I'm content to lie peacefully

Cathedral Cove
Sting ray bay
Hot Water Beach
DUMB T-bar
Whakapapa ski field

First stop on the North Island was Hawkes Bay for some wine tasting, stopped at a Paua Factory to get some souvenirs. Slept just outside Hastings. The next day we went to no less than 9 wineries. Salvare, Trinity Hill, Ngatarawa, Matariki, Te Mata, CJ Pask, Vidal, Church Rd and Mission Estates. Salvare was good, they had olive oil and salad dressing tastings too. And Dukka. Dukka is a dry Egyptian dip that changed my life. Its a bunch of spices and nuts blended together. Unreal. You can dip your bread in oil then the Dukka or just put Dukka on everything from eggs to sandwiches. Yep, did it. One little jar cost 11$ but I will learn to replicate it. Most of the wines were good but none beat Wither Hills Sauv Blanc. We went to Te Mata Cheese factory and got 4 blocks of goat brie for 4$. Bought crackers and had a sweet lunch. Arataki Honey Visitor Centre was good too, heaps of honey samples. I felt a bit sick after. I wanted to eat enough manuka honey to enjoy the antiseptic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. We drove to Taupo and slept at a tree and park bench area. There were a thousand camper vans there. Its crazy how in the North Island you can literally camp anywhere whereas in South island every place has a sign saying "no camping, no overnight parking". Glorious.

After a solid sleep in and eggs and bread we drove to Whakapapa to board. I almost died on the T-bar. Such trouble for boarders! I almost lost the bar and had to hold on for dear life with my arms wrapped around it all the while Kirk laughing and yelling out things like "You are so awkward!". Thanks, buddy.

Slept near Tongariro crossing and awoke to cars honking as they drove by at like 5am. Ugh. Why? Drove to the Tongariro Crossing (it was supposed to be the only sunny day all week) and it was cloudy and miserable. We did half the crossing and climbed to the highest point. we were warned that winds could reach speeds that could blow us off the mountain. Sweet. we climbed in trainers, shorts and fleeces. Ghetto! The view was amazing, when the fog cleared for a few seconds. We could have walked the whole thing because we knew a guy on the other side, but we decided it wasn't worth it and turned back.

Rotorua was just a short hour drive away. We camped just outside town and went to Zorb in the am, basically they put you in a ball and roll you down a hill. Sadly, it was raining so you couldn't do the dry zorb. I will have to go back! We went to see Agoventures too, all the activities were too expensive though. We visited Kerosene Creek thermal pools (FREE ONES), and it was great until we got out and it was rainy and yuck with no hot showers or a place to change.
We drove to a free campsite just outside Te Kuiti and stayed there for the night. Awoke to 100,000 cars driving past to get to the bush walk nearby.

We drove to Waitomo caves and did a blackwater rafting trip! SO fun. Repelled into the caves, walked through some glow worm caves and climbed through tiny holes where you had to keep your hands out front and squirm. I felt a bit claustrophobic but it was cool! We did some tame whitewater rafting in inner tubes through the dark caves which was actually pretty sweet. Had hot juice and dairy milk and then rock climbed out of the cave. There were 2 American girls in our group, and our guides were Brandon (SO funny) and Stacey (training). We got hot soup after and bought our photos for 20$. Brandon took some funny photos where he did something to made the lens have longer exposure and would shout MOVE to we would move out of the photo and it looked like we were ghosts.

Final destination before Auckland was Hot Water Beach where you dig a hole during low tide and it fills with naturally hot water. It was awesome! So relaxing. But I was filthily sandy and when you are freedom camping you don't get to shower. Yuck. I survived though. Quickly drove to Cathedral Coves and did the walk. We went to Gemstone Bay, Stingray Bay and the Cove. It was a nice walk but pretty terribly made steps.

Camped about an hour outside Auckland that night and drove into the city in the am. So strange to be in a big city! We stayed in a City Lodge hostel in the small, artsy district of Parnell. I was gutted to find prices had risen to about 30$, whereas it was listed as 20$ in Lonely Planet circa 2008. Luckily, the owner took pity on my frugality and offered me a caravan out front for 50$ cash. DONE! It was awesome, kirk could pack his stuff easily and we basically got a private room with heating for cheaper than dorms. Love it. We went out for fish and chips but ended up finding a nice Indian restaurant that had a 2 for 1 entree deal. We got Lamb Rogan Josh, Chicken Tikka Masala and naan. Not nearly spicy enough but was yum. Got 2 glasses of free wine too. I had to run to an atm for cash and when I paid the guy charged us for the entree, apparently you had to choose either free wine or one free entree. But it wasn't made clear to us so I argued and we got it free. I felt bad after, but at the time I wasn't going to let that fly.

Our hostel had free internet so we finally sorted out funds, we spent SO much money. I don't know where... well mostly on adventures, lollies, chocolate and booze. As we were sorting funds I went to make hot chocolate and found the hostel owner holding all our (labelled!) food and wine. He said he didn't see the label on our wine (its a very expensive bottle, we got on sale), so I showed him where my name was written and he was like 'oh ya another Hannah just left so I was going to save all the food for her' riiiight. I snatched it back.

The next morning I took Kirk to the airport where we had a tearful goodbye and then I got lost driving back to Auckland. Decided to just go straight to Taupo and board at Turoa where I have a season's pass. It took about 5-6 hours to drive. Sucked to drive alone. Gorgeous day though. I slept in the car in Ohakune and was scared that some crazy would come along and murder me. Woke up every few hours.

At sunrise I drove to Turoa and was one of the first to arrive. The only person without a 4 wheel drive. You could rent snow chains up the mountain but I didn't need it. I accidentally left the lights on while I prepared to board and killed the battery. Flippen heck! I went to board and it was awesome. Best hill in NZ by far, out of the ones I went to. Decent park, great snow, express chair to the very top had comfy seats and the foot bars to rest your board on. NO OTHER HILL HAS THIS! Wild. I loved it. Lots of double diamonds were there (aka cliffs and I accidentally went off a few, missing my helmet). Met some cool people and had a great time until I twisted my knee coming off the chairlift. My boots are about 3 sizes too big and without someone to tie them tight for me, my feet slip out so it was bound to happen. I was gutted and got in the car and drove back to wellington. I was going to stay and board until Sunday but I was in pain and knew I should rest. I will have to go back later to get my money's worth of my seasons pass. Oh well, its nice to be home in my own bed and catch up with the Chapmans. Unpacking is going to be rough! Stuff is everywhere in the car.
Back to reality.

Not sure why blogger won't let me move my pics around, sorry they are out of order etc!
LOVE!

I'm in love with things you can't define

Wow its been so long since I last posted.
We didn't do the Speight's brewery tour because it was full, lame. We ended up just making dinner and then chilled in the hot tub and then watched a serious movie that had Mr. Bean in it. Weird!
The lady working in Cadbury World was rude so I didn't want to do the tour. We bought fruit all sorts though and they are my new favourite candy! We went to Baldwin St (World's Steepest Street) and ran into our friends from the Te Anau and Slope Point backpackers.
So steep
Drove all the way to lake Tekapo after that and slept in the car. Woke up at sunset to see the lake. It was ok, nice mountains etc and a cute little church.
Lake Tekapo church
As we were driving to Mt Cook Village we spotted this amazing lake with a great view of mount cook. it made Lake Tekapo look like a flippen piece of crap!
Lake Punekaiki rocked my world
In Mount Cook village we were told the track we wanted to do was too dangerous due to avalanche risk so we did Sealy Tarns instead. It was a tough climb and the path quickly became snowy and unclear. As we were eating lollies at the top of the track and looking out onto the Tasman glacier and Mt cook I thought to myself that I will never forget that moment. Deep.
Mt Cook is so hot right now.
We drove to Fox glacier and slept in the car again. We went really far out of our way (we were meant to be heading to Christchurch, not backtracking to the West Coast), but it was because the weather was going to be sweet and we reeally wanted to do the Copeland Track up to welcome flat hut where there are thermal pools. The next morning we signed an intention form with the i-site and started the track. It was so rough. The pack was heavy and I rolled my ankle a bunch of times. It took us about 6 hrs to get to the hut. So brutal, but the thermal pools made it awesome. Sadly the stove was to be lit with coal, and sparingly. Kirk sparingly used most of the coal and the hut was still so cold. We went to sleep early. I thought I was going to die of cold. But it wasn't so bad. The guys downstairs were so loud as we were trying to sleep, they were like bulls in a china shop.
Thermal Pools by Welcome Flat Hut
The next morning we hiked out and it took just 5 hours. Drove to Greymouth and stayed at our fave hostel, Global Village. Finally caught a west coast sunset. Went on the Montieth's Brewery Tour. It was great, we got decent amounts of free booze and got to try all their beers (and a cider). The 2 girls on our tour were South African and SO funny. They told us about a great lama trek they did in Kaikoura (made friends with their lamas...) and how they are such grannies. Love it.
Drove to Kaikoura the next day, had some fish and chips, also tried mussel and scallops, not good! Slept in the car by the water, but a cop pulled up and wee decided maybe it was too central and moved to a spot by some public washrooms where 2 dirty wicked vans were also parked. The next morning we went to an Anglican service, we were 2 of 8 people present and the youngest by approximately 100 years. Weird.
We went out to the peninsula for brekky and then drove to Marlborough to taste wine. We went to Montana, Wither Hills, Villa Maria, Fromm, Wairau River and Cloudy Bay. Wither Hills had an awesome 2000 Pinot Noir and The Best Sauvignon Blanc of my life so we went back and bought it at the end of the day. Villa Maria had a fab Reisling and lunched on pizza and a cheese plate at Wairau River. It started to pour and we drove to Picton to sleep. A man pulled up beside us at the lookout where we intended to sleep and proceeded to guzzle unknown liquids. It was sooo awkward and funny I was laughing hysterically at this parched man and then Kirk informed me teh windows were open. We left. Ended up camping (finally used the tent again!) beside a farm and walked to some public washrooms nearby where a strange man on a bicycle was hanging out. I couldn't sleep well because I was scared he was coming for me.
Took the ferry to Welly the next morning. I accidentally booked Welly to Picton but luckily there was room for us on the Picton to Welly and it was leaving at the same-ish time. Watched like 9 episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Barney just kills me!
We met up with Tracey and Jade for feijoa tea and had dinner with Josh and Katie. Made lots of treats and fell asleep watching Burn Notice. Woke up early to finish laundry and start our North Island trip!