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Published: August 10th 2006
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South Island
Kev getting his feet wet! Packed up and all our worldly belongings wedged into my trusty little car, Kev and I said farewell to our friends..and Auckland...and set off on our adventure south.
With a long journey ahead...and lack of stereo (sorry Kev!)...we entertained ourselves all the way to Tongariro National Park where we stopped for the night at a ski lodge backpackers. After having dinner, watching a spot of TV, saving a poor frog that lost its way, it was time for sleep as another early start was on the cards.
We continued our trip south and decided to go via Wanganui for lunch and then straight on to Wellington. Not much to report...other than we ended up in the worst backpackers in Wellie. Desperate to escape we headed into town to get some food then decided it would be a great idea to go to the cinema. Well, what were the choices...hmmm...either Hostel or...hmm...Wolfe Creek. Probably the worst possible choices for two backpackers (in case you haven't heard of either of them, they're both pretty much so-called true stories about backpackers who ended up in tricky situations!). Anyway, we opted for Wolfe Creek...a nice movie about three backpackers who go on a
road trip across Australia. Well, a not so nice ending since only one survived after horrendous torture. To say the least I was slighlty disturbed and poor Kevin had to keep me calm.
So, after a relatively sleepless night in a scary dorm the decision was to find a nice backpackers as we had another day before catching the ferry across to the south island. Having settled into a clean, friendly dorm we headed into town to do a bit of shopping and a look around the City Art Gallery....who do I bump into, but Tamara (an Irish girl I met in the Bay of Islands last year!). Arrangements for catch up drinks were made!
As for the City Art Gallery...well, interesting! There was an exhibition about some crazy creatures that seemed to be a cross between possums (plus some other critters) and human-like forms. Very, very wierd.
After a bit of culture it was time for a drink! Which turned into another drunken, nonsense night with Kev and Tamara.
Slightly hungover, it was time to say farewell to Wellie and take the Interislander ferry across to Picton. Well, another first. The first time I have
Seal Colony
Spot the seal ever driven onto a ferry. Simple things, please simple minds. But I was proud.
Unfortunatley the weather wasn't its best. Very, very wet and windy and the sea was pretty rough. But we ventured out on to the deck to make the most of the absolutely amazing scenery as we sailed through the Marlborough Sounds. To imagine what it would be like on a clear calm day.
So, we landed in Picton and decided to make a dash for Kaikoura. I think I just kept saying "wow" and Kev kept saying "you wanna see the rest of the south island!". The little exposure I had...I knew I'd be in awe at the rest of the country. With autumn definately in the air we made a quick stop at one of the isolated wild beaches for a breath of very fresh air and a photo shoot. Travelling down the coast we then came upon a seal colony...and I got very excited as there were lots, and I mean lots, of seal pups! Very cute! Trying to swim in the rock pools and just kind of waddling around the place! Once Kevin managed to drag me away we eventually made
Kaikoura
Mountains at Dusk it to Kaikoura and checked into the Lazy Shag (that's a sea bird, don't you know!). With only one night there and not too impressed as there was no lock on our dorm, we moved in the morning to the Dusky Lodge. Would definatley recommend. Probably a bit busy in the summer as its a pretty big backpackers but you get some amazing views out onto the mountains and you get free cakes in the evening. What more could you want.
Anyway...we made the most of our time in Kaikoura and decided to do a walk around Kaikoura Peninsula. We came across another seal colony...which was full of tourists harrassing the poor seals and then headed up onto the cliffs. We enjoyed our picnic on the cliffs and tried to spot some whales -but no such luck! Then it was back for some well earned cheeky beers out on the deck watching the clouds disappear over the mountains and the sunset.
The next day we decided to take a wee detour to Christchurch via Hanmer Springs. Taking the Alpine Pacific Tourism Route we drove past Mt Lyford and upto Hanmer Springs. Again, absolutley amazing scenery and a good little adventure for my car! There was hardly anybody on the road and as we headed through the mountains we had an extreme close encounter with an eagle! Happily driving along enjoying the views and Kevin desperately trying to text someone special (tee hee!) I suddenly screamed as an absolutely huge eagle (bigger than the width of my car) flew up out of the verge, centimetres from my windscreen! My poor little car got the shock of its life!
Unscathed, we got to Hanmer Springs before lunch. Time to relax. We headed straight for the Hot Pools - nine natural pools of different temperatures- very nice. After turning into prunes we grabbed some lunch before the drive onto Christchurch. It was late evening when we arrived and got booked into Foley Towers.
No time for rest. We took in Cathedral Square before heading to The Bog for drinks and to meet up with Amy and Polly (my Stray mates). It's such a small backpacking world!
So, Kev and I survived the road trip...a brave man to put up with me....but still friends...I hope ;-)
Sorry the photos are so dark...it was sunny at times!
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