Sweet As!

Calli left yesterday to go back to England and I am in a little village called Paekakariki just north of Wellington which is GORGEOUS!!! Definitely one of my favourites so far... Debs reccomended it to me, what a genius.

There is not much here- a bakery, a gorgeous organic greengrocer, a hairdresser, a train station, a few houses, some national park land with beautiful walks... and a beautiful black sand beach. Perfect and just what I needed to recharge!
I last wrote when we were in Franz Josef - since then we have visited Fox Glacier, Lake Matheson, Wanaka, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Dunedin, Oamaru, Christchurch Kaikoura and Wellington. Mental, I have so much to write about - sorry!
Fox township was very small and we stayed in a family holiday park which ended up charging us for extras - $6 for sheets and $15 for crockery, cutlery and a pan so that was a bit of a let down. Anyway, we walked to Lake Matheson (about 7km) which is famous for it's picture perfect reflections of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. It was a beautiful walk round the lake which took us a few hours as we stopped for a picnic and to observe some very evil looking eels! On the walk back to Fox a car with 3 argentinian boys and a brazilian girl stopped and offered us a lift back to the town... which we gladly accepted! We only stayed in Fox for one night and then we got a bus with the most annoying and depressing bus driver IN THE WORLD to Wanaka... what a brilliant place! On the way to Wanaka we stopped at Thunder creek falls and at some famous chasm which were really good stops. We stayed in The Purple Cow hostel in Wanaka - another of debs reccomendations, which was one of the best hostels i've been to. After we'd arrived, we went for a walk around and to buy some food from the supermarket and heard some live music coming from a bar so we followed the sound and ended up in a really lovely bar along the main stretch opposite lake wanaka... we decied to sit down and have one beer - one led to about 5 and we met some great people - Lisa (Switzerland), a couple of Wanaka skydive instructors - Eric (Zimbabwe)and I cant remember the other guy's name who was from Argentina. Eric and I went swimming in the lake in the early hours but luckily Calli was sensible and decided to stay ashore to act as lifeguard if one of us drowned or got eaten alive by eels (we found out the following morning that the place I'd gone swimming was called EELY POINT errrr gross!) I also met a group of people and the tour guide doing the Haka tour round south island who were all really interesting and lovely. Turns out (i was drunk and dont rememeber) the Haka tour guide had taken a liking to me and given me his room number and I had broken into his room and left a note on his bed... then went back a few hours later and removed it.... I found it in my pocket when doing the laundry and was very confused until Calli explained! haha. Woke up the following day slightly worse for wear so Calli was an angel and went and got provisions for baked beans and sausages on toast!! I felt a lot better once I'd eaten and then we hired a kayak and went accross to ruby island - there was nobody on the island when we got there and it was heavenly! The following day we went to Puzzling world... well, no words can really describe it, you have to go there to experience it for yourself! ha ha. We also went to the cinema which was awesome - so funky with loads of sofas and armchairs and a VW beetle converted into a lounge chair. We watched the time travellers wife which was kind of sad but very good. Oohhh and I almost forgot (how could I?!) Calli spent some money her mum had given her for a treat for us on the most delicious meal I've had for months in a restaurant debs reccomended called Relishes in Wanaka - a local platter to start (hams, cheeses, olives, chutneys), an amazing steak for main course and ice cream for pudding - I had food triplets and felt like I needed to be airlifted from the restaurant to my dormitory bed!!
After Wanaka we went to Queenstown!! The hostel we stayed in was awful so we upgraded to a double room which wasnt much more expensive but was equally as awful! haha! nontheless we had a great time in Queenstown - we did the Nevis Arc which I neevr thought I would have the guts to do... bearing in mind my limit at themeparks/fairgrounds is the tea cups or carousel! We went up to the top of a very high hill and walked accross a bridge onto a little platform that was suspended above a very huge canyon! Well it didnt look much like a canyon to me - more like a narrow valley, but thats what they call it! We were then strapped into harnesses and had a 120m freefall before we caught up with the swing and swung accross the canyon into the oncoming cliff face!! I have never been so terrified in my life (the time i thought i had gone blind and then realised I had an eye mask on comes close haha) but the feeling of "oh my god, im actually alive" once the freefall had stopped was immense! I am so glad I did it but I don't think I'd do it again!! While I was stood up in the suspended platform watching the other guys be flung into the canyon, along came a guy that had been in Noosa while I was there! You do meet people in the strangest of places! The guy who jumped after us on the Nevis Arc (florian from switzerland) has just walked into the hostel I'm staying in and looked so shocked - this is a teeeny village and the chances of seeing someone you know here are very very slim!! Its a funny world! Anyway after we'd done the nevis arc, we went jet boating which was awesome - so much fun and such pretty rivers and lakes. We then rewarded ourselves for our adrenaline filled day with Fergburger (the most amaaazing burger I have ever eaten in my life) followed by teapot cocktails at The World Bar. Happy times.
After that, we went to Milford Sound which was sooo beautiful - the journey there was stunning (although it was a long ass trip). The bus driver was really nice - he is also a farmer - he does bus driving for 6 days then goes back to his farm for 4 days (he has a manager there while he's gone). He has pigs, cows and deer! We stopped in Te Anau on our way to Milford Sound which was a pretty town. Milford Sound itself was just gorgeous... we cruised around on a boat/ferry and it was so so pretty, beautiful scenery and we saw fur seals and some very pretty waterfalls! I cant really explain it in words that can do it justice - it's out of this world.
From there we went to Dunedin... hmm... not really that impressed! We wanted to go to Otago Peninsula to see seals and sealions and dolphins and penguins but turned out there is no public transport to the Otago Peninsula so you can only go there if you have your own car or go on a tour - prices of which started at $180. I made the best decision ever and spent $20 of that on the most amazing seafood chowder I have ever eaten. Food is definitely the best thing Dunedin has going for it. Having said that the hostel we stayed in was cool - we met some great American and french people who were really nice, and interesting! We weren't that interested in exploring the city - apparently the best sight was "Cadburys World" so we went to the cinema and watched Mao's last dancer which was EXCELLENT! I remembered mum saying that Oamaru (about an hour or 2 from Dunedin) had some great wildlife and was really nice so we decided to only stay in Dunedin one night and head to Oamaru the following day. I loved Oamaru, it was so cute! Full of beautiful old victorian buildings and quaint little shops selling things from spinning wheels to victorian aprons! The hostel was really lovely and I overheard a girl checking in on her own and invited her to come with me and Calli to see the penguins at twilight (best time to see them when they come in from the sea) as we were walking to the penguin colonies that evening. Turned out she had a car so she drove us - bonus!! We only saw about 3 yellow eyed penguins but probably well over one hundred blue penguins - they were very entertaining to watch and we saw lots of seals again! Calli cooked an amazing spaghetti bolognese with sundried tomatoes and bacon (who would guess we were backpackers?!) and all was good with the world. haha.
From Oamaru we went to city of handsome men (otherwise known as Christchurch) we wandered around, caught the old tram around the city to see the main sights and then we ventured out for a few drinks - I dragged Calli to Sol Square where I remembered there were some cool bars but sadly there were only about 2 people there so we went to Base Backpackers which had its own bar and WAIT FOR IT... a neon paint party!!! Nobody was wearing neon paint when we got there except for the staff but I was so excited so I got stuck in and had it all over my face within seconds! I think may have embarrased Calli slightly! Sorry Calli! We met a couple of welsh people who were funny and I was dancing away when I spotted a face I recognised.... RENATHE!!!!! (one of the girls i worked with in Noosa) lots of screaming and jumping and shouting and shrieking occured!! We danced and it was a good evening until some mentally unhinged and slightly smelly old man took a liking to me and calli, at which point we made a prompt escape. I woke up in the morning with neon paint in my hair and all over me and my clothes! We went up the Gondola (cable car) to a viewpoint above the city which was pretty and then just hung out down by the river and sunbathed! We saw the haka and some other maori dances being performed in the cathedral square which was brilliant - I loved that. We then got a bus to Kaikoura and checked into a beautiful little hostel there and went and had fish and chips - I had grouper with kumara (sweet potato) chips - the fish was the best I have ever tasted and the chips were good too! We waddled back to our hostel and went to bed in preparation for getting up at 5 to go swimming with dolphins!!! Sadly the dolphin swim was cancelled as it was stormy so we went cycling to the seal colony and back and read our books for the rest of the day instead. We also went on a 6km trek to find a local fishmonger to buy fresh prawns and I made a scrummy prawn risotto for dinner! Kaikoura is a lovely place and I'm very pleased we went there even though we didnt get to do the dolphin swimming - I am going to do it Bay of Islands instead!
We got the bus to picton and the ferry accross to Wellington... wow, the ferry was the most luxurious thing I have seen for ages! It had its own cinema and about 3 cafe's/bars etc... I was a bit like an excitable toddler! When we arrived in Wellington we got a shuttle bus to our hostel in the city centre... WOW, what an experience... the driver was seriously crazy.. we had neon lights, fluffy seats, a dancing and singing wind up monkey and...... BEATLES KARAOKE all the way to our hostel... I loved it but the bus driver and I were the only people singing - everyone else was a bit scared! We went out in the evening to a sports bar to watch Shane's fight - Calli looked like she was going to kill me most of the evening because I was very excitable! Shane won, but because the other guy got disqualified for fighting like a prat. Shane looked really dissapointed that the fight got stopped which is understandable! I enjoyed it anyway but it was so odd seeing Shane on tv and with so many fans just in one bar in Wellington! The day after that, Calli left early to catch a flight to Auckland for her flight home :( boo hoo! I packed my bag and went to Te Papa museum which, other than the natural history and science musuems in London is definitely my favourite museum - it was really interesting and I didnt get bored until after about 3 or 4 hours which is a record for me!! Think it must have been the 3D film about a giant squid! I wandered around Wellington for a while and then caught the train to Paekakariki which is where I am now - the train driver was so friendly and chatty and told me when to get off as there are no proper signs here as its such a teeny village. When I arrived I assumed there would be some sort of map but nope, just a few houses.. I started wandering in one direction and then realised i was in the middle of nowhere and probably going in the wrong direction so I had to call the hostel and they gave me directions. The couple who run the hostel are called Denise and Peter and they are so, so lovely. denise showed me round and introduced me to the 3 other people who were staying and then later on, a few more people arrived.. they were busier than usual as there is Australia vs NZ cricket on this weekend. The views from the hostel are stunning because it is perched right on the top of a hill overlooking the beach one side and the teeny village the other side. I decided to go to the greengrocer to get a couple of things for dinner but I was 60c short and the man behind me in the queue insisted on giving me a dollar as a gesture of goodwill - such a simple thing but little acts of kindness mean so much. I made a mean veggie risotto (why didnt i think of the whole risotto thing before - its so cheap to make) and chatted to the other people staying at the hostel and then went to bed at 8 and slept right through til 8 the following morning!! yesterday I pottered around, read, walked and planned most of the day. Tommorow I am leaving for Turangi where I will do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing - one of NZ's "great walks" so I'm excited about that! From there I'll go to Taupo, Rotorua, Coromandel Peninsula, Whangarei, Pahia and Bay of Islands and then Auckland for my flight to Mumbai!! Eeeek time is flying by... I only have ten weeks left and have lots of things to do before I go to India but I'm sure I'll get it all done somehow!! Hope all is good with you - will try not to leave it so long to blog next time! xxx