Dunedin

I think valentines was more fun the first time Lindsay woke me up. Valentines at 5:00 in the morning is a bit more harsh, but thanks to Lindsay, it looks like she caught us up to date- almost. Let me tell you about dunedin!

Our first 2 nights were spent in ramsay's lodge - a really nice hostel, but a really bad location. However, that didn't stop us from getting up and walking around the city to check out the attractions (and summer sales).

Oh man, the janitor is mopping us up in a trap of surrounding wet floor. This new janitor really is something else.

Back to Dunedin though, the place is full of nice buildings, historic churches, colleges, hotels, everything! One of our favorite activities was climbing the steepest residential road in the world! Baldwin street. not something you get to do everyday! Unless Ofcourse you were one of the unfortunate house owners on the top that had to honk at all the tourists to move out of the way before driving through. We also enjoyed the museum, botanic gardens and flower market during our stay.

The night life was quite fun in Dunedin as well- one night we met Jacob Black (New Moon) and Justin Bieber look-alikes. We also met a couple Maori boys (Jacob black was one Aka Shane) who serenaded us with their traditional Hakka dance. Its lots of fun travelling when the cities are a bit smaller (I think population was about 130000) because by our last few days it wasn't uncommon that we regularly bumped into a friend we had made somewhere around town.

This morning we headed out and hitched a couple rides getting us to... The middle of no where. We had good company though, a park ranger drove us an extra 45 minutes out of his way to get us to the location we needed to be to get on the right highway. He also gave us some contacts of his for when we head to Australia. After about a hopeless 20 minute wait on the side of the highway, some guys we had been hanging out with the previous night pulled up. It was such a relief! Joe and Vince (californians) were headed -more or less- in the same direction as us- through the catlins.
We crammed in the back of their two door car, bags on lap, and headed out for a day of roadtripping!
Our first stop was to some waterfalls through a rainforest. Next, we hit up a beach to see if the waves were any good for joe's surfing. The waves were great- but not ao much for surfing, we headed to a petrified forest next. Nothing quite as thrilling as a 170 million year old tree!
Our last stop before invercargill was at the southern most tip of the south island. We may have even seen Antarctica (I wish, couldn't even see Stuart island) however, we figured this isthe farthest south we'll likely ever get. In invercargill we drove around the city, checking out the park and downtown area before heading to the side of the highway to eat our dinner with some fellow hitchhikers we had seen earlier.
Joe and Vince then abandoned us at the mcdonalds before heading back north to Dunedin. Which brings us to this fateful night of hourly sleep shifts in the chain mcdonalds! Mm I think it's time for an ice cream cone!
-LA

Moeraki beach and boulders

We hitched out of timaru with a university student heading down to Dunedin. It was swelteringly hot, and we were happy to be of the stuffy car and at the beach. We spent two nights in Moeraki, day one - beachcombing, exploring, reading Elizabeth and then seeing the penguin and seal colonies that evening. Day 2- checked out the boulders (neat giant spheres and tourist central) then lazed around on the beach until the rising tide kicked us out
-LH

(I feel like frodo and Sam from lotr where they take turns staying up all night to keep guard. The real question, who would be who?)

Down by the bay

Timaru once again! ( can't stay away?) We spent one night at a hostel in town, and the next morning went down to the bay to meet with Peter. It was great to see him again, and the bay was beautiful! We have vowed to spend no more time in that area! Time to get movin again
-LH

Omg new staff member came in, she's the official janitor!

Apple pie??

Omg what if I got an apple pie instead of fries?!?

Peter was planning to be in Timaru in a weeks time, and wanting to see him, we filled the remaining time with a lil more wwoofing. This time, at a farm near Oamaru. Oamaru itself, which we tented in on our last night was lots of fun. Full of Victorian architecture, thirt stores and art galleries, it served us well!
Our second 'time filler' was inthe small town of Waimati, with a family of ex travelling gypsies. Their dog ate our cookies :(

Mount Cook Yo!

Hitching out of tekapo proved challenging, when the rabbit hunter who took us part way left us in the middle of the highway. Luckily, a van of travelers from isreal came to our rescue just before it started to pour.
We arrived at mount cook national park and opted for a night in a hostel ( it was raining like crazy!). Even so, we immediately headed out on a hike, completely drenching my day pack, and unfortunately the iPod in my pocket. Rip.
The next day we walked down the deserted highway to the white horse campground, where we would spend an additional three nights. On day one we did the hooker valley hike - lovely! Day two, the red tarns hike (hcore uphill but finishing way up in the sky with an amazing few.. And aching ankles). Day3- took it easy, venturing out to sit on some boulders near the sparkling blue and grey waters of the mueller glacier.
It was also in Mt cook that we were introduced to Elizabeth (!!!). She is a 'modern girl' and the main character in the book we found in the camp kitchen and have been reading outload since. To lighten the load, we burn the pages after reading them hahah

Paint water

After our long wwoofing stretch we needed a vacation! We hitched out of Timaru and west to lake tekapo! I wish we could upload pictures, but even they don't do it justice. The lake was the prettiest colour of blue.. Like paint water almost! This colour was caused by minerals in the water from the glaciers it derives from, but made for an absolutely beautiful landscape. We tented two nights at tekapo, nestled into a lovely little hiding spot in the bush. Rabits galore! We did a couple of nice hikes while out there, and Lauren ripped her pants in half trying to do some yoga in the park
Shout out to the YHA for unwillingly providing us with their kitchen and showers ;)

TreeHuggers!

I am trying to strategize my frie purchase to ensure maximum fullness/ legitimacy for still being here. Today was a day of little food..
Breakfast - instant coffee, half a banana and one piece of bannock (the size of a mandarin orange)
Lunch - three tiny meatballs and one piece of cheese
Dinner - half a can of beans, mixed with one piece of cheese and half a piece of bannock, and one 'noodles for one' pack Mmm
11:30 - McCafe Icecream

Anyways! After leaving Davids, we stayed in the area and headed over to TreeHugger Organics. TreeHuggers was a fruit and vege farm producing mainly strawberries, along with garlic, honey and potatos. Here there were several other wwoofers, and it was loads of fun! Although the work days were long (with everyone rockin their very own strawberry picking sunburn trampstamp) we were fed and watered (they brewed their own beer) exceptionally well!
Never have I consumed so much garlic! Cough infront of Nathan and the whole house had to each eat a clove. TreeHuggers was our longest stay in one location, at 1.5 weeks. On our last day we even watched piglets be born! (then ate ham at the grocery store for lunch.. Lol)
-LH