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Hello....wow i know it has been over two months since my last entry so let me see if i can summarise and get you through what's been happening in the past couple of months. So i last left it i was entering Marlborough Sounds to work at Furneaux Lodge, the original plan being that i would work there, leave to travel with Mum and Dad, then continue working till around the end of Jan, save some money then travel the far north and fly home end of March.
Well the first part of the plan went in that direction, i worked the first couple of weeks, the resort was beautiful, set in the Endeavour Inlet in Marlborough Soundsm, with only boat access, Furneaux has a tiny little beach, green lawns, exotic rain forest 30 seconds walk, it was amazing. The people i met were incredible too, i made friends very quickly as the team of staff at the lodge are generally quite young so there's always a good atmosphere. So time went by and i was looking forward to seeing Mum and Dad. Maybe a week before i was leaving to see them i was working the only Foreshore shift i have ever done (this is basically driving the tractor round the resort picking up and dropping off bags and meeting boats etc) on this shift some new workers arrived. Basically my boss was Albert Zwaagman, an eccdentric Dutchman who has lived in NZ for some 20 years, and i had become friends with Alberts son James. Well on my shift James' girlfriend Laura and her best mate from uni, Lily, were arriving to work over the season. I met them off the boat and was quite taken when i met Lily.
Long story short, me and Lil really hit it off, and basically were together when i left to travel with Mum and Dad for two weeks. This was hard but i couldn't wait to see the parents! Unfortunately for Mum and Dad, my contact with Lily during our trip was going to take them back to a two week holiday in Kefalonia when my sole mission above all else (having fun included) was to seek out a phone box and call card every day (literally every day) to call my girlfriend in UK. My contact with Lil wasn't quite this extreme but itv was enough to drive Mum and Dad a little crazy!
What a treat it was though to walk down the high street in Kaikoura, with my backpack, on the other side of the world to home and to see my parents sitting on a bench waiting for me. It was surreal, the way we talked i could have left the UK just the week before, when in fact i'd been away from home for nearly 8 months. No doubt my parents have relayed our travels to many of you but for those who haven't i'll persist!
So i met Mum and Dad in Kaikoura, and we spent the night, we had some cold beers in the sun, and i barbecued steaks with my Dad, and cold beer played a part there too! It was amazing to have them here, having had a fantastic time in Australia it was time to show them my home, and the Kaikoura mountain range wasn't a bad start. The following day we took in the seal coloney and a nice stroll round the cliff tops then we head south to Hanmer Springs, and the Thermal Resort. We stayed in the holiday park, and had a great night of drinking wine and playing cards ( an activity around which we based every evening from here on out). The following day Mum and Dad had some time in the thermal resort, and from Hanmer we had a fairly colossal drive over to Hokitika. To Dads dismay Mum saw it appropriate to purchase some Pounamu (New Zealand Greenstone) as Hokitika is the main greenstone producing town in NZ, thanks to an abundant supply discovered in the nearby mountains. I wont lie i encouraged Mums purchase as i have a greenstone pendant and it really is a beautiful stone. Dad was more than rewarded for this, however, when we took him to see the Glowworm dell just across from the holiday park. Unfortunately for me and Mum, Dad didn't see the wonder of natures own LED's, having just had a meal, a fair bit of wine, and a lengthy walk back from town, our venture was met with nothing but sarcasm from my dear father, which we happily ignored :)
From Hokitika it was south past Lake Manihapua, and finally to Franz Josef village. Here, quite unexpectedly, Mum and started looking at the price for Helicopter trips up the glacier, i ignored this as one of Mums extravagant money moments, and waited for Dad to quell this particular assault on his wallet and we've be on our way. But when Dad started looking into pricing i was curious, i thought Mum and Dad would take the trip and i'd watch the van, after some consideration they both turned to me and asked "shall we do it?" i politely reminded them my funds were at an almighty zero. But being the fantastic parents they are, they insisted on taking me along, and a half hour or so later we were taking off in our own helicopter! Me, my mum and dad, and a pilot, it was fantastic. When me and Jen passed through Franz Josef we thought the glacier looked a bit crap, but having flown up it's face, and landed at the top amidst a blanket of white snow, it is an incredible sight so i am happy to retract all my former criticism. It was an incredible moment, i was so grateful to them for giving me that, and to see the smile on my dads face as he sat in the front seat of the chopper, it made the whole trip for me right there, unbelievable.
From Franz Josef we took in Wanaka, and Queenstown, which was ok, and then we hit the Milford Highway and head towards Milford Sound. The drive was even more incredible than my first time as this was just after a heavy downpour and the waterfalls were gushing! There was a mist shrowding everything, it was so eerie, and though it took away some of the views, it was truly spectacular. We arrived at the sounds, and to Ricky and Sams ultimate relief, they took me on a cruise boat through the sounds. Again here i havev to retract my former comments about the Sounds not being that great, as once we set out on the boat, the sheer scale of Mitre peak and the rest of Milford Sound came across and it was literally breath taking. We saw seals, penguins and dolphins and just had a fantastic time. We abandoned the plan to camp out in a DOC campground and drove the distance back to Te Anau where we parked up in a campsite. As we prepared our celebratory gin and tonics in the back, we discovered that the fridge had not been properly secured from Milford, and a rather large carton of yoghurt had made a desperate bid for freedom and basically exploded all over the inside door of the campervan. We'd had such a fantastic day, there was no anger, just tears of laughter, definitely another highlight of the trip!
From Te Anau, with just a few days left we made our way up through the glacial lakes, Pukaki and had a quick stop at Tekapo to have a look at The Church of The Good Shepherd. This church was beautiful, with its plate glass window that looks out across the lake with it's ridiculous shade of blue, perfectly framed, it should have been a wonderful moment. But, alas, no sooner than 2 minutes after we had pulled up, we had to fight an engorging wave of Korean/Japanese tourists, some of whom were were kiwi 'hats' on there head, lierally a cuddly toy of a kiwi sat on a womans head. I pointed out that unfortunately unlike sand flies there is no repellent for the Asian tourist! We got away fairly smartly with all the necessary photographs, inc the hat in question, and made out way up to Twizel for the night. Very small town that is the base for those wishing to scale Mount Cook, we had a meal at a pizza restaurant where me and Dad had the weirdest (and not in a good way) pizza we've had before. Chicken, Apricot and Cream Cheese?! Mum pointed out that our menu reading skills need some work, and after the pizza at Winnies in Queenstown, nothing was going to come close!
After Twizel it was pretty much back to Christchurch, we made time to take in Akaroa and spent our last night inh the holiday park out on the peninsula.
For now folks i am going to leave it there, i will right the next blog in a day or two to bring you up to how i am now sat typing this at Lilys Mum and Dads house in Dunedin :)
Love to all x
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