G'day!
The ferry ride to the south island is the windiest thing in the entire world, and horribly smelliest. Besides that, really pretty, with groovy lounges inside & documentaries about global warming and horses.
Basically the further south we go, the better it gets. It's a little overwhelming. We took a long long long hike through Abel Tasman Nat'l Park, then went off to the northernmost point, Cape Farewell, which is bloody fantastic, i mean incredibly beautiful. Watching seals glide gracefully through the water, surfing waves & frolicking, then clumsily hopping and hobbling on land... most adorable.
It seems we're just romping about joyfully - now on vacation compared to the sort of 'job' that Fluffy was, as fond as we did become of her! (Someday when I upload pictures you'll see the fancy paint job we did on her - to us, a masterpiece). Gertie here, on the other hand, is fully functional and cruises. Still, what we gain in speed and smoothness on the road is a trade off in terms of compartmental space... after all she really is a minivan charading as a camper :) just takes an extra amount of organization we're working on getting used to!
Oh! we got to watch the election coverage at a sports bar here in Nelson, with surround sound of like 15 different TV's, which folks here were quite interested in as well. Complete with beers and a basket of fries... woohoo! Most people we've talked to here seem quite relieved with the outcome. We've also been hearing about several elections happening this week in other pacific island nations, and NZ's own are tomorrow! Helen Clark has been PM for 10 years (3 terms) and it looks like she'll get the boot, and they'll swing more conservative for a bit, National party style. Interesting hearing kiwis talk about it - it's slightly comforting to know that NZ politics is messed up too!
Now we're poised to set off southward along the west coast, of which we've been hearing endless tales of magnificence... glaciers meeting subtropical jungles, jade and green stones everywhere, marble cliffs, rocks like stacks of pancakes, caves, lots of waterfalls, more hot springs, and such.
And we've had a fellow traveler join up with us - Dave from Holland celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday when we met him & brought him along with us (he's been taking buses & hitchiking mostly)... really nice, fun guy, to us he seems like our dear friend Adam Fisher's long lost twin brother, and it's so nice to have the extra company.
(yes, my dear father, we're being careful)
And we love you.
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3 comments:
You clearly bring better luck to the people of NZ than Julie and I. We were there when the Iraq war started and you were there when Obama was elected. Lucky you!
i was wondering what was going on down there, and realized i didn't even need to ask. i could just read all the details here. nice work on the blog. hope its as awesome as it sounds.
greg, i was amazed at how many normally conservative states made a big change this time! go NC, FL, VA, & PA!
and tom, hey! it's about time you came on over to the blog that's really happening!! ha ha, i was wondering about you. hope you're well, and yes, it's as awesome. probably more so, since it's difficult to convey just how awesome. take care.
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