The one armed bandit takes flight

hot springs
My plans have somewhat changed in the last two days and possibly for the better! After a rather cold arrival to Lake Tekapo (which essentially means sleeping mat from what I can work out), I was woolly hat at the ready and there was only one thing to do. Hot Springs, hot springs!

Hot they were - one of the pools I could only sit in for about 3-4 mins and before I had even got into the pool I had to pretty much step over a lady who had passed out! But it was a beautiful place to relax and a chance to let my broken wing float around.

I then toddled home via the Thai (I can never turn down thai food- totally going to learn to make the dumplings as well) and collected my hot water bottle and wrapped up in bed for a chilly night in my room that would be called a shed back home!

This morning I think I saw the best of this part of the world- but if you are afraid of flying I wouldn't recommend it! I took flight in a helicopter which felt like a gnat blowing around in the breeze. I obviously have squillions of photos which Mum Dad on your smart tv you can see them.
Words don't really describe the sensation of the flight or scenery so I shall leave that to the photos though I am not sure they do it justice either



transport
fresh snow










Finally I went to the Mount Cook Village to the Sir Edmund Hillary museum - the first man to scale Everest and also on the $5 note over here. I learnt all about the climbers of the world....though have forgotten most of it already, also a fair bit about the mountains and Glaciers and I managed a 1 hour hike and a 2 hour nana nap!







Factoids:
 The mountains are growing higher by 1cm a year
Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand but is 10M lower than it was in 1999 (I think!)
The Tasman Glacier has receded by 4KM in 30 years
26-29% of New Zealands electricity is created by Hydro-electric stations fed by the Glaciers and rain around here- not surprising when the west coast gets up to 5.0 M of rain a year for comparison we get on average in Hamble between 0.8-1.0 M a year
The colour of the lakes out here is created by rock flour- a fine white powder suspended in the water created from the grinding up of the surrounding rock

Now I feel I have educated you all.....possibly with inaccuracies! Off to look at some stars tonight!

Mount Cook






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What time is it........?

What time is it? It's BLOG time Hey hey The blog is back you lucky, lucky people. Grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes galore, as I head off to the land of Vikings, Trolls, Moomin a lot daylight and no doubt many surprised responses of What time is it?! This time I have the power of 3, not the charmed witches 🧙‍♀️, but my two intrepid running explorers Fi and Lindsey. Willingly (or foolishly) signing up to a marathon in the sun 🌞.........well the midnight sun! Our summer holiday with temperatures not quite so reflective has begun.  Destination: Tromso, Norway.....you may well be putting your geography knowledge to the test and dragging yourself on Google maps to one of the extremities. If in doubt ask my neice Willa  she's really good at geography   Greet by what would probably be described as what passed as the UK winter I felt right at home. With the power of three Lindsey charges ahead with apps for bus tickets while Fi's phone says computer says no and I ...
Read more

Ambling and absorbing

Image
With the power of 3 the faffing and forgetting  time is also somewhat trebled....After scrambled eggs and marmite on toast....yes I brought marmite with us. The cats herded themselves out the door for a coffee still thoroughly confused about what clothing should be worn, as while it isnt the wamest outside they do seem to like to keep the inside at short and tshirt temperatures!!! The appartment upgrade....is an upgrade as its nearer the town centre which is only about 15mins in any direction. If a little cosier, bed sharing required but not all 3 and given we'll be inside a tin can for the rest of the holiday, we are easing ourselves in gently. Sightseeing abound after Fi required a change of clothes having decided to wear her coffee rather than drink it! First up we tested the flat bridge we will be running on tomorrow eeeekkkkk and head over to the Arctic Cathedral. Questioning whether is was steeper on the way there or on the back......is in steeper than the Itchen bridge.....o...
Read more

Things could only get better....

Image
Tap tap..... Hmmmm...... Was that someone knocking on the van? I was half alseep in some wildly crazy vivid dream as we all semi woke up hot as hell to a 'stern' Norwegian lady. Why are you parked in two spaces? Our jaunty angle not sounding so fun I will have to fine you 600 kronas way too early to vaguely contemplate the maths or formulate a response but Lindsey diplomatically replied that it was slmeone elses fault and we will move cue some shuffling around in pyjamas and we were off to the capsite we had spied as we were also reaching a critical situation with toilet onboard. Campsite flakstad was a great location at the other end of the beach and had the toilet emptying facilities but the grumpy man wouldnt let us even pay to do it....day not starti g well. We paused made a cup of tea in bid to improve our day in search of a breakfast spot. I closed the sliding door with the window still open on its hydraulic arms and they detach. So while i climb ...
Read more