Is this really summer - a cracker of a day!

At the Victoria Railway Hotel we awake to a 7⁰ morning.  With the forecast high of 21⁰ we are hoping for nice weather.
There is no street parking at the hotel so last night we park in the Council multi-store car park next to the hotel.  Only about 6 cars in there overnight. And when we checked out this morning before 9, there were probably less than 20. Seems strange as it is within a block of the start of the CBD.


We head off to take a few shots of the town area - and maybe our Mary would like this piece of public art that is adjacent to the Courthouse.
There are lots of memorial statues and the parks are stunning, but the commercial side of Invercargill is very depressed. 

Quite a bit of street art which we suspect is mirrored by body art given the number of tattoo parlours.  That and jewellery shops - go figure.

We head over to Invercargill's Queens Park which houses the Southland Museum. 
We kick start the morning with a light brunch in the Cafe.  The museumis another amazing collection of historic and contemporary displays including two that we spend quite a bit of time in - the Southlands War - WWI through the memories and memorabilia of local families; and Beyond the Roaring 40's which celebrates those stoic people who explored the subantarctic islands. There are so many amazing artefacts on display including a snow sled that is intact. This display is balanced with another that celebrates the region's maritime history.

I am amazed at the top third of the lighthouse that sits on Dog Island. The precision and beauty is stunning.  Made of brass and prismatic glass that is in parts more than an inch think, and in other areas fine enough that you would think a sneeze would shatter it!

It is these exhibits that really capture our interest and we spend a good few hours exploring and marvelling at the ingenuity and tenacity of the early explorers of this southern land.  

With a quick visit to see 'Henry' the 120+ year old Tuatara. Facing extinction, the Museum's successful breeding program is ensuring the very survival of this rather unique reptile.  They do not mature to reproductive age until they are about 70.  Just think about that - a 120 year old horny male!!!  You can read more of Henry at their website.

It is after midday when we leave and that was reluctantly.  We head over to the Bill Richard's Transport Museum.  This is another goldmine for Michael to explore and as we want to get to Bluff and have lunch, I give him a one-hour deadline.  I'll let him tell you about what he saw:

This museum and the one I saw at Wanaka are as different as chalk and cheese. The Bill Richard's Transport Museum is indeed a sight to behold, apart from being housed under one massive roof the exhibits are in pristine condition and most are in running order.

The first section of the museum is dedicated to Ford automobiles, which is a chronological history starting from Henry Ford's first vehicle through to the Ford racing stable. Every conceivable Ford motor car is on display and gleaming. It can be likened to admiring the exhibits in a dealers floor plan. The floors are of highly polished concrete which virtually mirror the exhibits.

Moving into the next section is an array of heavy vehicles. Trucks of different types are represented, and not only Ford. Single chassis trucks, buses and prime movers including Leyland, Albion, Packard, Le France and a rare 1911 Stewart, just to name a few. I was thrilled to find examples which my late father had driven in the 60's and 70's. These being Leyland 'Octo' and 'Mantador', and a Thames 'Trader' all looking resplendent in their respective liveries.

Moving on as time was getting away, I entered another section dedicated to agriculture, firefighting and earthmoving. Unfortunately, my time here had expired whereby I didn't get the opportunity to view the recreational and general sedans,wagons and saloons. Ce la vie! However,should you visit New Zealand, head to Invercargill and this magnificent museum.

So just after 1 pm we head south to Stirling Point. A quick dash up Bluff Hill gives us amazing views over the Forveaux Strait, the township of Bluff with its fishing port and long jetty - probably as long as the Urangan Pier usually was.  There is also a famous lands end signpost that mirrors the one in the northernmost part of Scotland!

There is a really well known restaurant here - the Oyster Cove - famous for Oysters (der) and we are headed here for lunch.  Even though it has gone after 2 pm, there are still a number of people having lunch, and more continue to arrive as we eat.


Michael started with the Oysters - not Bluff Oysters unfortunately as the season doesn't open until - wait for it - tomorrow! So he has to settle for Pacific Oysters.  Still ever so fresh.  Served with natural Malt vinegar salt, watercress butter, toasted bread.  I had the home baked Thyme & Sea Salt Loaf Spiced red onion-beetroot jam, watercress butter, sweet pepper pesto. HUGE.  Enough for probably four! Hot, buttery and delicious.

AND we had ordered a main!  We both chose Classic Blue Cod - Crisp lager battered Blue Cod, kiwi slaw, game chip basket, house made tartare, malt vinegar emulsion.  At this point we determine

that this is lunch and dinner.  The food was amazing. The Blue Cod so fresh, white and clear in taste.

Finally done with lunch after 3:30 pm we head down for a selfie at the signpost and then leave to head to Blaclutha for the night.  We are basing ourselves here for the next couple of days while we explore the amazing coastal area known as The Caitlins.

We are staying in a unit on the property called Blair Atholl - yes more links with Scotland, and owned by Jared and Karla McPhee.  Karla is an advisor employed by the local Council and delivery services to small businesses for the state government -really small world isn't

it!!  we are still full from lunch and about 9:30 pm just have a little of the orchard stonefruit we bought in Arrowtown and some cheese and crackers.

All in all, a cracker of a day. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Friendly locals give us lots of tips

Anne at the Mossburn Railway Hotel had suggested the trip to Doubtful Sound and when we went over for a nip after returning from Milford Sound yesterday, we shared a table briefly with Gerard.  He is a former dairy farmer, who now drives livestock trucks and in his other life shows dogs with his wife and loves to surprise her with little getaways - like to see the Lupins in bloom.  A real diamond in the rough! He and Michael got talking about planes.  And all of a sudden, the rest of our trip could be planned around any number of air museums. Gerard also had a number of other suggestions like routes to follow. Unfortunately, we won't have enough time to do it all!



So this morning we head off from Mossburn and head south towards Invercargill planning a couple of stops in between.  The landscape has changed quite a bit - it has mellowed from the big rocky hills to more mature, weathered and flattened lush farmlands.  Sure there are still hills in the background, but the are rounded and rolling. The 'long white cloud' is still visible and now I get the meaning for New Zealanders

- each day starts and ends with the cloud.  Its like it wraps the landscape daily, keeping it secure for the new day's dawning. 

I make a quick toilet stop in Lumsden where Michael spies my namesake street!

The views are more pastoral with everything that comes with that - roadside mailboxes, cattle underpasses between milking shed and pastures, amazing fir tree hedges that provide windbreaks to the fields. Field after field of swedes grown as feed for the sheep. And those delightful bucolic smells.

The first planned stop is at the Croydon Aviation Heritage Museum at Mandeville.  The GPS takes us via an unplanned detour - as they sometimes have want to do. Funnily, it detoured about 1.6 kms from the museum! Travelled an extra 40 kms!!
Once back on the highway we turn one last corner to then view the museum.

The Croydon Aviation Heritage Museum is a homage to the biplane with not one, not two, not three but FOUR tiger moths!

(Michael)  This a 'flying' museum, with each of the exhibits bearing an airworthy clearance. However, there are a couple of the exhibits which are undergoing restoration to full airworthiness. 

The museum demands thorough investigation to fully appreciate the decades of effort injected to maintain this caliber of excellence. The aircraft are dutifully maintained and the flying hours carefully husbanded. The care and attention taken gives the impression that the aircraft have just emerged from the factory floor. Most of the aircraft are a representation from the De Havilland and Auster stables. Albeit, there are aircraft from contemporary eras as well, such as an Aermacchi M-346 and a Pitts S-2A two seater. Other aircraft from specialised interests includes a reproduction of the 1910 Pither monoplane, whereby making its inaugral and only flight in 2010. The other is a homebuilt, an Williams Mk4 Microlight constructed and flown in 1991. 

Visitors are given a treat of gaining access to the maintenance hanger where repairs, reconstructions and complete rebuilds are effected. Upon entering this hanger, the aroma of wood, sawdust and glue is like a sweet smelling bouquet. As I was standing in awe, I noticed at one end of the hanger a recognisable cigar shaped fuselage of a typical monocoque construction and the familiar De Havilland rudder. I enquired from one of the fuse techs as to the identity of this mystery work in progress. A mystery in progress indeed, as the tech said that they are in the process of building a replica De Havilland DH 88 Comet racer. I stood in absolute silence, as it was further revealed the project is expected to be completed in five years. This time frame is dependent upon sourcing the original Gypsy 6R engines. Apparently, attention to detail is paramount.

Recovering sufficiently, I left the hanger and made my way to the museum and my Maria.

I must admit - I was truly p*ssed off when Michael asked whether he could go up on a flight only to be told no, there was no flying today. They are working on a restoration for an owner that wants it asap. They advertise flights available and are obviously happy to forgo not a small flying fee. One would think that any aficionado would understand a visitor from afar, a yearning and make it possible. Not a good leaving feeling guys.


From here it is a short drive to the next town of Gore.  The Gore Visitor Centre and Museum is a homage to the history of the area with some very interesting displays. It centres on the every day with home and commerce exhibitions filled with the familiar and not so known items.  Not dissimilar to our Brennan and Geraghty's Museum at home.  There is a section devoted the the local history of Scouting - another parallel with our home lives and how the movement featured in the advertising for the local cereal brand!

This centre is also the home of the Hokonui Moonshine Museum that explains the links with Scotland (more than once we have drawn parallels with Scotland in the scenery down here) and Scottish settlers - with the stills and the whiskey recipes that they brought with them and the ingenious ways they beat the temperance movement during the 50 odd years of prohibition.  Very interesting and the wee dram sampled at the end while not as smooth as its aged cousins from the motherland was definitely very drinkable!

A quick trip across the road to the Eastern Southland Gallery was a real eye opener. No photos obviously as it is an art gallery.  There are three displays - the John Money Wing and Ralph Hotere Gallery and in the temporary space is an exhibition of Rod Eales works.  John Money was the patron of both the artists and his amazing collection of artefacts - mainly carvings - from across the world is stunning.

The it is on to Invercargill for the night and tomorrow.  We are booked in to the historic Victoria Railway Hotel that once upon a time sat across the street from the railway station that is now a YMCA centre.  We venture into town looking for a dinner restaurant. The town is tired and a little grubby with lots of vacant commercial shops.  The local Council is busy replacing stormwater in the CBD, again links with home lol.

In the end we settle on a Pinch of Spice - an Indian restaurant that turned out to be a great choice.  It was spotless, the service very attentive and the food wonderfully tasty.

We began with a Tandoor tasting plate of chicken, lamb kabob, fish and prawns and followed that with Chicken Chettinad and Beef Rogan Josh served with Basmati rice and a roti and a paratha.  Delicious!

Off to plan the next couple of days now - our time is flying by!

The day that almost wasn't

Last night we came back to our room to book for Doubtful Sound.  Only we can't.  Surely both operators can't be fully booked out? Surely.  And then we are watching the local news and learn that there has been a major slip on the road that goes over the Wilmot Pass after 330 mm of rain in two hours yesterday.  Last night, 400 tourists were airlifted off

the mountain, well into the night!  And another 90 hikers from the Milford walking track when a stream rose 9 m.
Many people had suggested that the Doubtful Sound cruise was better than the Milford Sound one because of the extended trip - by boat from Lake Manapouri, then by coach over Wilmot Pass and on reaching Deep Cove, by catamaran for a three hour cruise that takes in the most dramatic scenery of Doubtful Sound.

However, the next trip is Thursday and even that is not a given and very dependent on the road being able to be cleared. So instead we look to book for Milford Sound.  And many of these tours are fully booked too - crikey! We manage to book a tour with Real Journeys departing at 1:45 pm. Not so bad as it is a three hour drive from Mossburn to Milford.


The hotel does not serve breakfast, and suggests the Dome Cafe around the corner.  We settle in to eggs bennie for Michael and poached eggs for me along with large coffees at 7:45.  We head off from Mossburn having prepared with the Bushmans (midges are well known at the Sound), some fruit and warm jackets.  Despite the weather forecast being for 22 degrees and sunny, it is raining and cool as we leave.  We join the road out of town

behind two coachloads of people - the first of many that we see today.

As we drive down, catching little glimpses of the sun high on the slopes, we wonder again at the forces of nature that can sculpt and create such magical landscapes. This part of the country is heavily grazed. If we thought that we saw a lot of sheep in a paddock yesterday, then it was nothing!  There was at least 1,000 sheep in one hectare. Seriously. And cattle and deer loads are heavy too.  Guess that with great rainfall and supposedly good weather (from time to time) the forage crops grow quickly.  There is certainly plenty of bales of hay around.

The vegetation is really interesting - from red tussocks, to small shrubs, to the occasional eucalypt in the dry sclerophyll forest and forest after forest of firs.  The tree line is really evident as we travel down the slopes into the Fiordland National Park and as the sky gets bigger with the huge stone cliffs, even the grasses and tussocks give up, leaving the rock to mosses, lichens and the odd fern or two.  Turns out that there is even rainforest down in the pockets, complete with ferns and vines and palms. 

Once we are on the southern side of the slopes, the weather magically clears - there is nary a cloud and the sun is beaming down like a real summer day.  Just. Magical.  And the scenery all of a sudden turns even more stupendous - if that is possible. 
There is a heap of traffic both in front of us and coming towards us. And there are many of them who have absolutely no idea how to drive in mountains. The average speed is 70 kph, although there are stretches on the flats that go up to 100 kph.  Corners are advisorily signed between 45 and 75 kph.  But the Asians do 20 kph. At every corner. Without fail. Makes for a frustrating drive.  There are plenty of signs that proclaim 'New Zealand roads are different.  Allow more time.'   From Mossburn to Milford Sound is only 176 kms but we were told by Tracey at the Mossburn Railway Hotel to allow 3 hours.  And it takes 3 hours almost to the minute.  Michael took photos from the car on the forward journey, knowing that there would be time to stop at the various vantage points on the way back.

The Milford Road is claimed to be the most scenic road in New Zealand and we are in no position to argue against that as it sure is a stunning drive.

Yet the whole trip down, behind some very nervous drivers, I cannot but wonder just where it was that Inga and Markus very nearly came to grief on their drive down this road some years ago.

We arrive at Milford Sound exactly as planned.  The literature says to plan for it to take 45 minutes to an hour to park your car, but St Frances continues to sit on my shoulder as a car pulls out in the closest car park as we arrive.  I'll never win the lottery,
but I'll always have a car park!  A 300 m walk to the terminal brings us in just before the 12:15 boat is about to leave, and as it is not fully booked, the staff agree to transfer us to this earlier departure.

There are only about 100 people on the Milford Monarch which is licensed to carry about 450, so there is plenty of space and moving room. We head out under the guidance of Captain Mack who provides just enough commentary to keep you informed without it being overbearing - there is plenty of silence broken only by the sound of the quiet engine, the waves and the birds to sit in awe looking skyward. And the sound of waterfalls.  There are only two permanent waterfalls into the Sound, but after rain like yesterday there can be hundreds of temporary falls.  We are even invited to claim a bit of

immortality by naming one of them today - so please see the M&M Falls!
Milford Sound is wettest place in New Zealand and records a massive 17 metres of rain a year.  Not a real problem until they get 330 mm in 2 hours!  There is quite a bit of debris in the Sound today, courtesy of that rain.  About 9 metres below the fresh water that feeds into the Sound from rain and snow-melts lies the salt water that comes in from the Tasman Sea.  As the fresh water is less dense than the salt water, it just sits atop and the waters never mix -isn't nature wondrous!

At the Bridal Veil Falls you can trace the Pembroke Fault line that runs all the way up the mountain and is responsible for 187 known earthquakes.

The Stirling Falls are very pure and provide the township of Milford with its water supply and also feeds a small hydro-electric power station to provide power.

Milford Sound is one of only two places in the world where in a commercial operation you can easily see a glacier from sea level- here you looking through Harrison Cove through the rainforested Harrison Valley up to Mt Pembroke with the Pembroke Glacier.  The other place is Patagonia in Argentina.

We see lots of birds, juvenile fur seals and very briefly a shy penguin - he was too quick for a photo.  All too soon we are docking back in the harbour and ready to hit the road again.

The trip back is much slower as we stop at almost every one of the many photo opportunities to capture these amazing views.  Can't fit them all here - so come on round when we get home if you want to see more. Our young waitress on the boat, Melissa suggested that we musn't miss the Mirror Pools (too windy for the effect by now) and the Te Anau Glow Worms that Donna also recommended.  Trouble is that they are at the start of the Doubtful Sound and so, there is no way we can get to them today either - maybe next trip!

There is a huge Chinese influence here also,so we opt for an early dinner in Te Anau and stop in at the Ming Garden restaurant conveniently located in Wong Way (true!) for a tasty meal.  Much of the restaurant is devoted to banquet tables - there are least 20 set for up to 20 people and there are a number of Chinese eating here.  Good omen and good food.

Back to the Mossburn Railway Hotel to do some washing and to have a wee dram to warm up while we do the blog.

Off to Mandeville tomorrow - another day that will thrill the boys!!!