New Zealand: Part 2
Trip Start
Mar 05, 2006
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Trip End
Jul 27, 2006
Kaiwaka,
New Zealand
Friday, July 14, 2006
We traded in trusty Robert Marley for another, less damp van. The new one is called "faces" and is certainly an attention grabber. We do miss Bob however.
Hmm...I'll try and avoid a synopsis, but its difficult. After leaving Nigel and Lees, we made our way north to Lewis Pass. That night was the coldest, starriest night yet. First, the cold - respiration froze on the windsheild... on the inside. Second, the stars. NZ has the best stars I have ever seen, bar none. Everything came together: that night was a new moon, we were 2 hours from major light sources, and the air was crisp and clear. I have never seen so much of the Milky Way or sooooo many stars. And thats after spending 6 months in Nevada
01 James in the pimping 1960s caravan
.So the next morning we drove to some semi-hidden hot springs off the pass road. Most excellent! The mountain was frosty, but we were toasty. When we arrived early in the morn, we found a guy sleeping the hot springs, he'd been there all night. Needless to say he was a little shriveled as he proceeded to put his shirt on, stand and talk to us for 10 minutes, then put his pants on because they were frozen. Maintain eye contact at all times.
On to Nelson, where Macs Brewery was unfortunately closed for renovation. We did manage to score some good orangic brew at Founders Brewery. Nelson didn't really appeal to us after that so we hightailed it to the final stop on the South Island trip, Picton. Wasn't really a good place to stay. You see, since we have a campervan, we've found its quite easy to simply pull over many places in NZ to crash for the night. Its a commonly accpeted practice and no one ever bothers you. Picton was a bit harder, its the ferry town. So we ended up dreaming in the cemetary parking lot. Hmm... a little freaky.
Off to Wellington and the North Island via ferry, this ride much less nauseating. Then to Napier, Art Deco capital of the world (along with Miami)
02 Audrey relaxing in Nig and Lee's old house
. Napier was destroyed by a big earthquake in the 30s and the entire town was rebuilt in Art Deco architecture. Fasanating. Also fasanating, we were robbed again. Some one broke into our van in broad day light in town. They simply used a screwdriver to push the lock in the door. It appears they were in a big rush and took only those things with handles or straps: my bookbag, Audreys toiletry bag, the camera usb cable, our food bag and OJ, and my iPod. Needless to say, this has put a major downer on the trip. But we're taking it with strides and might actually be used to being robbed now. So we hightailed it out of Napier to the central plateau and soon our second HelpX host, Erua lodge at the base of Mt. Ruahpehu. This was curious stay. There wasn't much work to do, so we kinda had to search for projects. Audrey made some sweet as (NZ speak) signs for the lodge and I... well I tryed to look busy. The lodge was quite unorganized. We stuck it out for a week so we could try out the Ruahpehu slopes. Hmmm... painful. Bad gear, weather, and day. If you ever snowboard in NZ, go to the south island, forget the North Island.
Next we had a "tourist day" - infamous glowworm caves, kiwi bird house!, and a traditional hangi. Ugh... this is too much to catch up on. Uh..on to the the northland, with Marijke and Robert...cattle wrangling, chicken shit scooping, mosaicing making, Lord of the Rings watching, interesting food eating (have you ever had lasagna with chili beans and hot peppers? And that pretty much catches us up to last week. I'll wait on the past week until we can upload more pics.
