Girl in love with rocks

Having thoroughly had my tanty overnight regarding the cancelled helicopter trip to Franz Josef Glacier, Long-Suffering Mentor (also known as Cardio Cathy!) decided we would do the Franz Josef Summit walk – one and a half hours walk return but most of it uphill (of course – we ARE going to see a glacier!) and most of it on very uneven surface. Glaciers leave moraines as they retreat, and these moraines are made up of really, really, REALLY unconsolidated rocks. Big rocks, little rocks, really big rocks, really small rocks. Not a walk conducive with recovering from a broken foot.

But being the stubborn lady I am, I instructed LSM (aka Cardio Cathy!) to walk ahead of me and wait for me at the glacier. If I didn’t turn up in half an hour she was instructed to come down the mountain and find me! So off she tore like a mountain goat, and I toddled off behind.

The first bit was ok. Up hill at times and panting (so unfit!). But then we hit some river crossings which didn’t involve wet feet but did involve me stumbling over rocks, which may have resulted in a small cracking sound from my left foot, which may have caused a shooting pain up into my left ankle. But looking up I saw this……

…..and so I kept going. Like a bat out of hell I steamed up that mountain and finally came within 750 metres of a real life glacier. It glistened white in the sun and you could see the blue ice. It was absolutely beautiful.

Now for those of you who don’t know (and I didn’t until a few years ago!) a glacier is a formation caused by snow compacting down very hard until it becomes ice. The crazy thing about this ice is that because it is sitting on the side of a mountain, gravity pulls it down. And because the ice is actually sitting on a small layer of water, the glacier moves. Very slowly…..but it does move. And as it moves it picks up pieces of rock. Big rocks, little rocks. And these rocks scrape along the bottom of the glacier, picking up more rocks. Which is what the moraine is. It’s just all the rocks that the glacier has picked up in it’s travels and then left when it melts. Pretty cool hey?

The blue ice is the fluid water. If you punched a hole in that ice, water would come out. But I wouldn’t recommend doing that! Lots of people have been killed by glaciers! Falling ice and avalanches are not uncommon – which is why we weren’t allowed to go any closer than 750 metres of the terminal moraine. Still, we got close enough to see it.

The waterfall was magnificent. Some rock hopping was in order to reach it but fun was had by LSM splashing in the icy water. It was so cold, and so clear, I couldn’t help but soak my hands in the beautiful waterfall. It was just magic! I should have put my foot in it……

Limping down the mountain I immediately drugged up, and we began our journey back to Queenstown. I must say, the apples here are bloody AWESOME! We have had several different types now, Envy, Ambrosia, Simply red and Eve……very sweet and juicy!

Along the road to Queenstown as you pass by the coast, there is a really wild place called Bruce Bay. We stopped there on our way up to Franz Josef, and LSM remembered that the little caravan on the side of the road sold Kumara soup. So, to placate the LSM we stopped at Bruce Bay again. This was the place that had the warning signs that in strong weather there might be debris on the road. Well, it was blowing a bloody gale! The seagulls couldn’t fly – they were just floating in one spot. The lady in the roadside caravan selling coffee was holding on for dear life, although she assured us that this wasn’t as windy as it could get! (?) Such a beautiful character, and the best Kumara soup I have ever tasted, complete with garnish!

The next stop was Ship Creek – yep, we went up Ship Creek without a paddle! This beach was awesome with the most beautiful pebbles and driftwood. It was also really wild! The name Ship Creek came from a piece of wreckage that floated onto the beach in 1867. It was found that this wreckage was part of the ship “Schomberg” which wrecked off the coast of Peterborough, in Victoria, Australia. This piece of wreckage had made its way to the west coast of New Zealand, which revealed a lot about the currents and tides of the Tasmin Ocean. Very interesting……

Coming into Queenstown we passed some amazing lakes. The lakes here are just huge. Like I’m talking about the type of lake where you can’t see one side from the other. Crystal clear and blue, these lakes can be hundreds of kilometres in diameter, and hundreds of metres deep. I swear, if you wanted to get rid of a body, then find a New Zealand lake!

We decided to camp overnight at our favourite free spot at Shotover River, just on the outskirts of Queenstown. Having had the JUCY van for a few days now, I decided that I would be brave and try the shower facility. The shower is a small cubicle, about the size of a small broom cupboard, and it also houses the toilet. So the shower is over the toilet! Getting undressed was a little difficult as I couldn’t actually bend down to take any bottom parts off. So I kind of had to wiggle my way out of my clothes and throw them outside the cubicle as they would get wet if I had them in with me.

Having managed to derobe, I was pleasantly surprised to find the water was really hot. The hand held shower head was handy as it was difficult to turn around so it was nice to be able to spray all my bits without having to move too much. Soaping up was a little more difficult as I had to hold on to the shower as well as the soap, but a sufficient job was managed. The big problem was I couldn’t actually raise my arms high enough to spray my arm pits – but overall I think I did ok.

Towelling off and dressing was another matter. Much banging and bashing of elbows and knees, combined with high levels of expletives and “OH C’MON!” resulted in my unmentionables being only half pulled up and everything else thrown on as best I could.

I collapsed into bed exhausted……

Today was the day of adventure…….

…..until we woke up and realised the weather was really shit! Like so shit that we couldn’t see the top of the mountain let alone where the glacier was! So we were kind of expecting the bad news……

Still, ever the optimist I set off for my first adventure, quad biking through the terminal moraine! After a quick run through of how to use the quad bike, and a test drive around the course to make sure you weren’t some nufty who would take out the whole group because they forgot where the brake was, we set off at a hefty pace over the river beds.

The terminal moraine of Franz Josef glacier looks like a moonscape. Kilometres of unconsolidated rock. All this rock had been transported either by the glacier or by the river which is fed by the glacier. It was a barren, harsh landscape.

But it was also incredibly fun to ride over on a quad bike. Dodging large rocks and trying to make sure you didn’t fly off when your tyres hit a rock and your handlebars slid out from under you, we flew over the moraine until we came to the side and entered a beautiful rainforest. Such a difference to the moonscape. Lush and green with huge ferns, we sped along muddy tracks and flew through creek beds, the water so deep it would come halfway up my legs. The splash was huge and I began to try and position the bike so that I could hit the trees with my splashing!

Coming back out onto the moraine we looked up and there it was! Franz Josef glacier……

….now here begins a story behind my passion for seeing the Franz Josef glacier up front and personal. When I decided to go back to uni to study Zoology, one of my first units was a subject called Physical Geography, led by non other than my Long-Suffering Mentor. One of the first slides she showed us was a google earth image of the Franz Josef glacier. I had never heard of a glacier before and I was fascinated with the dynamics and science surrounding this thing! I began watching glacier YouTubes and how they move. It was utterly fascinating to me! So it only seemed fitting that I would see the glacier with my Long-Suffering Mentor! It worked out well……

The glacier was stunning, and as though it was showing off the sun would come out and reflect off the blue ice, revealing the liquid water that flows under and through the glacier itself. Having stood on the moraine with my mouth open making some sort of “Gah” noise, the tour guide worriedly encouraged us to get back on our bikes, and we spent the next hour flying up rock walls and down crevices and bouncing around on the huge rocks, and then back through the forest for more fun splashing through the streams.

On our return I wandered back to the JUCY van to find a very solemn LSM who had booked a heli-hike up to Fox Glacier and was nervously waiting to hear if it was still going ahead. The weather was still really bad, rain and high winds – not really conducive to helicopter flights.

I had also booked a helicopter flight which would fly me around Franz Josef glacier and then land me on the ice of the glacier itself so I could take photos, get some rock samples and lick some ice. But, alas the weather gods were against me and the flight had been cancelled. I was devastated. I actually felt slightly ill. It was something that I really had wanted to do and the only way you can get to the glacier is by helicopter – all public access to the glacier has been taken away.

And so, it wasn’t to be this time for LSM either, so being who we are – strong independent and intelligent women, we immediately went to a café and had comfort food……and started a devious plan……

We packed up the JUCY and headed towards Franz Josef glacier and started to climb the scenic walk to a viewing platform of the glacier. The view was pretty good but it was really far away. I would have liked to smell it and touch it and jump on it and cause an avalanche.  Anyway……when we returned we noticed there was a summit walk for 1.5 hours to see the glacier within 750m! Wooppeeee! But beggars can’t be choosers so we made plans to return the next day and see what we could do.

Being in a really shitty mood, LSM managed to get herself into the hot springs with the direction that she was not to come back to the JUCY van without being so relaxed that she could stretch like a noodle. Thinking of noodles gave me the idea to partake in a lovely Chinese meal of Broccoli Chicken and Cashews! YUM!

LSM eventually wobbled back to the JUCY, grunted maybe three words and then went to sleep.

…..I really, really, really wanted to go on that helicopter flight……

I woke up – and I could move!! This was a bloody good thing! After a thoroughly enjoyable morning walk along the beautiful braided river I felt even better.

We managed to get on the road by 10am after a quick stop to the petrol station, the supermarket AND the pharmacy where I almost had to bend over for a rectal examination to get my extra strength codeine – but I got it! So off we set for Franz Josef!

The road to Franz Josef is known as the famous Haas Pass and there’s a reason it is so famous! Hours and hours of winding roads, sometimes at the very precipice of huge valleys. It was reminiscent of the Great Ocean Road but on steroids! Instead of cliffs and ocean, the Haas Pass has craggy snow topped mountains and rushing rivers through glacial valleys that had been carved out many, many years ago. We stopped at a look out to walk out over the mountains to look right down into a valley. It gave you a quiver in your waim but was just breathtaking.

You can see the tundra in the background. These mountains are in a rainshadow and are therefore technically in a desert. It’s really rugged countryside but devastatingly beautiful.

The river sediments are completely different here. Totally made up of glacial deposits, the sediments are unconsolidated mountain rocks with rock flour and mud mixed in. It makes for a really light grey colour and rocky texture – nothing like the sandy quartz we see at home.

Lunch was at a cute little place called Paringa. Stunning views and a gobsmacking lake.

I must be getting desperate for animal company because I even made friends with the local Sparrows…..

Winding up through beautiful rainforest, although very different to the Otway rainforest (I’ll explain later) we came across a place called Fantail Falls. Eager to experience the whole kit and caboodle, I decided to test the glacial waters – it took 40 seconds and I couldn’t feel my toes – left me tingly for an hour!

Having wound our way through forest and lakes for many hours, we finally emerged onto the west coast of New Zealand – a completely rugged but beautiful coastline. There were signs to say beware of debris on the roads after wild weather! The beach was magnificent! We stopped at a place called Bruce Bay which had a little caravan selling Kumara soup. The driftwood on the beach was drool worthy and indicative of exactly how much power the waves must thump onto the beach! Who knows where the wood is from!

There are cairns everywhere here on the south island, but this one was really cute – people had written messages from all over the world. So I stopped and wrote one for my babies…..

After a very long drive, we finally found the township of Franz Josef. We decided to stay in a camper van park as we planned to stay for two nights and a hot shower sounded really good! We chose a great spot and sat down to enjoy a bottle of wine and start prepping our fossils and rocks to bring home! LS Mentor got tipsy!

I knew something was wrong as soon as I opened my eyes! I couldn’t move! I was busting to go to the loo and my back had completely seized up in the JUCY van! I was packed into my bed with no way of manoeuvring out to the bathroom. I panicked! I called out to Long-Suffering Mentor who was snuggled up and asleep in her upstairs tomb (the double bed up over the drivers seat is so small it looks like a coffin!) but because she was packed in like a sardine she couldn’t hear my desperate cries! After some shouting and swearing she finally woke up and before she could be fully conscious she was out of her coffin and trying to unbend me like a pretzel! After copious amounts of drugs and expletives we finally managed to get me out of the bloody JUCY van and making a somewhat uncomfortable and crippled run to the toilet!

I was stoned by 9am and sitting in the front of the JUCY van, very happily alongside our newfound passenger John, who was hitching a ride with us from Dunedin to Queenstown. Being a captive audience he had no choice but to come along with us, so we decided to take the long road to Queenstown.

There were lots, and lots and lots of sheep – and they all had lambs. Lots of twinsies. Very cute! The landscape had changed to rolling green hills and paddocks. Lush scenery with peaceful surroundings…..

…and then we found the famous Osaka Teapotland…..

Yep…….

Driving out of Osaka we passed by what looked like an old quarry. The rock formation was really different so we stopped and had a look around. I’m thinking it was old but the different layers on it was amazing.

We made a tea stop……thank you Invercargill!

And then……we found Gemstone Beach! It’s been on my bucket list for a long time and we gave ourselves a few hours to fossick and paddle…..and my gawd! We started digging down into the sand near a creek as minerals and gemstones are heavier and will sink to the bottom. We found lots and lots of Jade and Jasper – beautiful specimens that just spoke to me when I held them. Such well rounded pebbles that had travelled great distances to end up on a beach on the South Island of New Zealand.

John got into the spirit of things…..

I was in my element…..

…and Long-Suffering Mentor got to play in the waves!

The sand was completely different! It was black and if you look at it under the hand lens it’s all crystallised!

I had the BEST time and managed to get some really nice samples. But we needed to get to Queenstown so we set off on our long drive……

As we drove along the landscape changed from sand dunes and limestone to beautiful valleys and huge mountains. It was awe-inspiring! I cannot get over how huge the lakes are here in New Zealand, and considering most of the lakes were glaciers, this rugged landscape has undergone a huge amount of change in it’s time.

Having safely arrive in Queenstown and delivered John to his waiting wife (thanks Julie) we consulted our trusty Camperman app and found a great free camping spot just outside Queenstown. It had views of the lake AND a toilet! Excellent!

After a quick meal we fell into bed, me still slightly stoned from all the drugs I’d been swallowing, but my back felt better and I was in high hopes that tomorrow I wouldn’t wake up bent like a pretzel!

Having woken early in our lovely little room, I noticed when bending down that my back was twinging a bit. I made myself promise I would take it a bit easier today as I didn’t want any nasty incidences or surprises. Making our way downstairs we enjoyed a simple continental breakfast with lots of cups of tea, and quickly packed up the JUCY van in preparation for what Ewan promised would  be an action packed and very full-on day.

The scenery was so picturesque as we drove out to Hakataramea Valley to a huge quarry. The quarry was Late Oligocene limestone and greensand and was an important vertebrate site. Lots of bone had been found at this site so we all piled out of the bus and JUCY van and immediately started scratching through the piles of dirt!

My back was not cooperating but I did manage to find some lovely gastropod fossils. Some of the other more experienced and limber palaeontologists found some lovely samples of bone, including this fish vertebra! Very impressive!

Long Suffering Mentor took pity on my crippled state and found me a shark tooth! Imagine the choppers on this thing!

With great trouble, Ewan (Long Suffering Post-Conference Leader) managed to get us out of the dirt piles and onto the next stop, Waihao Forks in the Waihao Valley. This spectacular outcrop of cross-bedded and scoured limestone is from the Late Oligocene (it’s old!) and it just takes your breath away. Look at that scouring!

Yes, I know you can’t stop looking at that scouring, but we started heading towards the coast and we hit water, much to Long-Suffering Mentors delight! Kakanui is famous for producing one of Zealandia’s first named fossil vertebrates – the tarsometatarsus of a large penguin! Its the ankle/toe thingy that means they walk on their toes but the bone is somewhat fused at the……..well…….never mind! It’s important! And the beach was beautiful too with all the driftwood.

Unfortunately the next stop was interrupted by the incoming high tide which made for some interesting acrobatics as palaeontologists scrambled to get out of the way of the giant waves at Shag Point. The rocks are preserved from the late Cretaceous to the Paleocene (it’s old!) and include non-marine coal measures and quartzite sediments! Pretty cool rocks really….

We then had a surprise visit to the Geology and Palaeontology department at the University of Otago in Dunedin. My gawd! I fell into heaven! Their geology collection is magnificent – one of the best I have ever seen with cases and cases of minerals and rocks from all around the world. I was rubbing myself all over the cases and drooling with several expletives coming from my mouth!

And then it got even BETTER! Ewan asked us all to come down to the basement, which sounded kind of creepy in a serial killer sort of way but I was itching to see what was down there. Seriously, I died and went to heaven. Cases and cases of unprepared fossils still in the rocks and casts that they were found and removed in – just waiting for some eager, mature age student to pick one and start prepping the bone to be studied and hopefully articulated into a skeleton.

Sheesh! If only I could move to Dunedin…….

Speaking of which, Dunedin is said to be the most Scottish town outside of Scotland. To me it just looked like a hugely metropolitan town with a LOT of bars and restaurants – the bars selling many, many, MANY different types of whiskey! So acting on the advice of one of the post-conference group (thank you Felix!) we headed for a very Scottish bar to have some very scottish whiskey!

…..do you like peaty or non-peaty the cute bartender asks! Non-peaty please! So I began to try some of his suggestions…..

Holy cow! It went down like a smooth butterscotch! Warm my throat and down to my loins! By the second glass I couldn’t feel my tongue, and Long-Suffering Mentor had to peel me out of the comfy wing-chair and load me into the JUCY van. I don’t remember much after that…….

Being the totally organised travellers that we are, my LS Mentor set an alarm for 6.30am allowing us a leisurely time for showers and breakfast before trotting across the road to the bus for the airport, having checked out with minimal hassle. Unfortunately LS Mentor’s clock was still on Victorian time, so I woke up thinking there is way too much light coming through my window, grabbed my watch and immediately began screaming “we’re late” and rushing around like a mad woman.

We eventually made it out of the hotel and across the road – dragged all our luggage onto a bus – realised we hadn’t eaten breakfast or even had a cup of tea! But we quickly arrived at the Queenstown Airport and there she was…….

Our JUCY van……

The van is great! Fully self contained complete with dunny and shower, kitchen and two double beds……well? We will work it out! After a quick run through on how to use the sink, shower, how to empty the toilet (eww!) and how to drain all our waste water especially while travelling – we seemed pretty impressed by our setup and were confident enough to meet with the rest of the post-conference tour. Having organised our own transport we were to meet the group in Cromwell next to “The Big Fruit”….

…..I think this is the place!

Having coffeed up and raring to go we started off in convey from Cromwell, northeast over Lindis Pass to Omarama. The clay cliffs of Omarama are from the Neogene time and are known as the Clay Cliff Badlands. Beautiful cliffs of sandstone and siltstone, we embarked on a journey up the badlands, squeezing through crevices until it became too thin and we couldn’t fit through! Loads and loads of beautiful purple cherts. I was in heaven!

Having explored the badlands as thoroughly as we could, we hopped back in the JUCY van only to have LS Mentor announce that one of her bucket list items was to put her hand into a glacial stream. Amidst girly screams and splashes she took off to the nearby stream and started splashing around until her hand went numb. Having watched her, the entire busload of palaeontologists all began splashing in the glacial water, much to the irritation of Ewan, our post-conference tour guide. I tried to explain what a bad influence she was, but became distracted by the fun…..so I joined in! The water was icy. SO COLD! But it was blue, and clear and fresh!

Managing to extract the Long-Suffering Mentor from the icy depths, we continued on our journey to the Waitiki River Torless outcrops below Benmore dam. The strata includes Triassic shelly marine fossils and non marine plant beds, but we didn’t find anything. The fold on the rocks was amazing though – the anticlines and synclines showed exactly how much force this particular part of the earth is put under with it’s tectonic movement. A fun time was had scrambling over the rocks in the hopes we might find a dinosaur…..but not today!

I love this photo! You can see the movement that the rock has undergone. The whole strata has shifted to the left! Awesome tectonic illustration!

Continuing our journey we made our way to the town of Duntroon where the Vanished World Centre is located. It’s a plaeontological/geological field centre showing examples of the types of fossils found in the area. A few minutes exploring the rock room was enjoyed by all!

The next stop on the post-conference field trip was a place known to locals as The Earthquakes – Oligicene formations deposited during the peak transgression onto Zealandia. Fossil whale, dolphin and penguin have been found in this location, although I must admit, I was more interested in the limestone formations than the bone!

What do you call a group of palaeontologists?…..

Apparently there was a skull found over the side of this cliff. I had to stop LS Mentor from climbing down the cravasse and trying to locate more skeleton. Ewan (our Post-Conference leader) was about to have kittens!

Having thoroughly tired ourselves out we headed to the beautiful township of Kurow where we stayed in a quaint little pub and had the best dinner! And a well deserved coke…..

The bedspreads were just gold!

This mountain changes every day! The different light and sunshine makes it alive!!

Today was a full day of CAVEPS – bird, mesozoic and dinosaurs, macropods, and New Zealand cenozoic. Lots and lots of dinosaurs and crocodiles. The highlight of the day though, was the Plenary speaker – Senior Professor Jingmai O’Connor spoke about the rise of birds. Jingmai is the coolest Palaeontologist I have ever met! She’s dynamite in a small package, covered in tattoos of birds and dinosaurs! She spoke with such passion and intellect, I was so impressed with her presentation. I actually met her afterwards in the gift shop and she showed me more of her tattoos. Such a down to earth young woman but so smart and lovely.

The poster session was held in the evening with beautiful wine provided by The Bone Line (how appropriate!). A pleasant evening was spent looking around at the posters. I marvel and how smart people are – and the different things people are studying, and how their results will lead to more exciting research. Palaeontology is such a broad field and their is so much still to discover. Exciting times…..

I decided to leave My Long-Suffering Mentor to her own devices (ie. there was still wine available so she stayed to help use it up!) I went for a slow walk around the township of Queenstown. I decided to stop and have a drink – no tea as I was still full-as-a-goog from all the wonderful food the conference is providing. People watching is one of my favourite past times so I found a seat and started to relax. I heard a pop and looked to my left, just near where my backpack was lying was a drain which was making gurgling noises. A reflex action made me pick up my bag just as a bubbling mass of sewerage came pouring out in a torrent towards me. I ran! People everyone ran! It was mayhem as the street quickly became flooded with raw sewerage. I got out of there fairly quickly – people were staying behind to take photos! No thanks!

I just hope the shops didn’t get flooded! So excitement follows me everywhere I go! Sanja stumbled back to the apartment having well and truly consumed the conference wine! A quiet evening was enjoyed with an early night! My brain hurts……

This mountain changes every day! The different light and sunshine makes it alive!!

Today was a full day of CAVEPS – bird, mesozoic and dinosaurs, macropods, and New Zealand cenozoic. Lots and lots of dinosaurs and crocodiles. The highlight of the day though, was the Plenary speaker – Senior Professor Jingmai O’Connor spoke about the rise of birds. Jingmai is the coolest Palaeontologist I have ever met! She’s dynamite in a small package, covered in tattoos of birds and dinosaurs! She spoke with such passion and intellect, I was so impressed with her presentation. I actually met her afterwards in the gift shop and she showed me more of her tattoos. Such a down to earth young woman but so smart and lovely.

The poster session was held in the evening with beautiful wine provided by The Bone Line (how appropriate!). A pleasant evening was spent looking around at the posters. I marvel and how smart people are – and the different things people are studying, and how their results will lead to more exciting research. Palaeontology is such a broad field and their is so much still to discover. Exciting times…..

I decided to leave My Long-Suffering Mentor to her own devices (ie. there was still wine available so she stayed to help use it up!) I went for a slow walk around the township of Queenstown. I decided to stop and have a drink – no tea as I was still full-as-a-goog from all the wonderful food the conference is providing. People watching is one of my favourite past times so I found a seat and started to relax. I heard a pop and looked to my left, just near where my backpack was lying was a drain which was making gurgling noises. A reflex action made me pick up my bag just as a bubbling mass of sewerage came pouring out in a torrent towards me. I ran! People everyone ran! It was mayhem as the street quickly became flooded with raw sewerage. I got out of there fairly quickly – people were staying behind to take photos! No thanks!

I just hope the shops didn’t get flooded! So excitement follows me everywhere I go! Sanja stumbled back to the apartment having well and truly consumed the conference wine! A quiet evening was enjoyed with an early night! My brain hurts……

Having had a long and restful sleep, we clambered up the inclines of Queenstown, New Zealand towards the Skyline Gondola, to get to our conference location high up on a mountain overlooking the beautiful town and lakes. Long-Suffering Mentor (who is afraid of heights) managed to hide her conniptions with white knuckles and distracted chatter, as we ascended up the mountain in a small gondola.

The views were incredible. Breathtaking! The snow capped crags of mountain ranges blending in with mountains that look like green velvet. Sometimes it just looks fake – like a painting! The geology of the South Island is completely different to that of the North Island. The South Island is mudstone that has been metamorphosed with all the tectonic movement. Combinations of the most beautiful shales, slates and foliated mudstone offers a very different look to the rock. The mountains have been totally created by uplift and tectonic movement – which when you see the scope and height of the landscape, really blows your mind!

The conference began with a plenery speaker, Professor Ewan Fordyce from the University of Otago. He spoke about Zealandia – a southern Rosetta stone for 85 million years of marine tetrapods. I thought that New Zealand was relatively young, but unlike the North Island (which is volcanic is nature and therefore quite young in formations), the South Island may be thought to have broken off from Pangea to become the Southern part of New Zealand. Some parts of the South Island is very old and contains marine tetrapod fossils which help to explain the evolution of this beautiful land. Fascinating stuff!

We  were then entertained by talks about marine mammals, fish and reptiles, DNA, Phylogenetics and Evolution (eeeek!) and Quaternary Australia. My favourite was by a couple who had never studied palaeontology or geology, but had formed a passion for  palaeontology after finding a fossil bone on their property. John and Julie Barrie have spent the last 40 years dragging their children to dig sites and using every possible spare minute to search the cave system around Henschke’s Cave, Naracoort. Passion and “no end-goal” has resulted a highly successful fossil collection of the cave system. I love this couple as they show that academia is only a very small part of palaeontology and geology. I have a standing invitation to go stay with them on their next dig. Yay!

When the conference wrapped up for the day, we made our way back through the township (which never seems to sleep!) to have a wander around. Being seduced by a delicious looking pan of nacho’s, we sat and had a beer and a coke, and some nachos (LS Mentor had a beetroot salad – ew!). I hit my 10,000 steps and then headed back to our room. Queenstown has 4 tv channels so there will be no television watching on this trip!

It was with much excitement that My Long-Suffering Mentor suggested we attend CAVEPS 2017 conference – Australian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeonotology and Systematics to those in the know! Why? Because it’s about dinosaurs!!!! And its in Queenstown, New Zealand…….so of course I said yes!

Day One began at the ungodly hour of 2am – the unfortunate situation of living a few hours away from the nearest international airport, but also a lesson in not allowing My Long-Suffering Mentor to book the cheap flights that leave at 6.15am. Despite the hour we were eager and excited to make the check-in time and allow ourselves enough time to get through customs, rearrange our luggage into appropriate organisation, and take all my anti-vomiting drugs at the right time. This is a tricky juggling act, as take the drugs too soon and it will involve a loss of ability to think for oneself, potentially leading to the situation where LS Mentor has to find a wheelchair to get me on the plane! Take the drugs too late and they won’t kick in until mid way through the flight, resulting in multiple bags of vomit on take off.

I must be getting more experienced in this aspect as I took them an hour before the flight and didn’t start feeling tiddily until we were almost boarding the plane – allowing LS Mentor to see me giggly and seeing sparkles in my peripheries, but not leaning all over her. It also meant that no sick bags were needed, resulting in a 3.5hour plane ride VOMIT FREE!! This is deserving of many cheers!

The flight into Queenstown was breathtaking! I have never seen landscape like it before. Craggy mountain ranges covered in snow with glacier cirques keenly visible from the plane window – the bobbing of heads, gesticulations and girly squeals of “OOooooo LOOK AT THAT!” and “OH MY GAWD IT’S A ……” delighted the plane occupants to an obvious degree! The good-looking, male flight attendant came up to tell us the plane would actually fly closer in a few minutes but by that time we were preparing to land.

Queenstown is cold, but a different cold to home. It’s fresh, crisp and takes the breath away. It was quite windy (which made for a bumpy landing – eeeek!) but we were too distracted by the scenery to care about the weather. We managed to find a Green Taxi and make our way to our tidy accommodation. Everything we needed right on Lake Wakatipu – beautiful views!  Only a ten minute walk into town so we made our way to find some lovely food at a ritzy bistro – nothing like having a vegetarian big breakfast at 2pm! With Mulled Wine! Thank you Queenstown!

Having scheduled an Icebreaker for the CAVEPS conference in the late afternoon, we headed back to pretty ourselves up and then walk to the organised bus stop to be picked up and taken to the beautiful Stoneridge Estate near Lake Hayes, a winery of absolute awesome buildings with and eclectic assortment of decor which bought up illusions of knights in shining armour. And the wine was divine! The house Pinot Grigio was crisp and sweet and the Rose was to die for! I think I had 5 glasses, resulting in a mix of post-airsickness tablet euphoria with tipsy staggering! LS Mentor found the courage to be sociable – at 7pm I had to stuff her in the bus and stop her kissing everyone……

To soak up the alcohol we decided to down some carbs – Sweet potato wedges with deep-fried cauliflower! Just the thing for preventing a horrific hangover, knowing we would have to face everyone we met at the Icebreaker again in the morning. By 9pm we were blood-shot and so tired we could barely talk, resulting in an early night and a wonderful sleep…..