Kristen writes:
There's quite a lot to catch you all up on.
Leaving Goat Hills Station was very difficult. We very quickly came to love the family we were staying with, the beautiful farm, the delicious meals, the musters and tractor driving.
Still, we did have to move on and after a night in Christchurch we picked up a rental car and headed west across Arthurs Pass. We took a couple of days to go down the west coast. Seeing Franz and Fox Glaciers was pretty incredible! Standing at the base of a mountain of ice quickly makes you realize how small you are. The landscape along the coast is so dramatic and such a change from where we've been on the north east corner of the south island.
We turned in our rental car and met up with Andy, a friend we met at Goat Hills Station, in Queenstown and had a personal tour guide for our trip through the south.
And what a tour guide he was! We went four wheeling through the most beautiful countryside through all the changing colors of the trees. Of course we sort of killed Andy's Land Cruiser in the process but we take no responsability for that. It caught on fire before we ever got in it!
We stayed at another Station called Mount Burke with friends of Andy who were kind enough to put us up, feed us and then lend us a car since Andy's had bitten the dust. It was great to stay warm and cozy inside as the rain poured steadily for several days.
Then we all went on to Milford Sound where we learned that they had had a meter of rain in the last four days! It made for wet sight seeing but the most incredible and dramatic scenery yet! Waterfalls coming down on absolutely every side, in every way and place they could. It was incredible!
From there we drove on through the lakes, enjoying the mountains, the lakes and the drive.
We ended up at Andy's parents in Timaru for the last night of our southern tour before a very early morning drive up to Christchurch. We made it just in time to catch our train to Blenheim!
So, now we're in Blenheim again with the ever incredible Speedy family.
From here our plans have us taking the ferry to Wellington, renting a car to get up the island to Aukland, taking time to bike around where and when we can. We're getting used to going with whatever comes our way as everything about this trip seems to change with who we meet and all people have offered us.
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Hello Girls, I can hardly wait to see pictures of these last couple of weeks. It all sounds so exciting and beautiful. You've been so many places now. I'm wondering if Australia can even compare. I'm sure it will hold it's own wonders, but NZ sounds like it's going to be hard to beat, in so many ways.
ReplyDeletehey guess who... Its MICAH!!! sounds like you guys are having alot of fun. How did that land cruiser catch fire? any way love you guys. Micah
ReplyDeleteI'm with Micah - I want more info on the fire! Details, please! :) Aunt Aleta
ReplyDeleteOkay. I just read it for the second time (or is this the third read-through?) and my heart is thumping wildly in my heart. What happened here? How did I become the old stay-behind guy? Just yesterday I was flying off on my own adventure to China...Where did the time go? And amazingly my Getupandgo went off somewhere with the time, I guess! Well, there's more than one of us that would like to be with you meeting new people and seeing new sites and having adventures.
ReplyDeleteMama, Micah and AAA
ReplyDeleteI admit being a little bit worried about AU too, I know it will be great in it's own way but it's got a lot to live up to what with all that's gone on on these small islands.
We weren't there when the land cruiser caught on fire and it didn't catch on fire again while we were in it- just overheat and die a horrible death. The mechanic might not have put the lid back on the right thing or put it back on right. I think Andy knew a little bit more about it than us but not a whole lot more.
I wish that all of you could experience trips like this again. At some point on this trip we've thought of each of you and realized you would love what we were doing at that time. I hope the pictures and stories will at least give you a peak into some of what you are missing until we can be with you in person and plan a trip that we can all go on.
KRJ