So tonight we didn't make it to the pub quiz. Because of rugby it was moved up a half hour so we didn't get there in time, and we ended up going to the Welsh Bar instead. We had a few rounds of drinks (w/ our prize money from last week) and just chatted all night, but ended up having a fun time anyway. So hopefully we'll have better luck next Wednesday... [View Full Entry]

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Well it's been a while! Shaheen and I are back in Christchurch now, after having worked for a month on the Banks Peninsula at Onuku Farm Hostel (which is the best hostel in NZ in case you wanted to know). It's good to be traveling again, but I'm definitely going to miss it there... One day I will actually put some pictures of up. Hopefully I'll get the chance once I'm in Wellington. Right now, I'm staying at Coachman Backpackers, right near Cathedral Square. It's really nice and new and definitely refreshing after having stayed in a tent for the past [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we finally checked out of our Nelson hostel and ran our last in-town errands before heading off to the farm. Our ride wasn't set to pick us up until 5pm, so we left of bags at the desk and spent the afternoon in Queens gardens - walking around, watching ducks, sitting in the gazebo, and we even saw some fresh water eels which were really cool. At 5, we rode with Kevin to a little town called Hope where the farm is located and got settled into our quarters. We have a little house almost all to ourselves - there [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday, we spent the morning at a big open-air market in the parking lot right next to our hostel. We met up with Brent, the owner of the organic farm we had contacted about WWOOFing and arranged for him to pick us up Monday to start. So we've officially got our first job in NZ! We also picked up some really nice organic fruits and veges while wandering around the market. We spent the afternoon wandering around a bit and then sat and read at Queens Gardens for a while. Then we stayed in for the evening and watched 'The Piano', [View Full Entry]

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Our day at Abel Tasman was amazing! The water there is so blue and the weather was absolutely perfect. The kayak company picked us up in a shuttle and after a nice ride filled with Bob Marley music and bakery stops (our driver, Harold, rocked) we arrived at Kaiteriteri beach. There were 6 other people in our kayak group and our guide took us all up the coast until we reached a place called Split Apple Rock. It was a really cool rock formation where the softer stone in the center had eroded away until only the ‘split apple’ part was [View Full Entry]

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Rainy rain rain! Yesterday was another washout. I don't want to blame Nelson itself, but the prospect of staying here and working for a few months no longer sounds exciting to me. Maybe it's the weather's fault, maybe I'm just too impatient and can't wait to get traveling again, but whatever the reason is I was really glad when Shaheen walked in yesterday morning and confessed that she was having doubts about staying here as well. So we decided to throw out our tentative plans (after all, they were only tentative) and see some more of the country before settling down [View Full Entry]

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We spent most of this morning at an internet cafe looking for work opportunities around Nelson. It started raining while we were using the computer (NZ's sunniest city - yeah right!). We decided not to let that stop us, so we spent the rest of the day walking around in the rain and popping into all the galleries and art stores that we could find. Then we wandered into a museum that had a bunch of random stuff and also a big exhibit all about Lord Nelson (which I guess makes sense, considering the name of the town). So we learned [View Full Entry]

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We spent this morning walking around Picton and going into all the little shops. We ended up buying sleeping bags and then went on a little walk over a little bridge to the other side of the harbor and sat on Shelly Beach and watched ships. For lunch we stepped into a little Dutch bakery right down the street from our hostel and it turned out to be an excellent decision. It was incredibly delicious - mmm. We sat on the Villa’s porch and ate our baked goods until it was time to catch our bus to Nelson. Thus far, Nelson [View Full Entry]

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I’m really glad we decided to stay in Picton for a night. I was expecting it to be just a place where the ferry came to, but Picton is actually a very cute little town. We’re staying at a really cool little hostel, The Villa, and it’s so homey and cozy. We’re staying in a room out back off of the patio. There are games inside and gardens all around the house, plus pets (including a vegetable eating cat)! We left Wellington on the ferry this morning and enjoyed the views and did crosswords to pass the time on our journey [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we spent almost completely on the bus. Shaheen and I did a heap of crosswords and even broke out the travel Chinese Checkers. It took us about 12 hours to get here because we hit some construction traffic on the road, so we didn't get to our hostel (World Wide Backpackers) until nearly 9pm. However, today was wonderful! Our best day in NZ thus far. We woke up early and ate our free breakfast. Then, after dropping by the ferry to reserve our tix for the next day, we walked around town for a while. We passed the Beehive and [View Full Entry]

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