Sunday

After a beautiful drive from Abel Tasman we stayed in Greymouth for the night. We discovered a few tapes in our rental car and found one we are taking back with us. It was a tape of covered number one hits from the 80’s and 90’s. But the tape does not have whole songs, it really only has the chorus and one verse. That night we went to a very nice pub where they played 80’s music videos.

Monday

We drove to the glacier today. We were upgraded at the place we are staying at and now have a kitchenette in the room. We decided not to pay 200 dollars to walk on the glacier and decided to do a hiking trail tomorrow where we can see the glacier from. We played bingo and did not win anything.

Tuesday

It rained this morning, but cleared up around noon so that we could go on our hike to see the glacier. The hike was ridiculously hard. It was kind of like rock climbing up to the glacier. The itself was beautiful and in the end we were happy that we made it to the end. However, the hike down was full of slips and falls down the wet slippery rock we climbed up. Our spirits were a bit broken.

Today

We drove to Queenstown.

Thursday-Sunday

We started our backpacking adventure today! We spent four days and three nights in Abel Tasman National Park. It was a mix of rainforest and coastal areas. The first day was a little wet, but our rain gear kept us dry. Throughout the whole track we stayed in huts along the trail. They were very nice because they had bunks and heaters. Not having to bring sleeping mats and a tent has made our loads much lighter. The second day was sunny and beautiful, and the third day was wet and miserable; our rain gear decided to stop being waterproof. The last two days we met a nice Idahoan who is studying in Christchurch for the semester on the trail. We welcomed the conversation he offered us and told him to drop by if he ever comes to the bay area.

The rest of our trip

Sorry we haven't posted more often, but we have been busy having fun.

Wednesday

We broke down today and went to Starbucks for breakfast; they were the only ones in Christchruch that served normal drip coffee. The closest thing we’ve found is a espresso with added water: an Americano or as the kiwi’s say, a ‘long black.’ Before leaving we visited the cathedral, it was really pretty. An old lady with a hearing aid problem showed us around. We then started out our road tripping portion of our vacation and drove to Nelson. Driving on the left side of the road was really freaky, but we both got the hang of it and have not yet had any close calls (knock on wood). We tried to go to Founder’s brewery, but found that it was closed. It was located in a park that is made to look like an old town. It was dark, misty, and super creepy. We then went to a very homey pub and drank the best beer we have had yet on our trip.

First and Second Day!

Hello!

Our 15 hour plane ride was a bit uneventful. We watched Star Trek, slept (with a little help from some sleeping pills), and Kent enjoyed a Hindu meal. We arrived into Christchruch around 9 am on Monday morning. On monday we went to the art museum, art centre, and Canterbury museum. Unfortunately the camera was out of batteries so we couldn't take any pictures. We are going to try and recreate all the fun we had yesterday today and take pictures. Today we are going to go to the Botanical Gardens and hopefully the Christchruch Gondala. Hopefully we remember the camera and we will post pictures.

Kat and Kent