Hey hey again,
Slightly strange writing on this computer as the screen keeps on shaking around, so have to try and capture the words before they fly off! Hope that everyone is well in the UK - we have headed to the South Island and it is sooooooo cold (well definitely need our jumpers, and have seen frost on our car for the first time in months).
So, we left you in Taupo to try and find some fodder. Unfortunately, we are unused to the timings here, and still in Argentinian mode where it is perfectly normal to eat supper at midnight or 1am. Attempting to find supper at 9.30pm was virtually impossible in Taupo. We did bump into some people we had been on the flight to NZ with, and thought we might have to resort to McDonalds (we haven't done yet on our trip), but luckily we spotted a fish and chips place along the road that was just closing up, so we dived in and were very naughty eating junk food. But so delicious!
Unfortunately, J and Haz's skydive was cancelled due to there being cloud (apparently the pilot needs to see the landing site). This was the only cloud that we had seen after arriving in NZ, so was very frustrating. Still, we decided to head on, and started our 9 hour drive. We drove through the Forgotten Highway for 155km, which took us 3 hours due to the bad quality road! It was winding through dense vegetation, and we spotted many of NZ's tree ferns, which, for some reason, we are all enchanted with. We drove through a place called the Republic of Whangomomoma, which is a different country to NZ! It is a tiny village, and they have annual independence parties from the rest of New Zealand. It was very strange, didn't really pay much attention to the handpainted sign welcoming us into the Republic, but certainly did see the sign saying 'Welcome back to New Zealand!' Very strange country here...
So stopped along the way and had the most beautiful Indian meal I have ever tasted - Sag Aloo - for under a fiver, then managed to arrive in Wellington about 9pm. Quick shower later, and we were ready to have a little beverage in the hostel bar. The Base hostel was another massive one - 240 beds, mainly full of buses of gap year drunkards from the UK, with companies such as Magic and the Kiwi Experience. So we showered and tarted ourselves up, and were immediately scared by 2 Brazilian guys we met. 'Have you every tried a Brazilian kiss?' 'No'. Well the proper word is probably 'pounced', but luckily us girls stuck together.
Met 2 Americans and 1 Irish guy (who, the same day as kayaking off a 6m waterfall and skydiving, then decided to dive into a lake. There was less than 1ft of water. He was wearing a neck brace). The Americans were called Ted and Connor (Ted was a small ball of fun and energy, Connor was unique in his own way)... and the Irish boy was called Ronan, well lets just say they were very generous with buying our drinks, and we didn't exactly go to bed early. Oh well, these things happen! We ran a few errands the following afternoon (once we had resurfaced), and then met up with J's uni friend for the evening and had the most beautiful meal, about 1hr outside of Wellington. Was lovely for J to catch up, and we went to a gorgeous restaurant which overlooked the sun setting on the ocean. Had mountains of delicious food for not much money, so tasty. Certainly slept very well that night!
Spent Sunday in Wellington too, met up with Ronan again and generally explored the city centre and the Oriental Bay area. Lovely city, didn't expect to like it but ended up liking it very much. The sun was shining, and people were out and about for the weekend, either running, swimming, shopping and so on, or running errands. But such a friendly atmosphere, with the ocean running along the city waterfront, dotted with marinas and some pretty big boats. The city centre wasn't the prettiest place I've been, but it was certainly nice enough and we had a great time.
A 3 hour ferry ride that evening and we arrive at the Atlantis hostel in Picton, to be welcomed by Sheera, who had come down to the ferry to meet us, despite Haz telling her we were driving ourselves to the hostel... with peroxide blonde hair that looked like she had had an unfortunate accident with the mains electricity, she was a very startling person to first meet! The hostel used to be a museum, and felt like it (our dorm room only had about 20 beds in it - really). But she was absolutely brilliant - completely loopy. She was great fun to watch and to talk to, really enjoyed staying there. Alas, always moving onwards, so we drove off down a gorgeous scenic road to Nelson the following morning.
Nelson is on the northern tip of the South Island, and is a small town, with everything you need - supermarket, internet (actually in the hostel), little crafty shops and a delicious sushi stand, plus a second hand book shop. We meandered around the town, and walked up a hill to look at the sun starting to set on the town and on the surrounding ocean and islands. Apparently we were at the 'Centre of New Zealand' - not really sure what that was about, but there was a plaque. We stayed in 'The Bug' hostel, and it is the nicest one so far I think. Completely crammed with VW Beetle paraphernalia (our room was called 'Sunny Bug' - we had 'Lady Bug' opposite), the hostel had everything we needed - kitchen, laundry (cheap), clothes line, FREE internet (rare in NZ), lounge area and the most beautiful room with new carpets (so soft, actually wanted to take my shoes off and walk on them), plus a gorgeous bathroom. It makes all the difference! So had a lovely time there, and met some great people.
Visited Stephen, the Bone Carver on Tuesday, and spent all day (well 4 hours) carving cow bone into lovely pieces of jewellery, inlaid with paua shell (pictures going up on Picasa page). Everyone made something gorgeous and professional looking - Stephen was a great teacher, and it was very reasonably priced. Definitely recommend it, and we would have gone back had we more time and money! Everything though cost us about 25 quid for the day (materials, tuition and so on), so we were happy.
Wednesday - (is it Thursday today?! I have no idea!) we walked for 4 hours from Marahau to Anchorage in the Abel Tasman national park. It was stunning, an easy coastal path and the scenery was just superb, with private, unspoiled beaches. Again, photos probably describe it better! So we arrived in Kaikoura last night quite late (we arrived at 8.30pm and most of the receptions for hostels had already shut for the night, so we ended up staying in the Backpacker part of a motel, and had it all to ourselves, telly and all (including all the grime)... we did ask for it to be cleaned and luckily they have sorted it out.
Kaikoura is little as well, and again, has everything - supermarket, jewellery shops, internet, i-site information centre, and everything is within a 5 minute walk. We went swimming with seals today for a couple of hours. 'Seal Swim' took us off shore in our wetsuits and snorkels in a boat, and for the next couple of hours we floated (I did a credible out-of-control impression), and swam next to seals, who ended up floating and dancing for us. They were beautiful, and I was petrified. Literally. I was trying to get a good photo (with my underwater camera), and suddenly the seal was inches away, eye-balling me. It is amazing how much I could squeal even with a snorkel in. The others laughed. Didn't realise how scared I am still (after doing the diving course) - of fish and seaweed. Luckily Haz came to my rescue and let me hold her hand while we swam closer to get some more photos, although don't think she had reckoned on my grip-of-death once we were within a metre of him... such a good friend! J meanwhile had taken my camera and got herself stranded on a rock, and took some beautiful pictures of the seals whilst being simultaneously beaten up by the rocks. So the photos you see are real teamwork!
We really enjoyed our hot showers afterwards - it is so cold here! - so much infact that there were comments afterwards from the staff that they were thinking of calling the fire brigade to turf us out... but a cuppa later and we were feeling right as rain again. So we are looking forward to having a TV night with sole custody of the TV remote, and to recover from the traumatic stress of realising how scared I am of seals! (J and Haz had no problems). Easier once I imagined them as wet dogs. Until I looked down and saw other fish. And I swear I saw an eel...
So driving through Lewis Pass tomorrow to end up in Greymouth tomorrow night. We have loved it here in Kaikoura, unfortunately our budget didn't stretch to watching whales from a boat today, but swimming with seals was certainly a unique experience.
Anyway, fingers v cold now, but lots of love to all, from us all,
Alice xxx
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