Feb 23rd cont…
Went to see the penguins, absolutely fantastic. Went to see the yellow eyed penguins first as they come into land in the two hours before dusk. Amazing to see them waddle out of the sea and up the hill to nest for the night. Brilliant but freezing standing watching.. they were some on that hillside moulting so they do not go out to sea at all for two weeks, just stay on the nest, how they do it in the harshest of conditions I don’t know!
Then we went up the coast and paid to go to the marine sanctuary where the blue penguins come home to nest, we waited there under shelter but it was still quite cold, and they had special lights on that would not bother the penguins. I had jim moaning why had we paid to come and see more penguins! I explained these were a different type – he said they still waddled. The blue penguins are the smallest of the worlds penguins and it was amazing, they came out of the water and the first ones looked out for the ones that came after and they waddled over to their chicks who were waiting for food. Well all the chicks looked the same and how they sorted each other out, god only knows!! They were really cute though, at one point a fur seal started barking at them as they were going up the slope, well they moved so quickly, straight back into the sea, it was funny. As we left the watching sanctuary we were driving along the road and we spotted loads more. Jim was quick to point out that we could have viewed them for free, but they are hard to see properly without the lights and if we had been viewing on our own the car on! Went to try to get food after viewing penguins but nothing open as everything shuts early here and it was 10pm!! Made Jim very happy, he had a pie from the garage and Mr Grumpy went to bed!!!
Feb 24th
Ducks in the car park this morning, bathing in a lake, well it looked like a lake but it was really the car park! Tried to do a bit of fishing early but river running very fast and very high and murky with all the rain so gave up and went to find somewhere to stay the night. Top 10 again but in Timaru, went fishing again. No luck as the rivers are running too fast but jim very happy trying.
Feb 25th
Went fishing all day at the dam and jim caught a salmon, great, but we finished so late could not cook, could not get into any restaurants or pubs so we bought some stuff at the garage and went back to cabin to play. Fishing again tomorrow too.
Feb 26th
Drove to Ashburton and went into a proper motel, it was lovely, luxurious as we have been in cabins for a while now and I cannot tell you how lovely it is to have your own toilet and bathroom and not have to run across the campsite bursting and looking like god knows what, with all the people that get up early saying good morning so cheerfully. I do not really want to be cheerful at 7am in the morning I want to go loo and back to the warm bed but after trekking across campsite I do not feel like a lie in, just want to go, which upsets the boys. Well the motel was fantastic I cooked the salmon for dinner and jim behaved like a baby getting a bone stuck in his throat, we said it was the salmon getting his own back! Took him about an hour of sticking his fingers down his throat and making me and robin feel sick before he got the bone, what a baby, why could he not just eat some bread like a normal person. Any apart from that we had a lovely evening in, watched”flushed away” on the sky channel and chatted and were warm. It was still raining outside!
Quick update on the person who murdered his wife in waiau when we were passing through. He had been living rough but was found yesterday and appeared in court charged with murder today. Had meant to keep the newspaper but left it somewhere.
Feb 27th
Fishing again, we had arrived in waikia hoping to fish the river but there was a big competition going on with 700 competitors so jim was a bit disappointed as everywhere we went there were other people, but he did try and we went to some very obscure places drove the car through some very deep puddles and walked a long way through prickly bushes, however, luck was not with him and we caught a big fat zero. Quite late in the day we made our way to Christchurch and settled down for the evening.
Feb 28th
Roamed around Christchurch, went to Oxford and Cambridge, watched them punting down the river, walked into a dance festival and danced our way out. Watched street entertainers, admired the tram all decorated with flowers, had the most enormous Sunday lunch ever and walked along the river after seeing the cathedral and churches and other old buildings. Jim nearly climbed into a derelict house as it had so much potential. Are now getting excited about going to Oz tomorrow.
March 1st
Travelling all day, took car back, going down a few bins on the way trying to find a tube to keep jims fishing rod safe! He was gutted as we finally had to pay for one but then glad he did when the bloke in front had to put his through instead of carrying it on! Think he could of sold his tube for double then, but he wanted his fishing rod safe! Flight good, found somewhere to stay and got cab to the Marco Polo in Summer Hill.
Phoned Narelle and chatted, we are going to catch up later in week. Then Jim went out to explore and hunt and gather as robin was hungry. Apparently we are staying in the area which is most like Dagenham! Never mind the train goes everywhere and cannot wait to get started on Sydney!
Feb 2nd
Up and out, caught our first train, must say the man selling tickets at Summer Hill train station was not at all bothered about keeping people waiting and while we were on the train (only 10mins) it was lovely to see people rushing and late for work and very busy, made us appreciate how lucky we are not working! We went to try and sort out a tour of china, which is proving very difficulty and also to see if we could change our ticket to South Africa, we were sent here there and everywhere but see loads of Sydney on the way and got our bearings, well we have to go finalise tomorrow as we did not finish by 5pm! Went for a stroll through the gardens of government house and then went to see the Sydney Opera House, well we didn’t get there until 6pm and they were having a show starting at 7pm so Jim asked if we would like to see Midsummer Nights Dream if we could get tickets. Well I always thought I would be dressed up and clean and having maybe a champagne dinner or picnic before I went to the Opera House but it was the last night of Midsummer Nights Dream so I went and asked if they had a dress code. No!, they don’t!!! Well we had been running about all day and I had left the deodorant in nz so I know I was smelly and scruffy and in flip flops but I went to the Opera! It is a lovely building but cause we hadn’t fed robin we bought a very posh sandwich with no crusts! And went out onto the balcony to await the start of the show. A boat in the harbor P and O Aurora was just setting sail, we could hear the band and everyone was waving flags and making loads of noise on board, so we waved back and made loads of noise too (we are quite good at that) (I think maybe this morning when I turn on the news I will hear they have introduced a dress code at the opera house to stop the riff raff!!
It was fantastic, even Jim really enjoyed it. However, robin gobsmacked us, I had thought he would be a bit board but in the interval he was explaining the story to Jim and got really into depth about the characters and had understood all of Shakesphere words (of which I had a few questions) he had also remembered and understood all the opera and there was one woman that I couldn’t understand. Am soo please we took him, maybe he will fit in at posh school!!!! I also think we may have to concede that Robin does want to be an actor and will probably always want to be an actor. Was late when we finished so we had mc donalds and back to summer hill on train. My photos of the Sydney Bridge do not do it justice at night it is absolutely spectacular and the area around the opera house and bridge is very like canary wharf.The trains here deserve a mention too, not only are they very clean, they are double deckers, We were in shorts, tees and flip flops yesterday, much warmer than New Zealand, did not realise we liked the sun soo much. (less washing too!!)