sorry for the long delay on updating the blog!! where did we leave you? after we left karamea (where we had the best breakfast so far in new zealand at a really cool cafe) we traveled back down the western coast of the south island to make a quick return trip to Hokitika, as we were in desperate need of some more green stone. then we headed northeast to Nelson. we spent the night in nelson at an adorable little hostel where they made us some shortbread, and it was coincidentally (or not so much) called "shortbread house."
from nelson we headed deep into the marlborough sounds for a 3 day ninster's birthday retreat! we drove out a tiny winding dirt road for over an hour until we arrived at our hostel, a wonderful place called "hopewell." the people who own hopewell, linley and mike, were amazing hosts. hopewell is basically their home, about 10 cabins built all around thier house with a beautiful lawn, beach for swimming and quaint farm. the water is crystal sparkling green and the land is very "new england." we felt right at home, in fact it much reminded us of mere point in maine. it was a very special place indeed. the first night we were there we went out on the boat with mike to one of the sounds' many green lipped mussel farms. we helped to harvest about 10 kilos of green lip mussels...and then we went back and cooked them all for dinner!!! for free!! they were the most amazing things i have ever eaten...right out of the sea, insane!
the next day was.....NINSTER'S BIRTHDAY!!! zach woke me up with a yummy breakfast out on the porch of our cabin. we went for a kayak out in the sound where we encountered a huge school of jellyfish floating in the emerald water. at low tide we walked along the mud flats in front of the hostel and collected oysters and dug up cockles. we had fried oyster sandwiches for lunch and and an amazing pasta feast with steamed cockles for dinner. yummm. linley baked me a scrumptios cake that we shared with all the other guests. it was a perfect birthday. (and i have very high standards for birthdays!!)
the last night we were there we had another (free) mussle feast. the day before we had met a totally rad couple, katherine and miguel, who have been traveling all over the world on a one year honeymoon. along with them and a really cool couple from holland, two guys from germany, a kid from spain, one from japan, and a couple from tel aviv we managed to polish off about 6 bottles of NZ wine and eat an uncountable number of mussels! we had the best time, talking partying, drinking, etc. a real traveling experience!!
we said farewell to hopewell and moved on after a really amazing time there. that night we arrived in picton where we packed up our stuff and got ready to enter part II of our NZ adventure.....the north island!! BUT first...we had to return our precious toyota vitz to the rental company where we found out that....drum roll, get ready for this news.......ZACH HAD RECIEVED HIS FIRST SPEEDING TICKET EVER!!! some one notify greg stump...after 10 years of driving very fast cars, zach has recieved his first ticket ever in a car that can barely make it up a hill in second gear.
the ferry ride from the south island to the north was crazy! the wind on the sea between the islands is some of the roughest in the world. as we entered the bay in wellington we stood up on the observation deck in the whipping wind and got sprayed with the salty sea water....fab.
so now we are in "windy" wellington...staying with hannah (zach's cousin), her flat mates and her crazy kitten oscar. last night we hit up some local pubs and drank some NZ ale. today hannah took us all over wellington, we viewed the botanic gardens, visted the museum of new zealand, "te papa," and laid our eyes on the famous "beehive"...the NZ parliment building (it looks like a beehive). wellington is an awesome lively city full of art and sculpture and culture. tomorrow we are going to try to head to wine country for a few days and then back to wellington so we can go on easter holiday with hannah!!
ciao all!
2 comments:
your trip sounds just amazing; how is the weather? isn't like fall over there? have you seen any kiwis(the bird)? i hope you do and you take a picture bc ive always wanted to see one!! duke is good, im very busy and hoping i don't burn out until after finals, i went skygazing tonight(3rd night in a row actually) but the weather was amazing tonight and the stars were so bright, since you are in the southern hemisphere you should really check out the night sky and take some pictures of it for me, m'kayyy? Love you LOTS, Ari
moshi moshi ari. Sorry, but no photos of kiwi birds. We did see two of them in Christchurch, in the aquarium darkroom, because they're nocturnal. I don't think my camera's quite fast enough to get that pic. We have been enjoying the night sky-complete with Orion, we feel quite at home. This was the first time I was able to clearly see the milky way too. Have fun skygazing and studying, ja mata, Zach
Post a Comment