From the Banks Peninsula, we drove back into Christchurch to take care of some business (namely Graham’s work and my desire for Thai food).  After a few hours at the internet cafe, we decided to go to a movie and saw 2012.  The movie was totally enjoyable, though very expensive (30 bucks for the two of us!).  Still, it was worth it.

The movie was longer than expected and somehow the sun started to set earlier than normal, as we drove north to our campsite.  We followed the DOC directions to the spot that was supposed to be our campsite, but upon driving over 20 km down a gravel road in the dark and then seeing some type of drawered structure off the side of the road, Graham and I simultaneously got freaked out and decided to bail on the camping idea.  We headed up SH 1 toward Kaikora and pulled over at a coastal campsite (right next to the railroad, we quickly learned) and slept in our little pink car.

The following morning we woke at 6 and left the “campsite” before being caught (confession: we didn’t pay for the six hours we parked our car and tried to sleep at the site) and headed up north along the coast to the town of Kaikora.  The drive was amazing - just like Highway 1 in Calfornia between Monterey and Big Sur.  We ate breakfast in Kaikora and then continued along our way north, stopping at a turnout to see baby seal pups!  After a bit more driving, we arrived in our destination of Blenheim.

Blenheim was our one splurge of the trip, as we stayed two nights in a swanky hotel.  It’s amazing how incredibly exciting having our own shower (not shared with dozens of hotellers) can be.  I think we each showered four times while we were there.  The king size bed was especially sweet given that we slept in the car the night before.  We also took advantage of room service, having our own tv with a movie channel and the fitness center.  Graham took me out to a fancy dinner where he ate lamb and I had delicious veggies and polenta, plus a cocktail with ginger beer and vodka.  Mmm…

With one day left with our car, we headed along the Queen Charlotte scenic drive to Nelson where we plan to explore the town and get ready for our five day Abel Tasman “Great Walk”…

After exploring the Milford Sound (or as much of it as we could make out through the rain), we headed east to the coast, first stopping in Dunedin.  Dunedin is the main college town in NZ and surprisingly was once the biggest city.  It has a distinctive Scottish feel, most evident by the fact that we had a hard time understanding people when they spoke.

Our first stop upon arriving in town was the Speight’s brewery tour.  The first NZ beer we tasted - during our layover in Auckland - was Speight’s “Pride of the South” and we were excited to take a tour.  It was, hands down, the best brewery tour we have ever been on, and the dark beer flavored ice cream we got after tasting didn’t hurt either.  After the tour we explored the city before landing at an Irish pub for the rest of the evening, failing miserably - but having fun - at a pub quiz and drinking lots of Guiness.

The next morning we woke early and hit the road for our longest day of driving.  We headed up the coast, stopping in Moeraki to see the famous boulders and then up to Amarau.  There was an amazing little organic co-op just south of Amarau and the Whitestone cheeserie in town.  We visited the blue and yellow eyed penguin colonies (though we saw neither given they come out at night) and Graham did a Whiskey tasting.  We wished we had longer to stay, but got back in the car and drove inland to Mt Cook.

Sadly we didn’t have time to do any hiking near Mt Cook (the tallest mountain in NZ) but we did catch some amazing scenery and were able to learn a lot at the DOC-operated visitor center.  Once that closed for the evening, we continued on our way to the amazingly gorgeous turqouise colored Lake Tekapo.  We watched an amazing sunset (which doesn’t happen here until 10pm) and then woke up the next morning to hike up to the observatory.

From Lake Tekapo, I took my first turn at driving on the “wrong” side of the road and got us back east to Rangatita where we stopped to buy some NZ goods at the highly recommended Tin Shed.  From there Graham took over, drove us into Christchurch for some grocery shopping and then through the windy road leading us to the tip of the Banks Peninsula where we stayed a night at a farm-hostel in Akaroa.

When we arrived, it was pouring rain, but shortly after finishing dinner and a game of Scrabble, the sky cleared and by the time the sun set and the stars appeared, we had the stunning view we had hoped for when we first reserved our stargazer for the night.  We got up early the next morning, ate our oatmeal and took off on the most difficult and spectacular hike we’d done yet - along the ridge line leading to amazing views of Pegasus Bay and the entire peninsula…

Most people go to Queenstown for adventure - bungy jumping was invented there and you can find dozens of ways to blow hundreds of dollars seeking a thrill.  Graham and I did just the opposite.  We stayed in what turned out to be our favorite “backpackers” (hostel) yet.  It was right on the lake and had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the gorgeous scenery.  We spent much of our time hanging out, reading, cooking and watching movies.  The highlight of our time was meeting up with Loni and Graeme.  We had drinks with them one night and then camped with them the next.

In Queenstown we also picked up our rental car - a charming little pink car (which of course has the steering wheel on the right).  It was an adjustment, but Graham’s done great with it.  Having a car meant freedom for us, and we immediately took it out Highway 6 past the famous bungy jumping bridge (just to watch), to a couple of wineries (one with a cheeserie!) and then stopped by an old gold mining town of Arrowtown for a beer at the newly opened brewery.  Then we drove up to Moke Lake to camp with our friends (by friends I mean Loni and Graeme, not the loud sheep that kept us up much of the night).

The next day we visited eight wineries plus an olive oil tasting room.  We were in heaven, given that Central Otago is known for Pinot Noir - our favorite.  From there we drove all the way to Te Anau, gateway to Fiorland National Park.  The following day we made the famous, scenic drive to the Milford Sound.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very nice (fog, rain and even snow) so we didn’t get much of the scenery and our pictures were even worse.  Still, we had a great time and enjoyed getting back to our hostel early enough to cook a nice italian dinner (enjoyed with one of our newly purchased bottles of wine) and watch three movies before resting up for our next day’s drive to the east coast…

The travel books don’t say much about Wanaka, and Graham and I almost didn’t even stop there.  Thankfully we did, as it has by far been my favorite place to visit so far.  I haven’t fallen so instantly in love with a place since I visited Lake Como on my first international trip in 2005.  The town is located on a lake with amazing mountains in the background.  It’s a bike friendly city with tons of parks, a vegetarian grocery store/deli, tons of ethnic food (Indian, Thai), a yoga studio and plenty of complementary medicine practitioners, a funky movie theatre, and… wait for it… a Mexican restaurant!

I spent most of my time there wishing for more, and after a short evening, we woke up in time to walk to Puzzling World (a ridiculously dorky but super fun puzzle place including optical illusions and a maze) before our bus took us to Queenstown.  I’m already longing to go back…

We only spent one full day (two nights) in Franz Josef, but it was long enough to witness the highlight - the Franz Josef Glacier, which Graham and I hiked on a half-day guided adventure.  Needless to say, it was amazing!  And our first experience with crampons went quite well.  We returned back to town after our excursion, drank hot chocolate and relaxed in the warm pools (not natural hot springs, but they felt amazing on our sore legs nonetheless).

We were only in Greymouth for 24 hours - more than most people stay, given that it’s the end point of the train and starting off point to explore the west coast.  We camped in the big backyard of a Noah’s Ark themed hostel, and the notoriously rainy weather held off for us.

In Greymouth, we toured the Monteith brewery, ate delicious Indian food and went for our first rain forest hike.  It was a great start to our west coast journey.

Arthurs Pass is a stop halfway between Christchurch and Greymouth on the TranzScenic train.  Most people pop out to take a quick photo of the Southern Alps and then get back on the warm, comfy train.  Not us.  Graham and I emerged from our warm coach seats into the grey, sleet and set off on our first adventure.

We planned to camp at Avalanche Creek, but if the weather wasn’t enough to deter us, the man working at the DOC (Department of Conservation) office was.  He told us of the kea, an amazing smart alpine bird that would eat our tent if we weren’t diligent enough to stay up all night fighting it off with water.  And so, we decided instead to stay at the Sanctuary bunk house.  And a sanctuary it was.

Fortunately, the weather ended up getting nice and we got two and a half days of great hiking in - between visits to the local cafe (one of two) to drink hot chocolate and play cards.  We enjoyed watching the kea from afar and were glad to have a (somewhat) warm place to rest our heads.  The good news?  Our new sleeping bags are nice and cozy!

Graham and I boarded an early flight from Austin to Los Angeles on the morning of November 1.  The flight was on time - good news for the most part, but bad news in that we had longer to wait around at LAX.  To make our long layover even worse, after exiting thru security (which we had to do to pick up our checked backpacks), we discovered that there is no food at the airport (nor lockers to ditch our bags) other than thru security.

Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long, as Air New Zeland allowed us to check in as soon as they opened at 1pm.  And so, we checked our bags, grabbed a cab, and headed to Hermosa Beach.  Graham surprised me with an AMAZING vegetarian meal, and then we walked along “The Strand” (the walkway running parallel to the beach there) and then took a bus back to LAX.

Our flight to Auckland was actually much better than expected - it turned out to be only 12.5 hours, and we had some great movies to keep us entertained (I watched 500 days of Summer, Up and Julie & Julia - all of which were excellent).  Our layover was quick (especially compared to the previous one) and before long it was November 3 (having entirely missed the 2nd) and we were on our flight to Christchurch.

We were a bit concerned to hear the temperature in CHCH and started to worry that we hadn’t packed enough.  We changed into our closed toe shoes (from the flip flops we wore on the plane) and made our way through customs (tips for NZ travelers - clean your boots thoroughly with a toothbrush before packing them and try not to take any equipment camping 30 days or less before your trip).  Then we boarded the shuttle bus and headed to our hostel.

Our first of two days in Christchurch was nice but relatively uneventful.  We wandered into and around the city, ran some errands and ate incredible Thai Food at Ann’s which was recommended to us.  It was chilly and windy but not as bad as we feared.  Our goal was to stay up until 7 or 8 to try and acclimate to the new time zone, but we passed out around 3pm.  Thankfully we slept thru the night and felt rested when we woke at 6am.

This morning we went for run into the city, enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Drexel’s, spent most of the day strolling through the Botanical Gardens, the park and the Arts Centre (for pictures, check out my flickr page), and then returned “home” to do laundry, play cards, and drink a bottle of wine we purchased the day before.  The weather was gorgeous - sunny and in the high 20s (celsius, of course :))  For dinner, Graham ate a $10 steak and now we are off to listen to jazz.

Tomorrow: the Tranz Alpine train to Greymouth…

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures from Yosemite or Acadia - two of the parks I’ve been wanting to visit for years.

Yosemite was closed due to a forest fire when I went to visit on my drive back to KS from Yoga Teacher Training in Santa Barbara.

I did actually make it to Acadia - on a great New England camping trip with Deb.  The weather was amazing - the first cool breezes and colorful leaves of fall.  Unfortunately after taking two days of great photos, I lost the camera.

I’m back in KC now for another couple weeks.  Then to Austin for part of October, and the 1st of November I’m off to New Zealand for 7 weeks!!!