When I opened my eyes this morning it was 7.02am. ARGH! I had a 8am conference call and should have woken 1 hour earlier. I got ready, but had to spend 10mins finishing paris on mw. Still, wouldn’t have made it. So I drove in. Half an hour. So why don’t I drive to work everyday? Because it costs 3 times as much as taking the “L”, and even though it was fast going in, it was a solid block of traffic on lake shore drive going home.

One more progress. I got my driver’s licence today. I actually went to a driving school, got a package deal where I had a couple of refresher lessons and could borrow their car for the test. I know, I could have just borrowed someone’s car and gone for the test, but as mm said, I should get the refresher to make sure I don’t slip into my bad habits (and of course we all have ours) during the test.

The most stressful time of the day was actually all the waiting. On top of the queuing I did when I got the provisional licence, I had to queue up again: get a number, wait for half an hour, go to the counter where they looked at the docs again, go to the cashier to get the application stamped (no payment, that was a time wasting step), get in the car, queue up for the tester. By then I was pretty tired from the queuing.

The test was dreadfully easy. So easy that now I understand why there are so many bad drivers on the road. Just driving along a fairly non-congested road, a couple of traffic lights, stop signs. And then back to the facility to do a straight reverse, and parking at an angle at a space big enough for a truck. Apparently there’s also a parking test and question about uphill/downhill parking, but I didn’t get tested on those. My instructor said that sometimes they don’t do that if the testee is driving well.

This brings my total driver’s licence collection to 5. Yes, FIVE. You never know where you need to drive, right? These are all souvenirs from the places I’ve lived. I can buy a car now. And I don’t need to carry my passport around all the time. Nice.

So today I went to City Hall to get the equivalent of a provisional driver’s licence, I think it’s called the instructional licence here. Passport, SSN, address proof and $10. The clerk asked if I have an existing licence from another state, to which I answered no, but I have from overseas (I actually have 4 licences). To which she asked “can you drive?” What was I supposed to say?

Anyway, there was a simple eye test, then the written test. I’d studied the Rules of the Road earlier, and did some practice online tests. I got all the questions and signs right, yay!

For all my other licences I just had to present my UK licence to convert. Of course Americans don’t trust UK, or Swiss, or HK, or International, so the next step is I have to go for a driving test. Good grief.

Chicago

Oh wow. I’ve been travelling for 2 weeks. It’s been another leisurely day. I promised the family I’d make chocolate mousse so I had to go search for toblerone. I got instructions on how to get to the grocery stores so I ventured out on my own.

The first store didn’t have it, but they did have Hot Tamales at 10 for $10, so I bought a bunch. The next store had toblerone, again at 10 for $10, so I bought 10. I also bought a couple of big artichokes for lunch. I hadn’t had artichokes for the longest time — I think only once since I left Zurich. Wow.

Grandma and I worked well together in the afternoon. I made my chocolate mousse and she made dinner. Breaded boneless pork chops and corn. Actually the pork chops looked more like spare rib pork to me, but I guess it’s different terminology. She seasoned the chops, dipped them in flour, then egg, then crackermeal, which is crushed saltine crackers and are used just like breadcrumbs.

I finished backposting, so scroll down to read all about the last 2 weeks.

Chicago

Slow going on the I-80, but I felt fine. I stopped every 1.5 hours to rest for at least 20 minutes. Sometimes I’d nap. Made it through Ohio in 4 hrs, and onto Indiana. The roads were fairly empty, mostly trucks. I’d describe the drive as tough but manageable. I had a good car (Kia Optima) which handled well and didn’t eat up too much fuel.

Had breakfast at one of the service stations along the way. Croissanwich from Burger King and a latte from starbucks. The toll for the Ohio stretch was $9.25, which was money well spent. The road quality was good. After Ohio came Indiana, and by then it started to get light. The fields at the side of the road were misty and the sunrise made the sky look nice. Didn’t want to stop to take pictures though, wanted to get in as soon as possible.

The first time I saw Chicago on a sign I did a whoop. Then I watched as the distance got smaller and smaller. It was a great relief when the distance got to double digits.

But no, the adventure wasn’t over. Traffic went from smooth to a dead stop. And then all cars were kicked off at exit 31 — apparently there was an accident up ahead. The very nice attendant at the toll payment station told me that I could follow the trucks to get onto the I-94. I called the house and they said yes, then get to the I-294. I was lucky to have the GPS.

I can’t remember when I arrived. May be about 9-ish? Distance travelled = 843 miles. Time = 16, 17 hours? I can’t believe I did that. Drove from NY to Chicago overnight.

Car took me to O’Hare to get my luggage. I hadn’t seen them since I put them through the bag drop at JFK. They’d come in on one of the flights because that’s what they did, sent the bags to the destination even though the passenger wasn’t confirmed. The whole process took less than half an hour. At least everything ended well.

The second half of the day was spent relaxing, packing.

We set out on our roadtrip proper at about 2pm. Hectic, but I’m glad we stuck to our original schedule. We made it through Illinois quickly, then to Oklahoma. I drove a little but got too tired and Car had to take over.

We got hit by thunderstorms so we were still delayed. As midnight struck we were still on the road, making slow but safe progress.

Driving from New York to Chicago

Slept for a bit on and off. Was up at 5-ish, dozing near the gate. The board showed that the plane was already at the gate, so none of the delayed because plane was late coming in. But it still got delayed again and again because they were missing a crew member. Which is completely ridiculous. It’s not a flight deck officer but one of the stewardesses. Did I say ridiculous?

The time got changed from 7am to 7.30, then 7.55, 8.30. 9.30. Eventually it was ready and people who had tickets got on. There were only 3-4 standby tickets and I didn’t get on. Imagine 2 planeful of people yesterday all needing to get to Chicago.

I ran to the other side of the terminal cos I had a standby ticket for the 10.02am. But that came and went without me. I think I wasn’t high enough on the waiting list.

The next flights were at 12.30, 4.30 and 7pm. I got standby tickets for all of them, plus the 2 flights tomorrow morning. Seems that all flights are full and the prospect of getting on them aren’t terribly good. The best I could hope for was tomorrow. I did not want to spend another night at JFK. I’d been updating my host family in Chicago sporadically. Then Car suggested I may as well drive to Chicago. It’s a long drive (13 hours) but at this rate I’d be stuck in JFK all weekend and if I drove slowly I’d be getting somewhere.

That’s what I did. Got a one way rental to Chicago and set out at about 1.30pm. It’d been a while since I’d driven a) such long distances; b) in the US; c) left hand drive. The traffic getting out of NY was horrendous, but I was glad I was in a city I’d lived in before. I knew the van Wyck, the LIE, even New Jersey. Plus I had the best car invention ever — the GPS.

The route took me on the I-95 to White Plains, then New Jersey, Pennsylvania. I waited till I was in Pennsylvania to stop for dinner at around 8pm — chicken nuggets at Wendy’s. I wanted to get as far as I could while there was light.

Just before midnight I made Ohio. It’s gonna be a slow drive all night.

Franz Josef - Christchurch

I wanted to go to the internet bus again this morning but when I walked over there at 9.20am there was music and a dog but the door was closed and the sign said ‘closed’. I was so disappointed. mm took her time getting ready this morning, and I was short with her, perhaps it was my disappointment over the internet thing. Sorry, mm.

Long drive to Christchurch, on the map about 5 hrs. We stopped at lunch at Hokitika, a largish (for NZ) town that was quite touristy. It was full of jade and craft shops and a whole bunch of coaches that stopped and disgorged tourists. Kinda forgotten it was sunday but we were reminded by the sign at a restaurant that advertised sunday roast. We had a large plate of roast lamb each - $13.95 gave us a small mountain of roast lamb, roast potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, cauliflower cheese and peas all in a big heap on the plate. niiiice. That place was self service and boasted “the largest teapot collection in nz”, so we had to try their tea. I had a very strong English breakfast and mm had peppermint, both from tea leaves. Altogether an excellent sunday roast lunch.

are we coming back in March?

Moving on, the drive to Christchurch took us through Arthur’s Pass, quite a steep climb, especially in our car that had no uphill ability. There were still few cars on the road. The road eventually levelled out and by the time we were 50km from Christchurch the road was almost ramrod straight. It was also extremely hot outside so the effect was that I could see the heat from the road, and oncoming vehicles were hard to spot. Driving in remote areas like this I always turn the headlights on full, even in bright sunshine, it makes me so much more visible to other cars. I was thinking that we probably saw more roadkill than cars at some point.

Christchurch was a city alright. It was the first time we stopped at a traffic light for a week! There were more cars than we’d encountered the entire week. Trams! Taxis! Buses!

Our motel was the Milano motorlodge. Very nice again, large room, this time with very soft carpet. Nice colour coordination, everything was yellow and blue but very pleasing. The landlady was also extremely friendly and helpful, we’re lucking out again.

Took a drive out to city centre. everything was closed, it was worse than the UK. Walked round a bit, to the cathedral, the pedestrianised zones and took some pictures of the trams. Dinner at this place called Six missing chairs that was supposed to be award winning. Service was home-styled and the cooking pretty decent, but I’m not so sure about “award winning.” mm had venison and I had lamb shanks. We were reading brochures we picked up from the hotel and discovered this was a byo restaurant, so I ran down to the car and took one of the bottles of pinot noir we bought in Bannockburn. Corkage was NZ$5 per bottle.

I really wanted to go to one of the internet cafes there. $3 an hour was good but she looked so sad and resigned, I swallowed my urge. sigh. what else could I do?

At the end drove up the road to a 24 hr supermarket, bought some silverside and hummus for picnic lunch tomorrow. So tempted to buy more but we’re flying the day after, so we have to restrain ourselves.

I’m amazed at the familiar names. There’s a Hereford street one block from Worcester, another street up is Gloucester, followed by Armagh and Chester. There is Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Liverpool, Salisbury, Aberdeen, St Albans and the whole region is called Canterbury. Christchurch itself is located on the River Avon. It was like going home.

Queenstown - Arrowtown - Haast - Franz Josef

Driving day. We started early at 9.45am. I was glad to be out of the motel, not very impressed with this place. First place to visit was the petrol station, we took a longer way to a mobil that was the cheapest in the area. Sometimes every little helps.

Drove to Arrowtown, it was HOT! Arrowtown was a small mining town, still with original architecture. Where we ended up was the sweet shop, very much like the ones in British seaside resorts. The lady there (from Ireland) said the sweets were actually imported from the UK. We bought cola bottles and flying saucers and some of their home made fudge.

We passed by the Shotover jetski station and stopped for a couple of pictures. [ETA 5 Jan: The Shotover Jet operation was shut down before Christmas, and again at New Year’s, because of technical problems and fire. I’m doubly glad we didn’t go.] More adventure watching at the AJ Hackett bungy jump place at Kawaroua bridge. Seemed fun, but not for us.

Finally got under way with the real journey, heading towards the glaciers. We took turns driving, changing over more often than usual, and taking more stops. Perhaps that helped so we weren’t as tired. It was an extremely hot day, we were burning up through the glass in the car. I tried to keep my arms in the shade but not much luck.

Stopped at Lake Hawea for quick photos. BEAUTIFUL.

Eventually our lunch was at almost 3pm at Haast Township. We had fish and chips. Ah, township, what an interesting definition, there was a supermarket, a café, a pub and several motels, that’s the township.

Another 140km or so of roads, and that was when the unsettled weather started. It could be bright sunshine, and the all of a sudden we’d hit a rain patch. Eventually we reached Franz Josef township early evening. Heh, township. It was another one main street settlement.

Our hotel was the Alpine Glacier, one of those where you parked your car directly outside your unit door. Quality wise, it was in between Portabello and Colonial village. Large room, clean and new fittings. No cooking facilities though, not even a microwave or electric frying pan.

At the advice of the very friendly and helpful owner lady, we booked our heli-hike for tomorrow and investigated the restaurants. Ended up at a place called The Landing, we had lasagna and shepherd’s pie and a beer each. Originally we wanted venison hotpot but they’d sold out.

Afterwards I investigated the converted bus that was the local internet access place. Wow, my writing group has been busy with the posts. I was suffering from internet withdrawal and the short half hour was too short.

Milford Sound

Major panic this morning – my camera memory card decided to stop working, so I spent a very frustrating early morning in freaked out mode. We tried it on the PB and it was the card, not the camera. Still not good. The day when we drive to supposedly the most beautiful scenery in NZ.

Ooops, I’m getting ahead of myself. We got up at 6am and were out by 6.45am, I was hurrying her a lot, even with the camera panic. She drove very well through the fog and morning conditions, we got to Te Anau in very good time, about 2 hours. Found an electrical shop and bought a new memory card. NZ$220, yikes, but no choice.

I drove the rest of the way to Milford Sound, site of very spectacular fjords and scenery. At the back of my mind I wanted to catch the 11am cruise, although we had decided to aim for the noon one. A couple of slow cars and campervans slowed me down, by the time we got to the ticket counter it was 10.50am, not enough time. At the information centre they told us there are other companies and they all go on the same cruise, only on different boats. We took the 11.25am from Mitre boats and it was the best decision today –- a small boat, few passengers and NO TOUR GROUPS! Gotta see it to believe it, but the entire Milford Sound was teeming with tours. Luckily we were early, and they all took the other bigger boats.

Our cruise had only about 20 people, plenty of space to move about and take pictures. As much tea and coffee as we could drink on the boat. Weather started off not so good, cloudy and rainy, scenes weren’t exciting. The boat went full speed out to the tip of the fjord and it was a fun bumpy-ish ride. On the way back the sun came out again and we spotted some seals sunning themselves on a rock.

Then we saw dolphins. many many many, and they played around with the boat. The captain turned the boat around in a giant circle and they surfed along the wash, it was brilliant. Also trying to spot penguins but no luck. It was a great cruise though. Here’s the Stirling falls, next to the Elephant, see the trunk?

Driving 4 hrs to Milford means another 4 hours back to Queenstown. Stopped at Te Anau for an hour, to stretch our legs and have a frozen yogurt. Bought venison pie at the ice cream place, chatted for a llittle while with the owners. The drive back was long too, but I got up to 110kph on the open roads and we were back at our hotel by 8pm.

Did laundry, popped over to KFC to buy some chicken wings, then had the wings and pie for dinner. I washed it all down with some Speights beer we bought at the Woolworths in Dunedin, seems so long ago.

Debated at length about what to do tomorrow. initially we thought of jetboating or rafting, but we were 50-50 on both. decided to take it easy and drive up to Wanaka to enjoy the scenery.

NSW bank holiday today, so I have an unexpected day off. Still had the car. But even as I woke up I didn't really know where I should go.

Went north yesterday, and I've been west to the Blue Mountains before. So it leaves south. So I drove down to the south coast, without much idea of where exactly I'd end up, and with no proper map either :)!

Beautiful day, few cars, perfect for driving. By lunch time I ended up in Wollongong. The sounds of the ocean from the waves coming into the city beach could be heard from the car park. Very fine sand dunes and a strong surf. Very impressive. A bit further up is the harbour, with a beautiful lightbouse and small boat shelter. Had fish and chips again, this restaurant not as nice as the one at Port Stephens, a much longer wait and batter that was too thick. Congregation of seagulls outside by the tables again. Lots of people got swamped. And during one of the flybys, one of them snatched a calamari ring from my fingertips without me realising! Got a bit paranoid after that and finished eating very quickly.

About half an hour from Wollongong was Kiama, a quaint-ish small seaside town. Most famous for the Blowhole, a gap in the rocks where waves crash up. The tide wasn't so strong so the jet wasn't that high, but the views along the coast were fabulous as usual.

Drove up to the lookout point at Saddlepoint Mountain, only 10 minutes away. By that time the sun was hiding behind clouds and it was getting dark, so it was a kinda wasted trip. It was really deserted up there, a bit eerie.

Weather changed dramatically on the drive back, for a whole hour or may be even more it rained very hard, the road didn't have lights, there were lots of cars and I was in a hurry. Man I needed all the adrenalin and experience I could muster on that drive back to Sydney.