Okay so it’s true I have what is known as “Dory’s Syndrome” I forget what I hear/see in 2 seconds. Even if it is amazing. I have travelled to many places in the world, and I don’t remember half the places or the things I did there. Not to mention the names of the cities and towns or peoples names. I don’t usually keep a diary, I did on my first trip for about two weeks then I lost interest. Now after travelling to many places this is my biggest regret, however and I will change my ways. Well I hope I will change my ways, another of my faults is I only stick to things for about two weeks and then give up.
However I will try to bring back as many memories as I can now by writing, sometimes the simple act of writing can bring back those “oh remember when we did that …..”
Here goes
As I write this I have 40 days till I travel to New Zealand, the North Island with a girlfriend, a camper and absolutely no plan. What could go wrong right.
I have been to NZ before you see, but that time it was the South Island in 2006, we went to Queenstown. It was amazing I took my daughter who was only 8 at the time. We went with friends my girlfriend and her daughter. Although we went together we had separate accommodation and did our own thing and came together to do other things. It was a good mix for us as we had different ideas on fun. For example my daughter and I went on the “shot over Jet” which is a jet boat that goes down the canyons at high speed. I loved it and so did my daughter although it was very cold, we went in August, the end of their winter. While my friend and her daughter went craft/art shopping in a little place called Arrowtown just outside of Queenstown. You see we have very different tastes, but that’s great.
We all went horse riding outside of Glenorchy, this is Hobbit country, and apparently my daughter was riding on one of the actual horses that stared in the movie (he had the illustrious name of Ned). I know simply amazing isn’t it, who would of thought that could happen. All that aside we had an amazing day, even though I am not that comfortable on a horse, the only time I ride is when I am away on holidays.
Even just a wander around Queenstown itself is very enjoyable it is a nice little town with lots to see. We went down to the wharf of course which is on Lake Wakatipu which is stunning like everything in NZ. Just along the wharf you will find a chocolate shop that sells the most amazing chocolates, every day we managed to go down and taste a new delight. In one of the back alleys off the main street we found a quaint little pizza shop that sold the best pizza in town in our opinion.
We took skiing lessons up on The Remarkables Mountain, now as a child I was very athletic but now I am an adult and things are a bit different, but still I didn’t do too badly at this skiing thing. However when it came to getting up the slope to where the real people skied on the drag rope I failed miserably. Every time I tried I landed on my butt with a puff of snow drifting up around me, so after about six attempts I gave up and we stayed on the learning slope, of course my daughter caught onto it very easily putting her mother to shame.
Most of the things we did I organised in advance from home before we went this included a day trip to Milford sound. Again it was a very cold day but the bus trip was pleasant and we stopped along the way to enjoy the view. When we got there we went on board the ship and enjoyed the amazing waterfalls and scenery that is on offer in this beautiful part of NZ.
The Skyline luge was however not as much fun as we expected we went up on the chair lift and the young man who helped us onto our chair, slammed the overhead safety rail down onto my daughters’ hand as we took off into the air. We then had to go down to the conveniently located emergency ward at the bottom of Bob’s Peak. She was lucky she only had bruising to the soft tissue and got to have arm in tubigrip with a sling for the rest of the trip, she was quiet happy to show off her injury.
We also took the gondola up Bob’s Peak to “The Skyline Queenstown” where we had dinner and a wonderful Maori show, they encouraged people up on stage to join in the dancing and festivities, my daughter and her friend where with them. We have wonderful photos and memories of that night.
Now this is where the memory is failing me I know we went on a helicopter ride, I just don’t remember where or why haha but I have the photos to prove it and that will teach me to keep a diary in the future.
So you see I have not done too badly at remembering after all this time, the act of writing does help you remember.
Thank you for walking down memory lane with me.
Following the Sun 