some new tires for steph's car. well, not new exactly. "secondhand". you see, they do that in NZ. i guess some people just want brand new tires on their cars before their current ones are fully worn, so they will sell them back to tire companies for others to purchase used. so on the hunt we were for a pair for the front, as our current ones were all the way worn down, and we had a LONG trip ahead of us. steph called bunches of places, and finally found one selling the size she needed. only one! so no bargaining for us. but we now had a set of new, err, used snow tires.the other eventful news of the day - we were determined to wear shorts. come hell or high water. and this mission we also accomplished, though by the end of the day we were quite chilly. either way. we did it! stupid cold, windy summer weather (steph swears it's not normally like this.. riiiight.)
back into the car and on the road again. making our way further south towards the catlins area, but made plenty of stops along the way. our first being kaka point. yes, we are 7 years old. but we don't care. there's no way we were passing up that photo opportunity. next up was nugget point, with (surprise!) beautiful vistas all around. we walked up to the lighthouse that dominates the stop, and were so lucky that the sun came out enough to allow for some really nice photos. and the misty rain stopped long enough to allow us to eat our lunch. we could see sea lions, and of course, sheep. back in the car just as the rain started to pick up again.
definitely hit the most interesting stop next, the lost gypsy gallery. the man lives in his trailer and literally builds automated things all day. it's so hard to describe, you really have to just see it. from simple hand cranks that make penguins dance to elaborate keyboards where each key makes a different object move, it was just unreal. only in NZ i guess.. we reached the petrified trees next at curio bay, and fortunately we made it at the correct tide time (missed the cathedral caves as you can only see it during low tide). and the sun finally came out! which was nice as we were still determined not to put on pants. could have sat listening to the ocean forever. waves crashing on the shore makes such a peaceful relaxing sound.
last few stops included mccracken's point (what a photo op there!) and a suspension bridged dubbed "the longest span in the land" despite it's very short distance. passed thru a town which named itself "the sausage capital", tho nothing was open so we couldn't test any out. finally continued the drive up towards te anau, where we would spend the night at a deer farm (but didn't see any deer. liars.). however it was not well marked so we drove by it once and had to totally backtrack. and to make matters worse, we were in a cabin where one of the other tenants farted all night. and of course it was the one next to me. gross. funny thing tho, i thought it was a man (sure sounded like it), but when we saw them the next day, it turns out it was actually 2 older women. HA. ah well. such is life as a backpacker!
back into the car and on the road again. making our way further south towards the catlins area, but made plenty of stops along the way. our first being kaka point. yes, we are 7 years old. but we don't care. there's no way we were passing up that photo opportunity. next up was nugget point, with (surprise!) beautiful vistas all around. we walked up to the lighthouse that dominates the stop, and were so lucky that the sun came out enough to allow for some really nice photos. and the misty rain stopped long enough to allow us to eat our lunch. we could see sea lions, and of course, sheep. back in the car just as the rain started to pick up again.next up was roaring bay, a nice view of the beach but no penguins. and after the letdown of the last penguin encounter, we were not about to wait around all day for these. drove a bit more down the southern scenic route to come to matai falls, where we got our first glimpse of fern trees. yes! ferns actually become trees here. maybe this is common knowledge or something, but i've never seen anything like it at home. walked the short path to get a look at the falls, which were pretty, but probably would be more spectacular after a heavy rain (tho i was not about to wish for that). met a woman who needed some assistance climbing down the path. she was from NZ, however after some conversation learned she spent 3 years in ithaca where her husband was doing post-grad work in animal studies at cornell. small world! and back on the road we went.
definitely hit the most interesting stop next, the lost gypsy gallery. the man lives in his trailer and literally builds automated things all day. it's so hard to describe, you really have to just see it. from simple hand cranks that make penguins dance to elaborate keyboards where each key makes a different object move, it was just unreal. only in NZ i guess.. we reached the petrified trees next at curio bay, and fortunately we made it at the correct tide time (missed the cathedral caves as you can only see it during low tide). and the sun finally came out! which was nice as we were still determined not to put on pants. could have sat listening to the ocean forever. waves crashing on the shore makes such a peaceful relaxing sound.made the long, pretty unexciting drive to invercargill (where not much happens) and then to bluff (where even less happens). at bluff saw stirling point which tho not the actual southern most point in NZ it's often given credit for it when measuring the distance from north to south. and even more exciting than that - we got to use fully automated toilets for the first time. it was an event, let me tell you. you push a button for the door to open and close. the toilet talks to you and plays music for you while you do your thing (i got "what the world needs now is love, sweet love. thank you jackie deshannon). it also only gives you 10 mins (so no funny business!), and apparently gives you a 1 min warning. i did not stay in long enough to hear it, although i wanted to. toilet flushes automatically when you begin to wash your hands (way to encourage sanitary behavior, nz). then you push a button to open the door again. very entertaining.
last few stops included mccracken's point (what a photo op there!) and a suspension bridged dubbed "the longest span in the land" despite it's very short distance. passed thru a town which named itself "the sausage capital", tho nothing was open so we couldn't test any out. finally continued the drive up towards te anau, where we would spend the night at a deer farm (but didn't see any deer. liars.). however it was not well marked so we drove by it once and had to totally backtrack. and to make matters worse, we were in a cabin where one of the other tenants farted all night. and of course it was the one next to me. gross. funny thing tho, i thought it was a man (sure sounded like it), but when we saw them the next day, it turns out it was actually 2 older women. HA. ah well. such is life as a backpacker!
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