G'day from Oamaru!

We've been pretty busy and on the go most days since we left Blenheim. When we last posted i think we were in Nelson, in some bad rain awaiting to see if we could book anything for the Abel Tasman. Well, whilst in Nelson we did go to a bone carving workshop and both produced something unique to us and were told about their meanings from the Maori belief. It was good fun, a nice small group of 6 (including us) and everyone came up with something very different. It took a good part of the day, we started around 10am and we left around 3pm so a good amount of time to go from drawing to actual carving around our necks! We didn't spend much time in Nelson in the end, we were keen to get to Abel Tasman before the weather turned bad. We managed to book ourselves onto a 2 day freedom kayak which allowed us to get dropped off at the furthest point north (Onetahuti Beach) and then kayak back over the two days to Marahau. It was an early start for us, making sure we were at the centre by 8.30am with all our gear for the two days, including cooking equipment etc. It was shocking the amount of stuff you need, like a tent, roll mats, gas cooker, clothes, sleeping bags, food and the rest! I think we were both a little worried that all the stuff wouldn't fit into the kayaks; either that, or we'd sink! The morning was taken up largely by learning about how to roll out of the kayak and get back in (in case of big waves or a killer whale coming close and causing waves), safety, routes and then an intro on the water into paddling and how to control the kayak with and without the rudder. We were let loose after being dropped off by water taxi at Onetahuti, when we were keen to get across to Tonga Island to see some of the seal colony. As it was low tide, most seals were either out to sea or resting (aka being lazy) on the warm rocks high up above sea level. We were lucky enough to see some pups playing near the water edge and some adults looking vaguely interested in all the passers by!

After a good day of paddling, we set up camp at Bark Bay which was probably about a third of the way down on our journey. It was really relaxing and special to be lying on a beach watching the sun go down, in almost quiet. The only downside was the continual presence of sandflies which were definitely making their presence felt over my exposed skin!! The second day, thankfully the sun was still shining, but as we'd been told that some stronger winds would be moving in during the afternoon we thought it best to get at least over half way before taking a break. We covered about 6km in about and 1hr15m which was pretty quick, about time for a rest on another beautifully golden sandy beach! The next few hours we spent criss crossing between the islands and land, seeing some sort of sting ray glide underneath the kayak in one of the bays which was a really nice surprise, before eventually sailing back to shore for a pick up and a shower!

We drove down to a campsite at Kawatiri Junction for the night to get as close to Greymouth as possible so we could lessen the drive the next day. We stopped briefly in Murchison, visiting the isite and discovered that the longest swing bridge in New Zealand (over the Buller Gorge river) wasn't infact free to cross. We both decided that it probably wasn't worth it so carried on down the road to Reefton where we picked up info to get us to the abandoned gold mining town called Waiuta. It was 20km of narrow, hill hugging road up to the remote town/village. When we got there, we were suprised at how little was still standing, however considering the circumstances of why it became abandoned in the first place, it did make sense. Following the war and two shaft disasters, the town was abandoned almost overnight. Now all that remains are 5 buildings and surprisingly some people live in them!! there's even a rugby pitch there. It was very odd. We made it to Greymouth for a rest overnight, ending up playing Connect 4 and UNO into the night!

Having initially thought that Hokitika could be a good place to spend the day, our expectations were met with reality of a small town entering winter time. A lot of shops were shut, but we made it into a few of the Jade shops to look at some of the carving. It did seem a lot more commercial than we'd hoped, but it was still interesting to see them at work and to hear that you can only find jade rocks/boulders in the south island in New Zealand, mainly down the west coast. From Hokitika we blasted the long journey down to Fox Glacier. Many people had said that the glaciers were both similar but that Fox was generally quieter. As we weren't planning to spend lots of money on walking onto/into the glacier, we were happy to find that there weren't many people walking to the glacier front. The landscape around the glacier was pretty spectacular, huge landslides, beautiful cliff faces, the ever meandering river that flows out from the glacier. The rate at which the glacier has melted since the 1700's is pretty depressing, yet the glaciers (Fox and Franz Josef) are both advancing. This is due to snow patterns about 5 years beforehand, as the glacier cannot instantly respond to weather changes. Haast was our stop for the night, out of the rain and cloud, we were glad to be in a hostel again rather than our tent! We met a Scottish guy just out of uni bicycling his way around the South Island (very brave considering the hills and weather!) and a guy from Deal in Kent too. It was nice after a while to have some Brit sense of humour and not to be hearing the German accent!

Wanaka was the next destination of our drive, a small ski town right by Lake Wanaka which despite the weather was still impressive. We stayed in a place called Wanaka Bakpaka, a great relaxed place with comfy beds, even in the dorms! We were lucky enough to be sharing the room with a guy called Steve, from Bournmouth, and not so fortunately with some crazy irish girl, who came in at 2am screaming "shut the f up" at Steve who was snoring!! She told Dave the next day that if he did it the next night he would be black and blue. How pleasant! She didn't seem to understand that earplugs were essential in backpacker living! It was a relaxed stay in Wanaka, a few walks and of course, a trip to Puzzling World! 4 rooms of illusions and puzzles, complete with outdoor 2 level maze! It took us about 35 mins to complete it and get ourselves out of the maze so we were pleased with that. I think I was the more excited going into Puzzling World, but once in, Dave was like a kid in a sweet shop, he couldn't stand still for a moment! After 2 days we decided that Queenstown beckoned, but in reality, once we got there, we were starting to wish we'd stayed in Wanaka. Besides the extreme activities you can do, like throw yourself off a bridge (with a bungy one would hope!) or parachute from the top of a mountain, there wasn't a great deal to the town. We did however make sure the first thing we did (besides get an enormous burger at Fergburger) was get onto the Luge again! It wasn't as extensive at Rotorua which was a little disappointing, but we still had fun racing past unsuspecting kids and elderlies going at snails pace down the mountain side!

The next day we packed up the car and headed to Arrowtown, a small gold mining town, now mainly made up of a highstreet of cafes and slightly upmarket shops. We were hoping to find our fortune, gold panning in the local river. However, our attempts were fruitless, we never found the elusive golden nuggets and walked back to the isite feeling a little hard done by! It was a very quaint little town, almost like Whitstable or Holt, definitely better than Queenstown! From there, we did a lonnnnng drive to Dunedin, which we hadn't intended to do but as time was on our side we made a new plan and headed for a little piece of Scotland. We both liked the city, it had more of a history and something going for it in Dave's opinion!! It had plenty of galleries which added a bit of culture to it, and seeing some proper brick and stone houses, it almost felt like the UK again. The Speight's brewery, which we did a tour of today, looked like something plucked out of Birmingham, although i'm sure the street was much steeper than anything Brum has to offer! Speaking of steep roads, we walked up the steepest road in the WORLD today, officially! Baldwin St. We even encountered a little hedgehog half way up, obviously very thirsty and then proceeded to cross the road, thankfully avoiding the traffic!

We're now in Oamaru for the night, we had been hoping to see some blue penguins but at a price tag of $20 each it was a bit extortionate! We will continue our search of penguins on beaches for free! We did however see the Moeraki Boulders, further down the coast which were beautiful yet odd. They were only in a small section of the beach and looked like huge cannon balls strewn across the sand. They were almost like small sections glued together by a yellow resin, some slowly crumbling away.

Our last leg of New Zealand travelling will be back towards Twizel and up to Mount Cook. From there we'll hopefully make it into an observatory (after countless attempts) before getting to Christchurch on friday.

We hope you are all well and enjoyed a nice, chocolately easter weekend! Lots of love, David and Rachel xxx