Briony and I are really starting to get this traveling buisness, the first sign was when we get to a new hostal, we would always have a good rummage of the free food/stuff shelf. And it always made our day if we found something good. I was very happy with my half full, rather muddy bottle of contact lense solution...do you know how much that stuff costs??
We realised that a good way to save money driving round the south island would be to buy a thermos and make our own tea and packed lunch, we looked like little old women sitting there with our cups of tea and our easy on the teeth jam sandwiches.
Said our goodbyes to everyone in rainy Wellington which was sad and headed to sunny Sydney. Went to Byron bay, which was really nice, walked to the lighthouse and saw more dolphins and about 6 whales, which was amazing.
Today arrived in Surfers Paradise and are hastily leaving tomorrow, its what I imagine magalufe-or whaters like with big towers blocks of hotels. Yuk!
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
"If you don't go when you want to go, when you do go you'll find you've gone"
After leaving Motueka last week, well after running out of battery and having to jump start the car, we set off for Fox Glacier.
To get to the glacier we had to first walk through rain forest for about an hour, and then once on the ice you feel like your in a different country. Its really strange how you can see rain forest, glaciers, mountains and almost sea all in the same place. We had a group of about 15 with a guide and apart from that the ice was pretty much empty.
We picked up some hitchers and made our way to Wanaka, a very pretty ski resort, then to Queenstown where we did Milford sound, which is actually a Fiord but when they discovered Fiordland they didn't know the difference.
Milford was amazing, with mile high mountains going straight down into the sea. I think the best bit was the dolphins though, really close, swimming alongside the boat. Funny how you forget the main attraction once you've seen dolphins, what fiord?
So one of the hitchers turned out to be a bit of a psycho telling us (if he had a girlfriend) he would never let her go traveling. Me and Briony were kind of shocked and wanted to know exactly how he would stop her, apart from chaining her to the kitchen sink. Jeeeesus no wonder he hasn't got a girlfriend! All was explained when we found he'd just got out the army. I thought he was a bit intense. Another weird thing about him was how he'd stare at you and just carry on when you caught his eye, really scary especially in the rear view mirror.
He's really put me off vegetarians!
Got to Oamaru today, where we went and saw blue penguins, very cute. Unfortunetly we couldn't take photos as the flash hurts their poor little eyes.
Heading up to Christchurch tomorrow to meet an old Wellington friend.
A sweet Kiwi film is 'worlds fastest Indian'.
To get to the glacier we had to first walk through rain forest for about an hour, and then once on the ice you feel like your in a different country. Its really strange how you can see rain forest, glaciers, mountains and almost sea all in the same place. We had a group of about 15 with a guide and apart from that the ice was pretty much empty.
We picked up some hitchers and made our way to Wanaka, a very pretty ski resort, then to Queenstown where we did Milford sound, which is actually a Fiord but when they discovered Fiordland they didn't know the difference.
Milford was amazing, with mile high mountains going straight down into the sea. I think the best bit was the dolphins though, really close, swimming alongside the boat. Funny how you forget the main attraction once you've seen dolphins, what fiord?
So one of the hitchers turned out to be a bit of a psycho telling us (if he had a girlfriend) he would never let her go traveling. Me and Briony were kind of shocked and wanted to know exactly how he would stop her, apart from chaining her to the kitchen sink. Jeeeesus no wonder he hasn't got a girlfriend! All was explained when we found he'd just got out the army. I thought he was a bit intense. Another weird thing about him was how he'd stare at you and just carry on when you caught his eye, really scary especially in the rear view mirror.
He's really put me off vegetarians!
Got to Oamaru today, where we went and saw blue penguins, very cute. Unfortunetly we couldn't take photos as the flash hurts their poor little eyes.
Heading up to Christchurch tomorrow to meet an old Wellington friend.
A sweet Kiwi film is 'worlds fastest Indian'.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
On the road again
On Friday me and Briony and Rachel got the ferry to the south island (where we saw dolphins and a whale on the way) we spent a lovely few days on Susie and Kev's farm. We did lots of farmy things such as milk goats, go to the market, eat goats, herd sheep, watch make goats cheese, bread and eat lots of yummy homegrown, organic vegetables. I miss having someone tell me what was from the garden as I ate my dinner, although it was more like what wasn't from the garden.
We decided the cheapest and easiest way to get round the south island is by renting a car so we have our very own (for 3 weeks) Mitsubishi lancer, which has electric windows and power steering....so posh. Unfortuently i'm the sole driver but Briony does a very good job of feeding me cashews and pointing out the way.
The roads are so easy here, you barely see anyone and if you pass a farmer he's so excited he does a little jiggle on the spot and gives you a cheery wave, us english were very confused and just thought he was crazy until others did the same.
So on monday we drove over the windy mountains to Takaka where we visited Farewell Spit, which is a big sand dune, like a desert where we got lost. I paniced a bit as I just couldn't see how we could get out without walking for days and dieing of thirst, every point in the distance seemed to take hours to walk to and over every hill was just more sand. Anyway we made it and even had time for Pupu springs on the way home.
The scenery driving around is amazing!
We're now back in Motueka ready to do the Abel Tasman National park tomorrow.
Brionys photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26367616@N07/ if you want to see more of my ugly mug.
We decided the cheapest and easiest way to get round the south island is by renting a car so we have our very own (for 3 weeks) Mitsubishi lancer, which has electric windows and power steering....so posh. Unfortuently i'm the sole driver but Briony does a very good job of feeding me cashews and pointing out the way.
The roads are so easy here, you barely see anyone and if you pass a farmer he's so excited he does a little jiggle on the spot and gives you a cheery wave, us english were very confused and just thought he was crazy until others did the same.
So on monday we drove over the windy mountains to Takaka where we visited Farewell Spit, which is a big sand dune, like a desert where we got lost. I paniced a bit as I just couldn't see how we could get out without walking for days and dieing of thirst, every point in the distance seemed to take hours to walk to and over every hill was just more sand. Anyway we made it and even had time for Pupu springs on the way home.
The scenery driving around is amazing!
We're now back in Motueka ready to do the Abel Tasman National park tomorrow.
Brionys photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26367616@N07/ if you want to see more of my ugly mug.
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