The traveling continues

So I am still with Steve and Kevin from my australearn group. The car is small. A starlet toyota, the car is packed full. I, being the smallest, ride in the back with the seat that is left. The food sits to my right as well as the blankets we use for sleeping and my bag, which takes up a seat itself. We eat PB&J for breakfast, tuna and crackers for lunch, and beans and crackers for dinner. We also snack on trail mix (called scroggin here) and weet bix. We normally sleep in a tent, sometimes someone sleeps in the car. We just recently bought pads, helps insulate for heat, but we are still lacking sleeping bags. We use two comforters that they swiped from a hostel in the beginning. We camped on a DOC (department of conservation) the first night, the side of the road for the second night, and on a lookout (marked for no camping) the third. The second night it rained, but other than that it was pretty good camping. A couple of nights ago it was so windy the place where we pulled off that we all slept in the car. Cozy very cozy.

30-1-10 (this is how they do the date, day, month, year)
We went to Glenorchy and hiked part of the dart river up to "sandy bluff." We got some tuna for lunch and drove to Te Anau, took around 3 or so hours. It was dark by the time we got in so it made it a bit more difficult to find a place to camp. We drove into a campsite and they wanted $20 each so we drove on. Found a lookout to camp for the night. I ended up in the car, freezing my feet off.

31-1-10
We were running a bit low on gas... it takes around $75 to fill up our tank, and we needed to stop at the i-stop (their information center) for some hikes to do. We were advised to take a small portion of the Kepler track. We walked from Rainbow Reach to the Muturau hut. The hut was on a beautiful beach that we rested on before we made our way back. On our way we learned about bogs and how important they are as well as learned that birds nested near the track so we had to guard our heads. No birds attacked us, but the walk was beautiful. There was moss everywhere on the ground and on the trees. It looked unreal. The trees were tall and we got these nice views of the river on our way to and from. When we got back we went to the local YHA and journal and ate some lunch. We go to the YHA often, looking for free food and a good clean up, as well as fill our water bottles for our next journey. This YHA was very nice and had an outdoor patio which was nice to sit on and enjoy the beautiful day. We eventually hit the road and headed to the Catlins in a town called Balclutha. We did not find any camp sites and the i-stop was closed so we stopped at a rest stop for the night. It was super windy and no one wanted to step up the tent so we ended up sleeping in the car. I didn't mind, I had a (Charlotte would call it a nest) in the back with my bag and some extra cloths.

1-2-10
We explored Catlins today. We went to a petrified forest, Curio bay, where there were old trees in the low tide. We saw a dead stoat and got to listen to a little rivalry between the aussies and the kiwis. We had lunch on a lookout over porpoise bay, I swear the sea gulls were going to attack us. We saw some sea lions playing down at the water. We explored what is called the Niagara falls, which was a big joke wasn't even a falls.... Then on to McLean falls, which was pretty sweet and really tall. We climbed all the way up. We also went to another falls, which I can't spell from memory. The Gypsy trailer was really cool, a bunch of random stuff in a van that a guy had set up for people to interact with. Lots of turning things, some shells in the water which made a really cool noise, as well as nick naks and stuff. After that we made our way to Jack's bay to see Jack's blow hole, which was not active or not sufficiently entertaining couldn't really see into either. The boys chased some sheep and we had dinner and drove until dark (9:45) and camped at a rest stop. All of the stuff in the Catlins was pretty much off the side of the road, or a 20 min walk.

2-2-10
Today we woke up and finished our drive to Wanaka. We stoped in Queenstown for some free internet to book our day of travel when we get back to the cultural program for australearn before school. We made it to Wanaka and explored the puzzling world... crazy place. Lots of illusions and puzzles. There was also a giant maze, which the boys finished within a half hour and it took me a little bit longer... The sun was really hot and I was dead at the end. We went swimming outside in Lake Wanaka, which made me remember all my lovely summers in Tahoe. I wanted to go wakeboarding so bad. The water was wonderful after the hot day too. Now we are enjoying what the hostel has to offer, made some dinner, doing some laundry and playing a couple games of pool. I will drive tonight towards the glaciers hoping to get somewhere near so we can walk the lake matheson. It is supposed to be beautiful mirror image of the glaciers above. I'm sure it will remind me of my great summers in Alaska.

The country side is beautiful. There are loads of sheep and lots of cattle as well as huge red stags. We drive fast and blast music and cruise through the countryside. There are not many people on the road and sometimes when we drive by sheep we honk. They throw their heads up really quick and sometimes run. Listening to the same CDs because there is no radio... anywhere. I'm having a great time and loving my experience. Hope all is well wherever you may be. I'll be having a smile on my face and the wind in my hair thinking of silly things that remind me of all of you.

Jamee