New Zealand Trip 14
My New Zealand trip inspired 28 pages of journal and hundreds of photos. I had to select among the photos. The last shall be first on this blogsite, so to follow my progress day by day go to number 1 in the New Zealand theme.. Each text page is followed by a photo page.
(continued) My big task for that day was to find a better day bag. The cheap disposals bag I had bought the week before was not convenient at all. I found a bargain priced daypack at Macpac and joined their discount club and saved some more.
The day was sunny and I took more shots around the Cathedral. They don’t mind people taking photos inside so I got photos of the stained glass windows. Without a tripod many failed but the rose window turned out well because I jammed the camera against a pillar to steady it. I spoke briefly with a woman from
I bumped into Tess on the street but she was meeting a young cousin.
At the iSite I booked for Deco Backpackers in Queenstown where Elaine had asked me to stay and also booked a bus ticket, for the next day. A morning’s walking had tired me so I spent the afternoon reorganizing my things and napping.
My room mates this time were two German girls and a very smart young man from
For dinner I returned to the Sampan and was delighted to find Jin Zhen Gu and Hai Xia on the menu. The first are ‘Real Gold Mushrooms’ and the second is prawns. They were stir fried together in a savoury sauce. I had a bowl of jirou mitang as well, the usual chicken and corn soup.
It was great fun playing at talking Chinese again and one of the waitresses encouraged me with her sense of humour. She’s a Shanghainese who is studying nursing by day and waitressing at night. She looks about 16 but is 25. Another girl, from
All of my battery powered appliances were charged for me by the people at Charlie’s front desk and I set my phone alarm for 7.00a.m. to get my bus on time. I chatted briefly with Sue online and rapidly proofread a short document for her. She translated it really well.
Mystical Mountains Everything looks like that to me if I get up early.
[General comments: Charlie B’s is not suitable for old or infirm travellers because the bathroom floors are very slippery, stainless steel in the shower cubicles and smooth lino to step onto. I feel very much at peace in
Day fifteen
My alarm functioned perfectly and I rose and checked out of Charlie B’s and made my way down the street with time to have another excellent omelette at the same café before catching my bus to Queenstown. Harrumph!
Feeling good from my breakfast I arrived at the bus stop and had been standing there for ten minutes when the woman who sold me my ticket came out of the shop and uttered the ominous words, ‘Why are you standing here. Are you waiting for a bus?’
I replied, ‘Yes. I’m going to Queenstown.’
Once again the time on my phone was one hour behind. This time it was no-one’s fault but mine. Not true! My research now shows me I was still under the impression daylight saving had finished but it had not, not till April when I was back home. That phone company made a huge mistake in adjusting by the old rules.
She told me there was only one more bus to Queenstown but not with that company. It leaves at ten o’clock so I had about forty-five minutes. I would have to go to the iSite in the Square to book it and hurry to the stop in a street leading off the Square. I hurried off, bought the ticket and waited twenty minutes until the bus arrived a little late. (to be continued)