Mom, Dad, and I have arrived in New Zealand! Well, we’ve been here a couple days and it’s definitely been busy starting from day 1. I arrived after my 14 hour flight (complete with crying baby) and met up with Mom and Dad at Christchurch airport. From there, we rented our hatchback and then we were off!
Left, left, left – this has become our daily chant as we drive around South Island. Along with Baa, Baa, Baa… and Moo, Moo, Moo… you can guess what our most frequent sightings have been.
Day One:
We drove from Christchurch to Kaikoura where we had a lovely lunch (dad chose the best thing that day, the black cod). We stopped by one Marlborough winery, Montana Winery, which also produces Brancott wines. I bought a lovely Sauvignon Blanc. From there, we went to the Queen Charlotte Sounds area where we stayed at Anakiwa at a lovely Hostel. It was definitely not your typical hostel and was very very nice. We drove to Havelock for dinner where, since they are famous for their green lipped mussels, we had, yup, you guessed it, green lipped mussels for dinner! Delicious! And also delicious were the Nelson scallops which had the muscle-thingy still attached – it was beautiful looking and delicious!
Day Two:
The theme of the day: Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath…
So we opted to head out to try and find Sawcut Gorge which, from pictures seen in a tour guide, was AWESOME – stand at the entrance of a narrow gorge and then walk in ankle deep water within the gorge. We looked it up, and according to the directions on the NZ DOC website, drive 12 km on gravelly road, go thru private land (so leave the gates as found) and then from there, it would be a 1.5 hour one-way trip to the Gorge. It would require Waima River crossing. With these detailed directions, we started on our trek and all was going well until we hit a fork in the road… and yup, you guessed it, we chose POORLY. So, we went for quite a few km driving through lots of tall grass and brush up until we hit the big drop off in the road that would require a 4WD car – which we didn’t have. So we turned around, sad that we chose the wrong road. We decided to drive out to the main Hwy to make sure we were even at the right river (we were!) and on this detour, we went to the beautiful beach and had our picnic sandwich lunch out of the hatchback. Refueled, we decided to try again for Sawcut Gorge.
We drove out and made it and despite the not-so-excited (not so impressed with the Gorge apparently) caretaker of the visitor log, we headed out on our hike! After several river crossings where Mom and Dad faithfully took off and re-put on their hiking shoes, they finally, fed up, decided to hike the remaining crossings in their hiking shoes. I finally caved too. Pants hiked to above our knees, we crossed the river at least 12 times, climbed up a rocky path, endured Mom getting stabbed in her shin by a dead branch, but we finally made it to… a lovely view. We were so exhausted by this point, and after dad and I went off on a scouting mission and found that the Gorge itself was still at least a good 20-30min hike over many boulders, we decided to forgo the Gorge itself.
Headed back, we were doing well but a little hypoglycemic. I should have eaten the darn powerbar in my bag, but I kept telling myself, “I’m fine, it’s just a little longer.” Well, as I waded through the mid-calf clear river water, I could feel myself starting to lose my balance. Everything moved in slow motion, and as I kept taking steps left to try and prevent the inevitable fall, I had only one thought in my head, “SAVE THE CAMERA AND CAMERA BAG!” Which, as I landed flat on my butt in the river, in JEANS mind you, I waved my Rebel and camera bag in the air and yelled at mom and dad, “Forget me, SAVE THE CAMERA!!!!!” Repeatedly. Mom and Dad, as a mom and dad, were of course more concerned with getting me out of the water. And, of course, by this time I was laughing my wet ass off which didn’t help matters. Poor mom, she got pulled into the river too trying to pull me out of the water. Sorry Mom! Luckily, my camera and its attachments survived, and I walked around in wet jeans the rest of the day. :) Too bad there wasn’t a video or camera of these events!
**Audrey, after the jump. Or rather, the slip, fall, whatever.**
Day Three:
We drove from Anakiwa to Motueka in anticipation of our Abel Tasman National Park explorations. We arrived around 11:30 AM and decided to drive up to Totaranui and the Pupu Springs. After a nice curvy mountain road (apparently 365 turns!), we ended up at the Mussel Inn and had an all-organic lunch (they even make their own sodas – and beer!) and then off to Totaranui! The beach was lovely and we arrived there safely despite crazy 4WD-driving maniacs who drive WAY too insanely on gravel unsealed roads with sheer cliffs on one side. Home-made dinner at the hostel and our day was done…
On a side note, I LOVE my Canon Rebel XSi. Best purchase EVER. And so is the telephoto zoom lens. And my filter. I think I may have converted my parents. :)
