And so we set off with a couple of maps in hand into the wildnerness that is New Zealand (with a population outnumbered 2 to 1 by sheep this country really is a wilderness!!). With me as navigator, we were sure to get lost and lost we did get and very soon! So we spent our first night free camping in a parking lot overlooking the sea and an ancient volcano, brushing our teeth in a public toilet! Apart from the public toilet thing, it was a pretty cool spot, so I had carte blance in getting us lost more often!!
Our first real planned stop was the thermal wonderland of Rotorua with steam and mud oozing out of any crevace it can find. Our best bit was the free outdoor thermal pools that run into the most beautifully clear river! The good part was that we could use this opportunity to have a proper bath! The rest of the week was spent driving and hiking around Lake Taupo which is massive and pretty impressive with the three snow capped mountains in the background. We were meant to do a massive 1 day hike through the Tongoriro National Park but in true 'sick girl' style, a nasty cold decided to befriend me and together with the icy conditions, prevented us from doing it. So we opted for a gentler 7km hike where they filmed the Mordor scenes from The Lord of the Rings - it was pretty beautiful hiking around forest that looks so prehistoric you can actually imagine the dinosaurs walking around (I didn't have to do much imagining though! With hephalump Shaun behind me I could have sworn that one was going to make an appearance at any time!!!) and the snow capped volcanoes in the background!
We opted to stay in a one horse town just outside of Wellington the night before the ferry crossing and managed to find a conspicuous spot behind a DIY store off the main town square (after using the public toilets for our ablutions - never have we felt like such plebs before walking into public toilets toothbrush and soap in hand!) Just as we were about to dose off we were blasted awake by a siren. Thoroughly shaken, we looked out of the window and saw 3 cars come screeching past us. Judging by the size of the town, it only had about 3 inhabitants and so we were convinced that the siren was for some sort of evacuation that we knew nothing about! A volcano erupting, an earthquake, a terrorist plot to blow up the town of Martinborough - who knew! So Shaun being the brave protector jumped out of the car in only his boxers, t-shirt and crocs to protect him from the cold and ran accross to the only 2 other people left in the town to find out if we were about to be swept up by molten lava. Unfortunately these people were the only other tourists in town who also came out to see what natural disaster was about to hit us. Only when the town fire engine came screaming past did it dawn on us that the siren was for the volunteer fire fighters and that in fact we weren't about to get carried away by a sea of lava!! We went back to bed very relieved!!
The 4 hour ferry crossing the next day to South Island took us through the Marlborough Fjiords which Shaun says were beautiful. I was far too warm and engrossed in the Princess Diaries 2 to venture outside onto the cold deck! After spending the night in Picton, we made our way down to Kaikoura where we were stupid enough to pay money to plunge into the icy sea to swim with dolphins!! Kitted up in thick wetsuits we made the plunge into a pod of over 300 dolphins and quite frankly, everything of mine froze up in protest to this torture so I didn't see much in the first 2 dives. Eventually our bodies went numb and with Shaun making noises I can't even begin to explain, we soon had what seemed like a million dolphins (I could have been halucinating at this time) swimming around us! It really was an amazing experience despite having to revive several of our dead limbs upon arrival back on warm dry land!!
From there we went slightly inland for more arctic exposure on Mount Lyford where we spent the day ski-ing. Well I did! Shaun spent the morning face deep in snow which was well entertaining for me! Unfortunately he eventually got his snow legs back and things soon got boring
Next we headed to the west coast where we hiked around two glaciers and then headed further south to Lake Wanaka and then to Queenstown where we Jetboated down a seriously narrow gorge at rediculous speeds and coming remarkably close to the rocks and cliffs. Our driver was really cute though so I never feared for our safety . . . Shaun wasn't so convinced though!!
From Queenstown we headed up the East Coast visiting some seal and penguin colonies before ending our journey with Einstein in Christchurch.
So here we sit in the warmth of Shaun's cousin's house in Auckland soaking up the luxuries you guys take for granted and dreading the 12 hour flight awaiting us! Our Spanish is non existant and after the long flight we head straight for a 48 hour bus trip! I have no doubt this will be an interesting last 3 months . . .
