Dunedin - Student City

On our last morning in Queenstown we decided to have breakfast from the restaurant at the top of the hill, so had a very scenic morning ride on the gondolas before setting off on the long drive to Dunedin. Arriving at about 7pm I straight away met up with Anna, whose couch I was assigned to for the first night and went out for a meal with her and Annabel and a group of their friends. Lovely meal, with just the appropriate amount of toilet humour. (Apparently the Kiwi's have a common problem of not being able to control their bladders...They ALL had a story involving either wetting or indeed crapping themselves. Magnificant.)

The following day I was shown around Dunedin, visiting the main shopping mall, the new stadium and the all important Starters Bar (closest bar to the Stadium) Two of the girls social group were leaving for Australia soon so a section of the bar was booked for us that evening as a farewell partay! We also briefly visited Annabel to check out her and Brun's brand new puppy called Chuck, very cute and bouncy. Nuff said. Before alcohol consumption began a group of us got appropriately sandy leaping off dunes (I swear three days and several showers later I'm still finding sand in my hair!!) and enjoyed a (very cheap) game of mini golf. After carting all my gear round to Sarah's (my next assigned couch position) we hit Starters Bar with the whole group (Anna, Annabel and Sarah- just so none of you can complain you weren't mentioned..) and had a lovely evening of socialising!

On a side note I was given two first-hand accounts suggesting Anna is "The best host ever". Awaiting further evidence before making final judgement. ;)

Meeting Up With Old Friends and My Birthday!

On Wednesday morning I packed up all my worldly possessions and hitch-hiked with some very friendly French guys who insisted on stopping the van every couple of km's to take pictures. I was very understanding. If a little frustrated. Bannockburn is not a place 'worth visiting' and it takes a considerable detour to reach. The fools! All the same, they were lovely fella's. When I eventually met up with Connor and Harriet we went down to The World Bar which actually makes very nice pizza in the earlier hours of the night... I sneakily got in on their package deal (much appreciated by the way!) meaning cheap drinks and EVEN cheaper food! They have a total travelling group of four. Four people to one bus. Craziness. On the second day whilst Connor and Harriet did Shotover Jet and the 4x4 Lord of the Rings experience, I decided to make a bee line for the highest bungy in New Zealand. Over a stoney canyon. 143 metres. Nuff said really don't you think??

Connor and Harriet

The following day Connor and I tried our hands at Frisbee Golf in the park which was WAY more fun than I thought it would be!! After we both came pretty damn far over par we headed up the gondola's to the Luge track... which is kind of a tobogganing/go-karting/racing kinda thing. In a mad flash of daring courage I nearly managed to break myself by taking the "Slow Down" bending track at the end of the course WAY too fast. I crashed. Went flying. Everyone found it very funny. Ha. Ha. ¬_¬ That afternoon with some of the others I went to see Pirates of the Carribean 4, which I had been utterly unaware was out. I feel so disconnected with world events..

On my birthday (woop!) I went to say goodbye to Connor and Harriet early in the morning, then went straight back to bed. Monique having finished work came to Queenstown and we had french crepes for breakfast in Arrowtown and then she successfully did a bungy jump of the Kawarau. In the evening I had my first ever vindaloo which was a bit of a let down tbh, wasn't nearly as spicy as I thought it should be. Not even eye watering! Had a good night down the clubs playing pool and drinking till eventually getting back to the hostel late and watching some blackadder to mellow down. A good day! And I'm now 19. Weird. It was very surreal to be away from home, I had a great internal longing to throw a massive Hoddesdon party. But that'll have to wait till I'm back!

London is the furthest Capital away from NZ

Sorting My Life Out!

Walnut Cottage =)

" I think I'll have a drink......... maybe not."

After my brief but far reaching travel with Jens and Benjamin, I revisited Roxburgh to get things in order, like student finance, accomodation and plane flights... fun stuff. Also to write postcards to all of you guys (Be grateful, it is an EFFORT) Long story short there was some controversy and a clash of values which lead to Monique and I taking up residence in Walnut Cottage, a nice place up the hill on our boss's orchard where we spent a lovely few days relaxing and making it homely! Even if the water did have a habit of coming out of the tap brown... One evening we entertained Dave and Robyn for a while and followed that social event with a wild night at the pub buying drinks by the jug (literally), playing pool and exchanging banter with some of the locals... who were exceptionally drunk, but charming nonetheless. They also had a knack for inventing novel games involving calling eachother fuckers to a rhythm. Break the rhythm, down your drink. Simplicity is bliss. Having posted all my non-essentials home now I have ONE bag containing ALL my possessions. (Yes you should be impressed, I am now a human snail) It's a very nice feeling to be living such a simple life not needing too many possessions and will hopefully make my upcoming travelling antics all the more easy! Hope you are all well, the building excitement of the return (only two months away now!) has already begun growing!

Sunrise from Walnut Cottage

Christchurch and The Magic Garage

To enable Benjamin got to look around Christchurch we decided to make the drive there on the 9th, before his flight on the 10th. very scenic journey and as soon as we entered ChCh of course the eyes were peeled for signs of earthquake damage. We weren't looking long. Collapsed churches, shopfronts fallen off, buildings in utter ruins. Many zones have already been cleared but 2 months on the city centre is still completely sectioned off. Scary stuff!

First Signs of The Earthquake

In typical traveller style by complete fluke we happened upon a guy who has converted his garage into a place to shelter backpackers. Known as "The Magic Garage" it is a VERY cool hangout reminiscant of childhood dream clubhouses with sofas, tv, bunk beds and for some peculiar reason an electric organ. We had a long evening of card games and poker to mark Ben's leaving and actually experienced a small earthquake aftershock! Not a damage causer but still freaky enough when you're in bed and the room beings shaking following a low grumbling sound like a train coming closer. Especially when you're not exactly sleeping in the sturdiest of buildings!
Benjamin left earlyish the next morning, so after a brief goodbye and straight back into bed Jens and I had a rather nice lie in... me in particular being the more lazy getting breakfast in bed at about 2pm. Thankyou Jens! I left the next day but not before we had discovered the real reason for the aptly named 'Magic Garage'. Turns out our landlord had a growing house right next door. Which explains why his house tenants were able to be permanently stoned. We knew there was something fishy about this guy, we had all said it!


Being a massive luck Jew it only took me three hitches to get from Christchurch to Dunedin where I managed to sneak a lift off Monique back to Roxburgh to get my life in order!

Banks Peninsula and Akaroa

Banks Peninsula

There was a dissappointing drive from Timaru to Akaroa. The weather was horrific and you really couldn't see anything through the fog and rain. We checked into the 'Chez La Mer' Backpackers (a very VERY pink place) with free wireless (hence the sudden burst of internet activity from me!) and enjoyed a relaxed evening of wine, cards and chatting. The next day the weather despite the forecast was fantastic! Initially we wanted to try and do a bike ride but with only two bikes in action... it just wouldn't have worked! So instead we drove the long route to visit Benjamin's relatives... well not really relatives but that's what I'll refer to them as anyway! Banks Peninsula has some of the most stunning views in New Zealand, it's a very unique spit of land because it's basically one giant volcano stuck onto the side of NZ.

Waiting for Sun Set

Spent a lovely afternoon being fed to the brim with lasagne, cakes and cookies, with a suitable amount of alcohol consumed. Went for a short walk after lunch round their farm and.. I don't want to go on about the views too much because you can't really convey them in words... but my god the view!

Sun Set over NZ

As the sun began to set we took a long road back to Akaroa but en route stopped off at the highest point of Banks Peninsula to watch the sun set over New Zealand. We could see the whole east coast of the south island from up there. The Southern Alps stretching right along the horizon. Unbelievable. I hope the photos give some impression as to how incredible this was, but the feeling of standing there just made us speechless. As it's the last few days for Jens and Benjamin it was a very special way to end their time in New Zealand. I'll never forget it.

Sun Set over NZ

Mount Cook and Timaru

After spending the night at Lake Tekapo we awoke to a BEAUTIFUL day! Finally with things appearing to go our way we didn't hesitate and almost managed to leave without eating breakfast. Acting much like the tourists we are we visited The Church of the Good Shepherd (famous location) down by the lake then drove up Mount John to the observatory with incredible panoramic 360 degree views... if it weren't for the bloody cafe perched perfectly on top -_-

Lake Tekapo

The Lads at Lake Tekapo

Given the perfect conditions we made a bee line for Mount Cook (Aoraki), the highest mountain in New Zealand in the hope of seeing it free of cloud... WHICH WE DID! The drive there was spectacular and more and more photo opportunities were used as we came ever closer. Upon arrival we did the hike down Hooker Valley (yes HOOKER valley, don't ask me why) and had such a nice walk. It feels very touristy on the path so we soon put an end to that by scrambling round the edge of the lake and climbing onto the glacier at the foot of Mount Cook. Good stuff! It was a warm night so we decided to camp there and thanks to the sheer lack of civilisation the stars are quite a sight!

Mount Cook

Next morning however we awoke to LOTS of rain. And Benjamin found that his tent positioning couldn't really have been worse as he awoke in the largest puddle in the surrounding area. Impressively bad call. So after some.. interesting porridge, and feeling very wet we drove to the east coast of New Zealand to Timaru! Really appalling weather all the way but we stayed in a nice hostel that night (Wanderers Hostel) and watched a French film called EXILS with some other travellers on their way to 'J Day' in Christchurch... J Day being an unofficial pot smoking festival. Nice. Was very impressed with Timaru actually, fantastic park to rival most you'd find in London! Lovely for a late night walk.

Mount Cook

Travel Teething Problems

On the run up to leaving Roxburgh there were lots of maturity hurdles to overcome. The cryptic meaning of which shall remain a puzzle I'm afraid. Safe to say there was a touch of romance in Roxburgh. S'all you're getting. Jens and Benjamin went to explore the Catlins for my last week of work and most of my days were spent working, cooking and venturing off to random places in the area. It was lovely weather all week!

Leaving Roxburgh in Style

Then full of excitement and anticipation we packed up Django's Triumph 2000 (which he kindly lent us) and hit the road for our travels. Stopping off at Fairview Orchard store on the way for a quick coffee break and to grab some fruit! Anyway, we got an hour and a half up the road, halfway between Wanaka and Omarama aannnnnnnd broke down. Heart breaking. We ended up hitch hiking to Omarama to find a garage but arriving in the evening spent a night drinking Blackberry wine and playing poker in a campsite.

Style comes to an abrupt end

After long periods of waiting around, fetching the car and discussions with a couple of mechanics it became apparent that we weren't fixing this car for a reasonable price. So instead Benjamin got a bus to Queenstown whilst Jens and I hitch hiked with a random French traveller to Lake Tekapo. Stayed there a night, got a nice takeaway and had a good nights sleep!

Lake Tekapo!

Much Needed Update!!

We get bored..

Haven't blogged in fookin ages so here's as brief a description of the things I've been getting up to that have prevented my from using the internet:

Jammin'

The First of the Snow

• Film nights: Watching classics such as Chocolat, Boy and of course endless amounts of Flight of the Conchords. Truly legendary watching it with actual Kiwi's who find it just as funny as I do!
• I've FINALLY had a hair cut! It's a lot shorter now and it's great to be able to feel the wind on my cheeks again. Special mention for Anika the lovely German girl who was kind enough to cut it for me in return for a meal. 
• In true fruit expert nature everyone at the hostel is now more or less a fruit geek. When someone says "I've cooked an apple pie" the very first question is "Which variety did you use?" followed by an intense discussion of the cookability of the different sorts. I am now able to identify varieties of fruit simply by feeling them whilst blindfolded. Useless talent win. And of course when on FOTC Brett asks for a Red Delicious apple there are instantly people piping up with: "why would he want one of those it's all about Royal Gala!".. Red Delicious are the scum of the apple world. Trust us, we're professionals. The most recent development was an apple quiz where we had about 15 varieties of apple on a pallet which people had to try and recognise. It's actually quite challenging, especially when some jokers thrown in a fake apple and a tomato.
• I've been practicing guitar a bit, I have learnt to play Happiness by The Blue Nile... beautiful song. There have been endless jams using pots, pans, guitars and mouth organs which are consistently epic and usually end with us being told 2 in the morning is not an appropriate time for a music jam. If you ask me they're just being grumpy.
• Found possibly my favourite fruit of all time. Doesn't really get grown anywhere else in the world as far as I know, definitely not England. It's called Feijoa fruit and anyone who see's these in a shop, GET THEM. Soooo tasty. I used some to make an apple and feijoa crumble, it went down an absolute treat!!



Me and the Boss

• I have been learning to drive! At first John was taking me for drives in automatics (one of which is an English Rover with a V8... you feel pretty powerful. But recently I've been driving Monique and I to and from work in a manual. Not strictly legal but everyone is unbelievably relaxed about it here strangely. Tis nice.

I'm sure there are lots of things I have forgotton about unfortunately because it has been a magical few weeks. We've finished the Extreme Ice Creams at work, I have almost $5000 in the bank and will be setting off travelling tomorrow morning. But I'll explain more about that in my next blog post. Peace out!