Not many, if any

In Te Anau we stayed at an awesome hostel just outside the 'town' called Barnyard Backpackers, it had 2 woodstoves, a pool table, no bunk beds and a clean kitchen! The cottages were a bit of a walk away from the main house but it was all good. We met Cecil and Peter, who had randomly met up in Nelson and decided to drive together across the south island. They were cool, poor Cecil's car supposedly broke down and the mechanic fully ripped her off by charging 350$ for some small piece and ten minutes of labour. sad!
We left early the next morning to go to the Kepler Track.
Above the cloudline!
It was such a hard walk, 1 hr to Brod Bay and then a serious climb up Mt Luxmore, it took us roughly 2 hrs when it shouldv'e taken 4.5 hrs. we are just that fit. we only had one pack and 2 day bags so we took turns taking the massive pack. it was sooo brutal! We got to Luxmore Hutt around 230pm and went to explore the caves. We took water from a stream outside the hutt as instructed by the i-site and then after i took a sip read a poster about Giardia, a bacteria that causes explosive foul-smelling diarrhea (is there any other kind?) I freaked out, but decided it was too late to boil the water. Luckily we didnt get it! that would have been rough. Especially since the builders of the hutt thought it would be genious to put an outhouse inside the hutt on the TOP FLOOR beside the bunk rooms. ewwww. and there was no toilet paper. ewwwww. the hutt has running water and real bathrooms in the summer. gutted. Anyway, that was off topic. The caves were pretty sweet, lots of fossilised stuff, stalagmites and stalagtites i think they are called. Limestone caves. speleothem. kirk just looked that up for me on google, i already forget all the stuff i learned. i think travelling makes me dumb. I forget people's names 5 seconds after they tell me!
That night we made lamb stew with quinoa, and our little stove wasn't working so we had to use the woodstove. luckily it wasnt the gas stoves the other huts had! We went to bed pretty early and decided to drag mattresses to the fire so i wouldnt freeze to death. Another couple did the same, while the 6 others went upstairs to the bunk rooms, the hut slept 50 ppl! so big. I had the best sleep ever, i was so warm!


The next day we got up early and hiked as far as we could without crampons and ice axes. Then we when back to the hut, got our packs and went down the mountain.
Above the treeline!
We pretty much ran down, took us just over an hour to get down. Then stopped for a snack and walked the last bit and collapsed beside the car in the parking lot 2 and a half hours after we started. we were so dead.
We drove to Slope Point straight away, stopping only for groceries. Twice, because we saw a countdown and had to see if lollies were cheap. and we spent probably 100$ on food. oops! worth it though.
We drove through Invercargil and got to slope point around 630pm. Yes, we drove the scenic route at night, genious. The lonely planet guidebook recommended 2 hostels at slope point and one of which was already closed and for sale. Luckily the farmstead hostel was open, we had to go to the farmer's house to sign in, no doors were locked! so random. there were 4 other people in teh kitchen when we got there, cecil and peter were there! they have the lonely planet book too, as did the other couple. we all had rooms to ourselves it was awesome. made a great dinner of venison sausages fried with potatoes and onions with steamed broccoli. Black forest chocolate for dessert. Watched some more 'how i met your mother', just for something different and went to bed around midnight. we took the heater into our room (from the kitchen), but it heated using lights, so our room was bright, but it was worth it to have some warmth. Woke up around 9am and left the hostel at 10, we drove through the catlins today, stopping at nugget point, kaka point, owaka just for gas, slope point (where you had to walk through sheep pen...) and a few other random places. i must say i wasn't that impressed with the catlins, the gorgeous west coast scenery has spoilt me! I miss snowy mountains.
Windswept trees at Slope Point
Now we are in Dunedin, staying at a little hostel just outside the town centre that has a sauna and spa pool. yessss i cant wait to use them. Our room has no bunk beds either. sweet. The plan for tonight is a Speight's brewery tour and then tomorrow Cadbury World. Stoked.
LOVE!