23.10.09 The West Coast

Moving on from Nelson we headed over to the west coast, another new area for us. The plan to discover the northern west coast and then head back over to Christchurch for jobs.

We drove up to the Operara Basin, checking surf spots as usual along the way. Some of the driving tracks have awesome scenery, twisting around the mountains and alongside the coast, also making for some scary roads. We stayed the night at a beautiful beach campsite and then headed to the limestone karsts in the form of arches and caves. The operara arch is a huge arch which as the guide book says - defies pictures! Unfortunately the bumpy tracks didnt do our tyres any good and we ended with a puncture - a moment for Charlie to feel manly and change the tyre.

We drove on down towards Rapenhoe stopping off at Pancake rocks, a set of amazing rock stacks and blowholes formed by the sea. At the local pub that evening we had the pleasure of being greeted by the landladies artful belching... a beautiful bunch!

Next we had a sudden change of heart, we were at the point of turning east to head for Christchurch when we thought, why not somewhere else - somewhere more exciting, more adventurous? Lets head for the one and only adventure capital of the world; 'Queenstown' - so we pushed on south past the greenstone and crystal waters of the Hokitika Gorge towards the glaciers.

21.10.09 Wine Appreciation Experience

3000 Vines, $200, 4 days of pain!!!

16.10.09 Kaikora and Nelson

From Methven we had meetings in Nelson to head for so we rounded back up the East coast. We stopped at Kaikora to check out the coast, surf spots and seals. There are seals all over the rocks around the headland so you really have to pick your route around the headland so as not to disturb them. We may head back here sometime and spend some money on whale watching but not at the moment. Point break galore - Charlie was excited by some of the surf spots we will probably come back for them too, when the conditions are better.

In Nelson we had a couple of interviews for jobs but unfortunately they are only for in the new year, as everyone is certain the new year is when work will be picking up again. It just means the adventuring can continue until then......

12.10.09 Arthurs Pass

Seeing the snow on the hills from Christchurch we decided to head for it.....Arthurs Pass. We didnt really know what was there, we just went for the journey and adventure, what an adventure we had. After a stop off at some huge boulders in the Kura Tawahiti Reserve which we tried tried to climb and failed, we found cave stream.

Cave Stream is a stream which runs deep into the earth in a cave. In their depths somewhere there are a number of waterfalls and eels. As the water only just reached our chests we decided that the DOC advice not to go in if it reached your chest would be conservative and so we opted to go in and see how it went, or as the Kiwi's would say 'she'll b'awight'. We packed 2 torches, an emergency light with an emergency battery and donned our caving gear (as pictured!)... what could go wrong. We waded in through the initial pools freezing in temperature due to snow melt and into the dark. It was so exciting, feeling a little dangerous but they have signs to it so it cant be that bad, then the first torch failed.... its ok, we will just get the other out of the bag, so lights on again lets continue. We are here at a bend, listening round the corner I think there is a waterfall, but no I can't see because the second torch has failed. My little heart started beating a little faster and I clung to Charlie! So we got out the emergency light and made the sensible decision to turn around and come back to complete the length of it another day with better batteries and torches......... awesome experience though.

After this our visit to Arthurs pass was a little more sedate, we met the local Keas, walked the Devils Punchbowl to see a waterfall and the Bealy Spur Walk for the view and the snow. We built a snowman and met the mice in the hut. We headed back through Methven to meet with Joey in the Blue Bar. There are two pubs in town one blue and one brown so it was easy to find her!

9.10.09 Dinner and David and Janines!!

On Friday evening as a break from vegetables and pasta, and our own wonderful company we went for dinner with friends of friends; David and Janine (and Henry the dog). Living in a suburb of Christchurch and overlooking the sea it was great to explore more of Christchurch and meet such generous and welcoming people. We enjoyed fantastic food and great conversation and unexpectedly the comfort of their guest room!! So following a dinner invitation we had landed ourselves on them for the whole weekend. From theirs we walked around the coast and explored Sumner and Taylors mistake, some lovely beaches and headland looking out towards the snow capped mountains.

6.10.09 Christchurch

We stopped in Christchurch for a few days to check it out as a possible place to stay for a longer with jobs.

The Art Gallery had some interesting exhibitions on so in the evening we decided to go to a free talk / demonstration about sound art. I'm glad we didn't pay to listen to a helicopter landing for about 45mins - what a load of rubbish, cant believe we sat through it for that long... I'd like to say I felt bad about leaving halfway through but in the interest of health and safety and my ears it had to be done! We checked out the arts centre market in the oxford college style quadrangle and indulged in the fab food stalls and waited half an hour for some awesome souvlaki. We sat by the Avon and watched boats punting up and down - Christchurch is a lovely place but also a strange idealised state of English cities!

02.09.09 Upper Moutere

From Picton we travelled straight to Upper Moutere (just past Nelson) where we stayed with Martin. He has a house with fantastic views over the water towards Nelson. We had a great break admiring the countryside, cycling, kayaking and continuing the job search. We enjoyed eating oranges and making lemon juice from the fruit in Martins garden, and sampled the wine we had bought in Napier.

With such a great place and fabulous hospitality it was difficult to leave but we needed to move on to Christchurch.

29.09.09 Wellington

Wellington was the first spot we had identified as potential job hunting. We had ambitiously thought we would have interviews lined up all over the place! As this wasn't the case we spent time getting our portfolios printed, looking into job agencies and sightseeing. We went on the tram to the botanic gardens, to the 'beehive' parliament building, the art gallery and finally the Te Papa museum. The art gallery was exhibiting work by Kusama - an obsessive compulsive with dots all over the place, even on the outside of the building - very impressive. The Museum was a whole lot bigger than we expected, we were lost in there for hours and nearly late to meet old neighbours of Charlies. Wellington seemed like quite a happening city, and a windy one..

The ferry took us from Wellington to the south Island. It was a great introduction to the island going in through Charlotte Sound. Beautiful and very windy, we were nearly blown off the boat!

25.09.09 East of the North Island

The rain stopped us doing the Tongariro crossing so we are saving that one for another day. We stayed in Rotorua and extra day to sort out a vehicle fine given to us unfairly (we still wait for conformation they aren't charging us $200!..). Onwards and upwards to Whakatane which Im sure would have been a lovely drive - if we could see it. We headed for Manganuku campsite which had a few walks close to it which sounded great..... One of the walks was an instant no as we got to the river crossing point which consisted of a rope over a raging torrent of water! The rain started to ease affording us some sunnier weather over the next few days.

The drive to Gisborne was fairly spectacular - the roads here seem to be one or the other - dead straight or carzily twisting up and down. After a little searching we found the best thing to do in Gisborne - the Rere rockslide - awesome! It was advised to use a bodyboard or tube, all we had was a camping mat, Charlie was game, I was a little more cautious! A 40 degree slide made from smooth rock.

We camped at Mahia Peninsula, lovely with lots of great surf opportunities. We drove around and assessed the potential and then went to the beach that had the only 2 other surfers on it! Great surf, I think Charlie would like to revisit. Next stop Napier and Hastings, a great area where we spent time Wine tasting, buying wine, and checking out the Art Deco Architecture. The earthquake background to this was very interesting - with the town being flattened in 1931 allowing the subsequent planning and cohesive 'art deco' one can now see.

From Napier we drove straight down to Wellington.