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On Sunday 13th October, we caught the bus from Queenstown to Cromwell.
Cromwell was to be our new home, for the next few months at least. Sitting on the bus, it felt like we were being sent away, like evacuees. Neither of us knew what lay in store!
Jaye, our new employer (and the 'Mother', as described in the job advertisement) picked us up from the bus station in Cromwell and drove us the short distance back to their house. As we drove up the driveway, the first thing we saw was the caravan...which was to be our new home! It's quite original to be able to say that our first house together was a caravan!! (Well, unless you're a gypsy!).
We came indoors and met the children properly (Brodie who was 2 and a half, and Tayla who was 5) and Joe, their dad. We had a lovely lunch with them and felt settled straight away. They were all lovely and very welcoming.
We sorted all our stuff out, unpacked our bags, made our bed and cleaned the caravan in the afternoon. By the evening, we'd made our little caravan 'home'. We had a lovely roast dinner and settled down for the night, unsure of what the next day held!
The following few days were great, we were both just settling into our new roles. Cesca was up at 7 every morning to help the children get ready for school and nursery. Ash would be up a little later, around 8 (lazy b*****) and get ready for a hard days work up at the plant nursery.
During the day, Cesca did little jobs around the house as necessary, kept things clean and tidy, did the washing and ironing and cooking dinner every night. Brodie (the youngest) wasn't in full time nursery, so some days were spent juggling her and all the jobs! Tayla finished school at 3, and there were times Cesca would have to pick her up from school also and then entertain the children in the afternoon. Sometimes, the job of feeding, bathing and putting to bed was Cesca's job as well! It was all very varied.
Ash spent the first week juggling between renovating one of the caravans, and renovating the 'Portacom' (basically a portacabin with a kitchen and bathroom and bedrooms). The plant nursery, where these both lived, was a lovely place out in the sticks. Much to Ash's delight, they had a gun there as well, and he would often spend lunch breaks shooting rabbits on the hills opposite. After work, they would have a beer and sometimes another shoot. Ash worked alongside a man called Nathan at the nursery, who was really nice and was glad of some company!
With our first week over, we had a big weekend planned...
We had booked tickets to see the All Blacks (NZ rugby team) vs the Wallabies (Australia). This was held in Dunedin, at their new stadium. We had bought 4 tickets; two for us, one for Maddy and one for Bill. Maddy was in Queenstown and Bill was in Christchurch. Fortunately we had the use of a car, so we were able to drive down by ourselves. Unfortunately, Maddy missed her bus from Queenstown to Cromwell! Which meant we had to drive to pick her up (a 45 minute journey). This also meant that we had to come back to Cromwell, as there was no other route to take from Queenstown! So an hour and a half detour. But then we were on our way!! On route, we heard from Bill that he had not been able to get on his coach from Christchurch to Dunedin as it was full (typical man...not booking ahead!). And the next coach wouldn't get there till 9pm - well after the game had started. So Bill didn't come! It was just going to be the three of us.
We'd tried to book accommodation in Dunedin (as it was a good 3 hours away), but hadn't managed as everywhere was full. So we asked Joe (the guy we work for) who said he knew lots of people down that way. He managed to get us a bed in a 'Smoko Room' (just a staff room apparently!), which belonged to a friend of his who owned a plant nursery. We weren't fussed where we slept as long as we had a bed!
So we arrived at the Blue Skin Nursery in Waitati (about 20 minutes out of Dunedin) and met Mark Brown...our host for the night! He was a very funny man, and very generous also. He took us to meet his daughter, Sally, who lived just behind his house. Fortunately for us, she had some friends over and they were having a BBQ and beers! And so we joined in! You've got to love a spontaneous friend making experience!
We got a taxi into Dunedin with this group of people and went for a drink in the Octagon (a big outdoor bar area in central Dunedin). It was heaving and the atmosphere was electric! Everyone was very excited.
The walk down to the ground was a lot of fun, as everyone had some beer in their bellies. We tried desperately to sell our spare ticket, but no one wanted it by that point!
We had pretty good seats, on the end stand at the back on the right hand side. The All Blacks were scoring in our direction for the first half, so we saw lots of tries! It was brilliant. Interestingly, the Wallabies fans and the All Blacks fans were all sat in the same areas...not like in the UK where the fans are separated, for fear of riots and mutilations!! It's amazing how different it is, and how nice it feels to be part of that.
After the game, everyone goes back into town for a big booze up. We had a great night dancing away to the live band. Until we had to find a taxi home! Which took about an hour. At one point we were offered a lift by two big, scary looking men. When we asked them where they were going, they said 'hrmmph, wherever you're going'. So we decided against that!! We finally managed to accost a taxi before he made it to the extremely lengthy taxi rank queue, and headed home.
In the morning, the lovely, generous Mark Brown knocked on our door and asked if we'd like to go round to his house for some breakfast. His wife was cooking and they had some visitors. So off we went! And what a treat again! Lovely free breakfast :) and great company.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend meeting new people, doing new things and visiting new places. We'll definitely head back to Dunedin.
So that marks the end of our first week! It's been busy, and an eye opener of what is to come in the next few weeks. But we think we're going to enjoy our time here, for sure.
Cromwell is situated in Central Otago, which is renowned for its wine, which was welcome news to us. Bannockburn, which was about a ten minute drive from us, was particularly important in the wine producing industry. Central Otago is most famous for a particular red grape which produces wine called Pinot Noir. Yummo. So our next free weekend was dedicated to a tour of the local wineries for some wine tasting! We also went to a Olive grove, where a lovely couple took us into their house and let us try the different olive oils they produced.
Later on, we went on a walk around the Bannockburn Sluicings. The sluicings were created in 1862 by people searching for gold in the hills, by firing powerful jets of water at the earth and filtering the gold from the broken away ground. This created some interesting formations which made it look like a mini Grand Canyon. At the top of the walk was an old village called Stewart Town, where the miners used to live. The huts were made of mud and stone, and far away from any other town. Many people died stumbling home from the pub in the dark through the sluicings! It was a really interesting walk and one which gave us an insight into the history of the area in which we were living.
Jaye and Joe keep a few sheep, which live at the Nursery. Well, it was that time of year when the lambs needed their tails docking! So, after dinner one night, we all put on our 'farm' clothes and headed to the nursery. After rounding up the lambs with the quad bike and putting them in a pen, it was Ash's job to catch them, hold their legs together and lean them on the fence, tails hanging down. Cesca would then inject a vitamin concoction in the neck and then Joe would clamp the tail between two hot rods, until it fell off. Gross! And the smell of the singeing lambs tail was not nice! Poor little mites, but it was in their best interest. The process of docking lambs tails is quite a controversial one, but the idea is that it is better for them in the long term. Otherwise, they'd get poo caught in their tails which would attract flies, causing 'fly strike' - maggot infestation inside. Not nice! We were being cruel to be kind. It was a pretty cool experience, one which we probably won't have again!
Cromwell was only a 45 minute drive to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world! We had a few friends who lived there, so we often drove there at the weekends to have decent night out! (Cromwell and night life are not two words you'd hear together). We had a few awesome nights out there, our favourite bar being Cowboys. It was always busy, they handed out cowboy hats for everyone to wear, the drinks came in MASSIVE jugs and there was a cool game called shuffle board, which we played every time we went there. It was a lot of fun! Queenstown nights out were always very late ones, with lots of alcohol consumed. The atmosphere of Queenstown is pretty cool, as the majority of people there are travelling. Alongside the social side, there is another really cool aspect of Queenstown, and that's the scenery. It is a beautiful place, really striking. One morning, severely hungover, we decided to climb to the top of Queenstown Hill. It took about an hour and half to get up, and the views as you ascend are incredible, looking down over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu and up to the mountains.
Cromwell has a big lake alongside it, called Lake Dunstan. It was about a 20 minute walk from where we were staying, so was a nice evening walk when we fancied it. A couple of times we cycled around part of it on sunny evenings, and it was beautiful. We went out on Joe's jet boat a few times as well which was a lot of fun! It goes really fast and you can basically just throw them around as much as you like, doing complete 360s at full speed! Definitely a mid life crisis toy! We also went swimming in the lake, as when it was calm, it was crystal clear. But freezing cold all the same!
One weekend, we found a track that went from Cromwell round to Bannockburn alongside the river. It was described as a mountain bike track and it was fantastic! We had full use of Joe and Jaye's mountain bikes which was great. The track took us up and down some really steep hills (Cesca walked back up most of them!) whilst Ash tried his hardest to cycle to the top. It was a beautiful day and the views that we got of the lake were incredible.
One weekend, we decided to go to Wanaka. We had both been there before, but never spent more than an evening there. So, early one Saturday morning we left with the bikes crammed into the back seats. We'd booked a night at a hostel and when we arrived it was so sweet! We had a little double bedroom and the door opened out onto a little patio and table and the garden. It was one of the nicest hostels we'd stayed in before! The weather was lovely, so we decided to get the bikes out and cycle around the lake, as recommended. It was an awesome cycle! Really, really picturesque with the stunning mountain scenery and the track was a good mixture of up, down and flat. We got halfway and stopped for a lovely cold cider and a beer, before carrying on back to Wanaka. Once back, we went to a little inlet on the lake, where there were people having BBQs and boat rides, and sunbathed and had a little swim (well, only Ash as it was freeeezing!). We then went to the supermarket and bought ingredients for dinner, which we were cooking at the hostel. A few hours later, we were sat in the garden at the hostel overlooking the town and mountains in the distance, whilst eating Ash's homemade carbonara and sipping ice cold white wine. A perfect evening to end a perfect day :).
The next day, we decided to walk up to the Rob Roy Glacier. It took us about an hour to drive to the starting point as it was on an unmade road. Once there, the walk took us steeply up the side of a mountain amongst the trees until we came above the treeline. We were greeted with an extraordinary view of a glacier towering up on the other side of the valley. It was incredible! And well worth the effort of walking up.
It was then time to drive home, which was such a shame as we felt we had only scratched the surface of things to do in Wanaka. It is an amazing and beautiful place.
A few weeks before, Jaye was involved in a big horse riding event called Ride to Recovery which aimed to raise money for Breast Cancer charities. She was helping to organise it and was very busy in the weeks preceding. They were holding a raffle also, and some of the prizes were great. So we put in $10 and didn't think any more of it, as we generally aren't very lucky with these sorts of things! So, when Jaye told us after the weekend that we had won two prizes, we were very surprised! And these weren't your run of the mill prizes either. We won a jet boat ride on the Shotover River in Queenstown, as well as a ZipTrek course which is on Queenstown Hill. Awesome! And all for $10!
So, one free weekend we headed down to Queenstown again. We had to wrap up very warm though as it was a cold day, especially up on the hill. We headed to the ZipTrek course and met all the people who would be part of our group. And then we started. The ZipTrek course is amazing! A lot better than we thought. They encourage you to go upside down and pull all sorts of poses and scream. Some of the zip lines were really steep and really fast. It was all made better by an awesome view of Lake Wakatipu through the trees!
That day we also tried to go jet boating, but it was raining and very windy by that point, so it was cancelled. We went back a few weeks later, and the same again! By now, the people working there knew us!
Third time lucky...and it was a beautiful day. Commercial jet boating is not quite as fun as Joe's jet boat, but still a lot of fun, especially for free. They pull some amazing 360s and can skim over water only a few inches deep. Very impressive.
The next thing we had to look forward to was the staff party. Jaye and Joe employ about 12 people for their landscaping company called Southern Landmarx, and they had arranged for everyone to meet at Bannockburn Inlet at the beginning of December for the staff party...BBQs, watersports and games. The weather was a little undecided with quite thick clouds and the occasional sunny spell. But it was fine as long as you had a jumper! We spent a lovely day down there, drinking beer and chatting away, and going out on the jet boat and waterskiing. It was really nice to meet the other employees as well, who were all really nice. At the end, we did 'Secret Santa' which ended up being pretty funny as everyone had to swap their presents with someone else. Some people came out lucky, others not so!!
Central Otago was once served by a train which stretched all the way from Middlemarch to Clyde, a 150km track. Since it was closed in 1990, it has become a very popular track for cyclists, walkers and horse riders. With Clyde only being a 20 minute drive away from us, we thought it woud be rude not to do it! So, one weekend when we were feeling particularly fit, we set off on our bikes. We started pretty early as we had around 60km to cover that day. We had decided to do the track in 2 days rather than the advised 3/4 days (as we only had the weekend free!) And we believed that anyone with a general level of fitness would manage it ok. Or so we thought! Our first few kilometres were fine, being very flat, but with beautiful scenery. We decided to stop off at the first town we encountered (Alexandra), which meant coming off the track for just a few hundred metres. Well, Ash believed he was slightly above the law and he decided that he didn't need to put on his helmet although it is a legal requirement in NZ. Well, just to serve him right, a police man in his car saw Ash - helmet free- from a good few hundred metres away...and Ash saw him also. So he stopped to casually put his helmet on. As the police officer wound down his window and pulled over to us!! Ash got the telling off he deserved but fortunately nothing else. He played on the 'dumb Englishman' a bit!! Having stocked up in Alex, we cycled on, only to realise a short time later that Ash's back tyre was completely flat. But by that point we were in the middle of nowhere. Great. So, Ash opened up the puncture repair kit we had been lent by Jaye and Joe...to find out that it was at least 20 years old and the glue was so dried up that the metal tubing it was in was so brittle we could snap it in half. Ah...big problem! What were we going to do?! Our options were to walk back to Alexandra (a good way away now) or carry on to the next town, although there was a next to zero chance that there was a cycle shop there! So we sat and thought about our plan of action, and then 2 cyclists came around the corner and we jumped at them! They were very friendly guys and sorted us out with a 'newer' puncture repair kit. And we were on our way again.
Lunch time couldn't come soon enough as we sweated it out on a 1:50 incline which went on for miles and miles. It doesn't sound like much, but when the wind is strong against you and the sun is beaming down and you're carrying all your belongings on the back of the bike, it is extremely hard! Cue a nice cold glass of Speights..yum! We could relax for a little. Also, we were informed of a bike shop just around the corner, so went to buy a new inner tube for Ash's bike. However, sod's law, the bike shop was closed!! Oh no, what bad timing! But we looked through the windows and saw a lady washing bikes out the back. So we walked round and asked whether she could sort us out. She didn't really speak much English, and she had to phone the owner to check it out with him, but eventually we had bought two new inner tubes!
Just as we were ready to set off again, we noticed that Ash's tyre had deflated again! So he decided to put in the new inner tube just to avoid any further problems. Which would've been the end of it, had Ash not forgotten to screw the bolt back on which keeps the wheel attached to the bike... We had stopped for a photo opportunity when Ash realised that the back tyre was a little bit wobbly...and upon closer inspection he realised he had not tightened the bolt and it had come off somewhere during the last 7 km! Effectively rendering the bike uncyclable. Great...and neither of us were going back over the last 7km to look for a needle in a haystack!! So Ash fashioned a 'bolt' out of the old glue tube mentioned earlier and some tape. We were going to have to give it a go. We hopped back on the bikes, wondering what was going to happen next, but we didn't expect it to be good! However, we turned the corner and saw a sign which said 'last cafe for 25km'. Upon closer inspection, Ash realised that the sign was attached to an old, decrepit bike!! Ash sauntered over so as to not look too suspicious, bent down and unscrewed the bolt he had lost, then hopped back on his bike and cycled off!! After we had cleared a good few hundred metres, we stopped to screw it on. A perfect fit! So lucky! And that was fortunately the end of our bad luck.
It was very hard going the first day as it was mainly uphill, albeit very gradual (although we believe this is the worst sort of hill!). We ended our first day in Oturehua which was about 65km along the track. We were so relieved that we had made the first day! Such an achievement, but we felt it. First stop...the pub! Our accommodation that night had been arranged by Jaye and Joe's friend, Tegan. She had an aunty who lived out near to the rail trail, called Karen. Karen and Donald lived in Ida Valley, just a short distance from Oturehua, with their three girls. So, we rang them and they came to pick us up. We left our bikes at the pub as we would leave from that point the next day. So, were picked up and driven back to their house which was part of their Merino Sheep Station. Literally in the middle of nowhere. The roads hadn't even been tarmaced.
Karen and Donald made us feel very welcome and they put up a tent for us in the garden (although Tegan had said we'd have a room and a bed! But hey, we weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. We were grateful to have anywhere to rest our heads that night!) and they also bought fish and chips, so we had a feast! And beer of course.
After dinner, Karen and Donald and the girls took us out in their jeep to see their land. And they had a lot of it! It took an hour to reach their boundary. And the view from the top was just incredible, especially as the sun was setting as we were there. So much unspoilt land. It was beautiful.
After a 'great' sleep in the tent, we were up and raring to go again! We had bacon and eggs to start off our day and then we were on our way. We had approximately 85km to complete today! We set off tentatively due to the soreness of our bottoms and the bumpy track was not helping matters. Nor was the rain, which was most unwelcome! Or the hill which felt a lot steeper than all that we'd done the day before! We did about 7km of hard, windy, wet, uphill slog, when we saw a very exciting sign. It said 'You are at the highest point on the Central Otago Rail Trail...it's all downhill from here'. Which we were very excited about! Until we realised that that was a LIE! The whole of the second day was a bit up and down here and there really. Definitely not all down hill anyway! But still, much easier than the previous day. We slogged on and on, enjoying as much scenery as we could. It got to lunch time and we thought we'd just push on for a little bit further before we'd stop for food, so we had less distance to do after lunch. Well, we decided to go another 14km. And they felt like the longest kilometres we've ever cycled. We both thought we were going to pass out and collapse. We were so hungry!! The place we'd decided to stop just seemed to get further and further away.
But finally we reached it and ate like we've never eaten before..it tasted so good! We had a lie down as well and then didn't feel like going on any further. The temptation to get Tegan to pick us up from there was very strong...but we couldn't do it!! So we hopped back up onto our bikes for the final leg. And it absolutely chucked it down...the rain was torrential! We got absolutely soaked, and such bad timing as we'd be really wet and muddy for going back in the car. But we cycled hard for the last few kilometres then we were there! 150km completed in 2 days! What an achievement... we were so so proud of ourselves.
Our time in Cromwell was coming to an end. We had plans to move back up to Auckland after Christmas. But we still had the xmas period to look forward to. Our first Christmas day together, and on the other side of the world! As you can imagine, the girls were very excited that Santa had been and we spent most of the morning fending them off of their presents. Late morning, we gathered together some foody bits and went down to Jaye and Joe's new house next to the lake. We set up camp down by the lake edge and had champagne and croissants. It was lovely to do something different. Although it didn't really feel like Christmas Day! We played a game of cricket and frisbee and then the rain came on, so we left and went home to chill and to open a few more pressies. Later on that afternoon, we walked round to Nana Kay and Barry's (and Scott and Kali's) for Christmas dinner! Scott is a butcher/chef, so we knew we were in for a treat. It was delicious and we were truely spoilt.
We had one more thing to look forward to before the end of our time in Cromwell. And that was going to Jenny and Doug's station, which was near Roxburgh not far from Cromwell. We weren't sure what to expect, but we knew we were going to be in the middle of absolutely nowhere on their 10,000 acre station for a few days at least.
We arrived there late in the afternoon (as Jaye and Joe took SO long to get ready!). The drive from the 'main' road (which was still a dirt track) to Crown Rock (the name of where we were staying) took us a good hour along a very long, windy and muddy track. The views from this track were amazing though. There were rolling hills and mountains in every direction we looked. We followed a river all the way along also, which was pretty cool. When we arrived at 'camp', we saw where we would be staying. The main 'hut' had a little porch area which was lined by old sofas and chairs and a table, as well as a pretty ramshackled barbeque/fire. The building that was attached was the kitchen/dining area. The walls were lined with old pictures of people who had stayed there before and some history about the place. It was awesome to see and really interesting also. As well as the main hut, there were four or five other huts dotted around nearby, which were for sleeping in. There was one hut which had been there for over 100 years. The other huts were used for sleeping, and most had bunk beds in. This is because at certain times of the year, extra people needed to come onto the station to help out with farming...so there were extra people around at this time as they were tagging the cows...bearing in mind they had thousands and thousands of cows!
Our first night was spent in the porch of the main hut with everyone else, only conversation for company which was pretty cool. We ate meat off of the BBQ (all meat was sourced from their animals) and drank beer. When we went to bed that night, it was incredible to look up and see a totally un-polluted starry sky. It felt like a breath of fresh air.
The next day, we decided to go hunting. Joe had brought his quad bike with him, so the three of us set off into the hills. We went up and up and up, till we reached a hill called The Falkans. There, we hopped off the bikes and took out the binoculars. We were looking for deer, and we spotted some straight away, on the other side of the valley. So now we had to be very quiet so as to not disturb them. We jumped back on the bike to get a little closer, and then we jumped off and hid in the long grass which was right at the top, and we were looking down the hill. There were quite a few deer down there as well, but they had got a whiff of us and were moving very fast in the opposite direction. But we weren't giving up then! We watched them for a little while to get an idea of where they were heading, then took off on foot. We walked a little way up the track, then took off in to the long grass. We felt like spies! We kept having to duck down if we got a little too near to them. They are SO sensitive! Ideally, you'd have the wind going behind you so that the deer can't smell you, and also so your noise is carried away from them. We then had perfect conditions. So we carried on, stealthily moving through the grass towards them. We eventually reached a spot where we knew there were deers just below us. Joe crept down on his hands and knees and looked over the head of the hill, then indicated for Ash to join him. Cesca and Mocha (the dog) sat well back, as quietly as possible. Ash and Joe were lying on their fronts, guns poised ready to shoot. This one was for Ash, and he took a minute or two to steady himself. He would only get one chance of getting it right! And it had taken us so long to track these ones down that it would be such a waste. So, once his breathing had steadied and he was confident to do so, he pulled the trigger. BANG!! He hit the deer straight in his shoulder, the perfect place to shoot a deer as you should theoretically hit them straight in the heart to kill them instantly, and also so you don't shoot them in the gut which would just make a mess of the meat!
So we walked down to the deer, Ash very very pleased with himself. It was perfect! He was a 'spiker' which means he was a young male deer, the perfect age for the meat. Joe then gave us a lesson in dissecting a deer. (Don't read on if you are squeamish! Gory details follow...). Firstly he cut his neck and broke his spine. He then cut his entire gastro-intestinal system out so that we didn't have to carry it. Which was exceedingly messy! But the innards would feed a few hungry birds, that's for sure. Joe then broke the deers legs, then put them together in such a way that would mean that Ash could carry the deer like a backpack. Which he did! It was extremely heavy, but it was the only way of getting the deer back to the hut. So we had to walk about a mile to the nearest track, whilst Joe walked back to pick up the quad bike then bring it round the other side of the valley to collect us and the deer. It was potentially the most stressful walk we've ever done! There was obviously no path to follow, so we had to try to find the best way down a slippery slope to the river at the bottom, which would lead us to our pick up point. We made it (eventually after much moaning and groaning from Mr. Peech!) to the river, where Ash stripped off and washed himself down. He was COVERED in blood! And it had really started to smell, as it was also really hot. Yum! Eventually, Joe arrived to pick us up and we made it back to the camp, with the deer strapped onto the front of the quad. We were popular back at camp! A whole deer would feed everyone for a good few weeks. So Ash and Joe then skinned it and cut it into sections. Yum! We had venison that night and it was delicious, made all the more tasty for knowing how much hard work had gone into catching it! It was such an awesome experience, hunting down an animal, cathcing it and then eating it. We felt pretty primal.
Whilst we were at Crown Rock, we also hunted for more food. One night, we fished for eels...and caught one! Which turned out to be delicious once it was filleted, seasoned and cooked on the BBQ for a few minutes.
We also caught Yabbies one day...which are like fresh water lobsters. They live in little streams and hide under the mud. All you do is put a bit of red meat on the end of a string and the yabbies come up and grab hold of it with their pincers. You then slowly lift the string up and then put a net underneath them to catch them. These were put whole into a pot and onto the BBQ, turned orange and then you just eat their tails...the meatiest part. They just tasted like fish really. What a feast we were having!
We ended up staying for 2 days longer than we had planned to. We were all just so chilled out and the girls were having fun too. There had been some really nice people staying as well. One of them was a girl named Alice who was from the UK and now worked for Doug managing the station (which would have been a pretty hard job given the size of it!). There was a man called Fred who also worked for them. There was a father and son there who usually came after Christmas to help out if needed - they had brought their horses with them so did a lot of the herding. A few other people dipped in and out, but there was always lots of interesting people around!
We had a really fantastic few days there, ones which we will never forget. We never dreamed we'd do anything like that in our lives and feel so priveleged that we were able to. The hospitality of Kiwis is endless! They are so happy and willing to share all their experiences with you.
We were back in Cromwell in time for us to get ourselves ready then head into Queenstown ready for our New Years Eve celebrations! Unfortunately, we'd left it too late to book ourselves any accommodation, so we knew we were in for a night of sleeping in the car.
Anyway, we drove to our friend Johnny's house who lived only about 5 minutes out of Queenstown. We played a good drinking game there, a little bit like beer pong, but the idea was to win and down your drink as fast as possible! It was a lot of fun. We then all headed to Maddy's house (althought Maddy was actually working - but we knew a couple of the people who were at hers). We had a few more to drink there and caught up with everyone. By this point, it was nearly midnight already! So we gathered everyone together and walked down to the Lake, where there was a big stage and music. It was rammed! Not long after we'd arrived, the countdown began...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... and 2014 had begun! What a great way to see it in! There were loads of fireworks which were let off from a barge on the lake. They were fantastic and the atmosphere was so good. It was so exciting to be able to celebrate a new year together on the other side of the world, all part of our amazing adventure.
We then left, and spoke to our families to wish them a Happy New Year (although they were still 13 hours behind!). We went to Extreme bar, where Maddy worked, so we could see her and wish her a happy new year. The bar was pretty empty by then, so we played darts and a couple of drinking games with Maddy when she could come over.
Not long after that, we were more than ready to go back to the car to end our night. It was fine to start with. Until Cesca tried to stretch her legs and accidently hit the horn! Or when it started raining really heavily and the car windows were open...Ash woke up with a very wet pillow! Or when Cesca kept opening the door to be sick..then cover it over with stones! All in all a very uncomfortable night! But free accommodation all the same.
We'd had a great night. It was 2014...we were very excited for what this year would bring!
Bring on the adventures ahead :).
A couple of days later, after chilling out in Cromwell, we were ready to leave for Auckland. We drove down to Queenstown to meet a couple of our friends for a farewell breakfast. So sad that we wouldn't be seeing these people again for a while! We were dropped off at the airport, where we waited for Jaye, Joe and the children to come. They were late (as usual!) and we were twitchy to get through security. We had to play 'pass the parcel' with Tayla as she'd made it the night before and was very upset that we hadn't managed to play it! And also Jaye and Joe gave us a 'bag of goodies'...including some money, some pictures of them and some of 'Gran's Remedy'. We were very sad to be leaving them all at this point. But onwards and upwards...we will always look back on our time in Cromwell very fondly. It was a fantastic experience and we are so very grateful to Jaye and Joe for making it so great.
And we were off! On our way to Auckland...
To be continued...
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