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Hello All! (Well the mums anyway)
We can't believe this is going to be our last blog from New Zealand as sadly we fly out on Thursday. 3 months has gone by so quickly we can't believe it! When we last left you we had just escaped the hell of the last Wwoofers and that blog you'll be pleased to hear made the STA blog of the day! So we have a lot to live up to with this one!
After having a serious scrub down and boiling shower to sanitize ourselves we celebrated our health by going out for a burger and going to see a really random kiwi film called The last great snail race at the local independant cinema. This one had all random seats and sofas inside and we were the only ones in there. It was brilliant. The next day however we had to get back on the stray bus as we had lied to the wwoofers about having to leave early and were in hiding. We were met on the bus by BP a driver who had taken us from the Tongariro crossing to Wellington. We were glad as we'd liked him before and the previous driver had been a little odd. We were on our way from Motueka to the Abel Tasman national park. When we arrived it was already dark and we found out we were staying in little huts. At least it was a step up form the shipping container. Once we'd settled we all got together to have a group BBQ outside by the fire. As we were on the south island it was getting chillier, especially at night.
The next day we had to wake up early as we were booked onto a walk and cruise of the Abel Tasman national park. Luckily i had slept really well in the little hutt due to my 6 blankets and hot water bottle. Normally this tour cost $95 but as we were with Stray we got it for $50! Our hutts were located right outside the gate to the national park and we began walking with most of our group through there, It was just as beautiful (if not more) as people had said. We'd never seen anything like it. Natural bush followed by golden sand and clear waters. Our walk took us along the cliffs with the most amazing views and took us around 3 hours. At the end we were met by our boat and had lunch on the beach. This was amazing apart from the devil sandflies destroying our legs. We got the boat back past where we started and further dow the park. We were lucky in that it was a really sunny day but it was absolutley freezing on the boat in the wind. The tour took us along the coast and by small islands to show us the seals that lived there. We also sailed up to Split Apple Rock and more pituresque bays.
When we got back to the hutts and met up with the rest of the group we all chipped in and got a lasagne. BP the driver is a chef and he cooked this up for us using tortilla instead of pasta and it was soo good for half the price!
The next morning we were up early again to head down the west coast on one of the most beautiful drives in the world. We were heading to a really small remote town called Barrytown, which consisted of a couple of houses and a pub which were staying in. As we didn't leave until mid day the next day so people could go bone carving we decided to have a Bin Bag fancy dress party that night. I (tried to ) dressed as a bee and Turlough wore his Peruvian mask and a bin bag around his pants. We had a great night which ended in the both of us with two others staying up in the bar for a lock in with free drinks. This is where it all went wrong and Turlough fell face down 3 steps cut his chin and as we now know broke his jaw!
The next day we got up feeling rather ill and headed further down the west coast to the Franz Joseph glacier. Turl said his jaw hurt but we didn't really think anything of it and one of the medical students on the bus just said to keep the wound dry and take some pain killers. We thought about when my brother broke his jaw and they didn't do anything so we left it for the time being!
Luckily this day was mainly spent on the bus travelling as i really wasn't in the mood for any kind of activity. When we were nearly in Franz Joseph we got stuck behind a power pilon that had been blown over in the storm. Turl and I didn't mind too much as BP put on the stand up DVD of Rhys Darby (the guy form the Boat that rocked and Yes Man) After about an hour when we finally managed to get passed we thought we were leaving it all behind us, however the power cable was actually for Franz Jospeh itself. We arrived in the dark to a town with absolutley no power. The whole town only had 3 places with generators and shock horror not the place we were staying. It was chucking it down with rain and they told us there was a 99% chance that no glacier hikes would be on the next day. A serious bummer. We miserably had to run from the bus to check in with the seriously unhappy staff and then run and find our rooms in the rain and the pitch black. Equipt with just a phone light we stumbled around the mud looking for the room before getting our bags so we would know where we were. When we got there we met a really nice couple from Sunderland who were staying in the room too. We got chatting via candle light to these guys as they had been to Fiji and were heading to South America, and we totally forgot about the time. Suddenly remembering our bags that had been left on the bus we went to get them to obviously find a locked bus. We couldn't find BP who had the keys as he wasn't staying on site and had to rough it for the night. Luckily this place must have been the only hostel with proper heating and the room was a blaze.
The next morning we woke up early just incase there was a chance that we could do the hike. Barry one of the guys from the room went to reception at 7:30 to check and was told they would only know if anything was on at 8:00. So at about ten too 8 Turl went to check again and was told "Its ten too" by possibly the most unhelpful woman ever. Eventually we found out that all hikes were on so it was a mad rush to get ready in time. Turl and I then realised that all our clothes were on the bus and BP was still no where around. No one from Stray was either as they all thoguht there wasa 99% chance nothing was on. We also realised then that we couldn't transfer any money over to our cards as although the power was back on the internet wasn't. So we had to run through pooring rain to a pay phone to ring mum and dad to see if they could transfer some money over for us. As all phones were ringing out we realised it was Sunday morning for us, meaning Saturday night for them, they were down the pub. Nightmare. So we ran back to the recpetion to try and think of another plan when they told us no hikes at all were going to take place that day. Annoyed, We'd been running about in the rain for nothing, so we went back to the room to dry off! Half an hour later Turlough went back to reception to see if he could pay for the room as we couldn't last night, this was when he saw a sign saying full day hike (what were were booked on) were totally cancelled but half day hikes were on! Time for rushing around again, we had to be quick as we weren't booked on half day hikes and still had no clothes. The four of us ran through the rain (obviously) to the Hiking reception. Luckily we got booked on the hike that leaves at 12:30. At reception the woman told us to wear as many layers as possible. Bit of an issue for us with no clothes but luckily she was really nice and said she'd try and find some for us! So we ran to another pay phone and actually got through to mum and dad! Hurrah everything had fallen in to place and we just had to hope the weather didn't get any worse!
We got some lunch and had the best pies that we'd ever eaten and luckily bumped into BP on the way back. We managed to get our bags and fully ready for the hike at 12:30. We knew we were definatley going up when the 10:30 hike went up. We couldn't believe our luck! When 12:30 came round we got kitted up in all the hiking gear, you got extra trousers, boots, socks, ice picks for your boots, hats, gloves, and a jacket. As we were already wearing our entire backpacks in layers once we had put all of this on we were boiling and couldn't wait to get up there. They told us that because of the rain we were going to have to wade through a river and we would be getting our feet wet. We thought this was an easy price to pay to be able to go up there and pilled on a stinking bus to take us there. It was on the bus that we were told the river was up to this guys knees this morning. Up to the knees is a little different from getting feet wet! When we got off the bus we had a small walk through some bush through the rain. We knew we were going to get soaked. We had to wade through a couple of streams out to a clearing when suddenly there was just a gigantic lump of ice. It was incredible, none of us had seen anything like it before. It was now that we had to cross the river however, shredding any hopes that the previous streams had been what they were talking about. It was a big river aswell overflown and really fast flowing. Karen the girl from Sunderland was only tiny and i was worried she was going to have to swim it. We made it across but we were absolutley soaked and with completley freezing wet feet. I was thinking great wet feet before heading for some ice, must be a really good idea. At the bottom of the glacier we put on our ice pick things for our boots which took about half an our as they were super fiddly. At the bottom we could see the steps that we had to walk up to get on the thing, they were really steep and obviously slippy as it was ice! On the steep parts there was a little rope on the ground to hold onto but it was right by your feet and really irritating. In the end we had to be really gratefull for the storm as the rain had washed all the dirt and top layer off this ice to leave us with beautiful blue ice. The guides had been on the glacier since 6 that morning haking out path ways for us so we didn't fall off. We both had a go on the pick axe and it was REALY hard to even break a tiny bit of ice so we had loads of respect for these guys who had been working away.
I am so glad that we got to do this hike as it has turned out to be one of the best things we've done so far on the trip. There was a natural ice tunnel that was completley blue and loads of valleys to slide down as they just hacked the ice at the bottom. Even though we didn't get to do a full day hike the half day turned out to be plenty. The rain luckily stopped when we were on the ice and only rained on the walk there and back!
That night we all had a well deserved drink and dinner in the hotels restaurant. The next morning was another early start heading further down to Makarora, Irritaing Turl as he wanted to watch the Pompey Sunderland game with Barry from Sunderland in Wanaka. We were going to Hitchhike but the road was blocked with a landslide. This wasn't so bad as we did have a Kareoke night with the guys off the bus. This started with BP singing all the songs as no one wanted to go up. As the beers started flowing though of course people started getting up. BP had promised a prize for the best solo act and said he had given away SkyDives before so when Turlough decided to go up we were trying to pick the songs that would get him to win. He started off with Brown Eyed Girl then build me up butter cup. Unfortunatley he has to be the only one in the world who doesn't know the lyrics to that song and was slipping. This meant he had to pull it out the bag and his finale was Bohemian rhapsody! However it shockingly turned out there was no prize so Turlough just forced BP to get him a pint.
The next day we headed further down south to Queenstown stopping in Wanaka for some lunch. It was here that we really got to see the beautiful snow capped alps and really appriciated the amazing landscape. When we got to Queenstown we checked into Base hostel with the guys form the bus, but when we got to the 8 bed stinking dorm we soon checked out and into The YHA hostel across the road. This turned out to be a cheaper 4 bed dorm with our own bathroom and TV! Queenstown is a loveley picturesque little alpine town with snowy mountains and wooden buildings, we loved it. That night we went out for a last meal with BP and the guys off the bus as we would no longer be on the bus together.
The main thing to do in Queenstown which you hear abour from all other travellers is get a burger from Fergburger. This place is legendary and we were sure it wouldn't live up to our expectations. When we got there it was this tiny little place that no matter what time of day is always packed. We had been warned by Cat and Chris not to get chips with it, we were so glad when we listened to them because the burgers are huge. However they did more than live up to our expectations. completley surpassing them! They are the best burgers we've ever had. We'd pretty much forgotten about Turls jaw and it was only when we were ploughing our way through our 3rd FergBurger in 3days that two bites in Turls jaw made an almighty clunk and began to spasm. I had to watch as this grown man was nearly in tears, not because he'd further broken his jaw, but because he coupldn't finish his burger. We decided (after i had finished mine) that we should go and see a doctor (finally you're thinking) So we took the leftover burger and left it in the hostel for later and trudged up to the doctors. The docotrs were really good, they had GP and X-Rays all together in the same place so we didnt have to move around. After a couple of hours Turl had to be referred to a specialist in Christchurch. We were heading there on Sunday anyways so this turned out quite well.
The next day we had to catch a bus at 6:50am to Milford Sound. The bus journey took about 4 hours to get there stopping at Te Anau on the way. I was all ready to get back to sleep but the bus driver wouldn't stop yacking on and on about nothing over the microphone. Turl liked the fact that he told the same points to his stories about 3 times but i couldn't bare it. He was a really nice guy though and knew loads about New Zealand especially what we were travelling through. When we got to Milford Sound we had been travelling through beautiful snowy mountains and the most freakishly clear streams you could ever see. We thought they were fake because they were so blue! Still the Sound (its acutally a Fiord, someone got it wrong) was awe inspiring. We were lucky that it was a really clear and sunny day as they have nearly 9m of rain fall a year there. We had a boat cruise around the Fiord and were taken back by the amount of waterfalls surrounding us, it really is spectacular.
We got to Christchurch on the Sunday and spent the first couple of days in the hospital for Turloughs jaw. This is where we found out that it was definatley broken, it started with a hairline fracture that was made worse by eating. We all know this was the 3rd Fergburger. Luckily it was still in line so it didn't have to be wired but Turlough did get the most devasting news he could ever hear... he wasn't allowed to chew or eat meat for at least 6 weeks. So this week was mainly spent eating bananas, noodles and weetabix. It was hell for me. We went to the Botanical gardens and the museum which was great as it was all free, and Turlough informed me about a "Cat Show" we should go see. So we went along to this terrrifyingly weird palce the next day. It was a hall with 200 cats in cages and mentally unstable people holding them, judging them, and proudly wearing their rosettes. We made a quick exit running away in fear.
The next week we started our last Wwoof in Governers Bay with a lovely family. It was an interesting journey out there as it was Bank holiday monday for the queens birthday (that we dont get) so there was no buses running out there. We only found this out when we got to Lyttleton and had to Hitchhike the rest of the way. Apparently this is one of the only countries still safe to do it in! So Turlough hid his beard in a bush while i flagged down a loveley lady who picked us up and even drove us to the door.
We had a great week and a much better experience than the previous Wwoofers, yes they actually had a house and we slept indoors in a bed and had showers. Most of our time was spent redecorating a room, which was fun but on sunny days we got outside. Even though its freezing when the sun comes its boiling. I was mowing the lawn in shorts, Tshirt and sunglasses in what is effectivly our 4th December! Also Mike the dad offered our services to his mate who needed help putting a roof on his new barn. We were really pleased that we got to spend our last week with this really welcoming and lovely family who redeemed the wwoofing experience. We even baked a carrot cake to redeem the disatrous victoria sponge. We were going to pay to ride the christchurch gondala but didnt have to in the end as mike took us on his own sightseeing tour he was so kind. The views from their house, especially their kitchen were unbelivable, check out the photos!
Sadly though with travelling seems to come a lot of goodbyes as we had to say goodbye to them and now we have to saw goodbye to the wonderful New Zealand. Neither of us want to go but it's been an amazing 3 months and an experience we'll never forget. Now we have to look forward to the sunshine of Fiji and meeting up with Flo AGAIN!
Hope everyone is well, we're missing everyone loads can't belive its been 4 months now!
Lots of Love Fran and Turl xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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