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