Of Greetings and Good-byes

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So Ben, sarah, aimee and myself headed from Dunedin north via the moeraki' boulders (a beach full of freakishly round boulders complete with a honey-comb centre, almost like giant stone malteasers). We stopped off in the Otago penninsular on the way and Ben and Sarah paid a bit of money and saw the only main-land albatross mating site in the world, Aimee and myself were to cheap to do so and ate porridge in te car-park 😊
After some more lakes and pretty walks we made it to Christchutch (we once again stayed at the Birdlands retreat, just outside christchurch where i wwoofed in January).
We dropped off the car in Christchurch and picked up another 'relocation' car to take us to Picton (these are hired cars that need to be taken back to their original location, so hire companies charge little or nothing for you to take them to the right place). After being squashed into a tiny car for the previous 4 weeks we were given a very posh and nice businessman's car which took us the (fairly) small distance in comfort. We stayed outside Picton, left the car in the morning and hopped on the ferry northward bound.
The crossing was a little choppy, but i had the pleasure of running into Lana and Emma on the ferry so the time passed fairly quickly.
Because we no longer had a communial car Ben and Sarah split up with Aimee and myself and we decided to explore the north island seperately. We had about 24 hours in Wellington, in which i tried to show Aimee as much as possible, and remebered why i love that town so much. Interesting, vivrant, and full of clour.
I've never really hitched with another person before and Aimee was distinctly nervous about the idea, so we went into it with a certain amount of intrepedation, but we wanted to get to 'National Park' (the town, rather than the park) and were very broke, so had no option. However, each of our first 3 hitches drove at least 50kms out of their way in order to drop us where we needed to be and wouldn't have got to the town that night without their generosity (the last hitch wasn't even going anywhere, we were waiting outside their house and they saw us and took pity on us).
We did the Tongeriro crossing (which was a lot easier second time thanks to an improved track) and Aimee was suitably impressed and headed on to Taupo (anothe easy hitch). We did some of the normal touristy stuff but also got our hands on some (vegan) chocolate and champaign and spent an evening in the hot pools
We went to the Wai o tapu hot springs (more easy hitching) and ran into Ben and sarah the next day and spent a very pleasant eveing (once again in the hot pools) with them.
Then Aimee and I headed to Auckland. It was raining cats and dogs but we didn't have to wait too long (20 min) for the hitch and got to Auckland easily.
I've always had mixed feelings about Auckland, feeling it to be a bit soul-less. But Aimee enjoyed the 36 hours we had there emmensely. She then left after spending 24/7 with her for 3 weeks. It made me really sad to see her go and, knowing how busy both our lives and and we will not live together again we may never get to spend that much time with one another again 😞
I'm now staying at a Buddhist centre in Auckland's suburbs. Its pretty cool, but i think that 2 weeks here may get dull (i've become used to seeing and doing so much) but we shall see. I'll see Ben and Sarah as they pass through and before they leave, same goes for Lana and Emma.
Time to relax for a little while and catch up on some sleep (i'm in a bed!!! not a tent) and some reading

Chris

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Comments

[Evie]

Hello!
Hello,, how are u? Just read ur latest blog with nan!! Luv Evie xxx