Pancake Rocks
More Pancakes
Where's the syrup?
Drivin along
Waterfall swimming..well not really
Hiking in Arthur National Park
Rainforest along the coast
Isn't that where Lord of the Rings was filmed?
The Jesus Van
Sunset over Christchurch
Going caving
Wearing the proper atire to go caving of course....uh...
We made it out alive!Hello from New Zealand!
After a lot of flying and switching on and off planes, I finally made it...well a few days ago actually. I landed in Australia on Tuesday and my friend Fizz picked me up from the airport and was preceded to be spoiled like no other. I had a a bath, nice longgggg bath with bubbles and everything- amazing! (my first since September!) And then, I had my first salad since I left- with lettuce and hummus- hallelujah! And then some of my other mates showed up and we vegged and watched TV, real English speaking normal TV! And thennnnn Fizz's mom made us a delicious fresh home-cooked dinner with red wine which we ate out on the gorgeous patio- I was in heaven. I even got to sleep in a big comfy bed, and bless her soul, Fizz drove me to the airport at 6 am the next morning.
My 22 hours in Sydney was just what I needed. I landed in New Zealand...5 hours later than planned. My plane from Sydney to Christ Church was 2 hours delayed and I got held up in customs and immigration for another 3 hours. I got pulled aside (the crazy hippie terrorist that I am?) and got all my bags searched through. They were very sceptical about all the stamps in my passport. I was asked a million questions- do you do drugs? why were you in UAE for only a day? what are you doing in New Zealand? are you sure you don't do any drugs? do you have anything to declare? have you ever been pulled over by customs? Are you really sure you don't do any drugs? After they pulled out everything that I owned, xeroxed my passport, ran my history and scanned the surfaces of my bags for drug residue they realized that I was a harmless travel nut who doesn't do drugs and isn't a crazy Indian terrorist, just a girl who wants to see the country. Hahaha- I TRIED to tell them that in the first place, would have saved us both 1.5 hours!
So after I made it through, John was waiting on the other side with a giant Jesus camper van- haha that's right. A Jesus-mobile equipped with 3 beds and a mini kitchen. Awesome! Unfortunately we only had it for one night, before turning it in for a tiny little rental Dihatsu. It may be a speck, but it gets killer gas mileage!For the last week we have been traveling around the South Island.
The countryside is unbelievably gorgeous. The roads are crazy windy things, I can't drive bc our rental is a stick shift(probably a good thing!) that swerve and curve and zig zag up and down huge mountains covered by lush green trees. Its so pretty sometimes, I can hardly believe its real. We have been doing a lot of driving and hiking. We hiked out to see a few different waterfalls, saw some trippy rock formations and beaches, and crazy caves (pictures to come soon!) We went caving in this one cave that went on for about 45 minutes. I was not prepared for waist-deep water at all, (i was wearing jeans and strappy sandals- oops) but made it through to the other side, and woooo was that a trip! It was pitch black and seemed to go on forever. No batman, but still groovy. We stopped at some breweries today to do some tastings of the famous New Zealand brew. Tomorrow we drive up to Picton before catching the ferry to the North Island.
Ok I have to make this short bc my internet is expiring, hope all is well at home. Cheers!
Saudades Renan xoxo
After a lot of flying and switching on and off planes, I finally made it...well a few days ago actually. I landed in Australia on Tuesday and my friend Fizz picked me up from the airport and was preceded to be spoiled like no other. I had a a bath, nice longgggg bath with bubbles and everything- amazing! (my first since September!) And then, I had my first salad since I left- with lettuce and hummus- hallelujah! And then some of my other mates showed up and we vegged and watched TV, real English speaking normal TV! And thennnnn Fizz's mom made us a delicious fresh home-cooked dinner with red wine which we ate out on the gorgeous patio- I was in heaven. I even got to sleep in a big comfy bed, and bless her soul, Fizz drove me to the airport at 6 am the next morning.
My 22 hours in Sydney was just what I needed. I landed in New Zealand...5 hours later than planned. My plane from Sydney to Christ Church was 2 hours delayed and I got held up in customs and immigration for another 3 hours. I got pulled aside (the crazy hippie terrorist that I am?) and got all my bags searched through. They were very sceptical about all the stamps in my passport. I was asked a million questions- do you do drugs? why were you in UAE for only a day? what are you doing in New Zealand? are you sure you don't do any drugs? do you have anything to declare? have you ever been pulled over by customs? Are you really sure you don't do any drugs? After they pulled out everything that I owned, xeroxed my passport, ran my history and scanned the surfaces of my bags for drug residue they realized that I was a harmless travel nut who doesn't do drugs and isn't a crazy Indian terrorist, just a girl who wants to see the country. Hahaha- I TRIED to tell them that in the first place, would have saved us both 1.5 hours!
So after I made it through, John was waiting on the other side with a giant Jesus camper van- haha that's right. A Jesus-mobile equipped with 3 beds and a mini kitchen. Awesome! Unfortunately we only had it for one night, before turning it in for a tiny little rental Dihatsu. It may be a speck, but it gets killer gas mileage!For the last week we have been traveling around the South Island.
The countryside is unbelievably gorgeous. The roads are crazy windy things, I can't drive bc our rental is a stick shift(probably a good thing!) that swerve and curve and zig zag up and down huge mountains covered by lush green trees. Its so pretty sometimes, I can hardly believe its real. We have been doing a lot of driving and hiking. We hiked out to see a few different waterfalls, saw some trippy rock formations and beaches, and crazy caves (pictures to come soon!) We went caving in this one cave that went on for about 45 minutes. I was not prepared for waist-deep water at all, (i was wearing jeans and strappy sandals- oops) but made it through to the other side, and woooo was that a trip! It was pitch black and seemed to go on forever. No batman, but still groovy. We stopped at some breweries today to do some tastings of the famous New Zealand brew. Tomorrow we drive up to Picton before catching the ferry to the North Island.
Ok I have to make this short bc my internet is expiring, hope all is well at home. Cheers!
Saudades Renan xoxo
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