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Published: March 6th 2006
Well, it has been quite a while since I wrote my last blog and a lot has happened since then, we will start with the day after the Kepler . . .
Janet and I woke up the morning of the 23rd to snow on the mountains we had been hiking on several days before. Seems a cold front had moved in, we were just glad we had finished our hike the day before. Nursing our sandfly bites we headed to Dunedin. When we arrived in Dunedin we had yet to book accommodation, a big mistake, it took us a while to actually find a place to stay and when we did, well, lets just say it wasn't very nice. That night we booked a room at a different hoilday park and ate fish and chips at the Speight's Ale house, yum. The next day we went to the Cadbury factory and took the tour, the best part was free chocolate 😊 After wandering around Dunedin and deciding that we really didn't care to see the penguins or albatros colonies we booked accommodation in Cromwelll, a small community known for orchards. On the way to Cromwell we took a detour to the Moraeki boulders. If you ever go to New Zealand and someone asks you if you want to go to the Moraeki boulders and you have choice not to don't go--totally not worth it. The boulders are almost perfectly round, sounds pretty cool and even the pictures look neat, but there are about 30 of these boulders on the beach and , at least when we where there, the amount of tourists totally outnumbered the boulders. Cromwell was good, had a good picnic and the weather was warmer.
The next day we headed to Mt. Cook where we stayed at the Hermitage, a very nice hotel, for two nights. We stayed in a Chalet which had it's own bathroom, tv, kitchen, three beds (1 double, 2 twins), and--wait for it--terry cloth towels. Our two days here we pretty much did nothing, a very much needed two days of doing nothing. We even got decent weather on the first day, but decided to spend the day indoors anyway.
Tuesday we left Mt. Cook and headed to Christchurch, another beautiful day. On our way to CHCH we took a back road and ran into sheep in the road, the quintessential New Zealand experience. Janet was very excited about this moment, in fact, I think it is one of her favorite experiences she had while in New Zealand. When we arrived in CHCH we walked around the Art Centre and the botanical gardens then took a drive out to Lyttleton and Sumner. We stayed the night with my friends Allison and Kevin, their friend Todd from Portland was also staying there for the night. It was good to see them again, we BBQed kebabs and burgers and Janet and I were able to look at our photos on Kevin's computer.
The next day we left, headed up to Picton to get the ferry back to the North Island. The rest of the days have been a bit of a blur. We stayed Thursday night in Palmerston North and Friday, Sat, and Sun nights in Cambridge, a small town just south of Hamilton, the North Isle's 3rd largest city (about 100,000). Janet and I didn't do much these last several days, we saw a movie, went to the corroagted iron capital of NZ, yes, you read that right, and just kind of hung out.
Yesterday we left for Auckland, we had to return Bill (our car) and Janet had a plane to catch. After dropping my stuff off at a hostel we had lunch in Devonport--we were hoping for takeaway fish and chips, but all of the shops were closed, must be a Monday thing. We got to the airport around 4, Janet couldn't check in for her flight until 8, so I stayed around unitl about 7.30 and then took a bus back into the city. Today I have some errands to do, closing my bank account, and then I plan on going to see a few movies cause I have nothing better to do. My flight leaves tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7 PM and I will arrive in Porland at 5 PM Wednesday, weird, huh? That's all for now, I will probably write one more blog when I get home and figure out how to get some of my photos online.
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Jessi
non-member comment
coming home!
Lisa you are totally the bomb. Seriously, I'm so glad that you documented your journeys with the travel blog. I lived vicariously through you the whole way. I'm excited that you're coming home. Maybe sometime we can go out to coffee and you can tell me more face to face. Sounds like a good plan. What about a memorial day weekend beach experience? Sounds like a good time to me. Take care... Can't wait to see you and hear more about your adventures.