Day two: In which I feel like my tongue is tied in knots.

Before I start another post. I wanted to apologize for any typos or misspellings I might have. I find it difficult to write long pieces on my IPad, and I often miss a word that was autocorrected.

 After a late start (We had to see Michael's model trains, and the village he built his fiancée when he proposed) we were on the road again!

Along the way we made numerous stops to dance, for lunch, and of course to take pictures! I also got lessons throughout the day on how to pronounce  Maori words since the majority or town and street names are in Maori; Eketahuna, Mt. Ruapahu, Turangi, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu. I have a lot to learn.

Shortly after clearing the beautiful Manawatu gorge, and driving through Palmerston North (finally, something I can say!) we started along the desert road. This is one of the few areas outside a mountain range, that routinely get frost. The area is bushy, and shades of brown. It should not be gorgeous, but it is. The land looks flat, but the bush is deceiving and the road twists and turns through small hills. Snow capped mountains rise to the right, and dark, devious-looking hills rise off in the distant left.  The landscape has a gothic beauty to it, very different to the rolling green hills and sunshine that is often seen.

Eventually we hit Lake Taupo. We were going to spend the night at Stephen's  family holiday house(very similar to our northern cabins), but decided once we got there to keep going to Matamata.  Unfortunately it was growing quite dark, so we were unable to see much of anything (as demonstrated by a few failed attempts at "Eye Spy" ).

Finally we got to Matamata!!! After much hugs, squee-ing, a bite of pizza with my dear old flatmate Ruth. It was time for bed.

Road trip day one!

Uffda, finally have Internet for a bit.

On the ninth, Stephen and I loaded up his little red car, which is named "Trever", to start the EPIC ROAD TRIP! We have actually been planning this since before I bought my plane tickets. It started out as just joking around about road tripping around the north island, but then I thought, hey, why not make this actually happen? So it did.

We left Christchurch around 9:30, heading up state highway 1 towards Picton to catch our ferry. I've been up the east coast before when my friend Kaitlin and I took the train to Kaikora and Blenheim, and highway 1 runs a similar course as the railway. However, this time we had the option to stop and take pictures at will. The east coast is beautiful, rolling green hills, white-topped mountains in the distance, ocean to the side. Mmmhmm, this is Anna's happy place.

Despite my unwillingness to leave the Kaikora area, we managed to get to Picton early. We snagged lunch in the park with everyone else who was waiting (really, there's nothing else to do in the little town), and wandered the shops for a bit. Picton is a tiny little town nestled among green hills(by stephen's definition, mountains for this Minnesota girl), that seems to solely exist for the two ferry companies to shuttle people,cars, trucks and trains to and from the north island. I mentioned trains because we actually parked Trever on the train deck right on the tracks. I didn't realize it was common to transport trains by ship, but I guess it must be.

After getting Trever all secure, we were ushered up to the passenger decks for the 3 1/2 hour journey. I spent the first hour out on deck soaking in the scenery. The ship  must weave through the fjords before getting to the ocean. Though chilly, we had perfect sunny weather. It.was.beautiful. My descriptions won't do it justice, so you will have to wait until I am able to upload pictures. After we cleared land, Stephen and I went below and took a brief nap. Unfortunately we were part of a rare sailings that got chosen to practice fire drills with. While we didn't have to do anything, the ringing alarm bells and running crew members did not make for a restful journey.

We made it to Wellington just as the sun was setting. After off loading Trever, we set it along the  Wellington coast line. Wellington is a rather large city by New Zealand standards, but it is dispersed through hills and along the coast making it seem much smaller than it actually is. Stephen shared with me that the initial settlers had bought the land sit-unseen in England and were quite dismayed by the land and how it looked like it would be impossible to build dwellings on. But they managed it, and now it is the capital. Stephen and I stopped at a fondue restaurant that a friend had recommended, we had smoked cheddar and chocolate. Mmmm, delicious. After dinner, we went for a walk along the beach and up through town. The Wellington nightlife was bustling. Despite it being winter, every restaurant had packed out door seating. Sadly, we did not have too much time to explore, we still had to get to I our next stop. On the way out we drove by (almost into) the "Beehive" which is their government building. It was much smaller than I expected, but I forget that they cannot build buildings very tall due to the earthquakes.

We drove over the kaitoke range to get to Masterton. The clear skies prevailed and I spent most of the trip looking up out my window wishing I knew Southern Hemisphere constellations. We stopped at a look out at the top and spent a long time just staring up. It will be interesting to see this drive during the day time, as I could not tell you anything that we passed.

We got to our friend Michael and his fiancée's house in Masterton late evening. After staying up late to catch up, it was time to hit the pillow.

Wow, looking back, I can't believe that was all in one day. It seems like it should have taken us a week just to get there.

No pictures again. Sorry, trying to respect Internet allowance.

First week!

Sorry for the lack of updates. My friends have kept me running nonstop since I got here! But here is a recap of the past few days.

My flights were smooth sailing until my already-short-stop in Sydney was made even shorter by a delayed plane, and a medical emergency. The crew on the LAX-SYDNEY flight got me a seat close to the doors, and security bumped me up to the front of the line, but it was still going to be a close call. Except after my full out sprint to the gate, I find I out that they are delayed. Ah well, at least I got my daily exercise,

Sadly, while I made that plane, my luggage did not. After a long discussion with the baggage enquiries (most of it was discussing differences in the American vs. British English, and how to say Arkansas), I was set to get my bags later that night,  phew! Stephen picked me up at the exit, and the adventuring began!

Lacking a definite plan, we wandered the city. First impressions of my dear Christchurch is that they rival Minnesota in road construction right now, and there are too many empty lots where buildings have been torn down. But it is still vibrant, hopeful, and full of terrible drivers.

We ended up in Riccaton Bush which is a small park/preserve in the Riccaton area. My memories do not do justice to how green the cities and park are. Even at the end of winter grass, trees, bushes, plants even flowers flourish! Sadly,I didn't take much pictures of our walks on the first day. But Stephen and I did manage to get a rueda done in the bush. That will be compiled with videos taken each day of this trip as we dance ourselves around the country.

Day two saw me stolen by my friend Scott for the week. We went out to Taylor's Mistake which is a inlet  that I have actually been to before. To get there we had to drive out along Sumner beach, which is one of the places most effected by the February earthquake. The road winds along cliffs lined with shipping containers to top rock fall, house above us are still half on and half off the cliff, construction is everywhere.  We hiked along the maintained trails for a while before going off road (calm down Mom and Oma, this is allowed). We shimmied down a hill to ocean level and climbed up and down the rocks that have fallen into the ocean. After exhausting ourselves hiking, we headed back for a night of board games.

Day three I spent the day with Stephen again. We had planned to go explore city center since Stephen had not been there since it's recent reopening either. During my last trip, I had spent some time going in and out and walking around the center. I thought I was pretty familiar with it. Now it is unrecognizable, the only way I know I am in the same place is by the street names. What buildings have not been torn down and made car parks, and blocked up with shipping containers, or are abandoned shells, leaving comparably few buildings in use. The air is filled with sounds of construction, orange cones scattered everywhere, and walking proved difficult since we often had to change sides halfway down the block. But this was not a hopeless place; they are rebuilding, people have turned ruins into artwork, we had lunch at a food cart in a pallet pavilion, and a strip mall had popped up made out of shipping containers among other things.

Day four started with a bright and early wake up call. Okay, early for everyone else, sleeping in for me,
Scott, Stephen and I loaded up and drove out to Akoroa peninsula. Last time I had been out there was my very last night, when Scott kidnapped my flat mates and I and drove us to the top of a mountain to look at the stars. This time we were in the daylight, so I was able to appreciate how beautiful the area is. Akoroa is basically a bunch of hills/mountains and valleys where lakes, or the ocean come in. Scott's future family-in-law own a farm along one of th hills, so we stopped there for lunch. I'm pretty sure it is my dream farm. Set along a wooded hillside that over looks the bay, their beef cattle run free, plants bloom all year around, and their house can almost sustain it's self. After lunch we went down to the town Akoroa and walked along the jetty. Akoroa is in the midst if changing to accommodate cruise ships. The ships used to stop closer to Christchurch in lyttleton harbor, but after the earthquake they are unable to anymore. Now the pressure is put onto the sleepy town of Akoroa.

Ack! Time to head out again. Sorry for the lack or pictures, I didn't want to abuse my Internet privileges

And so it begins...again

Here we go again! Back to my favorite country in the whole wide world. I will be spending three weeks in New Zealand this August. Starting in Christchurch, the main focus of this trip will be a road trip across the North Island. Of course, that does not mean that I will not be exploring more of the South Island too!
Exact details of my trip are not cemented quite yet (It's hard to plan day-to-day activities when you're halfway across the world), but here's a quick over view of what I do know I will be doing!

 On August 9th my friend Stephen and I will be departing Christchurch in the wee hours of the morning. We will head up the coast line to Picton where we will take a ferry to Wellington (the capital!). Our original plan was to spend a day or two there. But the friend we were going to stay with is out of the country. Regardless, we will spend a few hours exploring the city before heading to Masterton for the night of the ninth.

In Masterton we will spend the night with a dear friend of mine who actually came to Minnesota to visit a couple of years ago! For some strange reason he decided to show up in February, in a blizzard. Thankfully he enjoyed the snow, while I was a bit more put out.

From Masterton we will head up to Lake Tuapo where Stephen's uncle has a cabin. We will spend a night there and do some hiking around the lake.

By August 11th we will have reached my old flatmate's Ruth's house in Matamata. We will spend 4-5 nights with her. Matamata is also known as Hobbiton because that is where they filmed the hobbit village for the Lord of The Rings movies.

After leaving Ruth (If I leave Ruth?) we will head back down to Masterton for a night, back across the ferry, and back to Christchurch on the 18th.

While I am in Christchurch both before the road trip, and after. We plan on making some day trips out to the Canterbury plains, maybe a trip down to Queenstown, and I will be couch surfing from friend to friend so I'm uncertain of more concrete plans.

I am not certain when, or even if I will be able to keep a blog. But I will be writing every day and if I cannot upload it during the trip, I will upload it when I get back to the United States on august 24th.