Coddiwomple Stardate 171211
Friday was a little damp and we decided to walk to Ackers
Point Track. On the way Sharon wanted to check out the Jade Carving by a local
artist who’s been working with Jade over 40 years. You may recall we had a look
at the Jade capital on the South Island. The town was called Hokitika and the
Jade was reasonably priced and all the same colour Jade. When we looked at the Jade
on Stewart Island it was a totally different shade. Being curious I asked the
question. Jade colour varies all around the world from light green to greys.
The artist buys his Jade from the west coast near Hokitika so the colour should
be the same as sold in Hokitika which it is not. Apparently, their Jade comes
from Canada and is mass produced in China. There is an obscure sign stating
this in the shop. So, buyer beware when you think you are buying genuine NZ
Jade.
When we reached the end of Ackers Point Track we were graced
with a couple of seals and their two pups frolicking in the rock pools. On the
way back stopped for lunch on some random bench and we were watching some small
blue penguins in the distance.
Saturday their drought finally broke and we saw what normal
weather on Stuart Island was. Heavy rain and a morning of watching TV. Left for
our ferry just before 3.00pm with hugs from the hostels owner Clair with
promises we will be back for February and March.
The trip back to Bluff on the ferry was rougher than going
over but I did not end up with a green wife this time. Once we berthed we were
on the Stray Bus again with a new driver called Motors. As Motors promised we
arrived in Queenstown exactly in 3 hours.
One of the costs of travel is communications back home. We
have our phones on roaming mainly for emergency use. It can be quite expensive 50c
for text $1 a minute to ring or receive a phone call. On average most of our
phone calls last 20mins or $20. Data on roaming is just beyond considering. We
needed to ring up about our house-sitting job in Wellington. So, my dilemma was
to find a cheap way of ringing on a mobile for less than a $1 a minute. I
finally remembered my skype credit I bought back in 2010. If you have Wi-Fi you
can ring any landline or mobile in the world. We haven’t had to much trouble
finding Wi-Fi in NZ. Talking to quite a few people who have travelled through Australia all agree NZ Wi-Fi is far superior than ours. The rates
are 11.5c a minute for mobile and 2.6c a minute landline. Dilemma solved.
Sunday, we left Queenstown and back on another Stray with a
driver this time called Happy. The buses name was called George. It was there
first prototype for a Stray bus. So very slow and very noisy. Fortunately, all their
other buses were a huge improvement on this one. We made a very slow accent
through Lindis Pass Road which reminded us both of around Hammersley Ranges.
Even had spinifex looking grass. Then we were onto Mount Cook. If no one new
and I didn’t it is named after Captain James Cook. In Australia Captain Cook gets a
little mention over here he seems to be much more recited in history.
When we arrived at Mount Cook just after 2.00pm there was
light rain and low cloud. We are here for 3 nights so hopefully the weather
will improve so we can see Mount Cook and go on some hikes. We decided to walk
up to the Sir Edmond Hillary Museum and check it out. Admission was $20 each.
The museum was well layed out and had a lot of information about the opening up
of Mount Cook to tourism in the beginning of last century and some great old vintage
cars from that period that was used in the area. For your admission there is
also 7 documentaries to watch relating to the area. The first one we watched
was of Mount Cook in 3D. Your admission lasts as long as you are in Mount Cook,
so we have 3 days to watch the rest of the documentaries.
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