Blog22 Friday 9th November onwards

From Wanaka
we headed up along the stunning (sorry adjectives are definitely a problem in NZ as all the superlatives are understatements here) West Coast. This time it was the glacier experience at Fox Glacier (and the Imax version of the Franz Joseph Glacier to be realistic about timing).

Fish and chips in the fresh air set us up for a zoom through to the gold mining time of Ross as Esme was determined to give us the true West Coast experience of an old two-storey pub, hopefully complete with bar brawl. Hysterics set in as the reality of exactly that became evident. You could have a room with bed + basin or light or mirror but not all three, but as most of the other rooms were empty (wonder why?) we dipped in an out of them for whatever was needed. The communal ladies had a loo but no lock and a shower but not basin and not much in the way of hot water. Having sorted ourselves out briefly we went down to see what was doing in town. The locals are real goldminers and we discovered that even when almost horizontally drunk it was possible for them to sing brilliantly and play the guitar with some style. Rene stole the show with his superlative guitar playing whilst sober and we truly had a great evening there. To top it all once we had retired from the scene at about midnight the party continued in full flood and they even crescendoed to the bar brawl with thumpings, crashings and swearings going on below as we grinned ecstatically above.

Breakfast next day was served in the sunshine on our personal verandah

upstairs overlooking the new lake (filled in gold mine) and we had the pleasure of whitebait fritters a rare and valuable treat given out very sparingly on the back of Rene's playing and Esme's singing I think.

OK onwards via another goldmining town where we picked up an Emmylou Harris CD to play whilst we skimmed through the mountains and then via the Pancake Rock formation

and a walk along the cliff top there and on to Nelson, a fine seaside town which is famed for its artists and craftsmen living the area. This time we went to the other extreme and stayed in a sumptuously comfortable b&b with a super helpful host and hostess and were soon able to cope with the paraphernalia of luxury living (washbasin, mirror and light all ensuite) and found a great seafood restaurant for our first 'dressed up' dinner with R and E.

More to follow but I must go now to see what action is out there for today for us.