Following Geoff's 2018 Sri Lankan tour blogs, he's back again. The well known umpire/administrator/author and now world traveler, files his reports...

Tuesday, 19 Nov....Having completed a seven day loop of the bottom end of the South Island we took the early morning train from Christchurch up to Picton. It was a pleasant five hour journey up the east coast. I’d say the scenery was attractive rather than spectacular. The highlight was a 100 mile stretch of track which hugged the coastline. At Kaikoura a good number of whale-watchers exited the train. Hereabouts just off the shoreline is a trench said to be 2000 metres deep and formed by one of the earth’s plates plunging under another. It is rich in marine life and a popular feeding ground for sperm whales. Needless to say we didn’t see any from the train but it was easy to spot fur seals and dolphins close to the shore and pieces of floating kelp the size of lounge curtains. Take a boat from here, sail east and the first land is in Chile over five thousand miles away! A commentary on the train informed us the Victorian whalers were banned from drinking alcohol so they covertly mixed a concoction of methylated spirit, cough medicine and Worcester sauce! From Picton we boarded the ferry and made the three hour crossing to Wellington on the North Island. Here overnight before embarking on a 8.5 hour train journey tomorrow going up to Hamilton and then Tauranga. The crick gets ever closer.

Monday, 18 Nov....Back in the UK the nightly news from Christchurch made us acutely aware of the earthquakes in both Sept 2010 and Feb 2011, but unless you have actually been here you cannot beginning to appreciate the utter devastation it caused. Nine years on, commendably, an enormous amount has been done but so much still remains to be achieved. This morning a trip to the ‘Quake City’ museum a was a poignant reminder of the stories of heroism, hope, loss and the science behind the quakes. I am full of admiration for the city and its people. Later l went to the Antarctic Centre which colourfully presented the legacies of the great South Pole explorers. So inadequate was their kit l quickly concluded an exhibition was a better option than an expedition! There are no Boris bikes here but battery operated scooters sit on every street corner. Some are flamingo pink and others are green or orange. I asked a shop-owner about the colour coding but she looked at me as if l was quite mad. Perhaps the flamingo pinks ones are turbo models? On the way back to the motel I was able to add to my list of ‘Live Juicy’ camper-van slogans when l spotted one which read ‘If you don’t believe in love at first sight I can negotiate the roundabout again’! Great day. Early start tomorrow, next stop Wellington.

Sunday, 17 Nov....up with the lark and onto the viewing gallery of the Franz Josef glacier in bright sunshine. There were some photographs of the face of the glacier showing how it is shrinking decade on decade, the result of global warming. At one time it was 18 km nearer the sea. Legend has it that a husband and wife were keen climbers and one day the husband stumbled, fell over the cliff, and died. The tears of the wife froze over and the glacier resulted. Back in the car we drove a hundred miles north to Greymouth ready to board the afternoon Tranz Alpine train across the Southern Alps. The 4.5 hour journey is badged as one of the ten best train rides in the world and it didn’t disappoint. An undoubted engineering feat of its time built around snow capped peaks, fast-running rivers and any number of viaducts constructed over wide chasms. The final part of the trip was across the vast green fields on Canterbury Plain and into Christchurch. Here for a couple of days R&R before embarking on the crick.

Saturday, 16 Nov....it occurs to me that satnav sales in this country must be virtually nil. Having established your destination there is normally only one road to it! From Te Anau we headed north this morning for a 350 mile journey to the Franz Josef glacier. We stopped off at Queenstown where the bungee jump sellers promote their product with the same enthusiasm as those gentle folk that kindly bring ‘The Watchtower’ to your front door. It rained pretty much the whole day but we are in the ‘wet belt’ so not too much of a surprise. Nevertheless the scenery was quite spectacular - glacial lakes, high alpine snowfields, towering rainforests, raging rivers and wind blown beaches. A long but very rewarding day. Incidentally in the same way that some people collect female names displayed on the side of Eddie Stobart lorries I’ve started to look-out for the slogans painted on the side of two-berth camper-vans provided by an enterprising NZ company called ‘Live Juicy’. There livery is bright green and purple so they are not easily missed. The best slogan I spotted today was ‘ Life rocks when the living room rolls’! The storage boxes attached to the roof are tagged ‘ the penthouse’! You might have noticed while I report plenty of the wet stuff the cricketers are warming up in the sunshine. The difference is, of course, we are in the south of the South Island and they are in the north of the North Island. A land of contrasting weather. Must go, the Thai restaurant beckons.

Friday, 15 Nov....After an early morning start from Invercargill we wheeled in a north westerly direction towards Milford Sound where we had a pre-arranged boat trip into the fiord. It was a lovely sunny and crisp morning when we set out and it remained so until we were close to our afternoon destination. Suffice to say it chucked it down for the rest of the day which rather spoilt the experience. The top of the steep-sided fiord was shrouded in mist but the upside was the volume of rain enhanced the water-flow from each of the THOUSANDS of waterfalls, many of them 1500 feet high. In places the fiord is 300 metres deep and we were told the seals are perfectly capable of fishing at a depth of 200m. A good trip but some of the statistics were much more impressive than the weather! Finished off the day with a chicken masala washed down with Tiger beer. Now watching India v Bangladesh on TV. Poor old Kolhi got a duck but the latest starlet off of the Indian batting production line, Mayank Agarwal, helped himself to 247! Finally thanks to all those who emailed me with the answer (Glenn Turner) to my quiz question.

Thursday, 14 Nov....l should probably have said on an earlier day that we are travelling round the South Island in a clockwise direction before going north for the two Tests. I was last in Dunedin in 2013 and it was great to be able to reacquaint myself with the old university city this morning. On the way to the cricket ground (no game) we wandered through the lovely old university collegiate buildings and then onto the Sporting Hall of Fame which is superbly located in the old Victorian railway station. I picked up a data sheet which reported that in 2005 the US Forbes magazine convened a panel to list the greatest sporting achievements of all time and placed New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hilary ninth for his ascent of Mount Everest. What an insult! That Lance Armstrong was placed second says everything. [Roger Bannister headed the list]. And here is an (easy) question - who is the only New Zealander to record a 100 hundreds. Thereafter we hugged the coastal road between Dunedin and Invercargill, the most southerly city in NZ. Next stop Antarctica! The scenery was fantastic - wide crystal clear rivers, lush farmland and miles of golden sand deserted beaches. We stopped off at Nunnery Point and observed fur seals taking the sun and hundreds of spoonbills and shags nesting on near vertical cliffs.

Wednesday, 13 Nov.....Firstly a correction. My inbox was overflowing this morning informing me my 1957 reference should have read 1959. I confess to clumsy fingers rather than an ignorance of the fact! My sleep pattern is all over the place. I woke up soon after midnight and was ready to go! Given I’m in NZ l thought l should count sheep but after l was just shy of a million l gave up and started to think about that 1959 cup final again. I recall the Luton goalie was Ron Baynham. I went to school with his nephew, Richard. Also at my school was Dave Graham a guitarist in the Four Pennies (one hit wonders with ‘Juliet’) and a classmate was Robert Gervais, the much older brother of Ricky. I only make this point as during the Rugby World Cup, St George’s School in Harpenden boasted they provided four of the England squad. My list might not stand comparison but, had Ofsted existed in 1965 l suspect my school would have warranted a ‘special measures’ classification so l thought it worth a mention. By the way two of my lovely nieces went to St George’s but didn’t play rugby as far as I am aware. Today we had a casual drive down Highway 1 from Christchurch to Dunedin stopping off at Oamaru, a quaint old Victorian/Edwardian port and home to a large colony of penguins and Moeraki where an impressive collection of huge spherical stones have sat on the beach for centuries.

Tuesday, 12 Nov......Monday just got lost! A consequence of travelling and different time zones. We had a leisurely familiarisation with Christchurch today under a cloudless sky. It is a city of wide boulevards and plenty of parkland,(it reminded me of Harrogate), but so obviously still recovering from that devastating earthquake in 2011. There is a lot of ongoing building work but the iconic cathedral is a ruin. Apparently the church commissioners wanted to demolish it but the heritage people won the day and it is to be rebuilt. Get your money on Notre-Dame being completed first. A couple of blocks away is the transitional ‘cardboard’ Cathedral. My attendance at choral evensong was a fitting end to a sightseeing day which inevitably included a visit to the delightful Hagley Oval. (Wormsley with a grandstand).

Sunday, 10 Nov....Frustratingly the take-off of the Big Bird was delayed by 70 minutes but before too long we were being served lunch somewhere over Finland. My film of choice was Rocketman. While I enjoyed stir-fried prawns with a hot bean sauce Elton John was busy snorting cocaine and consuming drug fuelled whisky cocktails! Understandably he soon dropped his birth name of Reggie Dwight but if you knew he borrowed ‘John’ from John Lennon you are better informed than me. Incidentally l do have something lurking in the back of my mind about him being related to Roy Dwight who played for Notts Forest in the 1957 Cup Final. Must check that out sometime. The In-Flight data system seems to get ever more comprehensive and I was very happy to learn the flight to Singapore would be 11314 km (and the subsequent trip to Christchurch another 8000 odd) but do l really need to know the outside temperature was -59c? I should have said that when l arrived at seat 58B l introduced myself to a lady who was in the next seat, but only very briefly! To my surprise she immediately requested a seat move which was soon granted. On reflection l confess l was not too sorry as she gave me the distinct impression she was a long-standing customer of the Outsize Shop?