The road is long...

A quick highlight of our story so far in NZ's South Island:

Day 1: We arrived in Picton after cruising over on the Interislander ferry. Fresh off of the ferry, we needed to hire a car. With this being high-season, we knew we'd probably paying a premium over the advertised 'from' prices. Luckily, we happened on a bargain, and managed to scoop our Nissan Sunny for $30NZ a day. From Picton, we drove via a small B road to Havelock, and from there, to Nelson. We called Kath in Havelock, and luckily they took enough pity on us to offer us a bed for the night... our lucky day! Before going to the Merritt's, we grabbed a bite of Fish 'N' Chips in touch - Southern King Fish, much nicer than Cod/Haddock in my opinion! Oh, and since arriving in Sauvignon Blanc country, we've discovered we're rather fond of this NZ delicacy!

 

 

Day 2: We headed to Motueka today, with a goal in mind... a Skydive! Luckily it was a beautiful day, and after arriving at the Skydive centre, we managed to secure our jumps for roughly an hour later (are you reading this, North London Scamdiving Club?). So, the jump... well, it's fair to say we both absolutely LOVED it, and for those not lucky enough to be in the plane with us (hi Dad!), we have enough video and photos to bore you to absolute tears, when we arrive home. It was all very seamless and calm, and after a brief 15 minute flight over Abel Tasman, we arrived at 13,000ft, next up the door opens... and the next thing you know, you're perilously dangling outside the plane. Within seconds, you're dropping through the air at 120mph, with your brain on absolute overload (I seemed to make weird hand gestures??). As an experience, it's probably the best thing I've ever done, and despite what you may think, it bizarrely doesn't feel that unnatural, there's no gut wrenching/stomach churning effect... you just float on a cushion of air that forms beneath you. 50 seconds later when they pull the chute, you're reminded just how tranquil life can be, maybe due to the adrenaline dump, that's still coursing it's way through your veins? It's so quiet, so gentle. Awesome. We then drove up to Kaikerikeri, where we stayed near the beach... we fell asleep at about 6pm that day heh!

Day 3: Well, with us living a hard life of late, we decided to head to Kaikerikeri beach for an hour or two this morning, beautiful beach. After some brief relaxation, a gentle swim (in the 'fresh' sea), we missioned on. Next stop? Greymouth. We'd read prior to setting off in LP that from Westport to Greymouth is one of the 'top 10 driving roads in the world', and being in a Nissan Sunny we thought it would be a shame to pass it up... after all, a car like this was MADE for these twisty roads! Before we got to Westport, we saw two girls with puppy eyes (and later realised were German, and sported hairy legs) thumbing a lift, it was one of my ambitions to offer a ride to some hitchers (after Miranda made me continue past a couple I wanted to pick-up only days before), and I won't be picking any more up! I'm not sure if we smell like they do... but fork me, it was A/C off and windows down!! Anyway, after dropping them off and recovering (I nearly passed out), we hit the road ((hi) Jack), and it didn't disappoint... every bend we cruised through was a 'WOW' moment, check out the photo's... they probably describe it a whole lot better than I could.

Day 4: We're heading to Franz Josef glacier now, so more on how we get on later!

Finally, we uploaded (pretty much) all of our photos today, so be sure to take a look. Again, sorry we haven't been around a lot, but the NZ internet system, or lack of, is prehistoric. I mean, if Bolivia has free WIFI in hostels, why the hell don't they have it here?

Much love, world peace, etc