Christchurch, Sunday… last day of tour

 As we left Lake Tekapo this morning we stopped to see the quaint little church, the Church of the Good Shepherd. It was built of locally gathered stone and oak, erected as a tribute to the early pioneers of the region. Nearby was the statue of a dog to remember the working dogs required in early settlement days.

Beautiful views across the lake as the sun rose and we set off for Christchurch.

Stopped at Geraldine for morning tea. We had an hour and a half here which was a much longer stop than we had previously been given. It was a pretty enough little place but not a thriving metropolis. I loved all the painted posters on the supermarket wall. Photos didn’t come out all that well though because of the sun but you should get to read many of them.

Once back on the coach, our long morning tea stop made sense, as Di announced that she and Tui had decided to now drive straight through to Christchurch, meaning that we would arrive there about 1.15pm instead of the planned 3pm. This meant that we would would not be stopping anywhere for lunch which would normally have meant an hour or so break. This doesn’t go down well with me, as I’m booked into an airport hotel for overnight as I have a 6.05am flight out in the morning. I doubted our rooms would be ready when we arrived 2 hours early and it also meant 2 hours more in an airport hotel that wouldn’t be near anything of interest.

We did actually stop at a little place purely for a toilet break so I took the opportunity to ask Di about what are we meant to do if our rooms aren’t ready now we will be arriving so much earlier. She said the hotel had a nice reception area but I told her that wasn’t any comfort, plus we did not get a lunch break so would be trapped at a hotel, without any choice. She told me that there was a Countdown supermarket nearby! This store has the same brand logo as Woolies so I figure it is a sister company, as there are no Woolworths supermarkets in NZ. Clearly Di got the message I wasn’t impressed so said she would call the hotel to confirm we needed rooms ready for an earlier check in.

Back on the coach and off we go. Eventually Di wandered down to the back of the bus where I was to say that the hotel would try to have the rooms ready. Not good enough especially when I found out that she was getting dropped off at the airport as soon as we got to Christchurch as she was catching a plane to Auckland that afternoon. She wasn’t even staying on the coach to farewell us all as we got dropped off at different venues depending on our departure day and time… Overall very disappointed with both our tour guide and driver as previously Travelmarvel have provided top staff in both roles. I can’t blame everything on covid, but perhaps the company lost some of their better people as both Di and Tui were fairly new to the company and Di was definitely a brand new tour director as this was her first season.

Anyway, it was still pretty rural scenery for the rest of the drive. 

After an impromptu and chaotic photo of all the group when we arrived at the airport to drop off those departing this afternoon, D, G , Pat and I were dropped off at the Sudomo airport hotel. Once checked in to my room that was ready 🤓 I got online and checked in for tomorrow’s flights. Met the others for a wander towards the supermarket where there were a number of other food outlets. We had a Subway and soft drink for a late lunch and agreed to catch up about 6.30 to head over to the Chinese restaurant for our dinner. We will all need to be up about 3 am so there won’t be a late night, probably not much sleep either.

Lake Tekapo, Friday

 Happy St Patrick’s day if you’re Irish!

Got off to a good start and stopped at Baldwin Street which claims to be the most steep street in the world, averaging a rise of about 3 metres for every 1 metre. Some of our group walked it but I was happy to take photos from the bottom, especially when I saw the condition of a couple of them who had attempted the climb, and failed!

Then headed along the east coast and all was going well until the undercarriage of the coach sounded decidedly crook! Managed to snap the sway bar so we weren’t going anywhere further. Thankfully stopped near the small town of  Waikouaiti which we walked about 500 metres to, and found a little bakery for coffee and a finger bun. Loved the sign on the little shop that claimed to be world famous in New Zealand!

Needed to while away a good 90 plus minutes when the local school bus was commissioned to take us on to, however the best laid plans of mice and men did not bode well as the new driver simply drove us around a couple of blocks and back to our coach where we were all the required to get on our original coach as we were now informed that the coach was safe enough to take us to Oamaru where a replacement bus would come for us.

Talk about ‘Dad’s Army’! What a fiasco but every one managed to end up on the right bus and off we headed. Stopped to see the Moeraki Boulders on Koekohe Beach.

We finally got to Oamaru where we were to have lunch and look around waiting for our replacement coach. What an unusual place it was. It is Steam Punk capital along with magnificent early 1900s architecture. Was nice to wander about but we had all had enough by the time our new coach finally arrived.

Back on the coach and we are meant to go to Arrakis Mount Cook National park to view Australasia’s highest mountain but luck was against us as the weather turned bad and we had rain and grey skies with a lot of cloud cover. It was disappointing, but the decision was made to forego Mt Cook and head to our hotel in Lake Tekapo, especially as we were running late due to the coach breakdown. There was still some lovely scenery along the way when the sun would come out and we passed two huge lakes that fed some of the hydro electric stations.

Somewhere in the distance is Mt Cook.

We finally arrived at our accommodation for the last night of our tour and couldn’t believe our good fortune to be at Peppers Bluewater Resort. I had my very own 2 storey self contained apartment. Fabulous views from the first floor balcony and really well appointed.

We had our farewell buffet dinner in the restaurant and were treated to a lovely rainbow and then pink skies. What a lovely end to a ‘messy’ day, and a fitting last night to our tour.

Dunedin, Thursday

 Later start this morning, leaving the hotel at 8.30. Travelled through the countryside which as more rolling hills than mountains. Very pretty. Lots of deer, sheep and cattle, plus tree forests. 

Morning tea stop at Gore and then onto the east coast at Dunedin. It is known as the Edinburgh of the South supposedly due to the influx of miners during the gold rush, but apart from a statue of Robbie Burns and the architecture of some old churches I fail to see the Scottish connection.

 Had lunch at a little restaurant called Vault 21 and had perogi. They were delicious. We had hoped to go on a tour of Speights brewery which is the local beer, but unfortunately our tour guide Di let us down and missed us about with explanations of why she hadn’t been able to book it, even though Travelmarvel offer it and we confirmed with her the morning after the tour started that we wanted to do that optional tour. Anyway I tried to book-in for dinner there but they were booked out. Said to try the bar area as a walk in off the street and we might be lucky to get a table!

As we now had a free afternoon, I wandered up the Main Street, Princes Street for some retail therapy but was very disappointed. Bought absolutely nothing. Most of the stores were the same or very similar to home so no point buying anything here just to cart home.

Walked the short distance around the corner to Speights. Pat, who I’ve been sitting next to on the coach since South Island when the newbies joined us and filled the coach, came to dinner with us. We were fortunate enough to get a table upstairs. Had a really nice main meal, I had the rump steak (first red meat in a fortnight so not doing too good at keeping up my necessary iron intake) and a drink and then waddled back to our hotel to retire to our rooms at a reasonable hour.

Not that impressed with Dunedin so won’t need to rush back here, but it was nice having a few free hours to do my own thing. Last full day of our tour tomorrow so as they say in the classics, “All good things must come to an end”. As a repeat Travelmarvel traveller, the organisation of this tour has not been up to par. Di is clearly new at being a tour director and has lots of room for improvement. Tui is a satisfactory driver but waffles way too much on the microphone whilst driving. He and Di are not working as a team and as such our enjoyment of the tour has been affected due to the misinformation and lack of clarity for each day’s itinerary. We waited 4 years for this tour and it certainly has been good, but past experience shows that it should have been better. And on that note, I will have my nightcap and lights out.

Milford Sound, Wednesday

Early start again today, out of hotel and away in the coach by 7am in the dark, but we have quite bit of ground to cover, especially with so many road works and single lane traffic testrictions ahead as we head to Milford Sound. Morning tea stop of Te Anau where we will return for the evening. 

Very picturesque drive once the sun was up. Winding roads through Eglinton and Hollyford valleys with a stop at Mirror Lakes for a photo opportunity. 

Through the Homer tunnel which our driver said was 500 metres but seemed much longer than that.

Arrived at Milford Sound witha bit of time to spare before we head out on our 2 hour cruise which explored the full length of this pristine fiord. Shame there was a lot of cloud cover as more direct sunlight would really have made it magnificent. The brochure stated "See towering mountains climb straight out of the sea, be entranced by the verdant rainforest as it clings to sheer rockwalls and watch in awe as cascading waterfalls tumble hundreds of metres into the sea below." We certainly saw all of that, but without the awe and wow factor. 

Long 2 1/2 hour drive back to Te Anau where we have a really good buffet dinner, best yet as far as buffets go, with outstanding seafood chowder that would give the San Francisco chowder a run for its money! Time to head off to bed and aim for an early night, which doesn't always seem to happen. Good weather day again today that was a bit cool, but no rain, which is now forecast for tomorrow afternoon. We'll see...

And before I sign off for the day, “Happy heavenly birthday mum”.