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Published: March 24th 2006
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Champ vs Emperor
In this corner standing 5'0" and weighing in at ???, "Vicious" Vicki Vanstone and in the other corner standing 4'0" and weighing in at 100lbs,"The Evil" Emperor. As we have come to learn......... YOU ARE ONLY AS FIT AS THE HILLS OF NZ TELL YOU YOU ARE AND THE HILLS OF NZ ARE ONLY AS FLAT AS HOW FIT YOUR BODY TELLS YOU YOU ARE.!
Well we have been pluging along quite well. Our time in Kaikoura turned out to be pretty quiet, no dolphins, no sharks. As it turned out it is very important to book these trips well ahead of time, even though it is no longer peak season. We did get in a nice hike with a trip to the nearby fur seal colony. Most of the seals couldn't have cared less that we were hanging around, they just laid in the sun like sleeping dogs. There were a couple clowns though who really seemed to enjoy the attention, making sure to approach the visitors and preen for the camera. After we left Kaikoura where we sent you our last blog from we headed out on a side trip called Gore bay. It was a really long day of riding and hot weather and many large sized trucks to battle. We were happy to have made it and after setting up camp settled by the
ocean for a bit before having a quick warm shower and bite to eat. We have been fortunate enough that the camp sites here always have a kitchen facility of some sort that you can cook a meal at and the showers haven't let us down for a quick scrub down after all the sweat and dirt of the day.
The evenings seem to cool off but the days tend to stay nice so far. We have some what planned and some what lucked out with good days for riding and the days we aren't usually are the ones we are glad not to be on the road.
From Gore bay we headed out on our two day journey to Hamner springs. We had two days of really nice riding, off the main roads so we could enjoy the senery as well as the ride alot more.We end up in some of the funniest of small towns for night stays and eating at some of the craziest small town pubs for meals. I could of swore it was lang bar a couple of times. Some how it's more amusing when it is someone elses small town though. The people are
always friendly with lots of advice as to where to go and what to see.
We got to Hamner springs and enjoyed the sulpher pools and various pools of water from luke warm to hot. Still am not sure what the sulphur is good for other than turning your jewlery sick colours. Oh well it was a nice break. Unfortunatly Brett was let down by the fact that of all days St. Patrick's day; we were the only couple under the age of 60. Sorry dude maby next year.
Our legs didn't feel ready but we headed out anyway and ended up making it even farther than we thought, thanks to great weather on the way to Christchurch. We must be getting more confindent on the bikes because on our arival to Chritchurch we were able to cycle right through the heart of the city to our Hostel with not much trouble at all.(quite proud of ourselves).
So we have a had a great time in Christchurch and surrounding area. We spent one day at the antartic center. Which we were told was a must see. we spent over 3 hours looking around reading facts and learning about how
Nz is so involved in the antartic with studies and so one. You are even able to get geared up and go into this large room with snow and ice and such, and they fabricate a 3 minute wind storm as how it would be in the antartic (or sask for that matter).I would have to say that visiting that would keep any Canadian from missing home this time of the year.
Second day we arranged a day trip up the gondola of Christchurch, and then did a hike to a beach suburb. What we thought would be a nice little hike, turned into an all day excursion that we really enjoyed but that our legs are still rcovering from. Woops!
Day three found us on a bus on our way to Akarora for finally our long awaited DOLPHIN SWIM!!!!! It was somewhat sunny which was nice and we were able to be in the ocean with the Hector Dolphin that is rare and only found in NZ water. I got better views of the dolphins while we were in the boat but it was still cool to be in the water with them. Brett on the other hand got
to see 6 or 7 of them up close and absolutely loved it.
So to make a long story short.....oh too late ha ha ha ha!!!!! We are great and having a blast.
Uncle dave we got your note just so you know and we love the comments everyone so keep it coming.
Miss you all,
Brett and Vicki
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Frozee
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Looks Like Fun
Yes kids Leader will always be in the middle of nowwhere, it doesn't matter where you are! Nice to keep track of you guys keep up the good work.