New Zealand Wanderings, Part 2

Where oh where to begin ... I've had so little intnernet access, so I am way behind on the "where in the world is Mandy" catch-ups.

New Zealand has been wonderful to travel around, and perhaps one of the most tourist-friendly places I have ever been to. They have (I think) government-run tourist offices called "i-site"s in nearly every tourist center, and generally the people are super genuine and friendly. It would be an easy peasy job for me ... they don't work on commission so just genuinely want to help people! But I am not job-eligible, so that is a moot point. I'm just glad they've been here to provide any and everything tourists need to know.

We've been sleeping in Subi. I think we've spent about 30+ days in the car, and about 15 days in hotels since we left Auckland. We worked out that we're spending less money doing this (and our hotels have been nice ones, not ghetto budget ones) than we would have if we'd just stayed in backpackers the whole time. And after sleeping in the car, we appreciate the creature comforts of the hotels that much more.

We had an uneventful Christmas, just took the ferry to the South Island. Shortly after, we volunteered at a music festival for a week over New Year's. It was a lot of ridiculous work, as we got there about 3 days before the rest of the volunteers. We worked our arses off, building a fence out of tree branches, hauling felled trees from the forest, going on a mission to collect flowers and plants for decorations, creating said decorations, it was madness. We worked a lot. But after we had our fill, and the other volunteers finally showed up, we took off to have some fun. It rained on New Years Eve, but we did have a few rain-free hours, and I got to dance outside under the stars. We also had a good time exploring the area around the festival. It was atop a place called Takaka Hill at Canaan Downs, and was full of sheep pastures, hills, dry river beds, more hills, more grass, the occasional river with a waterfall, just heaps of beautiful scenery, so it was easy to escape the chaos of the festival.

After we left the festival we passed through some highly over-rated areas and some nice surprises too. We've found fantastic places to camp, surrounded by pine trees with the sound of the ocean to wake us up. We got attacked by sand flies near the top of the South Island, so have decided to stay firmly away from the West Coast, where they like to hang out the most. We're in Christchurch now and are pleasantly surprised by this quaint city.

But suddenly, the fact that my visa is up in 4 weeks has crept up on us, so now we need to think about what to do next. We need to sell Subi soon, but are having a few minor issues with him so have to figure out how best to sort that out. We're working on it. And my visa issues are beginning to be a pain in my bottom, but again, we're working on it.

I hope to update again soon. In the mean time, I hope everyone had safe and happy holidays and are so far enjoying 2009. (2009!? Already?! How did that happen?)

Oh by the way, photos are here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205645&l=ade86&id=791230081

and here:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=207415&l=1f939&id=791230081