You keep what you kill

So, it's the Catlins once again, an area I've first travelled to and through 14 years ago. Back then, all the roads were gravel and there weren't too many people around. I've been back twice since and the main road is sealed (fortunately side roads are not) and there's a lot more people now. But still a relavtively remote corner. We drove down to Surat Bay and stayed at the lodge I'd stayed at many years ago. New ownership, but nothing much changed. Right on the beach, sea lions in front of your bedroom window. Went for a nice walk along the beach at low tide, all the way to Cannibal Bay and back. We had to walk zigzags around the many sea lions chilling out in the sand and even saw one young lion. Beautiful animals. I would like to bring one as pet and companion for Wooster! Next day, we did the Wisp-Catlins River loop track, 24+km, the second half quite undulating along the river. Again, a wonderful hike, we were the only people around, lots of birds and bees

Stewart Island had some more things to offer ... a telephone connected to a tree, clear and unambiguous signage, and last but not least some shots from the Rakiura track.

While on Stewart Island it would've been criminal not to do the Rakiura track, and since we're nice people we did of course not want to cause offense. ☺ We did not want to spend a night on the track for logistical reasons though so we decided to do it as a long day walk. 35km altogether, but not much in terms of elevation gain, so totally doable.We started out on the Lee Bay end of the track, which was a wise decision. Wonderful first two hours walking along the coast and the beaches in the morning sun. By the time the heat went up we were already deep into the forest. And what a forest this is! Much richer and nicer than most of the mainland forest, not "regenerating" but for many parts the real thing. Me likes. The track is extremely well maintained and it had been very dry for the last 10 weeks or so, still there were a few muddy sections ... we could only imagine what it would've been like in regular, wet weather. But that's what God invented gaiters for,

So, next stop Stewart Island! Excited, I've been to NZ so many times, but never to the third largest island. It has the reputation of being always rainy, muddy, full of sandflies etc etc etc. And the ferry crossing is supposedly nasty. So we drove our fat arses to Bluff on Wednesday afternoon and found a parking spot right opposite the ferry terminal. Well, at least I hope it was a parking spot ... there were no signs saying otherwise and lots of other cars parked as well. Guess I'll know more tomorrow. :-D The ferry is a small catamaran, the waiting room was a test of endurance and patience. The Stray bus had just arrived and disgorged a number of disgustingly young people. Some of them were, to make things even worse, German. And the worst sort, from Saxonia or Thuringia, brrrrrrrrrr. I still shudder when I think of hearing their voices. The ferry ride itself was very nice, calm, and fast, just under an hour. Stewart Island greeted us with sunshine and friendly temperatures,

As I'd said, I had to find last minute accommodation on Sunday night for the Queenstown area. Of course it wasn't our plan to go back to Queenstown, we only did it because we had to pick up the bloody bag. But hey, we thought we might at least make the best of it. And I charged the accommodation, fuel etc. to SAS of course. :-D So, the Shotover Country Cottage it was, purely by chance because it suddenly popped up in the hotels.com search results. And sometimes the chance encounters prove to be the best. This is one of the nicest places I've ever stayed at, and for a great price as well. Shotover Country village is brandnew, looks like it has been created on the flats from scratch in the past five years or so. It's ca 12km from Queenstown, 6km from the airport and 5km from the Five Miles shopping centre, 15km to Arrowtown. There's also a regular bus running into the city. So pretty much perfect in terms of location. The cottage itself is superbrandnew, everything