Hello!

Ok so when i left you last we had pretty much reached Queenstown which was to be the downfall of both our bank accounts. Considering the last time i came through Queenstown i had been in NZ only a few days and was pretty homesick and lonely, and a little unhappy, well this time was a lot different. We had an absoloute blast! We found a great camp ground for some of the nights out towards Glenorchy which was right on the lake. This was after we were rudely awaken by a councilman shifting us from our parking spot in town, treating us like a couple of rats!

That aside though we had some good nights and meant some really cool people. We had also decided in advance that we would look into getting tattoos in Queenstown, and i had heard of a parlour called White Tiger so we went and had a chat with them. I spoke to them about having a Maori symbol that translated parts of my life, but i was told that it was a difficult process and more often than not it was impossible to translate accurately using this ancient symbology of the warriors. I was a little dissapointed, but flicked through the photos aimlessly waiting for jen to decide, but i flicked a page and saw the design that would eventually be applied to my shoulder. I loved it, and the price quoted was high, i basically told them my budget and they said no problem!

So the next morning me and Jen were getting inked at the same time (she had a really nice phoenix down her calf) while Jens took a measely 2 hours mine took 5! And they applied some red into it which i really wanted. Look on my profile pics on Facebook and you'll see it, the design is a Maori Koru which is a swirl meaning new life etc. etc. We spent a fair amount of time in QT, longer than we wanted to but hangovers kept delaying the lengthy drive down to Te Anau and ultimately Milford Sound.

Eventually we were up at a decent time, and afraid of spending anymore money so swiftly left one morning down to Te Anau. We had a bite to eat and made our way out to a campground on the Milford Highway, which had a spot right down near the lake where we made a campfire which was great. One thing i will never forget about this journey is waking up,m opening the van door and having beaches, sunrises, lakes, mountains etc right in front of you without a soul around. So the next day we were up at a decent time(ish) and made the drive to Milford Sound. This journey is raved about in any guidebook you will read, and let me tell you now not only do they not exaggerate but they don't even come close, its was breath taking scenery the whole way. Grassy plains (lord of the rings esq) to mirror lakes, to snowy mountainous amphitheatres (lonely planet quote!) leading to the Homer Tunnel which plunges straight through a mountain, rain forests, waterfalls, water gushing chasms, it is honestly incredible. After this journey we came to Milford Sound, and being as we didn't have the money to spare for a cruise on the water, i confess myself rather dissapointed. I know Ricky and Sam will be raving at this (lol) but i know if we had taken a boat cruise it would have been incredible but we just didn't have the funds. The drive there though was worth the detour 150%.

We now had a fairly big call to make, we could go back via Queenstown (more money, no!) stop in some unknown place en route or make an absoloute mission and try and reach Dunedin (preferably before dark as Brians headlights have seen better days!) Well it was really my decision as i would have to drive and i decided to go for it. Also we had a friend who we met in Wanaka, Matt a fireman from UK, who we also saw in QT and knew was headed to Dunedin. It was a long and arduous journey, but we got there. Unfortunately after texting Matt halfway we discovered he had left on account of his travel companion being a grouch (we used more choice words) so we missed him and got to Dunedin around 10ish. It was a beautiful city but was dead as it was Monday night, so we had a quick cold beer, after the journey, then found a tree covered alleyway and bunked down for the night.

After a brief shop in Farmers (kind of the NZ H&M) we head out of Dunedin and up towards Oamaru. En route we took in the Moeraki Boulders, which i'll be honest weren't that spectacular as big round rocks in the sand (jen walked halfway till she saw them then marched back to the van deciding her split ends would be a better use of her attention!) I strolled down, but she was right, however once i had decided they were actually dragon eggs, it became far more fascinating and my finger once again found the button on my camera! (some attractions call for a little imagination ok? i've been in a van for 7 weeks cut me some slack!) In Oamaru we stopped for lunch at a small cafe and had an incredible Seafood Chowder with fresh Garlic bread which we wolfed down heartily (you'll notice on this particular day we had awoken in the mystical fantasy that we had lots of money, it happens, i blame Jen for the shopping at least) and from there took a bit of a wild detour inland towards the Elephant Rocks, thank you Ricky and Sam! These are enormous limestone boulders in the middle of a sheep paddock that were filmed as part of Aslans camp from Narnia (hence my attemps at lion roaring poses in some pictures. in reality it pretty much looks like i'm relieving myself on the poor elephants. please also take note of my picture of the sign that for some reason i cant explain, indicates firearms are banned???) we had a good photo session, then headed back round towards Timaru. Timaru was a nice enough place, and we found a great parking spot with toilets and no warnings or meddling councilmen to wake us in the morning!

From Timaru it was up to Christchurch, via Akaroa which is a town maybe 70 k's east from Christchurch on a peninsula formed from volcanoes. Akaroa was the first french settlement in NZ and so carries a certain flavour of it's European explorers (namely with tacticly positioned french flags!) but it's a lovely little town with a beach and several bays branching away from the busier part. The drive back was the real treat, we took the summit road which circumnavigates the original crater, and the views were once again incredible. ( we feared we had probably seen the best towards Milford but the scenery continued to astound me. ( its a true wonder we are not in a ravine with brian on top of us!) it was truly beautiful and we eagerly head back towards Christchurch for a night out. We tactically 'stole'a shower from a conveniently open planned holiday park, and had a cracking night.

From Christctchurch we decided to have a look at Hanmer Springs before inevitably having to look for work in Blenheim (boo) again a gorgeous drive and Hanmer was a pleasant town. We were too late to go to the thermal resort so we found a nice campground 5 minutes walk out of town, surrounded by forest. We took a road down a slope and popped the van right in the corner of a nice clearing under some trees, quite pleasant and harmless you would think? Brian had other ideas.

We woke and it had been snowing furiously over night, it hammered it down, on top of the van there was a good inch and a half, so i woke and strolled to the toilet made a nice video for you all singing Cliff Richard in the snow and having a merry old time. You know what's coming. I jumped into the front seat, and cleared the windscreen and thought 'yeah i may as well move it now' no such luck. I then engaged in a fierce struggle with our beloved van, the snow and the gas pedal. I got a little way, slid down, a little way, slid further down (towards a small ravine and river!) we got so far and the van was going no further. Try as we may to create a 'road'of leaves twigs and branches, no luck. Our initial, and rather stupid, plan was to wait it out, wait for the snow to melt, chill in the van etc. Well the snow, if anything, got heavier and heavier and we could see ourselves waiting for going on a week. So it got to around half 4, and we decided to walk over to the DOC hut to see if anyone could help us (bear in mind this drama started around 9 in the morning!) and low and behold the officer was just leaving ( i would like to add that if i had let Jen braid her hair first as she requested, we would have missed him! 1-0 to the men!) he came back with the truck and pulled us out in about 2 minutes! Lesson learned Ben and Jen, must be in double figures with these lessons now.

We spent a couple more nights in Hanmer which was really nice, and on our last night ended up at some crazy houseparty ( i ended up dancing with another man on a chair in my boxers, or so i'm told) We then had a night up in Kaikoura and then grudgingly drove up to Blenheim where i write this now. We have been here now some 6 days waiting to hear back about jobs and it is not looking good to be honest. As much as i love being next to a beach just north of town, we are now quite bored and all i can think about is being in the Bay of Islands, and of course the arrival of Penny and Derek 'the G parents'Rowsell.

If we find work, expec t a lull in this blog, hopefully that will be the case but as always i shall be sure to keep you posted.

Love you all as always, check the facebook videos on the snow saga, photos will follow when i can find a decent machine as this one to be frank, is s***.

x Ben x