New Zealand south island. Road trip Part deux

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Ok, so once our time on the north island had come to an end, we headed down to christchurch to meet our friends from home, Davey and Tom. We drove through Blenheim and Kaikora again en route to the airport, and the fargo had to get used to a whole different terrrain, incredibly winding roads, and some fairly savage hills thrown in to the mix aswell.
We ended up stopping about 50k short of Christchurch to spend a couple of days cleaning out the van and watching the American election ( which thankfully turned out the right result)

On the morning of the 6th we hit the road to start roadtripin' again, with the first destination being the airport to pick up the boys. however what should have bin a easy 30min drive turned out to take us around 3 hours, as the fargos first injury came in to play with a blow out down highway 1! Now, me and Millsy were left fairly clueless as to how to change this tyre so after struggling even to find the right tool we decided to swallow our pride and flag down a passer-by, who sure enough stopped fairly quickly and sorted it out no problems! Thankfully daveys plane had been delayed so our issues didint hold them up too much.

Once we had re-united with our friends from home, we headed in to Base Backpackers in the centre of christchurch ( the same place we had stayed last time ).
Now obviously the guys were pretty tired to say the least after a 20-something hour flight, but it was fair to say that both me and ian were pretty exited to see them both so we were taking no excuses and made sure after showering and some food we headed down to the hostels bar. where we were treated to the same crazy antics as we had seen last time from a fairly nutty kiwi fella who did near enough the same routine, consisting of some juggling, chatting shit, and a bit of rock-paper-scissors thrown in to the mix. choice!. After that we headed into the centre found a incredibly cheap bar serving $3 double rum and cokes, so we capitalised on this and spent a few hours getting trashed and catching up on all the various gossip from either end.

We had decided to do prety much the same route as last time ( with the exclusion of milford sound ) so to fit it all in a couple of weeks we had to get going. A solid stint of driving, with me and mills in the fargo and dave and tom in there hired ‘spaceship’ called r2d2, led us back to mount cook national park, after stopping at lake Tekapo and the Rakaia gorge. We did the same walk as the previous time at mount cook but evan better weather led to some incredible views and yet more incredibly peaceful down time once at the top, as we were basically the only ones on the trail at the time.

We left the national park, feeling pretty edgy as the fargo was rapidly running out of juice, and the nearest filing station wasnt for another 80 or so k! So it was a question of a lot of coasting and some serious dad driving to try and make the distance, just 1k away form the station the engine cut out, but through a very determined effort we just about got it going again and managed to creep in to the filling staion for some much needed diesel!

We arrived at queenstown in time for saturday night, after checking in to a trailer park, and getting on the glad rags we headed out to the Buffalo Bar, for a brutal night out! Some serious shapes thrown on the dance floor, a bit of cougar chasing and a shit load of beers led to a a great night all round. Needless to say everyone arrived home at differnt times and the next day was spent in the usual sunday fashion of swapping storys eating shit food and generally recovering! We spent that night just out of town at a picturesque spot by the lake where we all crammed into r2d2 and watched some movies!

The next day it was back in to queenstown. We headed up to the top of 'Bobs peak" on the gondola for some truley epic views of the town and surrounding lakes and national parks. Whilst up there we also did an awesome luge ride down the track they had set up at their, great fun with goddings claiming victory and a scrap for second between me and Davey. Once back down in the town we had to wait around for Murphy to finish work ( a friend we met on our last trip to oz and new zealand) so once reunited with her, we got in a load of beers and headed up to her place for a bbq! Perfect! After a feed we headed out with her and Gary, who fortunatly for us had a great many contacts in town, so managed to get us in to few bars for free including the ice bar called 'Minus 5' where literally everything from the glasses to the seats, tables and bar was made out of ice! So some savagely strong cocktails and a couple of shots for me and millsy which we obtained for free after revealing a certain part of our annatomy to the bar maid! A pretty incredible experience, especially for free so big thanks to Gary and Em for hooking us up with that.
We headed out of the bar for a much needed thaw out and then onto the 'World bar'. To be honest by that time everything was a bit of a blur but, pretty sure there was more drinking and a tad more dancing ( standard issue).
After saying goodbye to murphy ( who had the un-enviable position of having to go to work) the next moring we continued on up the west coast taking with us some great memories again from the travelers partying mecca of Queenstown.

We had a lot of klics to go to get to our next destiantion of Abel Tasman national park. so we didnt mess about, and tore up the tarmac stopping only for a couple of short break at the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers, to take some snaps and stretch our legs. We arrived in the abel tasman the next day. and once the fargo had negotiated the dirt track leading down to Cable Bay and the walking tracks the park had to offer, we headed out for a stroll. Maccey and Goddings weren't too impressed with steepness and length of the track and a good bit of moaning from Macaroo acompanied most of the walk, but i think that we were all pretty impressed once at the top, when we were presented with some pretty special views on the bay and surrounding tropical rainforest canopy. all made evan more stunning by the beaming sunshire and bright blue sky we had been treated to. We stopped on the way back for a beer in a nice pub not far from the edge of the national park itself, continuing en route to Blenheim the final destination that we would all be together before the lads headed home. We also stopped for a night in Motueka, and passed through Nelson with the hope of playing some mini golf, only to be dissapointed with it being shut. Also on the way was the famous Queen Charlotte drive, which wound its way around the edge of the Malborough sounds ending in Picton. We decided to spend the day and night in Picton. We did a pretty sweet boat trip out in to the sounds where we were lucky eough to see some dolphins, then headed out that night. Its fair to say that Picton wasnt a particularly 'happening' place to be and after trying a place in town we ended up getting redirected to a very 'local' bar full of very 'local people' but it was a funny night and the millsy even entertained the locals with a bit of dancing toward the end of the night!

The next day it was up early to watch the Villa - Arsenal game live on sky. With me and Dave being villa fans and Tom being a gooner, it was a must watch game. and almost enevitably (haha) Villa got the better of the game to finish 2 - 0 to the good! So happily ( for me and Dave at least ) onward then to Blenheim. Once we had met up with Martin and Heather again, who generously put us up in the their motel for next to nothing, which was a real luxury after scumming it in the van for so long! The next day we went back to the crash site, which although incredibly hard was a good thing to do for all of us. We also met up with our victim support worker Hamish, who we had remained in contact with over our time back in england, so we took him out for a few beers and some pizza, it was really nice to catch up. We also went to visit Dickie ( the lady that Ian and Dave stayed with after the accident). So after a nice catch up with her and a fantastic ploughmans lunch, as we were in the region most famous in new zealand for its vineyards, we went on a wine tasting tour which was awesome, including even a liquor tasting session at one place.Nice.

The next day we met up with a lady from the local paper who wanted an interview, as davey ( with many thanks to the girls football match at Birdys annual tournement) had a donation for victim support , so after awnsering a few questions and a couple of photos we headed back to the Palms motel to meet with heather. Because Martins brother and his family were visiting form England, they had rented a holiday home up in the Malborough sounds ( kenepura sounds ) and they had invited us to join them all up there. It was an incredibly secluded place, with its own beach. And after spending the whole day kayaking and playing football, and cricket in the garden we were treated to an immense BBQ from Martin, which was washed down with some beers, then later in the night some Sambuca and Gran Marnier! not a great combo, but an awesome day and night to finish Tom and Daveys stay in New Zealand.

We headed back to Blenheim the next day, for an emotional farewell to davey and tom ( who were off, back to england). Once they had gone it was back to business for me and Mills ( but only after a session in the hot tub, with some cold ones!) With money diminishing fairly rapidly we really had to find some work. after a short search we landed jobs working on the vineyards for a contractors called Thornhills. and then the next day Heather had evan found us a place to live. After after selling the Fargo to a fellow traveller, which proved itself to be a little upsetting, as that van had given us some great memories here in NZ, we moved all our stuff in to our new place. a fairly nice incredibly cheap house just outside the centre of Blenheim. I think its fair to say we had done pretty well in two days, managing to find work, a place to live and selling the van!

Since then we've worked around a month on the vineyards, and its safe to say, although its a great deal better than our previous job at the fish factory, its not the best work! We have also managed to meet up again with Jules and Kim, two of our friends from back in Kerikeri, who joined us for a couple of great nights out. Because of our impending trip to oz we've just bin in the 'living for the weekend' mentality. with some very chilled times through the week, leading up to a few savage nights out in Kokoma's ( the loacal night club ) where on the way i managed to have a 45 minute long drunken theological debate with the unfortunate salvation army chap on duty that night!

We're now on our way to oz for two weeks of heavy sunshine, xmas and new year!

until next time
xxx

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Comments

[sheelagh birdsey]

NZ ideas
Thanks Sammy for blog on NZ when Macca and Goddings were there. U have given me some idea of what to do when Tara and I and Jane visit in September. Hope all is going well with u both and look fwd to hearing from you again. L7uv Sheebird xx