traveling by bus stinks after you've had a car..

seriously. the next sandfly i see is dead meat. i know i keep complaining, but when you can't sleep b/c your feet itch so bad you are crying, you begin to get a little cranky. and a little worried when your toes are double in size, extremely red and shiny. thank goodness we were on our way to christchurch (aka civilization) and i could find a pharmacist to help before my toe falls off!

after a quick shower and breakfast at our hostel, made our way to the garage to pick up the rest of our belongings that we had left in the car, but the mechanic told us his wife was actually going to be coming down to the bus stop to deliver our things there, so made our way towards the ever-popular I Site to wait for her. we waited for a while and began to worry when she didn't show up as we were so not about to miss the bus (and our only way out of middle-of-nowhere doom) again. but alas, she did arrive with minutes to spare. only thing is she forgot our food that was in the car and only grabbed the sleeping bags. at first i was like oh well, lost a brand new box of cheerios and peanut butter and some other random stuff, but then later realized my special souvenir food was also in that bag! so so sad. lost my plum spread and my onion marmalade. and the accident claims another victim..

having had our anxiety relaxed after we finally received our sleeping bags, it was only to build again when the bus that was supposed to arrive at 0845 still wasn't there. and i only wish i could have seen the look on our faces when our bus did actually pull up. it was a 10 seater mini van. grrrrrreat. we were going to be stuck in that for over 4 hrs. i really wish we still had our car. anyway, the ride was uneventful thankfully. made a couple pit stops and also picked up a few stragglers along the way. unfortunately however the driver kept the air conditioning on full blast the entire time, and we were nearly frozen solid when we eventually arrived in christchurch. to quote theresa, who put it quite aptly, "what did he think we were? heads of lettuce?!" in all honestly, i had a difficult time walking because my muscles were in a state of clonus from shivering so much. and of course it was misting rain. no matter what steph says, i'm convinced the sun doesn't shine on the east coast.

checked into our hostel (vagabond backpackers), then made our way back into town to find some food, a pharmacy (thank the lord!) and to begin to pick away at the mountain of tasks we needed to complete thanks the the accident. we were successful in the first two, but began to hit a roadblock when it came to dealing with car issues. our first stop was to state insurance, who despite being incredibly friendly, was not able to help us much as they were just a sales office and didn't deal with claims. however, they were able to get us farther than we were on our own, so at least we got some more information out of it, if not actual assistance. turns out that yes, we have to deal with the rental insurance directly (state won't help) and that we can't process any claims until the couple returns from their vacation and fills out the paperwork. nice.

so we made our way to the wendekrisen rental company, thinking we would get further in person than on a phone. we tried to be pleasant but firm in our demands. spent about 3 hrs there waiting for the girl to have time between customers to help us, which in the end really got us nowhere. we were able to fill our our portion of the paperwork, and the girl was as helpful as she could be. but all she could really do was reiterate the fact that we had to wait until the couple returned their vehicle to file the claim. and tell us we would likely only get the blue book value (prob around $300) for the car despite having put $1000 into it the day before for the inspection. and despite having a buyer who already gave us $500. but the real kicker and final slap in the face was that wendekrisen said we would be responsible for the tow b/c we requested it. which is total BS. we never requested it - the police is the one who called for the tow b/c he said it was illegal to leave it there. WTF.

back into town (yet another bus ticket..just put it on the tab of unanticipated expenses), met up with steph's friend giselle for dinner, then theresa and i headed back to our hostel while steph went to meet up with friends. defrosted with a cup of tea and desperate housewives (funny, i've never even watched that show at home). and we talked about our options, the only logical one being that if we wanted to salvage any of our time in the north island, we should rent a car.

so that's what we did. next morning began our plethora of phone calls, which included getting prices for rentals, canceling our old bookings in the north island and making new ones to fit our new time table, calling home to tell the parents, calling the mechanic in reefton to sort out the payment issue (turns out he'll keep the car as long as we need him to if we send him the title with no dates on it - so it will still be in steph's name so she can get the accident claim money), and finally calling simon the insurance man for wendekrisen, who fortunately at least appears to be on our side and understanding of our plight.

found a car for $40/day from scottie's, not too shabby. it's actually a great deal since we'd be spending triple that if we had to pay for buses everywhere. and the amount of time we'll save if we manage our own transport..that is more precious than anything at this point. picked up the rental, then back to the hostel to pack up and ship out. made a stop in kaikoura (bought another wooly shirt) so steph could use the fax/internet for free at dusky lodge. left some souvenirs there so we wouldn't have to carry them all around the north island, including my 2 bottles of wine and our paintings. then made our way to picton - finally. checked into our hostel (the atlantis), made dinner and walked around so we could see at least a bit of the cute nautically themed town. and had the best ice cream bars ever! they so hit the spot after our day of stress. finally to bed, we have quite a day a head.

being stuck in reefton is not fun

have to keep reminding ourselves that cars and money and things are replaceable. our health is not. but seriously, of all places to be stuck.. reefton would not top my list. the town has a population of about 1000, though the one thing we did have in our favor was that it at least made the lonely planet guidebook (can't say that about a few other places we visited..). and, we learned a lot that we never would have had we arrived in picton as planned.

here are some fun facts about reefton:
- it was the first place in nz and the southern hemisphere to have electricity, hence called "the town of lights"

- it was named for the abundance of gold-infested quartz reefs
- it is home to the southern hemisphere's largest skate park

- its main industries are coal mining and dairy farming
- tourism is quickly catching up; the town can accommodate almost 300 people. crazy!
- there is a bearded mining company, where you can talk to, well, bearded miners
- there are 5 cafes (we went to all of them)
- the most popular hangout for the kids is the I-Site info center

and that's all i got.

but wow, keeping ourselves occupied for a few hours was difficult, let alone a couple days. and to make matters worse, it was the weekend, so most things were closed anyway. including the pharmacy - so no medical supplies for my now increasingly swollen and painful feet. i swear, if sandflies make my feet go gangrene and need to be amputated, i will not be a happy camper..

while steph made some phone calls to insurance people (which, of course, are closed on sundays), mechanics and the like, theresa and i scoped out the best way to bust out of reefton. turns out there is only 1 bus that leaves the town, and it leaves at 9am. so we had already missed it on sunday, and would be here at least one more night. grrrrreat. steph got no where fast on the phones, so back to the hostel to book another night, then back to a cafe for food/drink and a place to hang out that wasn't the hostel. hung out there reading as long as we could, then walked the entire town of reefton, which unfortunately didn't take up as much time as we needed.

hung out at the I-Site for a while longer, checking internet which was mega expensive ($2 for 10mins). though this is were we found out I-Site is apparently THE place to chill for the local hoodlum and ruffian children. witnessed some kids try smoking cigarettes for the first time. fun times. then some kids riding bikes and knocking down all the signs outside the info center and not picking them up. and some kids not wearing helmets and getting the "death finger" from our pal taye the cop. and it was barely noon! went back to the hostel to make some lunch, then back to town.

as we sat at a cafe across the street from the I-Site, watched a group of kids - let's call them a gang - get into a fight with another group of kids. it was all trash talk at first, but then there was some threats of physical violence. namely throwing their bikes onto the ground and pumping out their chests like they were tough 10 year olds. when things started to escalate, the owner of our cafe came out with a phone in her hand and shouted "break it up or i'll make a call". one of the ruffians belonged to her, and came over to tell what was really happening. we got an earful about so-and-so doing something to another so-and-so. it was very entertaining.

but it wasn't over yet! about an hour later, our friendly copper taye showed up. i really would hate to have his job. apparently he had been called to investigate a sugar robbery or something of that nature. so he was questioning the worker at the I-Site and the owner of the grocery next door, as well as all the hoodlum children. about an hour or so after that, he was gone, and we again got an earful from the cafe lady shouting across the street to the grocer man, both shaking their heads in a "what has this world come to" and "i can't wait for monday so they're back in school" sort of way. the kids may be crazy, but at least all the adults are incredibly kind and helpful.

we'd have enough excitement for one day, so back at the hostel to make dinner and do some more reading. what else could we do? got online there (a bit more reasonable then the I-Site) and got to bed early, considering we wanted to make sure we made that 9am bus the next day. there was no way we were staying in reefton one more night!

the tide turns

so, just to start off, everyone is okay and no one got hurt. thank goodness. but yeah, things could have been a lot worse..

so our car got totalled. or more specifically stephanie's car that she's had since october. as i said, we are all alright. but seriously? after the entire fiasco of having to put nearly $1000 of work into it for it to pass inspection, and getting a down payment on the car from the buyer, all LESS THAN 24hrs PRIOR?! no joke. timing really couldn't have been worse.

i'll start at the beginning.

after staying with phyllis and her husband, who were really funny and cute and nice and every bit the stereotypical western kiwi folk, mosied my way the 4 blocks to the main strip to watch the runners come into town. it is the most exciting thing that westport sees every year, and the town was (supposedly) packed! in all honesty, though, by our standards it was still a bit of a ghost town, so i really wonder what it must be like the other 364 days of the year.. the morning started off chilly with misty rain. no surprise there. but the sun did come out and it turned out to be a great day for the marathon. cheered theresa & steph as they each ran by, then walked to meet them at the finish. they both did as well as they were expecting, so that was good. they hobbled and i walked with them back to phyllis's, showered and packed, and said our goodbyes to the lovely host. then drove back towards town to get some drinks (the world's best smoothie, i'm convinced, is in westport) before making the drive back northeast to picton, where we would spend the night before catching the ferry to the north island in the morning.

or so was the plan.

about 45 mins after we left westport, the unthinkable happened. we were sitting behind a white car at a yield sign to a one-way bridge. now, let me assure you, these are incredibly common in 

the south island. we must have driven over at least 50 by now. but we were on the yield side, so we waited while 2 cars from the opposite direction crossed the bridge. they were significanly spaced apart, so we waited for a while. after they both passed, it was our side's turn. the white car pulled out and onto the bridge, and we followed closely behind. and here's where things just go bad. the white car finished crossing the bridge, and we were about 75% of the way across ourselves, when a car - no not a car. a CAMPER VAN rental, aka ROAD MAGGOTS for TOURISTS - decided to enter the bridge from the opposite direction without checking to see if the bridge was clear. he completely did not see us until it was too late. steph saw it coming and slammed on her brakes, and we were at a full stop, when the camper hit us. in fact, when i took photos afterward, you can see his tire skid marks on the road and see how close we were to being fully across. and had we been a bit further back, the camper may have had time to see us and stop.

theresa was in full bracing position, arms crossed across her chest and face. steph unfortunately was driving, so had really tensed up pushing both brake and clutch, and stiffened her arms on the wheels. she was definitely sore for a few days afterwards. i was in the back, on the driver's side. and just watched the whole thing take place in slow motion. i really couldn't take my eyes off it, however i do know i closed them when i thought the impact would happen; when it didn't, i opened them right at the second we were hit. i don't think i realized it was scary until after. i mean, really - we were on a one-lane bridge, over a pretty sizable river. not a good situation.

so the guy driving the camper put his car into reverse, and we continued the remaining 3 meters or so off the bridge and pulled off to the side of the road. unfortunately, when the camper also tried to pull off the road behind us, he hit us again on the back side. bloody genius. our car was literally spewing radiator fluid. it looked like a mini waterfall, and soon had made a huge puddle on the ground. and the front looked a bit like an accordian. poor silvia. we were shaken, but thankfully not hurt, and neither was the couple in the camper van. and looking back, no matter how much the rest of the situation sucked, at least there were no injuries.

unfortunately, the iron bridge was in the middle of nowhere. meaning no cell phone reception, and very little traffic. by the grace of something, the only tourist bus of the day came by about 10 mins later. theresa & steph flagged it down and hitched a ride about 20ks to the nearest "town" we had passed, if you can even call it that. well, at least it had one cafe, which meant there had to be a phone around somewhere. and i had the fun job of staying with the car and waiting with the couple until help arrived. i made myself memorize their license plate, b/c what would i do if they just drove off? i was pretty convinced they wouldn't, as the woman kept asking if i was okay, but still. i went into ncis mode, and tried to gather as much info as i could.

the iron bridge had another name. or at least i'm giving it a new name. sandfly alley. at first i could feel the buggers every time they would bite. but it got to be so many that i eventually stopped feeling them. i tried pacing up and down in the little shade i could find, as movement tends to keep them at bay. i also tried to sit in the car, but they were all over that too, so that was actually worse. when you're waiting for 2 hrs for help, there was 

little i could do besides look up to the sky and yell "really?! SANDFLIES?!" so back to pacing i went, keeping one eye on the camper van, and the other searching for suitable ditches i could go to the bathroom. i really really had to pee.

finally theresa showed up, after hitching a ride with someone from the "town" they found (hey, at least she accomplished one of those 'must dos' while in nz). and about 10 mins later steph arrived in a police car. yay, help was here! constable taye was the nicest person, and would be our first real introduction to the generosity of strangers in this country. he took down all the appropriate info from the camper van, and assessed the situation, taking notes and whatnot. actually, he wasn't originally going to come b/c there were no personal injuries, and i guess the law in nz doesn't require a police report for accidents. but steph insisted, and i'm glad she did as later our insurance situation would have gone from bad to worse.

a little while later the fire brigade pulled up. i'm not joking. 5 firemen climbed out of their truck (5 were not needed, but i'm sure it was the only action they were seeing that day so they all came). it was almost as funny as a slow motion bay watch video.. picture this: doors open, hunky men (or at least they thought they were hunky) climbing out. 2 light cigarettes. 2 others begin to strip off their outer jackets revealing the ever-so-flattering jumpsuits underneath. all the while making their way towards us. remember i said i had to go to the bathroom? i nearly peed myself laughing at this site. i guess they were called b/c there was radiator fluid leaking, but since it had taken so long to reach us, it had nearly all dried up - so they really weren't needed after all. but before they left, they helped to push the car to a more suitable location until the tow man could come and get it. they then proceeded to offer us all a lift in their truck. let me assure you - there was barely room for all of them. i don't know where we would have sat, unless it was on their laps. and i think that constable taye saw exactly where this was going, and told them, politely, that no, he would take care of us and we wouldn't be needing their services. hahaha.

so eventually we took all the valuables out of our car and whatever else we could carry, loaded up the stuff in taye's car, and climbed in ourselves. the camper van was to follow us to reefton, the closest 'actual' town, which was nearly 100ks away. i can now say i've ridden in a police car. it was actually fascinating. i watched the radar working, saw all the buttons to make the sirens and lights go off. it brought me back to the days i wanted to be a nypd blue officer.. ha. quite some time later, we arrived in reefton (which we would soon come to know very well). hung out at the police station while taye sorted out things with the camper van people. about an hr later they were done and left. then taye went out of his way helping us find housing. he 

took us to one hostel, and went in personally to ask for accommodation, but it was booked. he then drove us to another, and again went in. free rooms! he completely did not have to do this for us, but again - the kindness of the people here amazed me.

so that's how we came to be in reefton, a small town in the middle of nowhere. and now we had to figure out how we could salvage the rest of our trip sans transportation. oy vey.

pancake rocks & blowholes

it has been a day, and i'm discovering life is like a roller coaster ride. but things are looking up, so i guess that's the good thing.

woke up to an email from my dad saying that my beloved sassy (my car, for those of you that don't know) was going to need $800-900 dollars worth of work and parts to fix the leaking roof. prior to my trip i had dealt with keeping a steady supply of towels and a very large bucket in the front passenger seat for about 2 months, trying to wait out when i could actually bring it into the shop. my car perpetually had about 1-2cm of water in the passenger side floor, and i wouldn't let anyone ride in it unless it was a sunny day and they had to sit on plastic. as much as i loved this car, there was no way it was worth putting that much money into it.

so i had asked for the alternative solutions. and the answer was fine by me. for a mere fraction of that cost, they could just disconnect the sun roof (not a big deal, b/c i rarely used it as i tend to live in cold, non-sunny climates) and put a sealant around it. leak problem solved! and no sign of mold, which was my main worry. and the car would be drivable again. YAY!

down and up.

so we headed off to the grocery store to pick up some things and stopped at the mechanic across the street to check on steph's car. it had a new WOF sticker - good news! - but it came at a cost. a very big cost, it turns out. it was going to cost steph $1000 nzd (about $500 usd) to pass inspection. so much more than any of us could have anticipated. steph was completely shocked, i'm not sure she even could speak at that point. my worry was that they guy was ripping her off, but when we researched what individual parts cost and then looked at his receipt, it turns out he wasn't. he actually didn't seem to charge her for one of the repairs (clean the headlight). but still. talk about sticker shock. theresa & i did the shopping while steph tried to gather herself. her main worry was that meg would no longer want to buy it from her, since that significantly raised the price tag.

and down we go again.

back at the hostel, picked up the car and packed it while steph tried to contact meg. huge relief - meg still wanted the car, despite the increase in cost. and she was in blenheim, and would give steph a $500 nzd deposit today. total score! steph was pretty much elated, and really couldn't ask for anything more.

up up up.

hung out in the town center with meg at a cafe, and bought the paintings we originally eyed a few days prior. eventually we had to get going, since it was getting late and we had quite a bit of driving ahead of us. stopped at whither hills winery to pick up a wine for me - the spicy white. i was already starting to think what i could pair it with. and off to the west coast we went.

arrived in the tiny town of westport early enough for theresa & steph to pick up their packets for the 1/2 marathon, and then hit the road to visit the pancake rocks and blowholes. i do not make this up. that is what they are called. we were running very low on gas, but steph was pretty convinced there would be a petrol station in punakaiki. unfortunately there wasn't. though there was an info center, cafe, pub and post office. we asked the info center where the nearest station was - and it was basically westport. the info people sent us to a cafe that sometimes has emergency petrol and while they did, the cafe wasn't about to give us any. they insisted that we would be fine - "just go slow and take it easy on the turns" was their exact advice. great.

so we walked around the rocks which were interesting, didn't see any blowholes. too bad. ha. then we made the nervous ride back to westport, hoping that the "empty" light wouldn't come one. i wasn't convinced it would, it was only 30ks away and the indicator floated quite a lot, but i'm not sure theresa was so thrilled with the possibility of running out of gas. we did make it back, thankfully, and filled up the tank as soon as we got there. funny, there was a sign facing the opposite direction saying "last petrol station for 100ks" or something like that. too bad it wasn't facing the other way too so we could have seen it on the way OUT of town. oh well. found our way to a cafe to grab a bite to eat (theresa & steph needed some pasta), before finding our way to phyllis's house.

phyllis was an older westport resident who opens her house every year to help with the accommodation shortage during the marathon. she proudly told us she was the first one to do so, and soon recruited her friends to do the same. so instead of staying in the "no vacancy" hotels, we got to experience first hand how a kiwi lives. and she was funny, telling us various stories about her life and the town and the history of the marathon. she kept going on about how crowded the town will be tomorrow and how you can barely get around. wow, i thought, this will be a site to see! anyway, chatted a bit, then headed out to find a cafe and get some tea. finally, the thriving metropolis of westport was getting sleepy, and so were we, so off to bed.

wine and (more) rain

so don't think i've mentioned this yet, but steph had found a buyer for her car (yay!) which was meg at the lodge. all that needed to be done was get it inspected (warrant of fitness or WOF) and an oil change. steph hadn't been anticipating much needing to be done, but unfortunately when she took it to the mechanic, it failed on 6 things. most of which were minor, but still a major pain in the butt. that kaikoura mechanic couldn't do anything until friday (it was wednesday now) - when we were supposed to be leaving blenheim for the marathon on the west coast, so steph called a few places in blenheim and made an appointment there, hoping it could be fixed while we were sightseeing. she found one that could have the repairs done by friday afternoon, so it would be a late drive that night to the other coast, but we needed to have it done. the kaikoura mechanic said the only stipulation was that the repairs had to be done in 28 days. no worries there..

..or so we thought. got to blenheim, after a long and boring drive up the coast, since, once again, the weather was even crappier than the day before. you could barely make out the ocean or the seaside cliffs. oh well. arrived at our hostel (the grapevine) and there happened to be a mechanic across the street, and it turns out that they were able to take a look at it that very day. YAY! however, we then found out that while the kaikoura mechanic was correct in the fact that the repairs had to be done within 28 days, he failed to mention that it was illegal to drive it during that time. so we definitely broke the law, unknowingly of course. had steph been pulled over for any reason during our drive, or there had been an accident, she wouldn't have been covered by any insurance policy. and not only would she have been fined for whatever violation BUT she also would have been issued a green sticker that meant when she got the repairs for the WOF done, she would have had to pay double what they would have cost. so thank goodness she is a responsible driver!

anyway, left the car there with a sigh of relief, and hit the thriving metropolis of blenheim. i'm not joking. compared to the other towns we've been in recently - this was down right nyc. and though cloud covered, the sun was now poking thru! there were a lot of little shops. we hit a cafe that had some fun (and affordable!) paintings. will have to think on that.. found the supermarket and went back to make dinner. met up with another one of steph's friends meg (a different one than the one at the lodge) for a pint, then just relaxed that night in preparation for our wine tour the next day.

which wasn't meant to be. what a friggin' day. seriously haven't been able to catch a real break with the weather. blenheim, lonely planet tells us, is a city where the sun shines nearly all the time. except of course when we're there. it bloody rained all day long. funny at first (notice a pattern here?) and got old quickly. our wine tour was supposed to be on bicycles, and since the car was in the shop, we really didn't have a choice unless we called a wine tour company (read: pricey and doesn't go where we want it to go). we waited out some of the AM, hanging out in a cafe in town. and despite the earlier downpours we woke up to, the rain seemed to be clearing. we were also reassured by the hostel owner that the weather was supposed to improve throughout the day, so we thought the odds were in our favor. we hit the road on our bikes anyway, and once again kept our fingers crossed.

apparently we needed to cross our toes, and legs, and eyes too. we made it to the first winery, Lawson's, which was small and nice. the woman at the counter was very kind and took her time explaining all the wines to us. my favorite was the gewurztraminer, a type of reisling, which surprised me since i don't typically like reisling. the woman also gave us tips on other wineries and the best places to get a cheese platter. as i said, very nice, considering we were clearly poor backpackers and she probably knew we had no intention of purchasing anything, at least at that time.

just as we were about to leave, the rain started. damn the rain! we waited for a bit, and it got heavier. crap. but then eventually slowed down to a fine mist. so we donned our ponchos (thank goodness for the dollar store we found earlier that morning!) and mounted our bikes to begin the ride to the next winery. and wouldn't you know, it stopped just as we pulled into the second winery, Wither Hills. ah well, we thought, we only got dribbled on, so no worries. Wither Hills was bigger, and fancier with a pleasant set up. i really enjoyed the Rarangi sav blanc. it had a bit of a spicy kick to it. it's on my list of possible purchases for sure.

and like clockwork, as we started to leave, the rain started again. seriously?! so we waited. and waited. and waited. for about 30 mins. and this time, unfortunately, there was no sign of it letting up. friggin a. so on came the ponchos again. the rain really wasn't bad. but riding a bike in it was. by the time we reached the third winery, Villa Maria, we were pretty wet, though still willing to push on. they had a sav-merlot, which i very much enjoyed. most merlots grapes on grown on the north island (as these were), so it was a rare find in the south. also, on my maybe purchase list, though i kinda want a white, since that is what this wine region is known for.

the rain persisted, but back on the bikes we went. still determined to try to salvage our wine tour. and this is the point it went from funny to absolutely miserable. we were all very grumpy. we tried to hit another winery, but were so disheartened that we just gave up. and rode for 2 plus more hours home in the rain, all the while getting splashed by cars and mud on the side of the road. by the time we were back at the hostel, we were thoroughly drenched. i had light tan pants on that became see-thru. nice huh? at least i wasn't wearing brightly colored underwear! we were also chilled to the core, and really had a hard time warming up despite whatever food and multiple cups of tea we consumed. ah, but tim tams saved our lives (inside joke).

after a few hours of trying to warm up, and doing laundry and whatever else we could do to keep ourselves occupied, the rain stopped. hallelujah. though it would have been nice about 6 hours earlier. frustrating, but what could we do? nothing, except walk to meg's house and have her feed us hot chocolate of course. so that's exactly what we did..

whale watching and nose touching

finally got a good night sleep. the bites calmed down enough to allow that. the weather, as we've come to expect, was not looking so nice. but we are on the east coast (where the sun is supposed to be) so it makes sense it would be cloudy and misting rain. again. had our fingers crossed our whale watching boat ride would not be cancelled, and thankfully it wasn't. it did, however, give a warning of sea sickness when we checked in. great. just what i need, since i get motion sick on calm waters and car rides. bought a ginger pill (which they convienently sold at the desk) and crossed my fingers.

we were definitely stuck on the old people's tour. 930am will do that, i guess. as theresa & i leisurely strolled to the pre-tour movie, and the bus, and later the boat, the 65+ crowd all fought and elbowed their way to the front of the line and feigned various old person's ailments so they could board the boat first. the best was one lady, who upon being told we would be sitting inside for the bulk of the ride, immediately began panicking: "how can they make us sit inside?! how are we going to be able to see anything?! we won't get to see the whales! we NEED to get a window seat!" and then proceeded to rush the entrance when the guy began to collect tickets. holy cow people - chill out. it actually turned out best for theresa and me, since all the supposedly best seats were taken, we ended up in the front row - which was a great exit strategy when it came time to go outside to actually see the animals. take that grandma! people are funny.

a brief bus ride to the other side of the peninsula, and we boarded the boat amongst the elbow punching. kaikoura canyon drops off to 1000m almost immediately off shore, which is why we are able to see such abundant marine life and deep dwelling creatures so close to land. the water was incredibly rough and it was also incredibly windy; fun at first, since our somewhat large boat was basically skipping on the waves, but it got old quickly. i'm sure if we hadn't seen as many animals i would have felt much much sicker.

we got to see a sperm whale almost immediately. he was hanging out on the surface preparing for his deep dive, and he showed his tail as he went down, which was amazing to actually watch. the whale spotters told us that he was the only whale in the area today (usually tours see 1-2 a day), so it was off to see the dusky dolphins. on the way, saw several great albatross and a rare and strange barracuda feeding frenzy. also saw a fishing boat taking advantage of the barracuda's - since they are used for bait. at the dolphin area (more shallow waters), were literally surrounded by them. so cute - and so fast! it was really hard to capture them on film, though managed to get a few shots of them jumping out of the water. guess they are known as the acrobats of the ocean. next headed over to some rocks where fur seals and some pups were hanging out. it's funny to think that as awkard as seals seem to move, they are actually great climbers. by this point, it was really cold and windy and misting rain; my nose wouldn't stop dripping snot and my eyes wouldn't stop tearing. so i was glad when the boat ride was over. my stomach was too.

were able to make a quick exit off the boat - again, take that grandma! - and i re-promised myself i would never go on a bus tour again that caters to old people, especially old americans. (though i must admit, it was likely the best way to see germany with my mom and grandma, not that they're old - they probably could have handled a more independent tour). ran back to the lodge for a quick bite of our leftover thai, then it was off to the maori cultural tour.

our guides were maurice and tanya, and they gave us a very nice introduction into their culture. there were only 7 of us on the tour (plus 2 little kids) so it was much more personal than any other tour we could have taken. we learned about maori welcoming customs (the nose touch, or hongi) and recieved maori names that we used for the rest of the tour. tho steph had a bit of a hard time remembering hers! also learned about their culture of warfare, fortifications, what happened when the europeans came, their creation story, and gender roles. we got to see a meeting house (whare nui) and some of their wood carvings which are kinda similar to totem poles in the US. we were given a laminated sheet of paper with a maori song on it, that we practiced throughout the day. it was a little hard on the ears at first, but we got better as the day went on - or at least we told ourselves that!

drove to maurice's home next, all the while weaving our flax (like palms) into woven flowers. some where better than others.. met his wife and grandchildren, where we were greeted by the hongi and gave our introduction (my river, my mountain, my canoe, my name). also had some really nice finger foods with hot chocolate/coffee. finally went for a walk thru the bush to learn about how maoris used various plants and trees for medicinal purposes (one cured TB), to make shelters and canoes, clothing, etc. the dropped us off directly at the lodge when it was done, and gave us little gifts of a woven bag, with info on what our maori names meant. turns out he numbered us, but before they created the tour they decided to associate the numbers with their 9 highest values. i was first in line, so first to be number/named; i was given the number 3 (or toru) and they associated that with the word aroha, or love. nice day overall, and i would definitely highly recommend that tour.

the weather was pretty much crap all day, so we weren't able to go for the seafood bbq on the beach. oh well. we did manage to go out for a pint and wedges with leah, so at least it broke up the night, and we were exhausted by then!

it's off to kaikoura we go

seriously, these sandfly bites are the bane of my existence right now. i've never experienced something so chronically annoying before, and my patience is wearing low as i'm not sleeping at night thanks to the irritation. grrr.

anyway, had a leisurely morning at mountain house YHA, and then hit the road, making some random roadside stops to admire the southern alps that were surrounding us. our first real stop was at a lake whose names escapes me, where we spied a few rare birds, whose name also escapes met (only about 250 left). next up was cave stream cave. we didn't actually go caving (though that would have been completely awesome i think) as we were not prepared for that, but did do the short trail to see both the entrance and exit of the cave. my favorite stop of the day was definitely castle hill though. out of nowhere, these incredible limestone rock formations just emerged on the hilly landscape. several lord of the ring scenes were filmed here. we climbed around on the rocks - though me naturally being in flip flops had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the sneaker'd theresa and steph. eventually i just went barefoot. and how i so wanted to go rock climbing! it would have been amazing there - great face climbs and a few crack climbs too.

stopped for lunch in a town called springfield, since it is apparently known for its pies. got venison, in honor again of the deer park sans deer. and it took me a while, but there was a giant pink frosted sprinkled donut sitting in the middle of a field. my first thought was "funny, that's my favorite kind of donut". then, b/c i always think of this next, "that's homer simpson's favorite kind of donut". then, "oh wait - we're in springfield!". duh, er i mean doh.. it was a monument (as in all the other springfields around the world) to the simpsons movie.

bypassed hanmer hot springs, as theresa and steph both didn't have bathing suits. i had 2, but that wouldn't help 3 of us. oh well. the drive was really long, or at least felt that way, and the steady stream of sunshine (our first in a while!) was really making us hot and tired. stopped briefly in a town called cheviot to refresh with some iced coffee and chocolate (definitely not as good as the theatre in wanaka), and finally arrived to the coastline of kaikoura.

it was beautiful. i love the ocean, and really miss it during times like these. arrived a bit earlier than expected, so checked into our residence for the night - dusky lodge - where steph used to work. we also got to meet some of her co-workers including meg, leah and and irish fellow named mickey. walked around the town and got another woolly item - a really nice merino wool shirt (which i can say now i've already worn at least 5 times here as it's been so cold!). found my key chain after a long search, and had some thai food at the lodge before hitting the bed.

bed broken, have to sleep on floor. mind your step!

yep, definitely had an interesting night at glow worms cottages. first of all, they gave several free vouchers for free shots and 2-for-1 drinks at a local bar. we passed, and thank god, because had we come home tipsy from the bar - the following could have been much worse. or funnier. or both.

i was in the bathroom, washing up for the night, when i heard a burst of continuous laughter coming from across the hall. and after a few seconds it was pretty obvious it was indeed theresa & stephanie. so i walked in to find stephanie barely hanging onto her bunkbed, which was tilted a bit more than comfortable. turns out, when she went to climb into her top bunk the bed actually came apart. it was missing a very vital screw and when i inspected it more closely, i found i could actually pull the main support rails and therefore entire bed apart, and the bottom began to fall towards the bed underneath. had she slept there and moved ever so slightly, she could have squashed the girl under her. danger! so we pulled the mattress off the bed, and rearranged the room slightly to make room for her mattress on the floor. and posted a sign warning the other roommates of the predicament. and of course, caught it all on video - which i cannot wait to upload. maybe you had to be there, but we hadn't laughed that hard in a while.

the following morning, the girl who slept under the broken bed quietly asked me what, exactly, happened to the bed. i demonstrated the issue, and needless to say she was very happy that steph decided not sleep on top. and the guy working reception's only comment? "great. that's just what we want to hear". there's also a slight possibility i got bitten by bed bugs here, since it was the only place i didn't use my sleep sheet. however, given the sandfly encounter, i really can't distinguish. though i know it's making me lose tons of sleep as i've been up for hours itching my legs and rapidly swooshing them around in the bed.

made our way to franz josef glacier, which was much more impressive than fox. had to feel the water streaming from the glacier - and as expected, it was ice cold. didn't need a photo of my feet standing in that water!

back in the car, steph decided she had had enough of driving for 10 days, so it was theresa's turn to try the wheel. after a close call with a car (need to readjust your sense of position as the driver now has a lot more room to account for on the left side), and a few uses of the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal, we were on our way. stopped at okarito beach, and could have stayed there all day listening to the waves. well - at least until the sandflies started to attack. took a nature walk through a kiwi habitat. no kiwi's though.

next up was hokitika, a small town (as is every town here), where we ate our picnic lunch and watched an overly territorial sea gull claim his post - and all the land surrounding it. god they can be nasty birds! the beach had just had a contest involving making sculptures out of driftwood. some were very clever and creative; others we couldn't really grasp the concept. finally finished up with fudge at sweet alice's! thank goodness they weren't closed like every other store.

back in the car, steph's turn to drive again as we were going thru arthur's pass. stopped at a few view points, which included "death's corner". lovely name, eh? got to see our first kea in action - beginning to investigate another car. the owners of the car were laughing, but i'm sure that would soon end when he began to tear away the rubber stripping. accidentally drove by the town we were

supposed to stay in for the night, so kept our fingers crossed that the YHA had 3 open beds - and they did! the last ones, phew. so spent the night in arthur's pass town, taking a walk up to punchbowl devil waterfall and then hitting up the local pub (the wobbly kea) for a pint after dinner where we tried and failed to decipher the game of cricket.

fire in my mouth, sandflies and glaciers - oh my!

funny how in the adventure capital of the world we got to relax more than elsewhere on the trip. took our time leaving queenstown, after stopping for the obligatory cop of coffee - or hot chocolate for me - at a cafe called bob's weigh. stopped to fuel up the car and steph forgot to replace the gas cap, which went flying from the roof the second we pulled back onto the road. definitely gave us a laugh, trying to retrace our steps as to where it could possibly have fallen off.

first stop out of queenstown was arrowtown, who's claim to fame was that it was an old mining town and still has some original buildings. aka tourist trap, walked the 5 mins down the main strip, poked into a few stores all with western themes. then made our way to the other must-see, the chinese settlement, which was mostly a re-creation.

back on the road, i liked our next stop best. perfectly timed for a lunch break (though by chance), we came up on gibbston valley winery, which not only had an ample wine taster for $5, but a very good cheese platter. so we gorged ourselves on wines, mainly pinot noir as that is the predominate wine in the area, and gouda, cheddar, feta & brie, with yummy plum spreads, hummus, olives, bread and various crackers. ended up getting a bit tipsy (thanks to being a lightweight) though i must say steph was driving and isn't the biggest wino, so theresa & i helped to finish her wine. couldn't let it go to waste, can we? 

ended up buying a bottle of pinot noir to bring home, as well as some of the plum sauce and an onion marmalade. then unfortunately tried a ginger chocolate for dessert, though it was more like fire in my mouth. i really thought i would cry. thank goodness i only took a small nibble. theresa's palate was more inclined to the spicy factor, so gave her the rest of mine. ugh. thank goodness also for listerine tongue strips, which helped ease some of the pain.

stopped at another smaller winery up the road, called aurum wines, and the lady there was so nice and took the time to explain everything to us. i actually liked their pinot noir better, so i bought another bottle - and decided i would donate the gibbston valley to the woman who we would be staying with in westport for the marathon.

arrived at wanaka next, our destination for the night. checked into our purple cow hostel and then wandered around the town. it was so windy! we braved what we could, but eventually gave up and returned home to cook our meal. headed out again after to find a cafe, which were all closed (a recurring problem in nz, things all close early or are open "til late", whatever that means). so made our way to the cinema earlier than our actual movie time, and hung out there for a couple hours drinking the most fabulous iced chocolate i've ever had and reading our books. wanaka cinema is a proper tourist attraction, complete with old 70s couches and knick knacks that can only be described in photos. saw 'burn after reading', which theresa & i had already seen, but got a few laughs, and steph thoroughly enjoyed it. that night got our first glimpse of the southern cross, as the clouds finally cleared enough to see some stars, and we were far enough away from any light pollution.

peaced out of wanaka and headed north the next a.m. towards rainforests and glaciers. the scenery of this land continues to amaze me daily. AND it was actually warm enough to wear our short shorts! yay for a change from cool weather clothing! this was not to last, however. we had the unfortunate problem of also being in the land of sandflies, which are the most evil creatures in this country. my feet now look diseased, it's gross. and the bites itch uncontrollably. worse than any mosquito bite i've ever had. so, at the first rest stop we came to, we had to change back into pants to give us some protection from the ankle biters.

stops this leg included fantail falls, thunder falls, a ghost town (practically) of jackson bay where we ate lunch on a pier and looked at the tasman sea, hapuka estuary, ship creek, knight's point & lake moeraki with a walk to monro beach. each of these stops was blissfully beautiful and peaceful, except for the fact they were all marred by sandflies. seriously? you couldn't enjoy the scenery at all with those things crawling and flying and biting you every 30secs. grrr.

the drive and walk around fox glacier was much better, as there weren't any sandflies to deal with. the glacier was so impressive, and it was interesting to see the markers of where it had been in 1750 and then in 1935. it had retreated a lot! trampled along the trail of stones to get as close as we could without being on a guided tour. though we did get stuck behind one tour of older folks, humorously all with number hiking boots - a bit like bowling shoes at home. i can't imagine renting hiking boots since i'd like them to be molded specifically to my feet. but it made for a sight, which we got on video thanks to theresa's fantastic subtlety skills. the best was when they - in full on hiking gear, boots, and walking sticks, marvelled at how the young folk were managing in flip flops (or thongs, as they call them here). gave us a chuckle, for sure.

i'm glad i'm not a kiwi. bird, that is.

so, there was some farting from the old lady, but not as bad. or as bad, but i had my ear plugs in this time, so i didn't notice it as much. though teresa did when she got up to go for her run in the AM! packed up and shipped out of the deer park sans deer, and checked out the town of te anau, since we didn't spend any time there yet. walked around the main street shops. walked around the lake. did laundry. went to a wild life preserve, which was full of empty cages, though we did manage to see a kaka bird (haha), a kea, and one of the fattest pigeons i've ever seen. it might now sound like it, but holy cow that was exciting!

after our fun filled morning, headed to queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. home of the original bungy jump and all sorts of action packed crazy things. and finally hit some nice weather! i was really really beginning to doubt we would ever see the sun. and though i know i was getting burned, i couldn't help but at least soak it up a *little* bit. it had been so long since we've seen it! checked into our hostel (bungi backpackers) and headed into town to explore and get some more info on the goings-on of the town.

eventually found our way to fergburger, which was the most MASSIVE burger i've ever eaten. it was literally about 3 times larger than my entire hand. can't wait to upload a photo of that one. i got a sweet bambi (venison, if yo

u didn't gather), and teresa got a lamby something (lamb, just in case you couldn't figure out). we switched part way. steph got an osama bin laden (apparently kiwi's aren't too fond of vegetarian options and make fun of it whenever they can). couldn't actually finish it, but definitely gave it a valiant effort. walked around lake to try to get rid of the overly stuffed feeling and made some good purchases for souvenirs (got my woolly item - a winter hat). saw some really funny tee shirts, that i still wonder if i should purchase if i see them elsewhere. finally had walked around enough there was room for gelato to squeeze in, so finished off the day with that before heading back to the hostel to relax in the hammocks.

the next day, theresa and i split from steph, as she had already done what we were about to do - ride up the gondola to the top of the foothills of ben laden (not a joke about osama this time) for some pretty spectacular views of queenstown. and who would know, we had another beautiful day! sunshine, and cooler temps. but sunshine. it was a bit hazy still as it was early yet and the clouds hadn't quite burned off, but we had great views of the summits of cecil, walter, the remarkables and double cone, plus lake wakatipu. could really just sit and look at it all day. watched some paragliders taking off for their flights and walked around the short 30min trail with some (fake) southern men cutouts. watched the slowest lawn mover EVER (another inside joke). and after watching the people having a blast on the luge, decided to try it also. after all, we were in the adventure capital of the world; we had to do something! and it was a blast. i felt like a little kid smiling the whole time even on the beginners track. back at the viewing platform, watched the first bungy jumpers of the day take leaps off the original. i easily could have done it after watching tho - they strap you at your hips (not your feet) and it's only about 40m of a jump. and looked incredibly fun. maybe another time :)

rode the gondola back down to meet steph at the kiwi & wildlife sanctuary at 1300. and it was perfect timing, as there was a kiwi feeding at 1330, plus we stayed long enough for the conservation show at 1500. got to see 2 kiwi's in the 1st house and 1 at the feeding in the 2nd house (since the male was sitting on the egg in the burrow). this is when i thanked god i wasn't a kiwi bird. at least a female kiwi. she lays an egg that is roughly 1/3 her body wt - i will upload a photo when i can. that would be like a human giving birth to a 30+ lb child. ugh. shudder. no thank you. we had audio guides for the rest, and it gave us interesting info on all the birds. NZ was originally inhabited only by birds and one lone reptile (the tuatara) that was actually around with the dinosaurs and has a third eye. we got to see many of these birds (including some of the rarest in the world) and also a few tuatara. it was pretty cool. then walked thru a replica of a maori village. the conservation show was also interesting; got to see some trained birds that nearly took off our heads when they flew by, as well as a possum (there only to demonstrate the sometimes disastrous effects mammals are having on the natural fauna of the island) that was super cute. though the new zealanders play games to try to run them over on the roads ("look, there's a possum.. get it!").

finished off the day with browsing some more shops and another walk around the lake to watch the sun set. and of course, another stop at the award winning gelato shop. mmm.