Alright, sorry its been a while between updates. Its been a long time on the road venturing around the country and chasing around the sunshine. And in that time, I have adapted to life without showers, internet and women. To replace these things, I have found comfort in potatoes, my knife, Cadbury chocolate, and Ches's beard.
Anyways, our adventures began again by getting our van packed up and heading south to Wellington. We stayed there for a day; checked out the botanic gardens, the Te Papa museum and then walked around to take in the atmosphere of the city. Then we caught a 3 hour long ferry-ride that would take us and the van to the South Island. Once we got dropped off, we made our way to Abel Tasman Nat'l Park, which showed promise of perfect, sunny days and temps in the mid-50s (with some beautiful beaches, too). We backpacked into the park and stayed for 4 nights. It was a good trip, but I got sick before we started the hike and that didn't make sleeping in a tent any more enjoyable.
After that, we stayed at a hostel in the city of Nelson and enjoyed the luxury of beds and showers. But after that one night, we got back to the road and headed south to Nelson Lakes National Park. We got a hint of how amazing the south island is with snow capped mountains, fresh lakes and full rainbows in the valleys. Also got a taste of some colder weather (after all, it is winter), so we stayed for two nights. But we did some nice hiking while we were there and made our way to Whiskey Falls, which is a pretty waterfall about 60 ft tall.
At Nelson Lakes, in the two most entertaining minutes of watching wildlife, we witnessed something rare. First, a black swan that was swimming around us jumped at the opportunity to eat a loogie of ours. It then proceeded to shit immediately afterwards. Once we saw this, we began to cheer it on to eat its shit; to which it did before we could even finish our sentences. After cracking up over this raw showcase of nature, we saw two ducks a few feet away that were facing each other and bobbing their heads up and down. We were confused at first until the one duck got on top and proceeded to screw the other one. Oh, nature!
Once we got back to the North Island, we stayed in Wellington and hung out at our favorite bar, JJ Murphy's. We got some American friends who work there, so we had a few pints and did pretty lousy in the Quiz Night competition they had. We had parked the van on the side of a busy city street, so it was a bad night of sleep with city buses driving by constantly. The next morning, we got the van moving again and made our way up the west coast. Nothing too exciting for the next few days, basically driving up the coast through the rain and trying to find good weather. We did have one unique experience, though. After finishing some grocery shopping, we came out to the parking lot to find a 40-50 year old Maori guy checking out our van. He had traditional Maori tattoos on his face and head. He was really friendly and started talking to us about the van; telling us what all the designs on it meant. We thought he was crazy at first, and I'm still not sure what to think of him. But he introduced himself as Te Kuru Pounamu, the first Maori governor of New Zealand, and was telling us about his body guards in Wellington and how we could stay with them if we say he Te Kuru sent us. Weird, I know, But things like that have become typical here.
We eventually got some nice weather, just in time as we found a sweet spot in the northwest. Called the Te Paki reserves, its a huge chunk of public land filled with massive sand dunes wedged between the sea and green forests. We stayed there for two nights and enjoyed the sunny days by venturing through a desert-like landscape. It was pretty sweet and we got plenty of pictures.
Then we finished our journey north by making it to Cape Reinga, the northern point of NZ. There's a lighthouse there, along with signs pointing to major cities (and the distance between). So it was pretty crazy to be standing there and trying to face the US.
With no where else to go but south, we drove the van and found ourselves staying at Tauranga Bay. Its a great place and we parked the van at an RV camp with an ocean view. We had some friendly neighbors here; basically a bunch of retirees with expensive RV's who spend the entire winter at this single spot. They were all excited to see us young guys, asking us about our travels and telling us their own stories. And it was funny seeing this line of RV's along the coast, with our van in the middle of them, just sticking out like a sore thumb. It was great though, plus we got to shower again!
As we continued south towards Auckland, we found a place to do some free caving in our Lonely Planet. It was a great find, as we explored this system of caves with glow worms, underwater streams and jagged rocks. Further south, we made our way to the black beaches of Piha and spent some time in the area. We spent the time hiking and found another amazing waterfall.
We finally made it back to Auckland, got cleaned up and went out to our first rugby match. It was a good time; still need to figure out all the rules. But these guys are pretty big and I'm sure it would kill to get hit by one of them.
With one last trip possible before Ches left, we headed out the next day to the Coromandel Peninsula again. We tested our van through some wicked roads; driving a few kilometers on a narrow, winding gravel road with some massive potholes. It payed off though, as our camp site was perched above a stony bay that had tons of driftwood which fed our massive campfires. We had great weather for a long day hike that took us through the mountains overlooking the sea and to remote beaches for us to explore. Before we left in the morning, we were challenged by a flat tire that we had to change in the rain. It was a bitch, but a small price to pay for all the cool things we've seen and done so far.
It was then time for Ches to head back home. Pat and I took him to the airport, said our goodbyes and wished him well with his new adventures... parenthood! So with that, Pat and I have been spending the past few days getting our lives reorganized and ready for Chelsea to fly in. We're both ready to move out of the van and into an actual home.
http://patanddennis.shutterfly.com/We've got some pictures on there and have plenty more to put up in the future. Until then... cheers.
