Six Days of Travel:60° of Warmer

Day 1:

• Left Oamaru and took bus to Christchurch. Holly was the closest to being carsick that she's ever been.

• 

  Southern Alps

  Arrived in Christchurch and took city bus bus to couchsurf host, where we were offered delicious curry and freshly made granola. It was a big house rented by various young international people. There was a dizzying array of faces and names, originating from places such as Australia, China, and eastern Europe. We had spent two months in New Zealand without seeing a single American, and finally met our first fellow Yankee. He hailed from New Jersey and was by far the drunkest person there, but at least we were represented.

Saying goodbye to the New Zealand countryside

Day 2:

• Arose before the sun, trying to be painstakingly quiet and sneak out of our shared 10x10 room without waking our hosts.
• Caught the bus to catch the bus, which took us to Picton.
• Got ferry, watched terrible movie on the ferry, arrived in Wellington.

• 

  Congress building in Wellington

  Took bus as close as we could to our couchsurfing destination, super kind woman exiting the bus drove us up the final huge hill.
• Knocked on door.
• Ten minutes later, still knocking on the door before someone finally opened it. Everyone inside was quite high.
• After dumping our bags, Holly laid down and Randy went to get food

• 

  Ghandi statue in Wellington,
  given by India in 20007

  Randy returned and made an awesome chicken curry, and also cooked up some cheap and exotic lamb hearts.

Day 3:

• Woke up early again, walked down the giant hill to the bus.
• Took the bus to our bus.
• Rode all day long.
• Drove through Rotorua, a town with lots of geothermal activity. We'd wanted to try out the hot springs, but we never had time. It was interesting to see residents harnessing the geothermal energy to heat their homes.
• 10 hours later, arrived in Auckland.
• Jaye, our previous friendly couchsurfing host, picked us up at the station.
• Visited a bit and then passed out.

Day 4:

• 

  We explode everywhere we go
  

  Packed and repacked bags in preparation for leaving the country.
• Made more delicious burgers.
• Were sad these were our last cheap grass-fed NZ burgers.

Day 5:

• Woke up excruciatingly early.
• Jaye kindly took us to the airport at 4 a.m.

• 

  Shrine in Bangkok
  airport

  Got through security with time to spare.
• Were on our way to Sydney, and even though it was only a 3 hour flight. Quantas gave us breakfast.
• Had a lovely flight to Bangkok, once again enjoying the perks of international flight.
• Shuffled items around so our bags were just barely under the weight limit.
• On our way to Singapore.

Day 6:

• Had a 12 hour layover at Changi airport in Singapore, and had to wait a few hours before we could check in because it was 1 a.m.
• Tried to sleep on the most awkwardly uncomfortable airport bench seats EVER.
• Finally were able to check in, and were blown away by how awesome the actual terminals are.
• Checked out the rooftop sunflower garden.

• 

  Sunflower garden at night

  Slept on a fairly comfortable couch thing.
• Meandered through other beautiful airport gardens.
• Used free internet.
• Checked out the free video game lounge.
• Finally boarded our flight to Denpasar, Bali.
• Arrived in Denpasar, Holly stayed with our stuff while Randy tried to find the Etihad airline office to switch our future tickets.

• 

  One of the many tranquil gardens at Changi

  Successfully found an Etihad office, but it was only the Office of Reupholstering Airplane Seats and could not help with our tickets.
• It was wicked hot and we both desperately needed to change into shorts in the bathroom.
• Bought some fresh pineapple juice to cool down.

• 

  The Churning of the Milk Ocean

  Went to the ATM and became millionaires ($1=1100 rupiah)
• Outside a huge crowd of “taksi” guys were vying for our business, but we had been told to go to the official taxi stand.
  
• Were soon in a taxi, glad not to be in charge of navigating the insane traffic, on our way to Kerobokan, our first volunteering gig.

Final Stop of the New Zealand Leg

Window view

Peter picked us up right before a giant sleet storm, and boy were we glad to see him! Earlier we had failed to connect with Peter due to a family gathering, and after dropping us off at his house, he returned to it. We were glad of the chance to relax, make some food, and turn in early after our long day of exploration. As we were heading to bed, a random person came to the door and dropped off a kitten. Her name was Sam (the person, not the kitten), and she assured us that Peter would be okay with it, by which point the kitten had already disappeared into the house to explore. Bewildered but not too worried, we went to bed.

NZ Spinach in NZ!!

Lovely view to end the day

    The next morning dawned cold and stormy, with sleet and snow coming down hard. This was the first snowy accumulation we had encountered in our trip, further reminding us that although it was late May, we were in the southern hemisphere. We were getting tired of the cold, late-fall weather, and were looking forward to our imminent departure for Bali. We stayed inside most of the morning, sitting by the fire and getting to know Peter. In the early ‘80s, Peter was in a car accident which left him without the use of his legs. Though certainly a life-changing event, Peter has accomplished some amazing sports feats, including winning medals in downhill skiing championships and ping pong contests. He also owned his own leatherworking shop before moving to his current lifestyle block. Since we have dabbled in leatherworking ourselves, we were happy to glean a few tips from a master.

Freshly dug oca

En garde, gorse!

Digging oca

 We made some soup for lunch, and afterwards, once the storm had stopped, we moved some firewood around, and dug oca, a sweet tuber. Oca was a vegetable we had heard of, but had never seen grown, and we were looking forward to trying. The white-fleshed, thin-skinned tuber was sweeter than a regular potato, but starchier than a yam. It is from South America, and now comes in a variety of colors; yellow, orange, pink, apricot, though red is the original. The next day we did battle with the gorse; an old access road in one of his sheep pastures had become impassable, and we were attempting to make it usable again. We were bitten many times even through leather gloves by their thin needle-like thorns, but we did make some headway. One redeeming quality of gorse is its smattering of lovely and fragrant yellow flowers, which is probably why it was cultivated for hedges in England. The flowers can also be used to make wine. After lunch we accompanied Peter to the lawn bowls club. Lawn bowls is a popular sport in New Zealand, reminiscent of bocci ball, but with oblong balls and gutters. After watching Peter a bit, we explored the local area. 

Peter shows how its done

While rooting through a free bin outside a thrift store we came across a small pouch perfect for holding cards. As an added bonus, it contained a crisp New Zealand $20 bill! Happy that our thrift-store compulsion had finally paid off, we headed back to the lawn bowls club. Peter and his friends had just finished up, and were enjoying some “beersies..” The members of the club were kind enough to let us try our hand at lawn bowls before they packed up the equipment. It was surprisingly difficult to roll balls at a smaller ball, but it was fun and we were glad to get the chance to try it.

Scoring and retrieving our bowls

Part of the sheep herd, including the goat
who thinks its a sheep

Sheep pedicure

  The next day started with some general lawn care, followed by rotating his herd of 30 sheep into a new pasture in preparation for flock maintenance the following day. The sheep needed their hooves trimmed and to be “dedagged,” the process of freeing their backsides of matted poop. The last big project before we left was helping convert a 40-foot gum tree into firewood. Peter is an excellent cook, and we enjoyed many delicious meals around his table, including lots of fresh roasted veggies, and a tasty rhubarb crumble made from his own rhubarb. We had a great time with Peter, and it was a lovely end to our time in New Zealand. Peter was kind enough to drop us off at the bus station, and from there we started making our way back to Auckland, to catch our flight to Bali.

The Southiest we've ever Southed

   

Playing on a teeter-totter while waiting for a ride

Victorian Precinct

Iconic Ionic

We got an early start to our hitchhiking journey by getting a ride with Pien into Christchurch. She dropped us off at a gas station, and even though it was still dark, within 45 minutes we were in a car headed south. As always, a day of hitchhiking is a day of interesting stories and characters. Six rides and eight hours later, we bid farewell to our last ride, stepping out of his car in downtown Oamaru. All that was left to do was to contact Peter, our host, so he could pick us up and take us to his lifestyle block. After finding a cafe with wifi and having a disappointingly thin milkshake, we emailed Peter, and decided to take a leisurely walk around town while waiting for him to respond. Our heavy and cumbersome bags greatly limited our exploration radius, but we did find the visitor's center. There we watched an informative video about the town, and learned its history. Although we had traveled across both the North and South Islands, Oamaru had a completely unique vibe. When the town was first established in the mid 1800s, a lack of trees and surplus of quarries caused the town to be constructed completely out of limestone. The stunning architecture and antique decor gives it a Victorian-era wild west feel. In it's heyday, it was larger than Los Angeles was at the time, and quite an important port. It went into decline in the early-mid 1900s, when a more convenient port opened up further north. In the last 30 years there has been a renaissance, and many of the beautiful old stone buildings have been restored, and now there is a charming Victorian precinct, reminiscent of Europe.

The Steam Punk Headquarters
The train shot flames out of its stack on the hour.

Stationary penny-farthings
do not count.  

     So, with bags in hand, we set out to explore the town, but not before "riding" the mounted pennyfarthing. After eating lunch on a nice cliff overlooking the ocean, we gawked at the impressive architecture. As the sun started going down, we realized we really needed to get in touch with Peter. But, he had not responded to our email, and he did not answer his phone. We waited around, hoping he had read the email and would come pick us up, but after waiting for a few hours in the hail and sleet, we decided to give up.

A gaggle of penny-farthings

typical New Zealand robotic fauna

 Luckily, there were a few "backpackers'" (hostels) in town, and the second one we tried, Empire Backpackers was open and welcoming. It was incredible to come in from the freezing rain to a warm, dry hostel with a roaring fire. They took pity on us and gave us a private room for the cost of 2 dorm beds, and the cozy bed quickly erased the days' tribulations. After the long day, we had just enough energy to whip up some homemade burgers (delicious grassfed beef is crazy cheap in New Zealand) before collapsing on that magnificent bed.

What we're missing

     We began the next day well-rested and well-fed after a leisurely breakfast. The hostel owners graciously offered to let us leave our packs at the hostel while we explored the town. And so, with light hearts and light shoulders, we set out to see the sights and find our missing host. Taking a seat outside the local library, we sent an email to Peter, hoping to hear back soon. While waiting, a young man approached Randy and asked if he was Sam. When Randy answered that he wasn't the man then asked if we wanted any drugs. Apparently, he was willing to sell drugs to anyone who isn't Sam.

A tricycle built for two

     Our next stop was a big mistake. The local rotary club was holding a "Bookarama" and we foolishly thought there would be no harm in seeing what literature was there. An hour later we were standing over our box of books wondering how we were going to possibly fit them in our packs. It didn't help that as we were culling the pile, it was announced that all books were now 50¢. 

What it lacks in comfort it makes up
in cute dog-face thingy

     Next, we lugged our books down to the local farmers' market. We hadn't been to a farmers' market since the year before and were excited to check out the local farming scene. It was late fall and the season was wrapping up so there weren't many vendors. We bought some fresh carrots, added them to our growing "luggage of the day", and headed over to the Victorian Precinct.

The closest we got to riding a pennyfarthing

Hand-crank tricycle

     It felt like we'd stepped into 19th-century Europe, complete with the occasional carriage or pennyfarthing on the street, and even some people in period costumes. While wandering around we found a bicycle museum displaying all kinds of unique and old-fashioned bicycles.

I feel the need..
the need for Velocipede!

We were a few dollars shy of being able to ride a pennyfarthing, so we set out to the nearest ATM. Tragically, while we were gone the museum decided to close an hour early, and Randy was unable to fulfill his life goal of riding a pennyfarthing

Oliphaunt birthing

It is physically impossible to make a cooler swingset

logical blow was softened by the discovery of the coolest playground ever. After running around like excited children, sampling all the outlandish equipment, some actual children showed up and we decided we should probably let them have a turn.

Hamster Holly

     In Hawaii, our host, Tane, had recommended that we see penguins while in New Zealand. Oamaru boasted two colonies of penguins, one of blue penguins and one of yellow-eyed penguins.

Industrial cast-offs repurposed
into a sweet grill and picnic area. 

The penguins...

 Besides differences in appearance, the two penguins species had different schedules. After a long day of aquatic hunting the yellow-eyed penguins return to their colony-site just before dusk, whereas the blue penguins arrive just after. Because special spotlights are required to view the blues, they charge $40 for the privilege of viewing them. They have set up bleachers, do not allow photography, and have made quite a hullabaloo about the whole thing.

...kept getting...

Meanwhile, down the road, the humble yellow-eyed penguin parades about in the daylight, granting any passersby an eyeful. Guess which colony we checked out?

beautiful New Zealand coastline

...closer...

    The viewing platforms were about 100 feet above the beach, so at first all we saw were fuzzy black and white dots in the distance that we assumed were the penguins. Soon enough penguins were coming ashore close enough for us to see their yellow eye-stripes. As twilight approached, we started to leave, but came across a lone penguin who had clambered its way up the steep hillside to within a few yards of the path.
     It was the perfect way to end our penguin-viewing, and we happily headed back to town. A

...and closer!

half hour later we were on a bench in front of the visitor's center eating gross focaccia, and a half hour after that we were in Peter's car, finally on our way to our last New Zealand stop!