Hello!
We are in the little town of Te Anau right now as we just got back from hiking the Routeburn Track. It was AMAZING!!!
First, we spent to nights with the Flemings. Dr Tim and Marilyn Fleming are friends of Ned's granddad's and they spend 6 months out of the year here - yep, I have already decided where I am going to retire :) They were the SWEETEST couple EVER!! We rode bikes with them on this path that runs along a crystal clear river. It was shaded by trees and we stopped in little towns aling the way for scones and tea - it was like a movie! So idyllic! Then we had a delicious lunch at a place called The Packing Shed - it's an orchard run by an Irish man and his Kiwi wife. They run a little cafe there and that is where we had lunch. We had a"toastie" which is basically a grilled sandwich - like a pannini or grilled cheese. The Kiwi's add "ie" to the end of everthing - it' s so cute. Examples: sunglasses = sunnies. Running shoes = runnies (my fave); postman = postie, and the electrician is a "sparkie" :) haha, cute huh?!
Miss Marilyn has an amazing garden in her backyard so we ate like kings and queens there - she picks all the veggies from her garden and makes dinner from her own backyard everynight! Jessie and I helped her dig up potatoes, picked chard, corn, celery and squash - it was so fun! (Catherine, I know understand why you liked working in Cupcake's garden so much!!) Marilyn also makes preserves and jams - DELISH! She taught us how to make plum jam - Jessie and I helped her from start to finish and I have decided I want to be a jam maker, professionally :) Everytime Marilyn turned her back, Jessie and I were licking the bowl and the spoons, etc hehehe it was SOO good!! I think I could live off plum jam! The reason it is so good is because they pick the plums from the orchard in their neighborhood so the plums are perfectly ripe! She only uses half the amount of sugar the recipe calls for bc the plums are so naturally sweet. Anywhoo, obviously I am obsessed :)
We left the Flemings on Sunday morning - we were sad to leave, they are like our Kiwi grandparents! - and drove to Te Anau. Early Monday morning, we took a shuttle from Te Anau to the Divide which is the trailhead for the Routeburn. The Routeburn was so incredible! There were so many different kinds of landscapes in just 3 days. The 1st day - you feel like you are in the move "Fern Gully" - with lots of moss, streams, water falls - you feel like a little fairy is going to fly out any second :) That night we spent the night at the "McKenzie Hut" - whch was amazing!! So much nicer than the Mueller Hut we stayed in last week :)! And we had better cooking utensils so we ould actually eat hot food. We met some funny older Kiwi guys who started singing Georgia on My Mind when we told them we are from Atlanta. Day 2 was incredible too - you get above the "bush line" or tree line so you are walking along the ridge line of the moutain and you can see two rivers, the Tasman Sea, and several moutain ranges!! It was breathtaking!! That night we slept in the "Routeburn Falls Hut" which was sweet also!! It was right next to two waterfalls. I slept next to an old Japanese man who woke up at the crack of dawn and preceeded to triple bag his entire contents of his pack bc it was raining. I didn't think there were that many grocery bags in existence. My personal fave was when he would not like how he had wrapped his shoes or something and REDO it. The sound of crunching grocery bags at sunrise for an hour is not very pleasant :) We were so lucky the rain held out til the last day as it's the shortest leg of the walk and it's mostly under tree cover. It looked like a fairy tale too. Any of you out there as obsessed with "Twilight" as I am ( I just finished the 4th book, tear.) I thought Bella and Edward might come flying through the trees :)!
Once you reach the end, you have to take a shuttle back from where you started so we had along day of bus rides...so as you might guess I was about to vomit for like 4 hours. We had a bus driver who was driving the moutain roads like a bat out of Hades. Jessie was like - "what does he think this is? Indy 500?" I was too green to answer :) Foretunatley, the leg from Queenstown to Te Anau was much more pleasant :) So today we are enjoying not having 40 lbs packs on our backs and are just taking it easy! We are going to decide what to do for the next few days and them mom and dad fly into Queenstown next Tuesday! We are so excited to see them!
I miss you guys!!!!!!!!! Love you!
Alley
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Dunedin, Catlins and Mt Cook
Hi!
OK! So once again I have waited too long to update - sorry!
Last I told you guys we were off to Dunedin - on the way there we stopped at the Moerakai Boulders - they are these sphere shaped boulders on the beach. They are SO cool!!! Perfect dome shaped and they are HUGE! We had an awesome time playing on them taking lots of pics with us jumping off them. We are so cool.
Dunedin is a college town - The University of Otago - is there so there are lots of young folks and cafes, restaurants, etc. The highlight was going to a real live RUGBY GAME!! We saw the Highlanders vs the Crusaders - the Crusaders are from Christchurch and the Highlanders was the home team! It was REALLY fun to see. They sell 4 packs of plastic bottles of beer - so cute :) We took advantage of the good exchange rate that night...After the game, there was a concert that all the students stayed to listen to so we figured we'd check it out! And all the Kiwi's were like Oh my god - you haven't heard them before?? This will be a REAL Kiwi treat for you then! And all these people were going nuts - one guy in front of me who seems to not have heard about deoderant yet and must have had his fair share of 4 packs that night - kept falling all over me everytime the band did anything! So, much to Jessie and my surprise the band was TERRIBLE!! hahah - it was hysterical! I think we should send some American bands over here so they can have an American treat :)
After Dunedin, we drove to a region called the Catlins. It's a pretty remote area - with several things to see like really old, beautful light houses on the coast. And my favorite were the "windswept trees" at Slope Point. It is SO windy there that the trees are almost parallel to the ground - so cool and eerie looking..
We drove on to Invercargill which is a port town. Our plan was to do a 3 day hike on Stewart Island starting Monday but on Sunday night it hailed and sleeted (PS - it's Summer here :)) the wind was howling and blowing so hard it woke us up!! Soo - the lady at the Stewart Island info desk was like - you'll be waist deep in mud if you go...and due to our lack of rainproof clothes we decided to move on :)
So up to Queenstown we went - Qtowm is on a beautiful lake and is surrounded by mountains - no wonder it's a super popular place! We didn;t stay long as we knew we'd be back to Qtown soon. We went up to Mt Cook Village to do a 2 day hike called the "Mueller Hut Hike" - on Wednesday morning we didnt care that the weather wasn't so great , we were getting stir crazy to get outside!! So the lady at that info center was like" The Mueller hut hike is like climbing stairs for 4 hours. The winds are coming pretty swiftly in a southwesterly direction, which is right at you, so it should be pretty unpleasant for you." Awesome, way to get us pumped , lady.
So we were pleasantly surprised - we had OK weather and the winds weren't bad - we just din't really stop bc it was too cold when we stood still!! She wasn't kidding about it being straight up. Kiwis don't seem to be into switch backs as much as we are :)
Once we got to the top you could see all kinds of glaciers!! It was INCREDIBLE!! So the last hour of the hike is in snow with amazing views of Mt Cook and the surrounding glaciers...pretty sweet :) Then we arrived at the hut, which our guides had described as "nice" - remind me to write them a note about that. The Mueller Hut was the coldest place I have ever been in - for real. Pretty sure it would have been warmer sleeping on the glacier. Jessie and I don't have camping cooking untensils - we just pack cold food when we hike. Eating cold noodles in a freezing cold hut when I am wearting every single piece of clothing I brought was pretty miserable. We are buying cookware today - lesson learned :) We played cards with a few guys we met up there which was really fun and we woke up to see the sunrise which was really pretty with the sun shining off the snow!
Oh, I want to mention the toilets. Yes. The warden of the hut gives us the ground rules and part of her speech includes instructions on how to use the toilets complete with a diagram. the diagram has a hiker sitting on the potty and then has pictures of pee going into the front section of the toilet and a PICTURE of "poo and paper" going into the back section of the toilet. Amazing. I really enjoyed that part. Oh, they don't have TP up there. Thank goodness for the route map - best $2 I ever spent :)
After watching the sunrise and enviously starting at all the people melting snow in their pots to make HOT tea, we headed down - we were slip sliding all the way down the snowing part which was pretty funny :) We thought we'd be in the clear once we reached the non snowy portion of the track. Jessie proved that walking on mud is more difficult than snow. She tumbled several times as I tried to hide my laughter. My favorite was when she decided walking in the grass would be easier - and fell in a hole and went rolling through the grass. I was dying but trying to act like I was concerned hehehe I am a mean big sister. Jessie accurately described the hike down as the "stair master from hell " - it was a doozie on our quads! We are walking around like fools today, limping and wimpering when we have to bend down :)
I am totally just being silly about all this - the hike was REALLY awesome and I am so glad we did it!!
Today we are heading to Alexandra a small town outside of Queenstown to visit Ned's granddad's friends who live here for part of the year! I am excited to meet them!
Then we are headed to an even smaller town of Te Anau where we will begin the "Routeburn Track" a 3 day hike that we are SUPER excited about!! More to come on that!
Sorry for such a long update, congrats if you got all the way to this part :)
LOVE, Alley
OK! So once again I have waited too long to update - sorry!
Last I told you guys we were off to Dunedin - on the way there we stopped at the Moerakai Boulders - they are these sphere shaped boulders on the beach. They are SO cool!!! Perfect dome shaped and they are HUGE! We had an awesome time playing on them taking lots of pics with us jumping off them. We are so cool.
Dunedin is a college town - The University of Otago - is there so there are lots of young folks and cafes, restaurants, etc. The highlight was going to a real live RUGBY GAME!! We saw the Highlanders vs the Crusaders - the Crusaders are from Christchurch and the Highlanders was the home team! It was REALLY fun to see. They sell 4 packs of plastic bottles of beer - so cute :) We took advantage of the good exchange rate that night...After the game, there was a concert that all the students stayed to listen to so we figured we'd check it out! And all the Kiwi's were like Oh my god - you haven't heard them before?? This will be a REAL Kiwi treat for you then! And all these people were going nuts - one guy in front of me who seems to not have heard about deoderant yet and must have had his fair share of 4 packs that night - kept falling all over me everytime the band did anything! So, much to Jessie and my surprise the band was TERRIBLE!! hahah - it was hysterical! I think we should send some American bands over here so they can have an American treat :)
After Dunedin, we drove to a region called the Catlins. It's a pretty remote area - with several things to see like really old, beautful light houses on the coast. And my favorite were the "windswept trees" at Slope Point. It is SO windy there that the trees are almost parallel to the ground - so cool and eerie looking..
We drove on to Invercargill which is a port town. Our plan was to do a 3 day hike on Stewart Island starting Monday but on Sunday night it hailed and sleeted (PS - it's Summer here :)) the wind was howling and blowing so hard it woke us up!! Soo - the lady at the Stewart Island info desk was like - you'll be waist deep in mud if you go...and due to our lack of rainproof clothes we decided to move on :)
So up to Queenstown we went - Qtowm is on a beautiful lake and is surrounded by mountains - no wonder it's a super popular place! We didn;t stay long as we knew we'd be back to Qtown soon. We went up to Mt Cook Village to do a 2 day hike called the "Mueller Hut Hike" - on Wednesday morning we didnt care that the weather wasn't so great , we were getting stir crazy to get outside!! So the lady at that info center was like" The Mueller hut hike is like climbing stairs for 4 hours. The winds are coming pretty swiftly in a southwesterly direction, which is right at you, so it should be pretty unpleasant for you." Awesome, way to get us pumped , lady.
So we were pleasantly surprised - we had OK weather and the winds weren't bad - we just din't really stop bc it was too cold when we stood still!! She wasn't kidding about it being straight up. Kiwis don't seem to be into switch backs as much as we are :)
Once we got to the top you could see all kinds of glaciers!! It was INCREDIBLE!! So the last hour of the hike is in snow with amazing views of Mt Cook and the surrounding glaciers...pretty sweet :) Then we arrived at the hut, which our guides had described as "nice" - remind me to write them a note about that. The Mueller Hut was the coldest place I have ever been in - for real. Pretty sure it would have been warmer sleeping on the glacier. Jessie and I don't have camping cooking untensils - we just pack cold food when we hike. Eating cold noodles in a freezing cold hut when I am wearting every single piece of clothing I brought was pretty miserable. We are buying cookware today - lesson learned :) We played cards with a few guys we met up there which was really fun and we woke up to see the sunrise which was really pretty with the sun shining off the snow!
Oh, I want to mention the toilets. Yes. The warden of the hut gives us the ground rules and part of her speech includes instructions on how to use the toilets complete with a diagram. the diagram has a hiker sitting on the potty and then has pictures of pee going into the front section of the toilet and a PICTURE of "poo and paper" going into the back section of the toilet. Amazing. I really enjoyed that part. Oh, they don't have TP up there. Thank goodness for the route map - best $2 I ever spent :)
After watching the sunrise and enviously starting at all the people melting snow in their pots to make HOT tea, we headed down - we were slip sliding all the way down the snowing part which was pretty funny :) We thought we'd be in the clear once we reached the non snowy portion of the track. Jessie proved that walking on mud is more difficult than snow. She tumbled several times as I tried to hide my laughter. My favorite was when she decided walking in the grass would be easier - and fell in a hole and went rolling through the grass. I was dying but trying to act like I was concerned hehehe I am a mean big sister. Jessie accurately described the hike down as the "stair master from hell " - it was a doozie on our quads! We are walking around like fools today, limping and wimpering when we have to bend down :)
I am totally just being silly about all this - the hike was REALLY awesome and I am so glad we did it!!
Today we are heading to Alexandra a small town outside of Queenstown to visit Ned's granddad's friends who live here for part of the year! I am excited to meet them!
Then we are headed to an even smaller town of Te Anau where we will begin the "Routeburn Track" a 3 day hike that we are SUPER excited about!! More to come on that!
Sorry for such a long update, congrats if you got all the way to this part :)
LOVE, Alley
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Pictures
Pics!
http://www2.snapfish.co.nz/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=275505799/a=33717585_33717585/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink
It is taking FOREVER to get these uploaded so there aren't very many :( I will try again at another place in a few days!
And I promise we are actually trying to be better about actually taking pictures with us in them ... Jess has all those on her camera and she didn't bring her cord to plug in her camera!
AP
http://www2.snapfish.co.nz/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=275505799/a=33717585_33717585/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink
It is taking FOREVER to get these uploaded so there aren't very many :( I will try again at another place in a few days!
And I promise we are actually trying to be better about actually taking pictures with us in them ... Jess has all those on her camera and she didn't bring her cord to plug in her camera!
AP
Lots to tell :)!
Howdy!
Sorry for the major delay in updating this!! We have been on the moe quite a bit and today is the 1st day we have been somewhere with decent internet and time to update!
Where did I leave off...oh, we did the Queen Charlotte Track - which is a 3 day hike in the Marlbrough Sounds region. It was INCREDIBLE!!! The 1st day it poured down rain and Jess and I do NOT have rain gear...everyone was like, you don't have proper rain gear? All I could say is uhhh in the States, if it rains, I don't hike. Duh :) but apparently we are idiots! So we are just going to have to say our prayers that it doesn't rain on our other hikes!! But the next 2 days, the weather was PERFECT!! We met a guy named Neils ( he was like it's like Neil but plural :)) from the Netherlands - I think he had the hots for Jessie. He was super nice and interesting - we really enjoyed meeting him! We also spent a good amount of time with a girl named Julie Anne who we accidently were calling Jo Anne for 2 days straight :) from Germany. She was sooo sweet and was fascinating! She does all kinds of work in Germany - she is a therapist and she deals with people who survived the Holocost - so amazing!!
Oh we also met a few interesting men at our hostel along the way...one in particular had a legit handlebar mustache - with the tips curled up and everything - of course this is the person who has the hots for me on the trip. Jess gets the cute, successful Dutch guy and I get the weirdo with horrible breath :) hahah - Jessie couldn't even be within a few feet of him for fear of gagging. Elizabeth and Ned, you two would have been goners with this guy's breath. (They have weak gag reflexes.) C'est la vie!
Then we spent the night in the little town of Renwick that we love. Read: it's in the winery region :) and we are drinking Sauvignon Blanc like it is water :) It is UNREAL, my friends. Do yourselves a favor and make it point to come over here just to taste the wine!!
Then we went on to Christchurch where we stayed with - get this - our 5th cousins in law :) hehe, yeah, pretty distant cousins but they were SO nice and we went to our little cousin, Cameron's (he is 11) touch rugby game - it was so cute! There were also cricket games going on on the other fields...I haven't quite figured that one out - but it looks cool! We had dinner with the Champions and then Cameron put on a juggling show for us! He is an amazing juggler!! You can see him if you go to youtube and type in "youngjuggler" - you should def watch! His little sister is Catherine and she was so precious!! And they have a golden retriever named Murphy...I spent most of my time petting him and thinking of Julep. I have problems. I told Jessie I wished I could call Julep and she looked at me like I had lost my mind. But you other dog owners - you know what I mean :)
In ChCh we traded our little micro machine car "Scottie" in for a bigger car. Tear. It was sad to say goodbye to our litte thing, but our stuff barely fit in there and we were told we could get a bigger one if we thought we needed it....and when you feel like you shouldn't have had that muffin for bfast when your car is huffing and puffing to get up the hills around here, you know it is time to upgrade. We did do a photo shoot with Scottie before turning her in. There is an excellent one of essie on the crawling on the roof like a sex kitten. I was laughing so hard I could barely take the picture. There is now a dent in Scotties roof. Don't tell :)
So we now have "Queen Charlotte" - she is a Nissan Pulsar and is real beauty - a nice plum color complete with confetti interiors and cigarette burns on the seats. She has a real trunk for all our crap. I have been driving more these days. Godbless all the souls that are on the roads with me. My personal speciality is stopping in the middle of roundabouts and asking Jessie in a panic what to do and she is screaming - anything other than STOPPING in the middle of the road...I am working on it :)
We drove from ChCh to Lake Tekapu which is a gorgeous turquoise lake. There really isn't much there other than the lake and a beautiful old church called the "Church of the Good Shepherd" - so there were LOTS of tourists there snapping photos. We did a small hike the next day for some great views of the lake and then headed to Omaru. Omaru is on the coast and is know for its penguin colonies. Last night, we went down to this teeny town called Moraki to see the penguins. You get in this "wee" hut called a penguin hide - it's a tiny wooden fort - with windows you can look out onto this protected beach where penguins will come ashore. You have to be super queit so as to not scare them away - they are really sheepish. We also saw LOTS of fur seals on the beach too! It was really neat to see.
Let's talk about food, my real love in life. We went to a restaurant - our hostel is so cute but it's really remote so we are aways from the closest grocery and we didn't have much to cook for dinner - so we decided it would be a good night to eat out. The restaurnt is called "Fleurs Place" and it's right on the water and all the fish they serve is caught that day, rinsed with sea water and cooked for you that night! It was DELICIOUS! I had "Moki" a white fish and Jess had "Monkfish" - and we split the most incredible seafood chowder I have ever eaten!! It was such a treat!! And I bought the cookbook and Fleur herself signed it for me :)
Today, we are staying in our little farm hostel again for one more night. It's a litte cabin with 3 bedrooms and we are right in the middle of a sheep and llama pasture :) You can walk through the pasture straight down to the beach. The beaches here are not always sandy or safe for swimming and this is both so we were hoping to lay out and go for a swim today and use today and kinda a rest day. Of course, the weather isn't cooperating...that is always the case when you want it to be sunny! - so that gives us a great excuse to catch up on emails and for me to update you guys!
Next on the agenda is the town of Dunedin. It's about 2 hours south- if that - from here. It's a college town - the University of Otago - is there so we have heard it's hoppin' :) We will stay there for one night and then go down the coast to The Catlins. The Catlins are pretty remote so we are hoping to see some pretty scenery. Then - weather permitting - we are planning to take a ferry over to Stewart Island and do a 3 day hike there...fingers crossed for no rain :) Then we will start heading up the middle of the country to Queenstown!
I am going to try and post some pics...so stay tuned!
Sorry this was so long!!! I wanted to catch you up to speed! We love you and miss you!! Write me - alleypic@gmail.com - I love hearing from you!
love,
Alley
Sorry for the major delay in updating this!! We have been on the moe quite a bit and today is the 1st day we have been somewhere with decent internet and time to update!
Where did I leave off...oh, we did the Queen Charlotte Track - which is a 3 day hike in the Marlbrough Sounds region. It was INCREDIBLE!!! The 1st day it poured down rain and Jess and I do NOT have rain gear...everyone was like, you don't have proper rain gear? All I could say is uhhh in the States, if it rains, I don't hike. Duh :) but apparently we are idiots! So we are just going to have to say our prayers that it doesn't rain on our other hikes!! But the next 2 days, the weather was PERFECT!! We met a guy named Neils ( he was like it's like Neil but plural :)) from the Netherlands - I think he had the hots for Jessie. He was super nice and interesting - we really enjoyed meeting him! We also spent a good amount of time with a girl named Julie Anne who we accidently were calling Jo Anne for 2 days straight :) from Germany. She was sooo sweet and was fascinating! She does all kinds of work in Germany - she is a therapist and she deals with people who survived the Holocost - so amazing!!
Oh we also met a few interesting men at our hostel along the way...one in particular had a legit handlebar mustache - with the tips curled up and everything - of course this is the person who has the hots for me on the trip. Jess gets the cute, successful Dutch guy and I get the weirdo with horrible breath :) hahah - Jessie couldn't even be within a few feet of him for fear of gagging. Elizabeth and Ned, you two would have been goners with this guy's breath. (They have weak gag reflexes.) C'est la vie!
Then we spent the night in the little town of Renwick that we love. Read: it's in the winery region :) and we are drinking Sauvignon Blanc like it is water :) It is UNREAL, my friends. Do yourselves a favor and make it point to come over here just to taste the wine!!
Then we went on to Christchurch where we stayed with - get this - our 5th cousins in law :) hehe, yeah, pretty distant cousins but they were SO nice and we went to our little cousin, Cameron's (he is 11) touch rugby game - it was so cute! There were also cricket games going on on the other fields...I haven't quite figured that one out - but it looks cool! We had dinner with the Champions and then Cameron put on a juggling show for us! He is an amazing juggler!! You can see him if you go to youtube and type in "youngjuggler" - you should def watch! His little sister is Catherine and she was so precious!! And they have a golden retriever named Murphy...I spent most of my time petting him and thinking of Julep. I have problems. I told Jessie I wished I could call Julep and she looked at me like I had lost my mind. But you other dog owners - you know what I mean :)
In ChCh we traded our little micro machine car "Scottie" in for a bigger car. Tear. It was sad to say goodbye to our litte thing, but our stuff barely fit in there and we were told we could get a bigger one if we thought we needed it....and when you feel like you shouldn't have had that muffin for bfast when your car is huffing and puffing to get up the hills around here, you know it is time to upgrade. We did do a photo shoot with Scottie before turning her in. There is an excellent one of essie on the crawling on the roof like a sex kitten. I was laughing so hard I could barely take the picture. There is now a dent in Scotties roof. Don't tell :)
So we now have "Queen Charlotte" - she is a Nissan Pulsar and is real beauty - a nice plum color complete with confetti interiors and cigarette burns on the seats. She has a real trunk for all our crap. I have been driving more these days. Godbless all the souls that are on the roads with me. My personal speciality is stopping in the middle of roundabouts and asking Jessie in a panic what to do and she is screaming - anything other than STOPPING in the middle of the road...I am working on it :)
We drove from ChCh to Lake Tekapu which is a gorgeous turquoise lake. There really isn't much there other than the lake and a beautiful old church called the "Church of the Good Shepherd" - so there were LOTS of tourists there snapping photos. We did a small hike the next day for some great views of the lake and then headed to Omaru. Omaru is on the coast and is know for its penguin colonies. Last night, we went down to this teeny town called Moraki to see the penguins. You get in this "wee" hut called a penguin hide - it's a tiny wooden fort - with windows you can look out onto this protected beach where penguins will come ashore. You have to be super queit so as to not scare them away - they are really sheepish. We also saw LOTS of fur seals on the beach too! It was really neat to see.
Let's talk about food, my real love in life. We went to a restaurant - our hostel is so cute but it's really remote so we are aways from the closest grocery and we didn't have much to cook for dinner - so we decided it would be a good night to eat out. The restaurnt is called "Fleurs Place" and it's right on the water and all the fish they serve is caught that day, rinsed with sea water and cooked for you that night! It was DELICIOUS! I had "Moki" a white fish and Jess had "Monkfish" - and we split the most incredible seafood chowder I have ever eaten!! It was such a treat!! And I bought the cookbook and Fleur herself signed it for me :)
Today, we are staying in our little farm hostel again for one more night. It's a litte cabin with 3 bedrooms and we are right in the middle of a sheep and llama pasture :) You can walk through the pasture straight down to the beach. The beaches here are not always sandy or safe for swimming and this is both so we were hoping to lay out and go for a swim today and use today and kinda a rest day. Of course, the weather isn't cooperating...that is always the case when you want it to be sunny! - so that gives us a great excuse to catch up on emails and for me to update you guys!
Next on the agenda is the town of Dunedin. It's about 2 hours south- if that - from here. It's a college town - the University of Otago - is there so we have heard it's hoppin' :) We will stay there for one night and then go down the coast to The Catlins. The Catlins are pretty remote so we are hoping to see some pretty scenery. Then - weather permitting - we are planning to take a ferry over to Stewart Island and do a 3 day hike there...fingers crossed for no rain :) Then we will start heading up the middle of the country to Queenstown!
I am going to try and post some pics...so stay tuned!
Sorry this was so long!!! I wanted to catch you up to speed! We love you and miss you!! Write me - alleypic@gmail.com - I love hearing from you!
love,
Alley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)