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Maybe not Gordon's last trip
Well as usual, I seem to veer from a few quiet days to periods of untramelled action.
Monday, left Christchurch by car, drove across moors and past blue/green lakes to the foothills of Mount Cook. Parts of the trip reminded me of Rannoch Moor but here the sun shone and water glistened.
Made it, in the late evening to Omarama - in the middle of nowhere - which claims to be one of the best centres in the world for gliding so..............
The following morning I made my first ever flight, to 5,000 feet, in a glider coasting over green and brown hills and seeing MOunt Cook in the distance from a whole different point of view. Great fun and not at all frightening for someone who claims to suffer from motion sickness.
Drove on the same day to the coast where I lunched on Bluff oysters and watched an albatross wheeling gracefully over an empty beach before I moved on to Dunedin - the Scottish town. Every street seems to be named after some part of the 'Auld Country' and in the morning it even rained like it does in Scotland.
(My accent, by the way, hasn't done me any harm down here - one hotelier, because they thought their own rates were too high for me, called another hotel nearby and found me a cheaper room!)
Left the rain behind and drove to Milford Sound to arrive at 4 pm and find out that there was no accomodation to be had for 60 miles around, that I would either have to sleep in the car and take a cruise in the morning or jump the last boat out that night and then drive back over the mountains.
Took the latter option and was doubly glad as I was able to see the stunning waterfalls, clad in rainbows, falling into the fjords and watch the sun setting on the waves before I landed.
Thought I deserved a slower start today but in the event I arrived in Queenstown in time to take a Jet Boat trip out on the lake and into the river canyons on the other side.
Back is still smarting from the bumps as the boat hit every wave on the way across the lake and tomorrow I'll probably be walking very carefully but it was worth every penny.
Tomorrow offers, sky diving, horse riding or glacier walking so we will see how much adrenalin I can afford to give to the venture.
Last question. Who do you think are the most noisy, pushy, difficult, inconsiderate nation of travellers you will ever meet?
Germans? Americans? Brits? 'The French' ?
No. Its the Japanese.
Collectively they are like a plague on the earth. Everywhere you go they are there in dozens snapping everything from each other, to the food they are eating, the buses they are sitting in and the luggage they are carrying.
And boy, do they make a noise when they pile their stuff in the hotel corridors at 4.30 am 'cause they have a plane to catch'.
They are maybe not alone however as here is a little example of the only rude NZ person I have met so far.
In a cafe in the middle of nowhere I asked for a bacon sandwich.
Answer "I suppose I could but these are my sandwich fillings" she said giving me the list.
"I see" said I, "but there is no bacon here"
"No" she said, having made her point "but I'll make you one anyway".
Lovely.
G
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