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Published: January 20th 2010
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Bluff
15000 km to New York After sleeping in on New Years day in an attempt to recuperate from a long night of dancing and fireworks, we got out of the blistering hot room where our 4 other roommates remained virtually comatose. We stepped outside into a beautiful sunny day and headed down to the beach. We found a nice spot on the beach and soaked up the sunshine as best we could, taking advantage of the cloudless sky which happens once every leap year in NZ. After sunbathing for a couple of hours we realized that the sun (and its lack of ozone) was getting the best of us. So much for our resolution of applying sunscreen more liberally. We couldn’t think of another way to bring in the new year than showing off our Canadian colours! 5 hours after setting into the sun, we realized that the Rodeo idea wasn’t going to happen so we headed back to the Albertown campsite where we had stayed previously.
The following day was somewhat uneventful apart from being woken up to banging on the roof of the car as the campsite supervisor wanted his funds. I guess our dehydration and damaged skin cells from the previous day
Purakaunui Falls
Catlins Coast - Some pretty girl got in the way of my shot clouded our vision and we forgot to pay. After the early wake up call we decided to do a day of driving since the weather was rainy and yuck anyway. We drove to Invercargill where we stopped at a local museum and saw some interesting history of the Maori hunting/fishing ways. After exploring the grocery store for a few snacks we headed to Bluff which is at the very bottom of the South Island. It marked the end of State Highway One (for our journey) and had a lighthouse much less landscaped and flashy as the one at Cape Reinga. It was strange to think that we had travelled from the very top to the very bottom of a country maintaining a course of one highway for the most part. It was also strange to think that from that point on we would no longer be travelling south which we had been doing for almost 2 months but rather we would be heading north again. After the lighthouse, we decided to head towards our sleeping destination of the night at Catlin’s coast. Before we left Bluff we wanted to check out the Stirling point lookout but the roads were “steep
Moeraki Boulders
Spheres in the middle of the ocean as” and the Boss (even though we leaned forward) didn’t oblige. On our way to the Catlins, we stopped at several local superettes searching for beef mince but found only frozen steaks and meat pies. We decided our craving for spaghetti and meatballs could wait.
After waking up in the Catlins, we were talking about our plans for the area when we noticed a truck resembling one of a campsite manager. We instantly stopped our conversation, packed up and were gone in a matter of minutes. You know you’re on a budget when you’re dodging $12 accommodation. After waiting for the rain to stop in the car for 2 hours, we decided to suck it up and go for it and get some pictures of the Purakaunui falls. We then preceded to nugget point, where we saw another lighthouse. The winds were almost cyclonic in power as we attempted to walk up to the lighthouse and almost getting blown off the end. A little later, we saw even more seals, however this time it wasn’t as good of a show as the seals weren’t mating and we weren’t stuck in a kayak on a rock trying to escape them. Heading
Journey's End
Our last night in our car. towards Dunedin proved to be one of the most challenging drives for the Boss and even the rain couldn’t cool her pipes. In an attempt to get to a DOC campsite, we got off the main road and tried to climb the now infamous ‘Scrogg’s Hill.’ This hill had a sign saying gear down at the beginning and we made an effort to climb it, but redlining the car in first gear is never a good idea. Halfway up the hill we could notice the heat blasting out of the hood. We pulled over and gave her a break and then did a very risky reversing manoeuvre to get her into a driveway to turn around. We gave in and stayed in a holiday park after this, and finally made our spaghetti.
In Dunedin, it rained. In between rains, we had a very filling lunch at a Speight’s ale house before our Speight’s brewery tour. It is what seems to be New Zealand’s favourite beer, especially in the south (southern man). We got to sample the beer selection which was very tasty and afterwards we decided to drive to the Moeraki boulders which are perfectly sphere rocks on the
Speight's Brewery
Line 'em up - Speight's Gold Medal Ale shore of the coast. We then made our way near Omarama (gliding country) where we stayed the night near a huge water dam. The next day it rained, and we drove to Mount Cook which we never saw as the clouds were so low. We stopped in at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine center but didn’t fork out the cash for the 3-D movie. We decided to save our money for a yummy lunch at the Mount Cook Salmon farm. After making it within 2 km of the farm, we discovered that the road was closed due to hazardous conditions. However, the rebels we are (and after noticing a local do it) we decided to take the road anyway and see what this salmon farm was all about. To our disappointment, the salmon farm was also closed. No lunch for us. We decided to head to Geraldine and stop in for a quick plate of wedges.
We drove to Christchurch early in the morning, expecting to meet someone interested in our car. On the way there, we (of course) stopped at the Cookie Time factory and bought a one kilogram bag of broken cookies for very cheap. After getting
Suiting up
A bunch of rubber bands saved my life out of the store, we had a message saying that they no longer wanted our car, but at least we had cookies. After getting into the city we showed a few interested people but had no buyers. That night we couldn’t find the DOC site as it was too far away and had a local tell us we could stay at the “Journey’s End” campsite. We figured it was a very appropriate name. The next day we almost went to the beach but instead posted more ads for our car. This paid off as a couple came from Hanmer Springs for the sole purpose of buying a car, and guess who they bought from? With no car but $1400 cash in our pockets (that’s $600 more than we paid for it) we slept like babies in a hostel. After that we started our journey back to the North island. We made one exciting stop on the way up. In Taihape (gumboot throwing capital of NZ) we ventured to the Mokai Gravity Canyon where Matt decided he had enough and jumped off a bridge. Luckily he had a bungy cord strapped to his legs for the 80 meter drop and there was someone nice enough to get him at the bottom.
We were very excited when we got to Whangarei and saw the boys who did not expect to see us. It’s crazy how kids can change and grow so much within a few months. It has been quite relaxing staying at the farm and enjoying time with the family and sleeping on a bed. Sarah aka ‘the water bug’ is 2 days away from being a PADI certified open water diver and Fiji lies less than a week away for us. In a couple weeks our parents will be here and we’ll be on the road again living in a 6 berth campervan. Can’t wait to see the fams though.
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