in the pics: ahhh a map and city, we got lost; mike says i like to stick out my tongue too much, maybe I have maori blood in me; the cherries were yummy;)
12/29
We didn’t do much planning before we got to NZ. Looking back, I would try and do more planning, to pick at least two or three things I want to do and get the info and/or book a reservation. That is the first VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember if you go to NZ, or anywhere I guess. December/January is the HIGH SEASON. There were lots of people. We didn’t get to swim with dolphins because we called the morning we wanted to go, and
that doesn’t work.
Getting our camper van was an adventure. We were supposed to meet a man at the airport who would take us to the rental place. We waited for him about an hour before he found us, saying he was waiting in a different part of the Christchurch airport. He did buy us a coffee, that was nice. We went to the campervan place and first they didn’t have one ready, and then it was only a van with manual transmission. Yeah…I don’t drive manual transmission. The man was actually someone who only finds transportation for tourists it seems. He didn’t actually own the company.
So we had our van, but we got lost in the city, because I was the navigator, and I was not used to the “big” city, after coming from the back villages of Samoa. It was a rocky start to our vacation. ..not as smooth as it could have been. We decided to zoom west across the island (via springs junction road) because we heard that the bad weather would be on the west coast soon, and the bad weather usually hits the west coast first and often, so if would could get a little decent weather it was worth a try. We went down the west coast, hitting Greymouth, Haast Village, Queenstown, Te Anau, up to Milford Sound (cool waterfalls), down to Invercargill. We didn’t go to Stewart island because we didn’t think we’d have enough time. We headed east and then up to Dunedin. We went back up north inland, getting as close to Mt. Cook as the bottom of Lake Pukaki, but a very nice view of the mountain in the morning when the clouds had cleared. After that, it was a pretty straight shot through Geraldine back to Christchurch. Our last full day we went to Akaroa, a quaint (there were a lot of quaint little towns) town where people with a lot of money go. I met a man who gave me a cup of tea, told me about the history of Akaroa, and said that global warming is just a spoof, a hoax to get us riled up. I had to disagree with him, but he seemed very atimate (how do you spell that…spell checking is not helping me)…
We stayed at our couch surfing house that night. We drank wine and ate cheese until late. The next morning I went for a walk, by a creek, in the tall green grass. Sitting by the water was nice. I felt I had finally arrived. The people we stayed with had built their house from a lot of different types of recycled wood. Mike was most interested in it, and I took some pictures. They had cool stained glass.
I was jolted when I looked in the newspaper and saw that the UV index in Christchurch is EXTREME. I learned there is a big hole in the ozone layer right over NZ. …so it that why so many people who live there are white (or have I just been living in Samoa too long?) staying out of the sun, it did feel strong when I was out in it. I didn’t get any bad burns. I guess I was good with the sunblock.
Yeah for \Save Mart. It’s where you go if you need to get cheap clothes. We needed to get some colder weather clothing. Since we came from sunny Samoa, it was a bit of a shock to feel the cold. Actually, I really like the cool wind blowing on my face. So the second of three VERY IMPORTANT things to remember if you go to NZ: prepare for any type of weather: hot, windy, cold, rainy, we didn’t get into any snow though.
The hot showers were very nice. Broadband internet is much faster than dial up;) I had fun trying to fix my credit card issue; I had not used it in a long time, so they gave me a new number, and sent me a new card, without letting me know…I guess an email would have been good. Luckily, the agent on the phone said I could use it for the time while I was in NZ. So I did have to use the phone, the internet would not suffice. I’m hoping that it really was a collect call.
We didn’t do much planning before we got to NZ. Looking back, I would try and do more planning, to pick at least two or three things I want to do and get the info and/or book a reservation. That is the first VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember if you go to NZ, or anywhere I guess. December/January is the HIGH SEASON. There were lots of people. We didn’t get to swim with dolphins because we called the morning we wanted to go, and
that doesn’t work.Getting our camper van was an adventure. We were supposed to meet a man at the airport who would take us to the rental place. We waited for him about an hour before he found us, saying he was waiting in a different part of the Christchurch airport. He did buy us a coffee, that was nice. We went to the campervan place and first they didn’t have one ready, and then it was only a van with manual transmission. Yeah…I don’t drive manual transmission. The man was actually someone who only finds transportation for tourists it seems. He didn’t actually own the company.
So we had our van, but we got lost in the city, because I was the navigator, and I was not used to the “big” city, after coming from the back villages of Samoa. It was a rocky start to our vacation. ..not as smooth as it could have been. We decided to zoom west across the island (via springs junction road) because we heard that the bad weather would be on the west coast soon, and the bad weather usually hits the west coast first and often, so if would could get a little decent weather it was worth a try. We went down the west coast, hitting Greymouth, Haast Village, Queenstown, Te Anau, up to Milford Sound (cool waterfalls), down to Invercargill. We didn’t go to Stewart island because we didn’t think we’d have enough time. We headed east and then up to Dunedin. We went back up north inland, getting as close to Mt. Cook as the bottom of Lake Pukaki, but a very nice view of the mountain in the morning when the clouds had cleared. After that, it was a pretty straight shot through Geraldine back to Christchurch. Our last full day we went to Akaroa, a quaint (there were a lot of quaint little towns) town where people with a lot of money go. I met a man who gave me a cup of tea, told me about the history of Akaroa, and said that global warming is just a spoof, a hoax to get us riled up. I had to disagree with him, but he seemed very atimate (how do you spell that…spell checking is not helping me)…
We stayed at our couch surfing house that night. We drank wine and ate cheese until late. The next morning I went for a walk, by a creek, in the tall green grass. Sitting by the water was nice. I felt I had finally arrived. The people we stayed with had built their house from a lot of different types of recycled wood. Mike was most interested in it, and I took some pictures. They had cool stained glass.
I was jolted when I looked in the newspaper and saw that the UV index in Christchurch is EXTREME. I learned there is a big hole in the ozone layer right over NZ. …so it that why so many people who live there are white (or have I just been living in Samoa too long?) staying out of the sun, it did feel strong when I was out in it. I didn’t get any bad burns. I guess I was good with the sunblock.
Yeah for \Save Mart. It’s where you go if you need to get cheap clothes. We needed to get some colder weather clothing. Since we came from sunny Samoa, it was a bit of a shock to feel the cold. Actually, I really like the cool wind blowing on my face. So the second of three VERY IMPORTANT things to remember if you go to NZ: prepare for any type of weather: hot, windy, cold, rainy, we didn’t get into any snow though.
The hot showers were very nice. Broadband internet is much faster than dial up;) I had fun trying to fix my credit card issue; I had not used it in a long time, so they gave me a new number, and sent me a new card, without letting me know…I guess an email would have been good. Luckily, the agent on the phone said I could use it for the time while I was in NZ. So I did have to use the phone, the internet would not suffice. I’m hoping that it really was a collect call.
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