Singapore

Singapore

To say I have been slacking in the blogging department would be an understatement. Since we arrived in Singapore and later Bali, I got swept up in everything around me and decided to leave the blogging for another day. That one day got pushed to two and three and finally almost a week. We have been in Bali for two days now and so I figure its time I try and log what we have done in the last week. Before I start, I just want to thank everyone for their comments on the blog and on Facebook! I love hearing what you all have to say and really makes writing this blog more fun knowing that people are actually reading it! Also, on another note, unfortunately I am unable to add pictures to the blog. For some reason the blogger site will not allow me to use pictures from my iPad. So any pictures that we do take (on the iPad) will be uploaded to Facebook as previously done. I know that pictures make a blog all that much more interesting but hopefully you can match the pictures on Facebook to the post on my blog!

So to begin, when we arrived in Singapore after a 10 hour flight plus two hours on the Tarmac at the beginning in Auckland, we had to take the MTR (train) to our "Green Kiwi Hostel".  The MTR is extremely cheap to get around and only cost us roughly $2 each to get to our hostel. After picking up our luggage (it's so nice to travel so lightly in comparison with what we came to Australia with!), we arrived at our hostel around 8pm which was 2 am Auckland time. We were tired but also were so excited to be in Singapore that we checked in and then immediately went for some dinner and Tiger beer at the local food stalls. This is where all the locals eat and holy crap was it busy! I would say there were 20+ stalls in this "food market" and we settled on a rice, chicken and veggie dinner for $2.50 plus $5 for a large tiger (two pints). After dinner we headed back across the street to our room which slept 10 people. Initially I was not too fond of sleeping with 8 others in the room but it was actually a really nice hostel and the beds and comforter were extra comfy so it was a great sleep. One of the chicks in our room however decided she was cold (even though the ac was set to 24 degrees and it was 32 degrees outside at 10 pm at night). So she turned the ac to 26 and needless to say, it was stinking hot!!  That next night I made sure the ac was set at a more comfortable 23 degrees (still quite warm obviously but much better!). That morning we woke up at 6 am (a little jet lagged) and decided to enjoy the sunrise on the rooftop patio. Even at 6 am it was already 28-29 degrees and so we were already sweating like mad. Breakfast opened at 730 and was included in our room rate of $40 a night for both of us. Breakfast consisted of gourmet coffee, two pieces of toast and fruit (oranges, watermelon and dragonfruit)... Delicious!

We had a shower and set off to tour the city at around 9 am (everything was still closed!). We thought we set off in the direction of Little India but instead we ended up heading in the complete opposite direction towards Marina Bay Sands (the building that looks like a ship is on the top and has the infamous infinity pool). So we decided to check out the hotel and holy cow was it ever insane. It was situated right on top of an insane mall equipped with a boat moat and a skating rank along with every expensive brand name store you can think of. We walked by a display case of jewelry where they had a diamond for $500, 000 and a vase for $800, 000!!! Clearly you needed money to stay at this hotel. We ended up paying $40 to take the 12 second elevator up 57 floors to the observation deck which over looks Singapore and also a view of the infinity pool (only guests can use and enter the pool area). 

After Marina Bay Sands we walked to Chinatown in the blistering heat where we roamed the stalls and ended up eating at another food court that was filled with locals (and lots of Singaporean business men/woman). I was surprised to not see more foreigners like ourselves but it seemed that the majority stuck to westernized food...boring! I ended up with a noodle soup which was delicious and Jordan ate breaded chicken and rice. Surpassingly the soup didn't make me all that much more hot because I was already the hottest I have ever been (at that point...wait until Bali!). 

 

After wondering around Chinatown for a couple of hours, we decided to start making our way back home. It was just after four when we got home and we were exhausted and so sticky!! It was a great long day and all we wanted to do was relax a little! :) That night we headed back to the market where both Jordan and I got more noodle soup..mine with shrimp and dumplings and Jordan's with beef. Of course we washed that all down with some more Tiger beer. The old woman who had served us beer the night before remembered us and brought us our beer right away. It was nice to be recognized but then I realized we were in fact the only white people in the joint on both nights! 

The next morning we woke up and had our usual breakfast on the rooftop and were out again headed to the city by 930 am. Our first stop was little India where we walked for what seemed like hours. We went to a mall where we picked up some shampoo and before we knew it, it was lunch. We ended up eating in an Indian restaurant (surprise surprise) and both ordered curry and naan bread. We noticed that the Indians around us were all eating with their hands (literally scooping the sauce onto their rice and shovelling it into their mouth). Was that ever an experience to witness...I had no idea they did that! While it wasn't entirely appetizing to watch, it is their culture and it was great to experience (in a weird way haha). 

After Little India, we headed to Singapore's technology hub-Sim Lim Tower and Market. The market is a 7 floor tower filled with stores ALL selling technology (computers, electrical gadgets, printers, iPads/pods/phones, cameras, etc.). Literally everything you can think of was in this mall...ridiculous! We went in wanting to look for a SD card for our camera so that we don't run out of room for pictures. We ended up bargaining a price of $27 bucks for 32 GB...after going into 10 plus stores. Not too shabby!

Now that we had made a purchase and gotten a rather good deal we decided to hop on the train and head to Orchard road. Regarded as one of the greatest shopping centres in Singapore if not SEA. It's insane the number of stores in a 2 mile stretch and the number of duplicate if not triples of each store. Most of the stores were too rich for our taste, or rather or budget, such as Louis Vuitton or Prada so we settled for a bench and chilled out until we decided to head home. On the way home we found a Wendy's and had some frosty's and walked home in the rain. 

That night we went to the Singapore night zoo, on the way there i kept looking over at the bus driver and was wondering if he just had really squinty eyes or if he was falling asleep...turns out he was taking a freaking nap! I started talking to jordan more loudly in hopes that it would keep the driver asleep. He would wake up and doze off for a second or two but still kept on the road thank god! I We watched an animal show and did a tour around the zoo on a "train" -basically a massive golf cart. The guide on the tour put on a fake accent to try and set the mood. It ruined the mood completely. There were lots of cool animals though...tigers, lions,elephants etc. 

The next day we walked around Singapore a bit more and headed to the airport in the afternoon to make our way to Bali! 

This has been a rather large blog so next post will be all about Bali! We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Xx

South and West Coast of NZ

Last you heard from us we were in Dunedin and had just enjoyed a wonderful sleep (with the bathroom just across the hall...with an actual toilet!!) at Hogwartz. That am we went to the Dunedin train station as we heard it was beautiful. It was nice but it was a train station. So on we went. We then went to the free museum were Jordan got his nerd on and checked out some exhibits including the famous NZ extinct Moa (massive bird that is twice the height of me) and a real mummy, that was about half the size of me! After the museum we headed to the mall to use their free Internet and check some emails. While we were on the net we got a FaceTime call from my great friend Jenn who I met in my program and is actually from Dundas, Ontario! Small world eh? We were able to chat a bit but bc both of our Internet connections were crap (she's in Cambodia at that moment) we didn't get to chat for too long! Either way, it was great to hear from my Jennybear again!! 

After our little chat Jordan and I headed out to the Otago peninsula where we heard there were albatross (in my mind, essentIially just giant seagulls). We went to the centre where they were asking $80 a person to go view these damn glorified seagulls...we said hells no to that and continued trekking on. We then decided to spend the night just outside of a town called Oamaru. We found a picnic area on the beach and hid the van away behind some bushes. The wind was insane though so we ended up cooking in our van. On the drive up the coast the next am we noticed that all the trees and bushes looked like they were frozen in place when a big gust of wind came along. We later found out that its bc this side of the coast is in, what they call, the 'Roaring 40's', the latitudes between 40 and 50 degrees south which are renowned for their gale-force winds....the trees actually are permanently wind blown! 

We then drove to Akaroa which is a couple hours drive east of Christchurch-located on a beauty peninsula. We ended up at a camper van site and did some much needed laundry! The next day we walked around the little town and had some coffee at a little shop right near the water. It was a cute French town with a relaxed feel.

That morning we continued up through to Waimate where I had read that at some point every December there was a strawberry festival that the town was 'famous for'. We decided to try our luck because it was a Saturday and whaddya know, it was on! We roamed around for a couple of hours looking at all the crafty stalls and decided on getting a couple of ice cream sundays with fresh strawberries. Surprisingly there were only maybe three stalls out of one hundred that were actually selling strawberries and the prices were outrageous (most fruit is here). We decided against purchasing any as a small box of strawberries was$9.00...for maybe 9 strawberries....crazy! I bought a little owl necklace and Jordan and I both bought a string bracelet (we are buying one from every country). 

After Waimate we continued north to Kaikoura. When we first got to Kaikoura we did a little window shopping where I actually found these beautiful winter knitted mitts and a headband.  (Note: Jordan and i ended up sending a package home with all our warm gear including jeans and sweaters...not going to need them in Asia...so that means that these are not to be worn....ok ma, char and Rah's???). Then we had a little coffee and decided to go check out the seals at the point. We hiked up the little mountain for a better view of the ocean and seals...man were there a lot of them, just baking in the sun! We stopped at a little seafood hut on the side of the road and tried some green-shelled mussels (delish but they're no pei mussels that's for sure!) and some scallops. Jordan enjoyed both which put a smile on my face-he originally didn't like seafood at all but having been in my family for 8+ years (mega seafood lovers) he's acquiring more of a taste for it! 

We had originally planned to spend the night in Kaikora at a free campsite (aka the side of the road hidden by bushes) but decided that we enjoyed enough time in this town. We stopped at Oahu waterfall where we encountered an adorable seal pup just basking in the sun. We were able to get within two feet of him-very cool! On the ocean side (across from the parking lot we saw tonnes of adult seals...massive they were!) I took 50 plus pictures and we were back on the road. 

As Jordan was driving I opened the map and noticed we were only 250 Km's or so from Nelson (aka the river bath campsite that we absolutely LOVED at the beginning of our tour of the South Island). We decided to drive up to Blenheim and stay for the night and do the remaining 150kms in the morning. Well we got to Blenheim and said scratch that, and decided we wanted to spend the night at the 'River Bath'..we arrived just before 9pm when the sun was still up! We had forgotten about the insane bugs and immediately started getting bit again. We were still recovering from our last bites here and so Jordan took a quick dip in the river and then we retreated to the van. 

We ended up staying at "the river bath campsite" for 3 nights and 3 days....totally relaxing and lots of fun! We did a little laundry in the river and swam and read during the days. There was even a rock ledge that you could jump off into the water. At one point Jordan pointed out an eel and I had a little freak out and made him jump in and scare it away. I ended up seeing it right under my feet a few minutes later when I was snorkelling (we brought our snorkelling gear) and was out of that water in a freaking jiffy.

That afternoon we decided to hunt down a DOC (department of conservation) campsite- this one only cost us $10! From the campsite there were hikes you could do. One of them led you to a beautiful gorge with the bluest water! If you know me, you know I love water and so I headed down to feel the temperature. It was pretty cold. But, I was determined to take the 100 foot ride down the rushing current to the 'beach'. Jordan thought I was completely out of my mind but after a little ( a lot) of persuasion, I got him to jump in with me. Let me tell you...it was fa-reezing!!! I felt like we were doing the polar bear dip! At the same time though, our adrenaline was just pumping because we are rushing down the gorge with the current, so while my brain and body recognized it was frigid, I was not (as) focused on that. What a rush...amazing, and best part....free! We roasted some "processed meat" (hawt dawgs) over the fire, played some cards and headed to bed. 

The next day we took off south to Hanmer Springs-a little town that's only a couple hundred Km's north west of Christchurch. We went to the outdoor springs which consisted of 10+ pools all ranging from 28-42 degrees. They also had three water slides which we made great use of! I tried to convince Jordan to keep going down them with me but he had hot thermal sulphur water on the brain! That night we spent our LAST night in the campervan at a little free campsite called Balmoral.  That morning we packed up all our gear and cleaned out the van and drove into Christchurch. 

Driving into Christchurch was not what we had expected at all! As I'm sure most of you know, shortly after Christmas (I believe February) of 2010,  the city got hit with a 7.2 earthquake that completely destroyed the town and killed 158 people. The number of after shocks that have occurred since was over 17,000!  (Keep in mind these are very little...most of which you can't actually feel). We had heard there was still destruction in the city but when we drove into the town, it looked like it had happened the day before! The destruction was incredible and we both felt this feeling as though we were in some war zone. The CBD was completely ruined with abandoned and demolished (purely from the earthquake) buildings and roads. There were fences up everywhere and so many streets completely shut off to the public as there was so much rubble. It was absolutely devastating to see...people lives, homes, business and their beloved city completely torn out from underneath them.  Needless to say, we walked around christchurch taking pictures of some of the destruction. We ended up booking a room at one of the few hostels that are left in the city. We ended up getting our own room as this hostel didn't have any mixed or woman's dorms (just men's and private rooms). That afternoon I face timed char for three hours while Jordan returned the van (yes, it took him three hours because he got lost....multiple times. It takes a woman to deal with directions evidently. :) 

That night we watched The Hobbit in theatres (we had to watch it while we were in NZ!). It was actually really cool to watch it and recognize parts of NZ that were in the film...good movie-recommended if you are a LOTR's fan. The next day we walked around Christchurch (not all that much to see anymore...and by that much I mean basically nothing). I had researched the town a little and lonely planet had revised their chapter on the city after the earthquake (because most businesses,restaurants, hotels they had written about weren't there anymore). They wrote about an old fridge that was on the corner of Kilmore and Barbadoes Street that was filled with used books! We headed there and exchanged some of our books for new (old) ones! Great idea! We then went out to lunch had a couple of beers, and headed back to the hostel for the night. 

The next am we had to be at the airport for 9 as we were flying to Auckland at 1030. It was a quick 1 hour flight and once we arrived we went back to the first hostel we stayed in when we first arrived a month ago, Queen Street Backpackers. Massive hostel. I'm not entirely sure how many people it could sleep but I'm willing to bet it was around 300+... The building almost took up an entire block! We slept that night with 6 others in the room and needless to say, didn't get a whole lot of sleep. I ended waking up just after 5 am because the girl above me was hopping around on her squeaky bed getting changed and fiddling with her bags since she had an early flight. Restless and unable to sleep anymore, I had a shower and spent the am watching a Christmas movie in the lobby. As I'm writing this I'm actually on the plane to Singapore and surprisingly not that tired (although I just took my second round of gravol so ill be out like a light in about 30 min). We are flying with Jet Star, the cheapest airline around with the squishiest seats and nothing complimentary...even though its an 11 hour flight. Once we boarded the plane they told us that the baggage count was wrong and it had to be fixed before we left. We ended up sitting on the Tarmac for TWO hours. As we speak, we've been flying for six hours but have been on the plane for over 8. Only five more to go! Jordan and i have already purchased and watched two movies and have had a $15 dinner (per meal) consisting of lamb and potatoes for me and chicken and rice for Jordan. We land in Singapore around 6:30pm (their time) and will be heading to our hostel where we will spend the next 4 days.

Well, I'm feeling the gravol start to kick in so i'll sign off here before I start writing stuff that makes no sense at all!

Till next time xx

Wanaka, Queenstown, Milford Sounds, Invercargill and Dunedin

Well, it's been a few days and I've been slacking on the blogging front so I'm going to write about the past week or so to fill you in! After we left Fox Glacier we drove straight through to Wanaka, a beautiful town in the heart of ski country. The town had such a great feel to it, reminded me a lot of Collingwood (Blue Mountain) where my aunt and Dad have a beautiful condo. Lots of little shops and overall a great town! When we first got there we hit up Puzzling World where we spent a couple of hours going through the illusion room and this insane maze that takes people on average anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour to complete. The harder version takes over 1.5 hours. At the beginning we were excited about the maze and thought we were getting the hang of it but then, not surprisingly, I started getting frustrated. However, happy to report back that we didn't give up and solved it in just over 30 minutes (it felt like hours). 

After Puzzling World we walked around the city checking out the shops and then headed to Paradiso, and old church converted into one movie theatre. This theatre is not your typical theatre! It is decked out with old, comfy, clean donated couches and even an old car that you can sit in if you so choose. Let me tell you, best movie theatre ever!! So comfortable! Not only that but we had a pizza there before the movie and then had some dessert, while watching the movie...delicious homemade ice cream! Think we're done? Oh no! Then came the intermission where we were able to purchase HOT fresh out of the OVEN cookies and beverages! I chose a hot chocolate and Jordan had (according to him) the best beer he's ever had that was made in Wanaka. Did I mention that you got to eat/drink this during the rest of the movie? Like I said, best.theatre.ever!!

We ended up staying at a DOC (department of conservation) campsite for $14 and woke up to some beautiful mountains! We then carried on to Queenstown. The drive to Queenstown was one of the prettiest of all NZ...endless snow topped mountains and beautiful yellow bushes (not sure what they are called but the sign said NZ's Golden Forest). The whole West Coast was absolutely gorgeous and we found ourselves going for little drives (taking the seniors scenic route like my parents always used to do when we were kids...I hated it!! But Jordan and I had some good laughs now that we are doing it and looking at real estate while we are at it...old foggies now!). Anyways, Queenstown, we both think, is the prettiest town in NZ...surrounded by snow covered mountains and beautiful lakes...absolutely stunning! When we got to Queenstown we headed straight for the luge (same thing we did back in Rotorua if you remember). We had such a blast last time that we just had to go again...we were the first people of the day (eager little beavers we were!) and raced the luge 5 times. Of course I won 3/5 times...Jordan only won those two times because I told him my winning move...if any of you end up going to NZ, you absolutely to have to do the luge, and then I will tell you my winning move! :) 

After the luge we hit up Makkas for some Internet and charging. While cruising Facebook my Dad told me that the fam would like to buy us a ride on a jet boat. We've heard lots about how fantastic these boats are and took him up on his offer immediately! Thank you Dad and Jen!!! We had such a great time on this boat. We went with ShotOver Jets and these boats cruise up and down the river going, at points, 85km an hour and hucking mad 360's. It was freezing out and we were getting drenched but it was so so worth it!! Little tidbit: some fellow riders (unfortunately at an earlier time) included Ryan Reynolds, Allanis Morsiette, Kenny Rogers, many actors from LOTR including Sir Ian McClellan (?) and even Sir Peter Jackson.  After the jet boat ride, for at least a day after, when we were driving our van it felt like we were drifting the corners..the strangest feeling ever...slightly nauseating actually haha but we got a kick out of it!)

After the Shotover Jet we headed back to town where we cruised the downtown area and had a few beers at this cool little bar called Red Stone where this band was playing some great Reggae music, even a little Marley! We then headed up to our campground (it had been a few days...we needed showers!!) and cooked some din. We had heard about these awesome private hot pools (a massive wooden tub). The tub is in its own room and with a touch of a button the sliding door goes up and you are looking at a beautiful view of the mountains and river! Totally gorgeous and so peaceful! We had tried to go the night before but unfortunately they were booked out so we made a booking for the next night and spent the day wondering around Queenstown again. In the afternoon we drove up the coast to Glenorchy, a small town with pretty much nothing. However, the drive to this town and when you got there was totally stunning! At this point though, we were both exhausted and ended up having a 2.5 hour nap in the van (the van isn't as comfortable as our last one when we went up to Cairns in Oz so we haven't had the best sleeps...also our damn bug bites still keep us up at night!). Anywho, that night we drove back to Onsen Hot Pools (totally recommended them). We didn't want to pay for accommodation again (we have a kitchen and bed in our van...we shouldn't have to pay!) and went south until we found a little picnic area with no signs saying we weren't allowed to camp there...we took full advantage. This little spot was right on the lake and was surrounded with mountains! If the water wasn't so damn cold we would have had a little dip and probably did a little laundry...however it was painful enough just washing our dishes!). 

The next am we took off to Te Anau, which is south of Queenstown. We did a little grocery shopping and then continued on to Milford Sounds. Unfortunately we didn't really research this area before we got there and realized after 2 + hours of driving that the only thing to do there was take a cruise that would cost us $180. We have already spent over what we had thought we were going to spend and decided against it. However, the drive up was really beautiful and I was even able to touch snow for the first time in a year!! (Of course I whacked Jordan with a good snowball as soon as I got my hands on it!). 

We ended up staying at another DOC campsite for $10 and ended up spending the whole night and next am in the van as it was pouring rain!! I have never held off going to the bathroom for so long-such an ordeal!!!

That afternoon we drove to Invercargill, the biggest most southern city in NZ. At this point it had been a couple of days since we had showered (nothing new) so we hit up the local swimming pool! Haha we were playing around in the water and on the indoor slide for hours and then headed on out of town to find a free spot to camp. We randomly saw a sign for a scenic reserve 7 km off of the main road and took a chance. Essentially just in the middle of a field with a circle of trees around and a picnic table and long drop (porta potty) toilet.  We were the only ones there (you don't say right?). That night once we had shut the lights off in the van, some kids (we think) came into our little circle of grass and started racing around in their car....with no lights on. Scared the absolute shit outta me because at that point we didn't know what the hell was going on because we couldn't see anything! The next am though we noticed doughnut tracks in the field and decided that it was just a bunch of punk kids coming in to have a bit of fun. 

We then drove (lots of driving eh?) to Dunedin, a town just 2.5 hours north on the east coast. Right away you could see a massive difference from the west to east coast in terms of scenery. Whereas the west coast is very mountainous and snowy, the east coast has more rolling green hills and flat land for farming...farming what you ask? Farming sheep...thousands and thousands of sheep! Both islands are covered in sheep but this particular area seemed to have quite a few more. Once we got into Dunedin we noticed quite the European influence. I was desperate for something Christmassy (it just doesn't feel like Xmas here!) so we headed to the mall for some Christmas tunes and decorations...they didn't really deliver all that much so we headed to the local Starbucks where we sat by the fire drinking some hot Christmas drinks (Jordan stuck with his flat white...he's now a coffee connoisseur). The kiwis and Aussies are very particular about their coffee. I remember on one of our first days in Australia, I asked for a double double and they looked at me like I was speaking Swahili. They do coffee the fancy way here with flat whites, short/long blacks, mochas, lattes etc etc...took us forever to figure out which coffee was the same as what we like at home...conclusion-there is only one Tim Hortons coffee and you can not replicate it or the price (you'd be screaming for joy if you found a coffee under $3.50- for a small that is). 

After our trip to Starbucks I researched a little bit about the town and what to do. We had heard from Isaac and Mia that you could do a brewery tour of Speights, NZ's biggest brewery. Sounds fun? Sure....now include unlimited beer in that baby! We obviously wanted to take advantage of the unlimited beer drinking so I looked up some hostels (there weren't any close campervan spots within walking distance) and I ended up finding a nifty place called....wait for it....Hogwartz!! I checked out the pics and we headed over ASAP. Best hostel we have ever been too! So unique and the owners were super nice. They even had herbs and spices that you could get from their garden if you wanted too. They also had an awesome loft that could be reached via ladder where we spent a couple of hours just lounging around while the heat from the wood fire (more comforts from home!) heated us up. We splurged on a private room which essentially came with a private bathroom...took full advantage of having a shower at our disposal and had not one but twoooo showers! Haha. Let me tell you, was I ever stoked to sleep in a REAL bed that isn't made up of six different sized cushions that you slip between the cracks in. Not only that but when I woke up in the early am, I didn't have to put on any shoes or a jacket and make the trek to the bathroom...oh nooooo, I could just walk across the hall and blam!! There was the bathroom! LUXURY!!!! The things we take for granted, oh buddyyyy. On this special night I was also, for the first time, able to wear the Pyjamas I brought with me instead of every piece of clothing I own (it's freezing every night in that damn van!). 

On an absolutely embarrassing note (maybe more info then needed but I got a kick out of it)...we've been so lax lately and hadn't really gone out in public for a couple of days (before we got to Dunedin). So we are wondering around Dunedin (super populated city...for NZ) and we finally get back to the van and i realizeeeee......that I didn't have a bra on!!! Oh man, talk about hippies to the max right? Told you I just had to share!

Sorry about this extensively long post but hopefully you are enjoying it! Anyways, that night we did the Speights brewery tour....fantastic! They make six different beers including their famous Speights Gold Medal (delish!!) , a pale ale, an old dark, a pilsner, an amber and finally an apple cider that they only started making two years ago which I helped myself to generously along with the gold medal beer. Get this, the tour guides get to drink with us butttt back in the olden days, Mr. James Speight,  would allow for each pair that worked together to drink....not 1 or 2 litres of beer but 23 litres of beer a day!!!! They had their own personal keg and they would flip a coin to see who would get to take home leftovers (if there were any, that is!). Best boss in the world...it's amazing they were able to make such a strong business that is still thriving 130+ years later! After the tour we headed to Speights Ale House Restaurant where I had the best meal of the trip....a lamb shank, mashed potatoes, peas, corn and broccoli....all for only $18 (which in NZ and Oz is an pretty decent price!). See Grampy, they do have lamb here! :) 

Once we left the restaurant it was raining cats and dogs so we decided to head on back to Hogwartz! Overall, we have loved Dunedin and we are looking forward to checking out more of the town and its surroundings. 

On another note, it has been absolutely freezing and incredibly windy down in the south. We found out yesterday that this is probably due to e fact that Auckland got hit with a tornado killing 3 (as of yesterday). Thankfully we weren't in the city (or close to it) but we will be flying back into Auckland on the 17th. Fingers crossed the tornadoes stay away!

I know it was a long post but I hadn't written in over a week so it was time to catch up! Hopefully you didn't get too bored reading it and maybe even had some laughs.

Love to all xx

Abel Tasman, Franz Josef & Fox Glacier

Alrighty, well we've had a couple of great days since our last blog. After we left the "river bath" campsite we headed north west to Abel Tasman National Park. This is a beautiful park most popular for their 3-4day hikes Up the mountains and along the coast.  We decided to just spend the afternoon there and walk along the beach. As soon as we stepped on the beach I noticed the little holes in the sand and right away knew, from my summers in PEI when I was a kid, that there were clams. And ohhh buddy were there clams. Jordan had never clam dug before so I was excited to show him how. Right away he loved it and it was a game to see who could catch the biggest one. It started off as such finding some clams here and there but then we hit the jackpot and collected more and more. I think we probably ended up with over a hundred and so that night we steamed up so delicious clams with some carrots and garlic butter and had ourselves a delicious little/big appetizer.  The black flies were going crazy over the garlic butter so we gobbled them up pretty quickly! 

 Buller River was where we spent the night at a free spot right by the river. After paying for accommodation so much we decided to start being really sneaky and try and find spots that were hidden from the road so we wouldn't get a ticket. This spot was great however this time we didn't end up swimming because a) there was a huge current b) there were tonnes of black flies and c) the water was frigid!! Did I mention there were blacks flies? These little buggers have quite the bite to them and then the bite itches like crazyyyyy for days after. We both got lit up so bad that we would wake up in the middle of the night and just itch for 10 minutes straight..not fun. We woke up the next morning and decided to hold off on breakfast and just get the hell outta there...we did NOT want anymore bites.

After we left Buller River we carried on to Franz Josef Glacier. We had heard all about this place and wanted to book a trip up to actually walk on the glacier and check it out. However because hunks of the ice were starting to fall off at the end of it, it was unsafe to walk on it, even with a guide. The only way to get on the glacier was to take a helicopter which would cost anywhere from $299 per person and up. We vetoed against that and decided just walk to the edge which was about 150 metres from the actual glacier. This thing was a monstrosity and was just beautiful! It was an hour and a half round trip to see the glacier and the numerous waterfalls that surrounded. It's the craziest setting because there is this huge ice block that just sits in the middle of a rainforest. Who knows why it doesn't just melt but it was a pretty cool experience. That night we went out to a cool restaurant called the Landing, had a delicious dinner and treated ourselves to dinner...date cake with caramel topping...reminded me of my Aunt Gina's...yum!! We stayed at a "free" (really we just didn't pay) campsite with the worst smelling port-a-potty I've ever smelt....gagggg!

Due to the fact that we couldn't walk on the Franz Josef Glacier we drove thirty minutes down the road to Fox Glacier which is actually 2km longer at 13km! This glacier we were able to take a guided tour onto the ice that was a half day trip. It was really cool to be able to walk on it and through crevasses. By the end we had enjoyed it so much that we wished we did the full day hike! There is also a tour that is a two night trip in which you get flown up by a heli, the guide makes all your meals, you stay in a cabin and you hike during the day. The price tag: $1400 buckaroonies. Maybe when we are retired and are (obviously) rolling in the dough we'll come back and do that trip! Hehe. We ended up "splurging" on a campsite so we could have a much needed shower! Today we are off further south to a town called Wanaka we our Isaac and Mia also lived for a while. 

On a side note, because we only have an iPad with us and there is no USB port, we are unable to add photos to our blog until we get the little add on we ordered....fingers crossed we get it before 2 weeks is up and we are off to Singapore! So apologies for the lack of pictures but we are trying to take pictures on our iPad and iPhone and upload those to Facebook! Ahhh technology!

That's all for now folks!

Ps. Thanks for commenting on our blogs!!  We are really loving reading all of them and get so excited to here a new one and all that's happening at home! Miss everyone!

Love Kikki and JoJo