Return To The South Island

Flight Back

Following my trip up to the the Northern tip of New Zealand I decided to fly back down to the South Island. I know some people may disagree with me on this decision (my father for one!) but it was my choice and I don't regret it, in fact, I fail to see how I'd have been as happy anywhere else!

Now we might as well make it very clear why I returned. It was to go and spend more time before I left New Zealand with Monique. I'm not going to go deeply into all the 'hot gossip' you may be wanting and please don't be annoyed if you find me not really wanting to talk about it. Anyway, this is what I got up to back down south!

I flew in to Christchurch where I met up with Django and Laura for a very nice reunion. Django is a legend who I was a bit gutted to have missed when I flew out so the opportunity to meet again was fantastic! After a night's sleep I undertook the longest day of hitch-hiking I have EVER had. It took around 8-9 lifts and I didn't even make it all the way to Omarama, only to Kurow! That wasn't too bad becuase Monique could pick me up from there and it was better than the wilderness I had thought I was going to be stranded in!!

NOT where a Hitch-Hiker wants to be at sunset!!

One Such Romantic Evening..

The next week was spent in Omarama, I had a marvelous time slobbing about, cooking meals, desserts and all that jazz before going and picking up Monique from her work at The Wrinkly Ram Cafe. We had some lovely evenings, very romantic and fun. Time being so limited we really made the most we could of eachother's company and ironically Omarama (crappy junction town of the Triumph 2000 breaking down) is a place with some of my happiest memories.

Lounging Around The Motel

On Monique's days off we ventured forth unto Dunedin, where we checked out costumes for Monique for her up and coming dance performance. After getting to see her try on various Burlesque style outfits, I began to understand the enjoyment behind this shopping malarky.. ;-) And also getting harrassed by crazy old men in the library when a minute silence for the Prime Minister's Wife quickly became 10 minutes of him shh-ing me and me telling him to get lost. Dunedin folk are insane. It was a trip involving lots of driving (all good experience for me!) so apart from some bowling and mini golf in Dunedin and stopping off to visit John and Pat, it was very much all gogogo!

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. ;)