More Thoughts on .....

Weather
Been really lucky so far, only one un-sunny day - the day we drove from Haast to the Glaciers. Otherwise, it's been hot and sunny, although a bit windy at times. However, have discovered that sun and wind seems to be the best combination for keeping the flies at bay. They're a complete nuisance at times, although just for once it seems to be Dave they prefer to me ! We had the sea fog at Milford, which was a bit of a shame, but other things made up for it (see wildlife).

Accommodation
Have had the best shower room in the world ever ! It was our room in Haast. The floor was laid with a textured (if that's the right way to describe it) matt, non-slip large size tile and the floor sloped to the back LH corner. There was a shower curtain hung from a rail about 3 ft square (so lots of elbow room without the curtain clinging to you !) and a drain hole in middle of the dip. The shower itself was really powerful too. Absolute heaven ! The room itself was really nice too, with a queen size and two single beds, plus seating area, kitchen, etc - and of course the telly. We also had a balcony with seats looking towards the sea. All the accommodation - perhaps with the exception of the room in Fran Josef Glacier, has been really nice. The motel in Paroa had a lovely deck with table and chairs to sit in the sun - bit too hot really that day ! - and a short walk to the beach (huge and deserted) for a beautiful sunset.

Food and Drink
Still brilliant. Additions include a minted lamb pizza - sounds weird, but tasted delicious. There's also the bed of potatoes of some description - instead of a bed of salad or maybe rice, it's a bed of garlic mash or fries, etc. !

Roads
Now you might think there's nothing much to say about the roads - but you'd be VERY WRONG!
Firstly, the motels/hotels, etc, might be full, but the roads are empty - so where do all the people go ?
Secondly, they have this disconcerting tendency to disappear - literally. You're quite happily driving along towards the horizon that appears to be the end of the road when all of a sudden you're at the end of it because all of a sudden it's going downhill and you just can't see it. Add one of those wonderful yellow signs with 15 on it (reduce your speed to 16 kph - and I do mean kilometres !) and you have one very hairy moment. Scrap disconcerting for terrifying !
Thirdly, you have the nutter cyclists. Well, what else can you call someone who has just cycled up a road that you've driven up unable to get beyond 2nd gear because the gradient is so steep - I think nutter is the only appropriate description. And they haven't just cycled up on a bike - it's got panniers and rucksacks galore strapped to it (and sometimes the rider).
Fourthly, you're in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden there's a big white arrow painted on the road in the direction you're going - WHY ?

Language
Doesn't seem so very different generally, but discovered one real oddment. "Good as gold"which always back home seems to refer to a person is used here in stead of "cool". Sounds weird to hear someone say "Good as gold" when you've said something like "OK, that's fine, we'll take the room " !!

Wildlife
Lots of dead wildlife on the roads, unfortunately. Not enough dead flies, unfortunately !! The trip to Milford was absolutely great for seeing bottlenose dolphins. I was on the upper deck of the boat and could see lots of them. A couple seemed to enjoy swimming round the boat and breaking the surface every now and again, really slowly and gracefully. One was at least 7-8 ft long. Also, saw a very tiny one too. Absolute heaven !! Seen lots of birds of prey whilst driving along too.

Timeslip
Some of this has been mentioned elsewhere, but the washing machine in Queenstown deserves its own mention, although it may only mean something to the ladies reading the blog. Used to all the programs on machines at home (the one in the Heritage at Christchurch was like those back home), the one in the Queenstown hotel should have been in a museum. There was a choice of two programs - Hot or Permapress (cool wash, I remembered that from my days in Canada, 30-odd years ago !). End of story. No time setting, that was it !!!!!