WEEK THIRTY ONE, TEETH, FEET, MEAT
Trip Start
Mar 14, 2007
1
31
44
Trip End
Jan 16, 2008
Taupo,
North Island,
New Zealand
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Road trip finally started again in true Melanie style, four hours later than planned! Will I ever learn to get somewhere on time? First road trip partner was Becky from New York and somehow instead of just dropping her at the organic sheep farm that she was working at and heading on my merry way I got roped into staying and being a farmer for the night! So after putting on some less than attractive gum boots (wellies to you and me) I set off in the 4 x 4 with Becky, the farmer man, and the sheep dog, to do whatever it is farmers do! Well, what I did was spot a dead sheep and then examine it to confirm it was dead! I then spotted what I thought was a dead sheep but turns out it was just a stupid sheep who had fallen over and couldn't get up and the I spotted a pregnant sheep who was giving birth as she was running away from me. I could see the baby lambs head sticking out of the ma's you know what!!! Crazy!! After delivering a lamb I then helped the dog round up the sheep, although, to be honest, I think I was just getting in the dogs way as he kept barking at me! That night the farmer cooked an amazing roast dinner, but to be honest I was so glad that I was a vegan cause after delivering a baby lamb there was no way I could now eat the gorgeous thing! So the next morning I made my feeble city girl excuses and left, I'd had enough sheep stories and experiences to last me a life time!
The next day I drove up to Christchurch, said goodbye to a few friends and traded in my lovely rental jeep for a bus! I feckin huge 6 berth deluxe top of the range mobile home, complete with flat screen tv, dvd player, microwave and shower and toilet! We got it for $5 a day cause we were relocating it for the company. But I swear to God I nearly stained my pants when I saw it! How the hell was I going to drive that? I can barely park a Ford Fiesta!! But I pretended I knew what I was doing and climbed aboard the Juggernaut and hit the road! As long as I didn't hit anything but the road I would be fine I hoped! I think I managed to hold my breath for the whole 4 hour midnight drive up to pick up Claire! I left grip marks in the steering wheel! My knuckles and hands were white and numb and I lost a kilo in sweat! The camper was huge the roads were small!! Claire nearly hit the deck when she saw it and as for driving it, well she managed to cry, scream, laugh and piss herself all at the same time. Ten minutes in to her driving and it was back in the passenger seat she went where she stayed for the whole trip!!
We headed up North of the South Island to Abel Tasman and we were going to do a three day hike along the coast but, as luck would have it, I got a tooth infection. So I wander into the first dentist I could find and 30 min later I walked out minus one HUGE!!!!! wisdom tooth! I got my wisdom tooth yanked out there and then with no drugs or anesthetic (I'm hard me)! The dentist was amazed and could not believe how I coped and how big the tooth was. She called it a claw!! All the roots were still in tact! She yanked at it with so many grips and even had one foot up on the chair for leverage at one point. When I sat up it was like a murder scene with all the bloody stains! But after a few stitches I was fine! Claire was the one who needed help, she nearly fainted when she saw the tooth that was pulled out! Bloody monstrous it is. (I'll try get some photos of it up soon)
So that meant I couldn't do the walk so I did some sightseeing and Claire hiked in the rain and when I picked her up a few days later she couldn't walk! Her poor feet were wrecked and cut to ribbons and she was covered in sand fly bites! Bless her! I was so glad I didn't go. I would much rather have a tooth removed then go on a hike! In fact her sand fly bites are still itching 3 weeks later!!
Next day we boarded the ferry and headed to the North Island! I was quite happy to leave the South behind! We went to Windy Wellington, which was rainy that day. We hit the awesome Museum and did a cable car ride but got bored so we drove through the night to Art Deco Napier. We didn't get there till 3am but it was worth it cause we woke up to a glorious pink sunrise over the ocean where we had parked up. Even though we had this camper van we were still parking up on the side of roads and on beaches and in fields and stuff and we didn't want to use the toilet or shower cause we didn't want to have to empty them or know how to empty them. So by this stage we were stinky and true travelers! So we hit the public open baths in Napier which are beside the sea and we lazed in there all day under the sunshine and watching the ocean and the sunset.
It was here that we had decided to do a skydive so we packed up the camper and drove all the way to Taupo through the night to jump out of a plane the next morning, as you do!
