"I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page…”

“…and I could do anything I wanted."

 It’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally finished CB’s scarf!

It’s really soft and the colours are so pretty and really catch the sun. It’s difficult to photograph the colours accurately but take my word for it!

Something I didn’t immediately notice was how cool the packaging for the wool is. The wool is Possum and Merino blend and the back of the label has some really interesting facts:

The use of Brushtail Possum fur helps New Zealand’s ecosystem! Brushtail Possum consume 21,000 metric tonnes every 24 hours, and native bird species face habitat destruction and nest invasion. The NZ Brushtail Possum population is 70 million, compared with 4.4 million humans.

This is my contact with Possums (other than seeing them as road kill throughout the country):

I’ve been wanting to get this scarf finished as I ordered the wool for my next five projects. Yes five. FIVE. It’s been a test of willpower not to cast on anything else before getting this scarf finished, but now I can jump into these lovely skeins:

Or these beautiful bright shades:

Or these sensible, rich colours:

Mmmmm….wool-porn….



*Quote from Jack Kerouac

“Everything will turn out alright…”

“…the world is built on that.”

I have talked at length about the amazing month-long holiday I recently took to New Zealand, but please allow me another post that references it.

As I mentioned here, CB and I had been searching in every wool shop we could find for something to float his woollen-scarf boat. Eventually we found this lovely shop:

And found some rather nice wool:

It took two trips to Fjordland House for CB to finally choose, but I think he chose wisely. He went with two colours – Oceanwave and Pukeko Blue – of a merino and brush possum blend. It has a vague halo and is nice and soft. I think it will make a lovely scarf, very warm and fuzzy.

As he’s a boy and he’s boring, CB didn’t want any kind of fancy scarf. He also made it clear that he wanted a scarf, not a cowl. This was one of the reasons we opted for two colours – if I can’t do an eye-catching pattern at least it can have a more interesting colour palate.

He agreed to the Rimu DK Ribbed Scarf (link here) which I think is a good mix of being reasonable plain and yet has a nice texture. CB also wanted a long and wide scarf so hopefully this fits the bill for that as well.

The wool did take a bit of beating flying home:

From this...

...to this!

But I’ve started knitting with it and it’s all going well. I wanted the darker blue at each end of the scarf so I weighed and split the ball. I should have counted lines really but I’m sure doing it by eye will work fair enough. The ribbing is very stretchy (obviously) so I will block it out to ensure the scarf is wide enough. 

Sorry I don’t have another FO to show you, but hopefully it won’t be too long until I can post the scarf shots!


*Quote from Mikhail Bulgakov

“Farewell sweet earth...”

"... and northern sky"

(Should really be southern sky, you you gotta work with what you got)


One last New Zealand post to show our route in full:

North Island

South Island

Copyright blah blah blah for our annotated Rough Guide maps. 


*Quote from J.R.R. Tolkien

“I am glad you are here with me…”

“…Here at the end of all things, Sam.”

1. Friday 17th March

Left Wanaka for Queenstown. We stopped by Arrowtown but bypassed the Chinese village (not enough time!) and wandered along the river there, re-enacting LotR once again ("If you want him, come and claim him!")

We also stopped by Kawarau Bridge where AJ Hackett do their bungee jumping. We stopped to get a great view of the river for another LotR moment - the river Anduin and (I think) the Gates of Argonath.

It felt like the beginning of the end of the holiday at this point so I think we tried to squeeze all we could out of where we went. Alas, Queenstown proved a little tricky for us to do that.

There’s surprisingly little to do in Queenstown if you’re not into thrill-seeking or skydives etc. And what there is left to do is really expensive! For instance, we could have got the cable car (or ‘gondola’ as they call it *eye roll*) but at NZ$30 a pop we decided against it.

2. Saturday 18th March
Queenstown again. We should have walked up into the mountains today, but we just didn’t want to! The sun was shining and we weren’t very enthused by the City, so we just basked in the sunshine and did puzzles. So rock and roll.

3. Sunday 19th March
We drove to Te Anau – not a lot there either to be honest, but there are fantastic views. We also went to the cinema to watch Ata Whenua – Shadowland, a 30min cinematographic film of the fjordland which was absolutely fantastic. Whet the whistle for Milford Sound, even if we knew we wouldn’t be able to get to the incredible unexplored country in the film.

We also visited the Punanga Manu o Te Anau (Te Anau Bird Sanctuary) which was well worth a stop. We didn't get to see Kiwis as we didn't visit at the right time of day, but we did see paradise shelducks, käkäs (forest parrots), and (stars of the show) gorgeous big blue flightless takahë.

On the way to Te Anau we drove out along a long gravel road to see the Mavora Lakes. About 10mins along the road I was regretting it, but honestly the views and the peace are so worth it. We stopped for a picnic by the water and quoted the Fellowship of the Ring at each other (Mavora Lakes is where they shot the scene at the end when Frodo tries to leave without Sam, and Sam runs into the water after him and almost drowns and I’m TEARING UP AT THE THOUGHT).

4. Monday 20th March
Driving from Te Anau to Milford Sound – there are so many stops and walks and things to pick and choose from! We saw the mirror lakes:

Saw some ridiculously tall waterfalls:

This is the mid-section.
Imagine it going further up and further down.

Some beautiful woodland:

And amazing rapids and rock erosion at the Chasm:

Everything is so beautiful, every sight and colour and view is turned up to 11.

5. Tuesday 21st March
Our first night in Milford Sound was in a shared dorm. We were in with two other people who both took the bottom bunks and who both snored. Never again!

The boat trip today completely made up for it though. We ummed and ahhed about which time to go (weather was cloudy but supposedly clearing later in the day) and we lucked out as we chose the perfect time and the perfect trip.

We went in the middle of the afternoon when the clouds had cleared, and we paid extra and went on the smallest boat. We got soaked by a 'waterfall of youth' and saw some happy-go-lucky dolphins too.

 

We also got dropped at the Discovery Centre when everyone else had left so we had the run of the place and all the fishies to ourselves!

I loved it. Loved it. I wouldn’t want to live here though – they had 21 straight days of heavy rain in summer, 200 days of rain a year (7+metres) and if there’s no rain for 6 days it’s officially classed as a drought! It is beautiful when it rains, but I think that kind of drizzle would get you down after a while.

6. Wednesday 22nd March
Te Anau again!

This time we got stuck into the wool shop! We had been looking in every wool shop in every town, but CB is unpredictably picky about wool. He wanted it really soft, certain colours, and not too expensive. Well I’m sorry bub but that doesn’t exist! We did find some he liked, after coming and going and coming back. Possum and Merino mix.

I’ll write another bloglet when I get round to knitting it into his NZ scarf…

7. Thursday 23rd March
We had originally planned to go back to Queenstown for our last couple of nights, stay in a fancy hotel and enjoy ourselves. But, as we didn’t love the city on our first try we weren’t about to waste our last couple of nights there!

Instead we drove to the other side of the island and visited Dunedin! 100% one of the best decisions we made. The drive was long and flat and without many stops (though we did get through a significant number of Bruce Springsteen albums) but we made it to Taiaroa Head for a late lunch. Looking out onto the seals and albatross, we knew we had made a good decision!

Hungry for more wildlife, we drove back south to Sandfly Bay and settled down to watch the sunset and the penguins come in. Top tip #whatever number we’re up to – Sandfly Bay is named for the flying sand, not the biting buggers. So me getting bug spray in my eye was entirely unnecessary.

We spent a good few hours there but couldn’t find the bird hide (turns our it’s closed) and I wonder if us being there scared the penguins off. We did see one. One crazy Yellow-Eyed Penguin scrambling up a near-vertical sand dune. That’s perseverance, my friend.

8. Friday 24th March
Dunedin is lovely. It’s very steep and pretty windy, but it feels familiar, it feels like I could live there.

We visited the Chinese Gardens first, which are meticulously put together to be true to its roots (geddit?) and it absolutely pays off. It’s beautiful, peaceful, and educational. Another happy place.

We spent hours in the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, which was absolutely fantastic. Better than I thought it would be, and I didn’t think it would be bad! We saw detritus from the settlers and read about the history of Otago, and then passed into the ‘modern’ exhibition. I always think these aren’t as good, but this was fantastic! I learnt so much about the modern history of New Zealand and about The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (Dunedin Study) which sounds boring but was so good I will now spend about 3 hours reading about it online. Excuse me.

We ended the day at Speights Brewery, a tour of the facilities and then an open bar.

I liked that. I liked that a lot.

9. Saturday 25th March
We had to leave Dunedin reasonably early to drive back to Queenstown to fly home L

Bought last minute gifts and snacks (including a nail-biting ride to make it to a LotR store before dropping Ron the Porn Car back in time) but honestly the less said the better. I had a cold, CB had a bad tummy, and we were both sad to be leaving a country we had adored so much.

10. Sunday 26th March
Flying, then home.

New Zealand, thank you for one of the best months of my life.

I will return.




*Quote from J.R.R. Tolkien

“You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish…”

“…And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.”

Apparently this is taking me a long time to say - I hope it is worth it!

Now where were we...

1. Friday 10th March
Motueka – we got an Aqua Taxi to Bark Bay in Abel Tasman (a brilliantly named national park) and walked 22km back to where we parked the car. 

It was a longer walk than the 19.4km hike up Tongariro, but because it was pretty much flat most of the way it was far more pleasant and less exhausting. My feet were throbbing by the end of it though!

2. Saturday 11th March
It rained like hell all day. And it turns out there’s not much to do in Motueka in the rain. We drove out for a bit and saw Golden Bay (as the name implies, I’m sure this place is better seen in the sun) and we drove over Takaka Hill and saw a beautiful grotto of limestone rocks with trees growing out of them. Creepy and beautiful, though pictures didn’t come out (for which I blame the rain).

It was a shame the day was a bit of a washout but I think rest days were good for us, and I still just enjoy having a lark with CB.

3. Sunday 12th March
Rain continued sadly, but at least we were driving for a fair few hours on to Greymouth. We stopped off at Pancake Rocks which were absolutely fantastic, and we saw dolphins and a couple of wekas!

Greymouth is dull as hell. We walked about in the rain and filled our pockets with any stone that looked remotely green until we were severely weighted down.

CB selecting the perfect 'greenstone'

Not our smartest hobby but it was very funny!

4. Monday 13th March
We left the drab pit that is Greymouth for the day and drove to Hokitika to see the gorge. The water is so incredibly blue because of suspended rock particles from the glacier (glacial flour). Bastard sand-flies were out in force though. Tip #3 be aware of sand-flies at all times. And kill them.

We continued driving to the Franz Josef glacier which had retreated a lot over the years but is still really cool and surprisingly pretty.

CB cleverly brought some binoculars so we got to see the detailing of the ice. Major cool points.

5. Tuesday 14th March
We left Greymouth for good and did not look back.

We stopped just into Arthur’s Pass and walked up the Devil’s Punchbowl (great name) track up to a waterfall. The waterfall was beautiful, but the path up was horrific! All very steep steps leading up. I wanted to kill CB but, as he was in charge of the driving, I didn’t.

We also stopped at some amazing rock formations at Castle Hill Rock and at Peel Forest where we saw some enormous trees and native trees and woodland.

None of my pictures reflect just how incredible these trees are!

My favourite part was the birdcalls, which were so loud, so clear, so melodic, and so numerous.

We arrived at Lake Tekapo about 6pm and instantly fell in love with the place.

There had been thick black cloud cover most of our journey and we had resigned ourselves to the fact that stargazing would be cancelled. However, as we drove over the mountains, the skies suddenly cleared into beautiful sunshine.

The good weather also meant that stargazing went ahead! There was 80-90% visibility (I.e. no cloud) and we could see hundreds of stars. We would have been able to see more but the moon was so full and so bright! It did mean we got a breathtaking view of the moon through the telescopes though.

The 2 hours flew by. We saw Alpha Centuri, and Sirius, and Orion (AKA the Pot when in the Southern hemisphere!) as well as the Orion Nebula, Jewel Box Star Cluster and a Globular Star Cluster. And Jupiter. And 3 of Jupiter’s moons.

6. Wednesday 15th March
Tekapo is really small, with about 300 permanent residents. It’s hemmed in by mountains and has the bluest lake which winks at you in the sunlight. It is my version of heaven on earth. When people tell me to go to my happy place, Tekapo is where I will now go.

We just spent the day relaxing in the sun by the lake, chatting about life and doing puzzles. And I could have stayed forever.

7. Thursday 16th March
Sadly we had to leave Tekapo quite early in order to make our next trip – a boat trip on a glacial lake in Twizel. I hated leaving Tekapo, but I must admit I wasn’t disappointed by the lake. I love boat trips anyway, but the views we got of the glacier and the information we learnt about the icebergs (plus we got to eat icebergs – no joke!) really took this to the next level.

We arrived in Wanaka early enough for a bit of a flop on the bed for a little bit as we were both exhausted, but dragged ourselves up for a wander around the town along the lake.

Again, I seem to have written for longer than intended… Until next time!

*Quote from J.R.R. Tolkien