Super Bowl...Monday!

Courtney (and the 40 or so other Americans in the bar) got a taste of what Lee goes through living in the US - watching major sporting events at strange hours!  In this case, it was on a completely different day!  We found a bar called 'Pub on the Wharf" right on the lake, and a stone's throw from our hostel, to watch the Super Bowl (or "Superb Owl" as it was called by some Englishman when we asked where we could watch it).

The game started at noon on Monday and we decided it was a good excuse to treat ourselves to some good food and a few beers (Lee will use any excuse he can get).  The bar was packed and we ended sitting with a group of New Yorkers who treated us to some pizza after we told them our poor backpacker story, haha.

After the game and several beers later we retired to the park outside for a little nap in the late afternoon sun - not a bad way to watch the Super Bowl!

Nap time

Later on we met up with Kate and Lizzie, our travel pals that we met on the first few days of our trip, for a few more drinks and to discuss plans for Australia.  We have a pretty similar itinerary so we're planning to travel up the east coast in Australia together which should be fun.

All smiles after the Saints win

Fiordland and Milford Sound

After an overnight stop in Christchurch we carried on down to Queenstown, the self-proclaimed outdoor adventure capital of New Zealand.  Given that we'd already risked life and limb on a couple of occasions further north we decided to take it easy in Queenstown for a few days.

One of the places we have been really excited to see in NZ is Milford Sound.  There's only one (expensive) hotel in Milford so the only other option is to do a day trip from either Te Anau or Queenstown.

Now, some of our previous updates have mentioned the incredible scenery around the country, but Milford Sound and Fiordland take the cake.  It takes about 4.5 hours one-way to get to Milford from Queenstown so as you can imagine we weren't too thrilled about the prospect of sitting on a bus for that long.  However, the route down there is amazing, taking you past farmland, lakes, forest, waterfalls, and through some pretty spectacular mountains.

On the way to Milford

Once in Milford we hopped on the Milford Encounter Cruise (www.redboats.co.nz) which takes you out into the sound for a 2 hour cruise.  The cruise was awesome.  The setting is truly spectacular and we even saw a pod of 20-30 dolphins and some NZ Fur Seals.  

Fur seals having a sleep

Out on the Sound

Dunedin - Edinburgh of the South

From Kaikoura we went south to Dunedin.  Dunedin is Celtic for Edinburgh and that's why it's referred to as the Edinburgh of the south.  We stayed at the Stafford Gables YHA which is an old Victorian building on the edge of the downtown area.  It was a bit of a hike from the bus station but worth it as the building is very cool ( a former hotel I think) and it has a great rooftop deck that has great views of the city and the harbour.

Keith: Entertainer and Beer Expert.

We didn't have much time here (only stayed overnight) so we had to choose what we did carefully.  After a bit of research over a cup of tea we decided to head over to the Speight's Brewery for the brewery tour and tasting.  Speight's is a local NZ beer that has been brewed in Dunedin for well over 100 years.  The tour and tasting coast $20 ($18 for Court as she's a student.  Lee tried for the "Senior" discount but they weren't having it).  The tour was great.  Our guide Keith was very knowledgable and tons of fun - we would definitely recommend asking for him if you go on the tour.  Aside from his vast knowledge of Speight's beer, Keith is also apparently in the entertainment business and in his time has met all the greats including The Beatles, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and.....Max Bygraves! (our older readers may remember him ;-P).  He also let us pour our own beers for about an hour after the tour.  Cheers Keith!

Wine and Seals in Kaikoura

First stop in South Island was Kaikoura, a beautiful little beach town with an amazing mountainous backdrop.  We spent 2 days there in a place called the Adelphi Lodge.  We've been staying mainly in YHA hostels as the standard is generally better than other accomodations down in our lowly price range but the YHA was fully booked so we settled on the Adelphi.  Clean, well-appointed and modern are all words I would not use to describe this place however we scored a private room for only a couple of bucks more than a dorm so we were willing to deal with a bit of grime.

Kaikoura is home to a large seal colony where seals go to hang out, sleep, and have babies so we went to check it out.  We cycled out to Kean's Point on our Adelphi-supplied bikes (just as old and dusty as the lodge but free so we weren't complaining) and visited the seals.  It was pretty amazing.  When the tide is out you can walk right out onto the rocks and get within touching distance of hundreds of seals.  We were fortunate enough to see a few pups and one of them, a curious little fella, even came right over to us to check us out.  Very cool.

Kaikoura Winery Tour

In the afternoon we headed out to the Kaikoura Winery for a tour and tasting.  The winery was built on an old sheep farm and there are some incredible views of the ocean from the main building.  Our tour guide even gave us some binoculars so that we could look at the sperm whales that were swimming just off the coast.  The wines were pretty good, we liked the Sauvingon Blanc the most and decided to purchase a bottle to enjoy with dinner.

Kaikoura Beach.

"It's like a cruise!"

 To get to South Island you have to cross the Cook Strait.  It's about a 3 hour journey with some pretty amazing scenery along the way.  Courtney was surprised at the size of the ferry and remarked "ooh, it's like a cruise!"  I think she was expecting a wooden raft or something.

 

Sheep making the crossing to South Island...and probably someone's plate.

View from the ferry.

Windy Welly

It's been a few days since our last update (sorry!) but we've been on the move pretty much every day so it's been hard to find time (I know, wah wah such a hard life we lead, haha).

Anyway, here's what we've been up to over the last few days...

About halfway through our NZ stay we realized that 3 weeks is nowhere near enough time to see this place.  You could spend 3 weeks on just one of the islands and still not see it all.  We've agreed that when we come back (and we will be coming back!) that we'll need 5-6 weeks minimum to do it right.

1am bus rides are no fun

So, pressed for time with a lot of ground to still cover, we decided to get the 1am bus from Taupo and head south to Wellington.  By taking the overnight bus we saved a few bucks on accomodation for the night which was a bonus.  The downside was that the bus was packed and it was pretty tough to get any sleep.  Nonetheless we arrived in Wellington at around 8am in the morning not very bright-eyed but pretty bushy tailed and ready to see the sights.  Our plan was to spend just the day in Wellington before catching the 6:30pm ferry across to the South Island and staying the night in the little port town of Picton.

According to our Loney Planet guidebook, Wellington has a lively cafe scene which was handy as we were in dire need of some caffiene so we decided to look for a spot to grab a coffee and a bite to eat.  We found a great little place called Espresso Republic on Featherston Street that had an eggs, bacon and toast special for $6 (that's a steal in NZ!).  It wasn't the best day weather wise - Wellington is often referred to as "Windy Welly" due to the strong winds the city often gets - so we decided to skip the popular cable car ride and headed straight to the National Museum, Te Papa.  Admission to the museum is free so we didn't have to pull any funny business like we did in Auckland.  The exhibits in the museum were all great although pretty random.  They had everything from Maori history and culture to penguins, birds and whales.  The strangest thing though was a 20 minute "show" that featured what appeared to be random video clips of daily life in New Zealand through the years.  It was set in an old antique shop (or something similar) and in addition to the clips we were treated to lots of different objects moving around and making noises (think Disney's "It's a Small World" ride but on a much, much smaller and less creepy scale). 

After the museum we treated ourselves to a curry at Little India on Cuba Street.  Delicious and a nice change from the usual PB & J.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city and taking in the sights before heading to the harbour to catch the ferry.

 

Jeremy, look what we found in Wellington!

 

They like to diversify in Kaikoura

Mopeds and wooly sweaters

Quilts and eggs.  Why not?

I'm buying a power tool.  I also need....freshly dug potatoes.  One stop shopping.