This week's theme: missing limbs

I know, it's been awhile. Warning: this will probably be a long one. BUT it will also have a lot of pictures so...tit for tat.

I think I left off in Dunedin? That's where I'll start anyway. That morning we got some awesome breakfast at a vegetarian place we read about in one of our books. Then we went on a tour of the Cadbury factory. We got lots of free chocolate and then got to shop at their chocolate store where everything is discounted. Katy and I both bought WAY more chocolate than we should have.

After our tour, we went to see the last few things around Dunedin. Their railway station is really big and pretty and it’s the second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere…so we went and took a picture of it. Dunedin also has the world’s steepest street so we went to check that out as well. It was STEEP and it sucked to walk up it. I feel sorry for the people who live there who want to borrow something from their neighbor. Katy read a story about a girl who tried to ride down the street in a wheeling trash can. She died.

Dunedin was dunzo so we continued on to Timaru which is halfway between Dunedin and Christchurch. We stopped along the way to see some more famous rocks (NZ has a lot of famous rocks) and also to an organic cheese factory to pick up some cheese to have with dinner. The next day we drove the last couple hours to Christchurch for our bone carving lesson. Our bone carving teacher only had one arm. He lost the other one in a washing machine accident when he was three. It’s always comforting to know that the person about to teach you how to do something didn’t lose their appendage doing anything relating to what they’re about to teach you. You don’t want to hear, “oh I lost my arm in a tragic bone carving accident.”

Bone carving was fun. Katy and I both made pendants. It’s sort of similar to knife making…you make the basic design and spend the rest of the time sanding and polishing it. We were done pretty early in the day so we went up to Kaikora, about 2 hrs north of Christchurch. It’s a pretty beach town with lots of ocean wildlife. It’s also famous for whale watching but the front desk lady at our campground said the whales have been “naughty” lately and haven’t been coming out. So instead of taking a chance, spending a lot of money, and probably not seeing a whale, we decided to go fishing. The way the tide runs in that area, it dumps all the fish into Kaikora so we were pretty much promised fish. The front desk lady also told us that the fishing boats usually see dolphins, seals, and sometimes whales so it’s like a 2 for 1…plus you get to keep what you catch. And if I had to hear another boat captain talk about how the New Zealand fur seal was once almost hunted to extinction but now they’re protected and really overpopulated, I think I would have jumped overboard.

So we booked our fishing trip and met our boat guy down by the water. Again, the first thing we noticed was that he was missing one entire leg and the ends of most of his fingers. Hmmm. Anyway, he told us that one other lady was coming who lives here but likes to go out on the boat and take pictures. Kaikora is also famous for crayfish which (here) are like lobsters except they don’t have the big front claws. We would be setting out traps to catch some of those too. We put the bait in the traps and circled around a few minutes later to see what we got. There was an octopus in the first trap we pulled up but no crayfish. Katy and I both got to hold it and then the boat guy killed it so that we could feed it to the seals later. The second one had a little shark in it. We both held it and then threw it back. Finally in the third trap we got 3 crayfish…yay! Then we went back by the beach to pick up another couple that would be fishing with us. We went out a little ways in the water and starting fishing. We didn’t have much luck in that spot; we caught a couple perch but that was it. We moved on a little farther and had much better luck. Katy and I both caught a huge grouper, which our fishing guy said aren’t even in season right now. The guy on the other side of the boat caught some blue cod, Katy caught a shark and we all caught a bunch of perch.

When we were done fishing, our boat guy got a call on his radio about where some dolphins were hanging out so we went over to see them. It was a huge pod and they were all around our boat…doing flips and swimming under and it front of the boat. It was so cool.

Whale watching would have been so lame…we definitely made the right choice going fishing. And then when we got back, the owner of the boat (different guy than the boat driver and looked like John Malkovich) invited everyone over to his house down the road to cook the fish and drink wine. He also had extra rooms in his house for backpackers and said we could pull our van into the backyard, and use the indoor showers and kitchen and stuff. They cooked each fish a different way, boiled the crayfish and also made some abalone patties. It was all really good and a lot of fun. Also, after a couple glasses of wine, Katy asked the boat guy how he lost his leg. He said a great white bit it off when he was in Australia. He had the whole story to go along with it, so we beleive him.

We left the next morning to go back to Christchurch. The plan was to turn in our van the day after and do a farm stay for the rest of our time in NZ, but all of the farm families we emailed either couldn’t have us this week or didn’t respond. I think Easter weekend was probably a bad time to plan to do something like that. People are busy with their own families and might be out of town. So since we don’t have anywhere to go as of yet, we extended our van a couple more days until we figure out what we’re doing. If we don’t hear from anyone, we’ll probably just hang out in Christchurch until our flight. We really want to do a farm stay though, so hopefully that will work out.

BOING!!!

Can you guess what was invented in Queenstown? Yep! Yesterday we had 12:00 appointments to jump off a ledge over the city:) That morning we decided that breakfast probably wasn't a good idea so we skipped it...but then when we got to the top of the gondola, the cafe near the gift shop had donuts that looked REALLY good, so we each got one. Probably a bad idea, didn't feel so good, but we still had a little time to digest before we jumped.

The bungee opened at 12, so we let a couple people go before us so we weren't the first jumps of the day. "Oops, they didn't bounce, we need to adjust something"...I don't think so. Katy went first while I videotaped. Her technique was to kind of just run off the edge. She survived! I talked to her after she came up and she said it was "ok" and "kind of scarier than she thought...but good." Umm, ok, well, I'm next. I really wasn't scared...mostly excited. They strapped me in and I was ready to go. Of course the guys working there were saying stuff like, "we're only a little bit drunk" and "your harness MIGHT be tight enough." Cool. I asked one of the guys about which technique to use, and he said "dive for the mountains", so I did...and it was awesome! It wasn't scary, just all fun. And I survived! As you can see in the pictures, I really couldn't have asked for a prettier place to bungee jump. It was a great experience. There is video of me jumping...I'll see if it will let me upload it on here. Skydiving next?

After not jumping to our deaths, we grabbed lunch in town, walked around a little bit and then started driving towards Milford Sound in fjordland. It was a pretty long drive, so we stopped to camp along the way. Katy somehow convinced me to camp at a "real" campsite, not the nice ones we've been staying at, to save some money. I was willing to give it it try, so we did, and it will be the last time. No shower, just a port-a-potty in the forest and nowhere to do anything. I had to change in the car, "wash" my face with a towelette thingy and brush my teeth in the woods...no thank you. I'll pay the extra $10NZ to take a shower and be comfortable, thanks.

Anyway, this morning we drove the last hour out to Milford Sound. It's basically just a bunch of mountains with waterways in between. It was definitely pretty and impressive and all that, but I think people had hyped it up so much to be the best place ever that I was a little let down. And it was cold and out of the way so all that didn't help either. We took a short boat cruise out into the sound since that's the best way to see the landscape. I think it was more of a geriatric attraction so maybe I'll appreciate it more if I go back in about 50 years.

Then the rest of today (ALL day) we drove across the bottom of the south island into Dunedin. The Cadbury chocolate factory (aka Katy's mother ship) is here so we're taking a tour of that tomorrow. Not sure what else...we'll see! We still have a lot to see before we turn in our van in Christchurch. AND we want to do a farm stay. Lots to do and not too much time left...leaving for Sydney on the 15th!

On the way to Queenstown!

I wasn’t going to post today but it ended up being a pretty interesting day. We left the glacier area and headed towards Queenstown, which was a lot further away than we expected.

We drove a few hours and were almost there when they stopped us for a 10-15 min road delay. Apparently helicopters were collecting water from the river in front of us and we couldn’t cross. But right when we stopped, a construction truck going the other direction handed all the cars a little bag of COLORING SUPPLIES and road safety stickers to keep us occupied while we waited. Even traffic delays are fun here! So I colored a picture and fashioned a tiny cardboard bus, and by the time I was finished, we were ready to go again.

We made it to Queenstown around 4. So far I’ve pretty much hated all of New Zealand’s other big cities but I love Queenstown. It reminds me of Vail and it’s a really good walking town; everything is close. It’s right on a lake and the rest is surrounded by mountains.

We went souvenir shopping for a little bit and then went over to a wine tasting place we had read about. The wine tasting place was GENIUS. It’s completely automated. They give you what looks like a credit card, you stick it in the machine of the wine you want to taste and it spits out either a taste, a half glass or a full glass. All of the prices and descriptions are on each wine and you just keep going until you’ve had enough, you’re drunk, or you’ve spent too much money. Then you just turn in your card at the end and pay out. The wines are behind a glass thing in a chiller so they’re exactly the right temperature and you never get cheated on a pour (I HATE that). Katy and I got the name of the machines they use and we’re going to open up one of these wine tasting places in Austin. Investors welcome:) I love New Zealand wine, excuse me, any wine, so I bought 4 bottles to take home. I’ll be carrying them around with me until Katy’s family comes to Australia and I can send it home with them. I’m going to try not to drink it right away and save it for special occasions or when I have people over. We’ll see how long that lasts.

After we got a little tipsy wine tasting, we walked across the street to the place we planned on going for dinner. I got some bluff oysters and seafood chowder. Both were amazing. Bluff oysters are known as the best oysters in New Zealand. We haven’t been to Bluff yet but now I can’t wait because they were the best oysters I’ve ever had, by far. Totally melt in your mouth.

Now we’re back at our campsite and someone turned on Lord of the Rings in the TV room. Spare me. EVERYTHING here is about Lord of the Rings. I get that it was filmed here and a lot of people come just for that reason, but NOT ME. On almost every tour we’ve been on they’re like, “Oh! On your right is the jewelry store where the ring from Lord of the Rings was made” or “Oh! The bird that just flew by was featured in Lord of the Rings”….who cares. Finally one of our tour guides was like, “hey see that rock…it WASN’T in Lord of the Rings’…at least someone realizes that it’s getting ridiculous. But umm, no offense if you actually like Lord of Rings.
Tomorrow is the rest of Queenstown ;) and then moving on! We only have about a week or so before we have to turn in our van in Christchurch.