Abel Tasman Track (and trustworthiness of i-site assistants)

The Abel Tasman track weaves through the forest going up hill and down dale dropping in on the odd beach, visiting campgrounds and viewpoints.  The forest is varied and dense, with Scots Pine, tree ferns, ground ferns, broom, gum trees, birch, cabbage trees and all manner of things in between.  Kewa abound, picking through the undergrowth, but the tracks are well made of compacted shingly stones.

We set out on a trip which the idiot in the tourist information office suggested would be 4-5 hours but which turned out to be nearly 20km with no opportunity for extra water till near the end.  Harumph... on the other hand the beaches are all stunning and nearly deserted and the views outstanding.

Cicadas (Pohara, Able Tasman National Park)

The New Zealand cicada, Amphipsalta zelandica; what a guy!  For absolutely nothing he will serenade you for hours and hours.  And hours and hours.  And days and days...

When there are a few together in the right mood they will stop the vibration of their tymbals (which makes the hissing kind of noise) and switch to synchronised slapping of wings in a 5 beat pattern.  Quite cute to look at and I'm sure they're don't mean to drive you up the wall, but they certainly do...

Queenstown and drowning

If you go to Queenstown you are required to either jump out of an aeroplane, jump off a bridge, zoom up a river in a jetboat or bumble down a river in a raft.  We chose the white water rafting.

First stage is to drive the Skippers Canyon Road - in our case the driver was Justine, who managed to squeeze a 4WD minibus with 5 rafts on a trailer on the back along this mad road, reckoned to be the 8th most dangerous road in the world.  It's not a walk in the park!

Second stage is the black humour heavy safety briefing.  Much easier.

Third stage is to fall out in a rapid, get sucked under by a tumbling current and become trapped looking up at the light realising that you are stuck under a tapering pair of rocks and thinking - oh, this is how people drown.

Fourth stage is to somehow get free, be thrown a safety line and dragged into a raft.

The rest of the trip passed mostly uneventfully...

Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers

To Franz Joseph glacier by helicopter; it's a big glacier quite close to the coast but really much the same as alpine glaciers.  It's very hard to get the scale of the snow field until you land and see the other helicopters which seem to be a mile away, but from the air the whole thing looks the size of a couple of football pitches.

From there round a few corners to the Fox Glacier on foot; a gentle stroll up the glaciated valley up which it is rapidly retreating.  Great chunks of ice fall off it all the time, maybe the size of a car every five minutes.  Again very hard to get the scale of the thing.

Arthur's Pass and flightless stupid birds

Arthur's Pass, roughly from Christchurch west across the South Island, now has some shiny new road engineering straight down the middle.  Being New Zealand there is of course a population of resident flightless birds, in this case the Kea.

Christchurch

Some time after the last serious earthquake, still lots of evidence of its severity - 70% or more of the central area gone, mostly the Edwardian and Victorian buildings which had not been strengthened.  The plethora of shipping containers are used in some stylish and original ways; and some less so...

Christchurch tram driver and guide was a great ambassador for the city, which is a charming and civilized place, but essentially a smallish rural-ish town that happens to find itself somewhere where that's a big deal.

Up the Gondola chairlift for some spectacular views...

Gaudy or tacky?

Gaudy? I should coco!

Bangkok

Traffic jams
Tuk Tuk scams
Palace palatial*
River transport transformational

* in a Boyes-ey sort of way