Kiwi Days

Marlbourough sounds
Soo pretty
Cheese!

Pulling over for a "scenic lookout"
:)
Wibbly wobbly bridge
Post beer tasting.....
John getting a little carried away at the Brewery, haha this

is what happens when they leave us with an empty

cup and say "go have fun!"

Misty Sunrise

Feeding the Duckies
Hanging out at the underground caves

Getting ready to jump
1,2,3 Bungeeeeeeee
Swan Dive Woo hoo!

Woke up this morning on a super comfy bed and had a nice warm bath....ahh a little piece of heaven. When you are traveling and living out of a backpack, you remember that it's the simple pleasures in life that are the best. I am in the little town of Te Puke, in the North Island of New Zealand, staying at my friend Emma's house down on the farm. There are chickens, pigs, horses, and millions of cows- I feel like I am in India again...well not really at all. New Zealand is complusively clean and the funny smell in the air is from the natural sulpher, not from the burning of trash in the streets.

We've been travelling quite a bit around the Island since we've gotten here. Our little car (which has been officially named "Tony Danza"...because of the song Tiny Dancer, not because of the Danza slap you dirty minds....) has been putting on a lot miles truckin' around and has been treating us well. Hiked around Abel Tasman National Park. Rented a tent to camp out in Montueka...and it of course rained :/

Drove up from Nelson to Picton and stopped through wine country in Marlbourough to tour the wineries. Blenheim is famous for their wine and we of course couldn't resist the oppurtunity :) We stopped into about 6 or 7 different wineries or so, meandered through the groves, learned about local techniques and grape growing habits, and the best part- sampled all the fine vintages and varieties that they had to offer. I am quite the lightweight and by the 7th winery, I started to see double and decided that I was all wine-tasted out....and promptly fell asleep..at 1:30 in the afternoon...for the next 2 hours :) Our hostel in Picton was quite nice and given that it was cloudy and rainy, we decided to stay in and watch a movie on the big screen. And as a delightful bonus, the hostel serves up free hot fresh baked brownies and ice cream everyday anddd has a hot tub. Wine, bubbly spa,brownies, and ice cream- not a bad day!

The next morning we woke up and did a hike up into the mountains to get a good view of the Marlbourough Sounds. We then loaded the car onto the ferry and crossed from the South Island to the North Island. It only took about 3 hours and given the lack of people on board we were able to sprawl out pretty comfortably. We boarded off at Wellington and drove 5 hours north to Turangi. We arrived in at around 10, and since all the hostel receptions close at 8:30 and we figured we'd be so exhausted from driving we decided to bust out the sleeping bag just sleep in the car. Well...the little speck mobile isn't the most comfortalble bed in the world and only managed to get about 2 hoursof sleep. New Zealand is sooooo expensive and has been a killer on the travel fund. I have spent more in 1 week here then I have in the last 2 months in India. Ouch!

Yesterday was Valentine's day, and since my valentine is on the otherside of the world :( I decided to jump off a bridge!

We went bungee jumping! It was reallly fun! Not really as scary as I had hoped, but still a good rush. After the bungee we went out to some natural hot springs for a good soak and a swim then drove up to Te Puke to stay at Emma's. We went out for dinner at a really good Turkish restaurant and then had a bonfire at night. It was really relaxing. Today if it stays sunny we will hopefully get some rays in at the beach (damn clouds!) and then take the horses to go swimming and have a picnic on the beach! (thank you sooo much Emma!) Tomorrow we are off to Hamilton for a day to visit more friends and then off to Auckland for a quick sprint and then back to Oz.

Happy Birthday Pops and Happy Valentine's day everyone :)

Saudades Renan. xoxo