Road to Queenstown Pt3

After getting a jump start to get off the ferry we where on the home straight. only 3 quarters of the south island to go. I put the foot to the floor and the lazy automatic struggled us up and down the winding roads of the south. The boot was packed with luggage and the interior of the car was also overrun with cloths, shoes, bags and computers. but the views out the window was amazing and the roads where built to be driven slowly, The car hardly revved over 2000 rpm the whole time as economy was the aim and time was no real issue.
We headed straight to christchurch where we found our casino. We lost ourselves some lunch money chasing the dream of a five star hotel with room service on speed dial. We had not washed in two nights and where wearing the same cloths we had left Mount Maunganui in all that time ago, but the casino welcomed us in with wide arms as a homeless mans dollar is worth the same to them as a wealthy mans.
We spent that night in the car again in order to balance out our losses.

Road to Queenstown Pt2

The next part of the journey takes us to everyones favorite NZ city, Wellington. We arrived here late in the day and the sun was already set, We parked up and had a walk around, trying to find a casino to gamble away what little money we had left. Fortunately we where unable to find one, and we settled for a fruit machine in a small bar with a few pool tables. I bought a bottle of Corona for $9 and sipped it as slowly as I could to make it last the duration of 4 pool games. We had already decided we would be spending the night in my car and Ian new the perfect place for us to camp. We drove ten mins from the city center where we found a lookout which was a perfect place to rest up for the night. Sitting in the warm car we reallised we had no food and were all starving, there was nothing we could do as it was late and food was far away, so we talked as much as we could to take our minds of the hunger. Rinsed our mouths with mouthwash as we had no water to clean our teeth and eventually fell asleep.
The next morning we got moving before the sun was up, mostly to get the heater working as the cold night air had crept its way into the car during our sleep. With four of us in the car it was one of the worst nights sleep I have ever been through and I was glad when the car was eventually switched on and the warm air slowly filled the inside, warming my stiff back.
We parked up in wellington city and used the public toilets, getting back to the car we had our first and only major dilemma, sitting in the car with an hour to spear before our ferry left for the south island I turned the key to get us started. Nothing happened, I tryed again with the same result, the battery was flat! I ran to the nearest hostel where the man behind the desk gave me the number of the ferry while Ian called the roadside assistance. In true movie style we where told it could be up to an hour wait, this would make us miss the ferry and I was unable to get hold of the terminal to try change to a later departure. We waited 40 mins before the car was jump started and we sped off toward the water. We arrived just as the cars where boarding and where able to breath slowly once again.
we slept the entire ferry ride as the night had not provided us with enough rest to continue our journey.

Road to Queenstown Pt1.

We left the mount at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, delaying our leaving as long as possible as non of us where happy to leave the place we now called home. But eventually we set off on our epic road trip to find ourselves a mountain. The plan was simple, point the car in the direction of Queenstown and drive until we can touch ourselves a mountain called the remarkables.
The journey took three days, 3 and a half tanks of fuel, plenty of fast food, and hours upon hours of general conversation. Our first stop was 'Bollys' house. Ian had wanted to go back here after his 2 week stay and when we got there I could see why. The place was amazing, all hand built by the owners there was two log houses, one for living in and the other for cooking pizzas and bread, there was also a wooden shed which was lived in by the family while the house was being built. A short walk up the steep hill behind the house revealed an amazing view of the distant mountains and as far away as they where we still had further to travel, Already overwhelmed by the beauty, cold, and sense of freedom we had we where not even half the way there.

Quality

Sorry about the poor quality vid, the blogspot comptressed it, what do you expect from a free website, Tisk.

NZ Video 1

Made this video from clips scraped together from Ians and my camera.

Music by Iron&wine which sums up the pace of New Zealnd, sit back, relax, and enjoy.

A coulpe more vids left to come, one about life in our house in Mount Manuganui and the other about the epic road trip down to Queenstown. Hope you enjoy this vid as much as I enjoyed filming it.

Kiwis kiwis kiwis

The kiwi packhouse, despite being the most un-thrilling job I hope ever to have was in fact a real interesting place to work. The amount of people the packhouse employed was less then others which gave the place a good vibe. I really enjoyed getting to know all the people here.

The majority of employes where travelers earning money for the next step of there journey, it was great to work with them and here there stories and a shame that the next step of our journey would take us all so far from each other, some heading home, some to bali some to Indonesia and some, like me, where off to find work somewhere else in New Zealand.

Back South

Looking forward to the trip back to the south Island. Here are some pictures from our first visit to the south taken from Ians camera.

Goodbye to the mount

These pictures are from mount manganui. I have been living here for a couple of months and like many others have called it home. The memories I will take from this place will hopefully last forever, the work has been hard but the people and the place has way outbalance the long hours for little cash I have saved. I hate to say goodbye but with the areas seasonal work over I have to move on to find work, Origionaly planning for Mt Ruapehu as it is closer and a cheaper place to live but I soon changed my mind and heard the call of Queenstown, the best place to party and snowboard in new zealand, the bright lights call, and I will answer.

I will miss a lot about this place and hope everyone I have met here go's on to lead a great life.