To Franz Josef...and beyond!

After WWOOFing we stopped in Queenstown for a night to watch the Rugby final, what a good game! It was France and New Zealand and France had been slacking but somehow made it through and then ROCKED in the final. New Zealand won, 8-7. That day there was also a jazz festival in town with a little market as well. It was a beautiful day! We then took a 7.5 hour bus to Franz Josef where I think it rained for at least 30 hours straight. We were going to do a Glacier hike but it was crazy expensive even for a half day trip and I don't think we would have paid much attention to anything but the rain. Luckily we were only there for 1 full day.





We then went to Nelson which is my favorite place in New Zealand so far. It is up north on the coast and it is an artsy little town. It was the first place we've been that could survive without tourism in NEw Zealand. Also at a KIA dealership they had a 1970 MG on sale for $6,990. Totally doable! If only I knew how to drive stickshift AND could get it where I am going to live. ANYWAY we did some cool stuff in Nelson. I went for a run the first morning and ran right past a girl wearing a UW MAdison Buckey shirt! I was wearing my UW Rugby shirt so we stopped and chatted a bit, it was cool! We also hiked up to the center of New Zealand. It's not actually the center but it was decided that a while ago so they have a hill with a plaque and all. It was cool and you could see the whole city. We had a picnic dinner up there. The next day we went to Able Tasman NAtional Park. We did a 2 hour kayak there and we got to go out to this island that had seals on it. Then we stopped for lunch and walked back. It was a perfect day and really relaxing. On our last day in Nelson we went to the Farmer's Market and it was really great. They had a bunch of food but also arts and crafts as well. There was so much I wanted to buy! We ended up but food for dinner there and got this hot smoked white fish, it was SO GOOD!

The next day we went to Picton which is just a small harbor town and took a ferry to Wellington. The ferry was really nice it was like a cruise! They even had a movie theater. I was sad to leave the South Island because it has been so cool. There are hardly any people around and it is huge and there are sheep everywhere. It went by really quickly!

WWOOFing

So we finally had our first WWOOFing experince at Kinloch which is about an hour north of Queenstown. IT is near the Routeburn track and Paradise, where they shot a bunch of The Lord of the Rings. It is a really beautiful place. We worked with the Glover family. They have three kids and own a B&B in Glenorchy, an inn/hostel, and a souvenir /coffeeshop. We did a bunch of jobs around. We worked on a house that is on the property next to thjeirs that they are renting so that they can house WWOOFers in the summer. We cleared brush, cut down some trees, cleaned, got rid of mold, painted, and moved stuff around to make it look more homely. We also did some mulch, some housekeeping, and I got to go into Glenorchy and work at the coffeeshop! We did some moving around and I redid a menu board and got to work by myself one day as well! It was cool. It was interesting because it was a business so it felt a lot more like we worked for them instead of with. The next place we're WWOOFing we are staying in the family's home so I think it will be a totally different experience!

We also got to meet a woman from Germany and it was wonderful to get to work and hang out with her! Her name is Maria and she actually studied in Minnesota in high school! We hiked together, watched movies/rugby, ate lots of chocolate and popcorn. It was really nice spending time with another traveller and actually getting to know her. She comes to the US relatively often so hopefully we can convince her to come to Colorado.

We got to do some cool thigns. We hiked the Routeburn, hiked Mt. Alfred, which is a mountain surrounded by a mountain range and a lake. The hike was the hardest I've ever done but it was worth it. The end was 100 meters just scaling up shale. Ugh. But it was really pretty. We biked about 7 miles to and from the hike. Big day. We also got to kayak the lake. It was great! We enjoyed our first WWOOFing esperience but we're looking forward to a different one soon!

Queenstown

So, after Milford Sound we went to Queenstown for 4 nights. Queenstown is cool but it is so tiny! It's funny what they consider a city here. Everywhere is so tiny so all of the sudden you go somewhere where more than 10,000 people live and it seems MASSIVE. While we were in Queenstown it was Steve's birthday! So, we decided to go bungee jumping to celebrate. Yikes! We did the highest jump-143 meters. There was an almost 8 second freefall. It was so nuts. I wasn't scared until about halfway into the jump when I realized I couldn't catch myself and I was headed head first into a valley. Ha. But it was really cool!

Another highlight of Queenstown was the food. There is one burger place that was recommended by Amanda(thanks!) and it was so good! The burgers are HUGE and yummy. It is called Fergburger and apparently people ask to franchise it about 3 times a week, but they enjoy just staying one place. Kinda cool. First I had the Southern swine. Then a Bun Laden. Veryy different but good! We also found a chocolate shop that I think we went to every day. It's called Padagonia and they have coffee cheesecake, chocolate, ice cream, croissants, oh man. Otherwise we just went on a couple walks and hung out, did some shopping. It was relaxing. I liked Queenstown, the capital of adventure I just wish it wasn't so expensive. If you want to do all the fun stuff it costs quite a bit!

Milford Sound

So, after Dunedin we stopped in Queenstown for a night and then went to Milford Sound. On the drive, we actually had to stop so that Sheep could move outta the road...so awesome. Our trip down was really nice becasue the driver did commentary on the area and stopped so we could take pictures...by the way we have TONS of pictures but my computer crashed so We haven't been able to put them online, I wish I could show you all the crazy places we are! Milford Sound was great, thanks to all who suggested it! We stayed there for 2 nights. There isn't much built there which is cool. There is a lodge down there that has backpacker accommodation and it is pretty nice. The full day that we were there we went for a hike. Hiking in NZ is so differnt than the US. In the US there are always people and everything is marked so well. The hike we went on was to a valley And it was about a 3 hour hike in. It got to a point where it was pretty much just following a creek and walking through mud, climbing over trees, and trying to balance on rocks and logs. IT was really interesting and we didn't run into ANYONE. It was the closest longer hike to the lodge that you could get to without having a car but noone was there. The hike opened up into a valley where there was a gorgeous clean river coming down from the mountains! It was so nice except for the sandflies... I don't know if anyone knows what those are are but they are TERRIBLE. They hurt more than misquitoes and there are about 20 times the amount and then their bites itch jsut as much! Yuck! We ate a quick lunch and then hiked back. It was a nice day and then we were about to head to the restaurant and watch the rugby game. It's so nice being somewhere where rugby is on no matter what! Everyone is so excited about the cup so it creates a great atmosphere. On our final day in Milford we went on a cruise. Oh and we learned that Milford is actually not a sound it is a fiord. For anyone that cares, a sound is an inlet created by a river and a fiord is created by a glacier. Pretty cool! The cruise was great. We got to drink fresh water from a waterfall and see the whole area, we even saw a dolphin and seals! Very cool. Oh yeah! On our way to the Sound we saw a couple Kia's. They are a parrot looking bird and they attack EVERYTHING! The bird was so cool and big just hanging out on someone's car! It didn't even get off when they started driving. From Milford we headed to Queenstown!

Dunedin

After Christchurch we headed to Dunedin. It was really nice because all of the sudden there were people around and it wasn't so depressing. The night we got in was the night of the Ireland and Italy game! We didn't have a place to stay that night so we just showed up and went to the hostel we were staying at the next night and asked to leave our bags there. We figured we could just sleep in a park...ha. So when we got there the guy said he had two cancellations and we could stay there...for $50 each. We decided to do it because we had nowhere else. It turned out that the guy had rented out the bar that had just closed below him and so he had mattresses set up everywhere. Steve slept in the dungeon, the basement of the bar, and I actaully slept in the hostel in an all girls room. We met a girl there from Florida an d she works for the TV show Survivior! She tests all the challenges, how cool is that?!?! Anyway, she's really cool and we spent most of the night out with her. She didn't have a ticket to the game so we met these Irish guys and they found her a ticket, not crazy expensive either. Steve and I bought tickets and so we went to pick them up and then just hung out until the game. The town was FILLED with IRish people. I would say we maybe saw 30 Italians? It was really cool and the whole city just had such a fun vibe. Even the police were cool. No one, that I saw, got arrested. And they were just hanging out as well. At the game the security guards were taking people's pictures and it was jsut really cool.

Now the game...so much fun! The stadium was built just for this so it is new and has a roof, which kept it a little warmer. Our seats, AMAZING! We were 4th row behind one of the tryzones. It was so cool because it was the tryzone where Ireland scored all their points the second half. Ireland ended up winning and the whole city was just a huge party afterwards. We went to a bar with a a live band and there was an old guy there who knew ALL THE WORDS to almost every song. Very impressive. The whole crowd was great and fun to be around.

The rest of our time in Dunedin was great as well. They have a huge railway station which is pretty, there is a lake that is pretty, and we went on the Speight's brewery tour. IT was so fun. It was full of history and the beer is great. There is a natural spring that runs underneath the brewery which is where they get all the water. There is a spiget outside as well where you can fill up your own water. We also went to the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street. It was really cool. Then we TRIED to bike to a beach called sandfly bay. It was about 8 miles away but we didn't realize you pretty much had to go up a mountain to get there. We got halfway and didn't think we'd get back before midnight if we went the whole way. But we got to the top and the views were gorgeous.

Dunedin was great and it was nice to spend a decent amount of time there. Now we're in Queenstown...the adventure town. I'll post more soon!

Christchurch

We made it to New Zealand! Steve and I are very glad to be here. We really enjoyed Thailand but I think I was done seeing old white guys with a bunch of Thai women and being asked if I want a Tuk Tuk or want to go to Big Buddha.

New Zealand is beautiful! However...Christchurch is really, sad. I don't think I expected the earthquake damage to be SO widespread. It is crazy. It also looks as though it just happened because nothing is really cleaned up and it was 7 months ago. We stayed at The Old Country House and it was really nice. It was on the East side of the city so we were separated from everything by the city being blocked off. It is very eerie to walk by everything, there are stores that still have everything inside of them, like time just stopped, because no one can enter them.

So we didn't spend much time in Christchurch, we rented a car and went up to Kaikoura where they have a lot of whale watching. We walked around the town and had lunch on the beach, it is so pretty there! We also had heard about a waterfall that has a pool with seal pups who go up there to swim. It was so cool! There were only 2 seal pups up there and the rest were down with the mama seals "exploring". There are the most pups during the winter months. It was really neat and not crowded at all. The seal pups were just laying back and lounging in the pool. We had a really nice day in Kaikoura. We came back and there was a group of Irish who had moved into our dorm room. They were pretty awesome. They all work in Auckland and have been going to all the Ireland games for the world cup. We saw a couple of them after the game in Dunedin too!

The second say we walked a lot. We dropped off our rental car and tried to go to a supposed farmers market. It was nowhere to be found. So we walked back and saw the side of the city that is still pretty active and has stores and people around. It was cool. We went through a park and they had a whole tribute to rugby thing going on. It's so cool being here during the world cup! Everyone is excited and you get to meet so many people!

I wish I could have seen Christchurch before the earthquake...it seems like it was a really cool city.

Phuket

Yay! Finally catching up.

We are now in Phuket. It is very interesting. We are in an area that is very family oriented but also lots of old guys with Thai women all around them, creepy! This city is pretty strange but it's nice that it has a beach. The beach is really empty and beautiful too. The waves are huge and the tides and currents are apparently really dangerous.

So one awesome thing happened today. We were at lunch and we got free fruit at the end of our meal. As Steve was taking a bite of banana I spit a watermelon seed into his closing mouth. It was the best shot in the world! Oh man I can never do that again but I was really proud. See how interesting Steve and I get after hanging out for almost 2 months straight? Jealous I know.

We went to Patong today which is a beach about 7 km from us. It was raining but I had to get to a post office and Tuk Tuk's are very expensive here so we rented a motorbike. It was a little scary driving down hills in the crazy rain but we made it (and wore helmets!).

We are leaving for New Zealand tomorrow! So exciting! Hope home is going well.