Greetings from sunny Singapore.

Greatnan what a great picture you paint of Doubtful. It would be enough to see the dolphins playing, let alone all those majestic sights like the fjord and underground power station, which must look amazing.

Glad you enjoyed greatnan. 24 hours to remember.

Thank you Greatnan.

Yesterday I was pacifying my mother in hospital as she was expecting to leave for a care home but a tummy upset has delayed her departure a couple of days. Reading your post took me back to when we did the same trip and the sun shone and the dolphins played and it was wonderful. And I agree, we've crossed Norway off our list too - Doubtful really would take some beating.

I just wish my mum had had the courage to travel and have wonderful memories too to help her through the dark times she has to come.

Sounds wonderful, greatnan. Wish I could have been there

Correction - it was Lake Manapouri that. we cruised first, to the West Arm.

I can now cross Norway off my list of must- see places, after years of pining for the fiords! Today a coach picked me up at 7 a.m and took me to the boat for an hours cruise up Lake Te Anau, then we transferred to another coach for the drive to the head of the fiord - Doubtful Sound. The boat was very comfortable with free tea and coffee on tap - I had ordered a packed lunch which proved to be substantial! You will know what fiords are - very deep inlets of the sea with mountains rising sheer from the water. Doubtful did not disappoint and the bottle-nosed dolphins put on a playful display for us. There were seals basking on the islets at the outlet to the Tasman Sea. This is one of the wettest places on earth but today the sun shone. The sand flies did not bother me because I was wearing my new pink jacket and we were told they go for dark colours - or else they prefer young flesh.

On the way back they took us underground to a power station. I thought it might be claustrophobic but the generating room was like a huge cathedral.

So my road trip has been everything I could have hoped - I chatted to many different couples, from the USA, Australia, NZ and Britain, the hotels and meals have been very good and, of course, the scenery is breath-taking.
Tomorrow I will leave very early to start the 1,000 km journey back to Wakefield, but I will stay overnight around Frans Joseph.
I have a lot more plans before I leave on 25th March but I think next week I will just enjoy the garden and local walks.

Sandflies are NZ's way of stopping you sunbathing. If you keep walking they are too slow to find you. If you sit on the beach for 10 minutes they blunder up and sink their mouthparts into your leg.

Sandflies! Hope you don't get bitten, they are mostly on the West side , I was ok but DH had terrible ankles and lower leg bites, drove him mad with irritation, he picked them up at a camp site on Arthur's Pass, the owner had some excellent ? special sand fly herbal repellent which was brilliant.
Ever after that , wherever we were people looked at his bites, nodded wisely and said, " ah, sand flies from South Island" !!

What a wonderful picture you paint Greatnan I am thoroughly enjoying reading about your travels.

Oh Greatnan, you have bought back memories of our wonderful long holiday in NZ/Oz of just three years ago, so many thanks.
We had a camper van in South Island, stayed at Te Anau and did the fantastic all day trip to Doubtful Sound, the hydro electric power station and boat trip out to the sea. Lucky enough to have 36 deg of heat and sunshine!
Also visited Cromwell, and agree with your comments, charming.
Queenstown was delightful and Skippers Canyon, a very scary small bus trip into the canyon and on the fast boats up the river.
I did all that except D. Sound (Milford Sound instead) when I was 22 , on a young people package from Oz where I had been working! Great to return at 62, in more comfort with my DH!
Looking forward to more of your travel information, please.

I loved your blog, Jess - especially the dog's expression.
Most small towns here seem to consist of one main street with single-storey wooden buildings - you expect to hear a honky- tonk piano from the saloon

There is a waterfall near my daughter's house and the walls around it are covered in that thick moss.

I am 72, nfk, and I still enjoy white water rafting plus a few other pursuits that worry my daughter. I am planning to do some of them at the Buller Gorge before I go back to France. As long as you are physically able, I would not let age stop you doing anything. I will not be bungee jumping because I think it is dangerous.

On the way to Doubtful our driver stopped the coach to show us a 'moss garden' - entirely natural - a display of many different and multi coloured mosses. Beautiful, and flourishing in the extremely wet climate.

It sounds wonderful, Greatnan, glad you're enjoying yourself

Have a great time Greatnan. Can't wait to see more of your lovely photos

greatnan - glad you are headed to Doubtful. Its in one of the wettest spots on the planet, so I hope you get one of the dry days. One of the bits that sticks in my mind is when they take you in a small boat up to the edge of the fiord, and point out that the cliff is a kilometre high. Your brain wants it to be more like 100m. Astounding.
Here is a link to a blog I wrote in 2009 - the photo shows the frontier architecture, even in parts of the capital city.
mywellingtonblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009_05_01_archive.html

Oh, I remember Queenstown - it's fantastic! We went for horse riding. The stables picked us up from Queenstown (nearly an hours drive) gave us tea and biscuits, provided hats, boots, waxed jackets and carrots to give the horses. Very good BIG horses. We wondered why there were no ponies and found out as we forded fast flowing mountain rivers with the water coming half way up their bellies. DH is an under duress horse rider and daren't lift his feet. He confirmed the water was definitely ice melt!

We also went white water rafting and jet boating. (We were ten years younger)

It's such an incredibly beautiful area too, especially Doubtful.

Today I came to Queenstown via Cromwell, which is billed as an historic town because the oldest building dates from 1873. Many of the shops, grain store, forge, saloon, are preserved and it is very charming, like a Wild West frontier town.
Queenstown was built by gold miners but now is entirely dependent on tourism. It is on the shores of a huge lake (I have just had a 90 minute cruise) and surrounded by mountains. It is very warm and sunny but gets very cold in Winter.
Now I am off for my final drive, to the tiny town of Te Anau, where I will be picked up by coach tomorrow at 7 a.m. to take the cruise on Doubtful Sound.
I am just soaked in beautiful views!

Freezing, very overcast and miserable here in Norfolk today, but you've stirred pleasant memories of a lovely country. Thank you.

As I cannot post photos on here, I suggest anybody who would like to see the area looks on Google for Fox Glacier, Franz Josef, Haast, Wanaka, and Doubtful Sound - you will see professional photos which are much better than mine!

We often go to Motueka as it is quite close to Wakefield where my daughter lives. The coast of the Abel Tasman national park is lovely. On Sunday we all went to a restaurant where they keep live eels in a stream and you can feed them - they are not on the menu!. I love Matua as well - the fish and chips on the quay are legendary.
I am off to explore some of the routes in the Aspiring Mountain Range today, then back for a dip in the hotel's hot pool before dinner!
It's a tough job,but somebody has to do it!

I do hope you enjoyed Doubtful Sound as much as we did. A fantastic experience. I think we went to Motueka too - is that where those incredible boulders are?

That sounds like NZ. Went to one in Takaka (Golden Bay) where the seating was on old sofas.

Oh, we were going to go over to Haast from Wanaka but there was a ferocious wind that week and it would have been dangerous. Reading your description, I almost wish we'd risked it! Instead we picnicked at Lake Hawea, watching a man doing amazing kite surfing stunts. Yes, Jess the wee cinema at Wanaka is attached to a bar where you can buy a pizza and eat it while watching the film. The seats there looked as if they had been rescued from a tip and one was an old Morris Minor, without its engine.

Sounds lovely great nan enjoy,