line, & stopped for our butties.

Sorry Gill - no pics of my butty ;-P. It was well good, though, I was starving (well maybe just ravenous?)

Here's a pic of 1 of Bruce's butties, though
And Goliath's looking hopeful.

I'd brought a carrot in the bumbag & gave 1/2 to Bruce & Stanley had the green bit at the top. It was a BIG carrot


Sorry Gill. No pic - haha

I had a bit of a wander into a little dip by a stream & took this of my 3 comrades up on the ridge.

Bleak isn't it?

I kept wondering where the 2 cyclists had come from?

This is a bit of flora - a well cool, round, brown bushy thingy (apologies to David bellamy ;-p )

It felt good, too

You can just see Goliath's head, too. Like I said, bleak. I was glad I'd put my woolly socks & silk LJ's on!

I got Bruce to pose in the dry river bed by this little stream & waterfall. I think his beard is bigger than last time?

This is looking into the main valley leading to Erewhon. Lots of bush. The dry river we'd followed is to our left

We continued L towards a gate which would take us around another lake & back round Roundabout to the trailer.

Unfortunately, some clever sod had replaced the gate with a stile ? ?

We tried following the fence, but it got way too boogy to take the horses' weight, so we had to backtrack around Emma. We got back to the trailer around 4, so we'd been out about 5 hours.

And it was brilliant. Thanks Bruce :-))

We stopped on the way back to Mt Somers. I think Bruce said it was the oldest building on South Island? But I may be misremembering.

The cracks are quake damage! And we're miles from Christchurch












I took a pic of a map & sketched in the route, bit it's not showing on the SD card! I just stopped & took another, & that's not appeared either - weird. The pics I took over the last few days are out of focus on the right, so maybe the NZ camera demon has struck again?
Anyway, almost out of dosh on the Global Gossip card, so, for now

OAO