Backpaddock Lakes - Lakes at the Back of a Paddock #mindblown

Wind farm viewing platform, nailed it

The drive over I was worried Sinbad was going to be a problem but he did just fine. I stopped into a place called Palmerston North and got some stuff that the mechanic said would help Sinbad if he got sensitive again. It rained but I did have a couple of scenic stops, including a special viewing platform to see the wind turbines, first time for everything. Imagine if we had those in England. I arrived into Waipukurau and it was raining so I decided to stay in the campsite for the night and then call Trev (guy in charge of the lake) in the morning. The campsite was expensive for what they offered, had a chilled out evening and then the next day it was nice and sunny so called up Trev and he told me there was a guy called Tristan in the house at the top of the road who was in charge of the lake.

Beautiful

Tristan was pretty cool so we hung out then went down to check out the lake. It is man-made, took a long ass time to dig up and then filled from underground springs. There is one boat lake and another cable lake with two System 2 style cables (also homemade), an impressive feat in engineering. Tristan showed me how everything worked and then we went for a wakeboard. Then Trev and family came home and we hung out down by the lake, had a BBQ.

I then pulled Sinbad up by the lake and went to sleep, there was no light pollution so I could open the sunroof and looked up at the sky. It was the first time I had seen that many stars in the sky, it was beautiful.

The next few days were spent by the lake hanging out with Tristan in the sun. There were a number of awesome riders that would come down and ride. I landed my first Raley, technically what I did was called a Galey because I cheated and used the pull from the corner but it was awesome to be able to try new stuff. One day Tristan had a lesson with a young girl called Sam and her parents had just bought a Nautique G23, for the record it is like a tank. I was lucky enough to get a ride on it in exchange for taking some photos, good trade I think. It has a huge wake and even in this lake which is shallower it still kicks you up in the air. 

I took a lot of photos so you have to put up with clicking through them now…

The slalom course gets a lot of action

This is a G23 (or boat tank as it is commonly referred)

Marcus carving round a bouy

Sam wakesurfing behind the G23

Ollie, Eva and Trev playing on a "biscuit"

Hoochie Cole as he is known

Sam throwing a Raley

Tristan playing on his board

Tom proving that not all kneeboarding is stupid

I thought I should take a trip in Sinbad into town to make sure he was working, oh I’m glad I did, he got a little warm on that trip. Fortunately Trev is a mechanic so he took Sinbad with him to work and got one of the other guys to clean him up good. One evening Tristan and I decided that we wanted to go watch The Hobbit and what better place to watch it that where it was made. At the start of the movie there was an intro thanking New Zealand, it made me feel involved with the making of the movie. Unfortunately I am bad luck with cars and Tristan’s car might have exploded a little bit when we got to the movies. So Trev came out and literally swapped cars whilst we were watching the movie, haha. The Waipuk cinema is something a little different to any other cinema I’ve been to. It is like a school theatre with the wooden arms, it was an experience like no other. But a good one none the less. 

Shooting stuff

A couple of days before I left I helped Tristan with a Stag Do, they came down and did a lot of wakeboarding. We also had a clay pigeon shoot so got to fire some rounds into the lake, always a blast, see what I did there? After that the guys were going on a pub crawl with Tristan as their chauffeur, we had to pick Sinbad up from the garage first and then I joined in the excitement. Without going into too much detail there were some international drinking competitions and let’s just say that England came home with gold. You are welcome England!

An awesome place to spend a few days, thanks to the Rowlands for having me.

Woodie’s Wisdom: 5 nights sleeping by a lake does wonders for the soul.

Sinbad's Revenge - 24 Hours in Bulls

After leaving Wellington I was driving up the west side of the country, stopping off at a few beaches to take photos. There was even one beach that I went for a nice little wander along as well, splashing around in the shallows. I like to think of it as a romantic walk on the beach for one. I needed to pee so pulled over in a small town/backwards village called Bulls and as I stopped Sinbad snapped, crackled and popped. It sounded like the radiator was sizzling and when I opened the bonnet there was a lot of coolant and water dripping out of it.

It was a romantic session, any takers?

I put on my calmest face and went in to the information shop, these are called I-sites in New Zealand, very useful places and they know things. I was pointed in the direction of a garage and Sinbad made it there just about and dribbled out a bit just to show George that he was poorly. I was booked in for the morning so I had to find a place to sleep. Fortunately Bulls has it’s own campsite so I crawled down the road and as I coasted into the entrance Sinbad had another attempt at spitting up his guts. I booked in for the night and just left him at a random angle in the driveway. This was a perfect time to go get a well needed beer. Bulls has 2 pubs and I went into both of them, hoping to find a nice place for a drink. The first bar was filled with locals gambling away their money. I don’t want to speculate about what brought them there but I’m sure you can use your own experiences to imagine them. So I moved on down the road to the next bar, it served food! Well, I say food, they offered what appeared to be much so I politely turned that down and just had a beer. A nicer bar it was and the barman only had 3 fingers, like one of the Simpsons! New Zealand has provided me with 3 toes and 3 fingers, I’m impressed. Coincidentally there was some NFL on so I spent my afternoon watching that, I’m pretty sure it was a terrible game. I grabbed some grub from McDonalds, first time since Christchurch Airport all those weeks ago, and headed back to the campsite.

The Bulls campsite, as I’m sure you can guess, was heaving. There were 2 of us there, so we fell to talking. Now I think his name was Danjal, I asked twice and I thought it rude to ask for a spelling. Danjal is a bit of a legend, he lives in a bus that he has done up himself. Not the smartest of cribs but has a hot shower, stove, electricity, bed and TV; all you really need. I was invited in and given a glass of water, a fine host. Danjal is from just up the coast in Wanganui and was down working as a butcher. He has 2 kids who live with their mum in Australia. Danjal was also my first real experience of a Kiwi using “yeah nah” (it’s a popular phrase) and he used it all the time, every time it made me smile. If he had offered me some of his ghost chips I would have fallen out of my chair. He then offered to take me fishing in the river so we went on a little walk, it would appear walking was a new experience for Danjal but we made it. He showed me how to cast a line properly but after a good hour we hadn’t caught a thing so headed back for a good nights sleep.

Who puts an engine there?

After dropping Sinbad off with George the mechanic and sitting around for a while I headed off for some breakfast. I thought, I have some time to kill, might as well visit the Bulls museum. It can’t be that impressive I thought. Oh wow! I was greeted by Robin like a long lost relative, shaking my hand and welcoming me. My guess is that not many people stop by. He was also from England and came out to be closer to family and got involved with the museum and is now in charge. As he showed be around he gave me lots of bits of paper on the history of Bulls, always nice to have reading material. It would appear that even though it is now a small town, Bulls used to be kind of a big deal. If my memory recall is correct, it was a crossroads of New Zealand with a huge timber mill. And during the First World War, New Zealand sent a lot of horses to help the fight but only a few made it home, a very interesting story if you want to read it, I have a copy. One of the horses that returned was called Bess and she died just up the road so I decided that when Sinbad was ready that would be our test trip. Here is the link to the Bulls website, enjoy: http://unforgetabull.co.nz/

I finally got back to the garage and Sinbad was being put back together. Sinbad was made badly, who thinks that putting the engine under the seats is a good place? You need to take out both seats and peal everything off before you even find the engine. George said Sinbad should be fine, we took our

test journey out to see Bess’ grave. We got a little lost because distance on the map Robin gave me was about as accurate as an Alton Towers map! Unfortunately on one of my little stops I bent Sinbad’s key, I know he will have his vengeance, in this life or the next!

The grave of Bess the Horse

My original plan was to head up the West Coast but during my little break I received an email from a lake in Hawkes Bay who I’d contacted before I’d left saying I should pop in. I changed my plans and headed that way.

Woodie's Wisdom: That was a whole load of Bulls-hit

The doctor's surgery in Bulls #banter

Wellington - Capital City with Capital Letters

My first usage of a Doofer!

In Wellington I was staying with another friend I had made at camp, Petrina. A name that seems to be more popular in NZ than in England! For the first time since Christchurch I had a bed and a room. It was really odd to have walls and when I woke up in the morning I couldn’t just be outside by rolling over and opening the door. I hugely appreciated being able to shut the curtains and then be able to sleep after the sun had risen but it was a sudden change and we know how much I love change! My first night in Welly Petrina gave me my first experience of Burger Fuel, it was like seeing the light. It also has the easiest to order online service. And the milkshakes are top notch, we had a lime one and it was delicious. For those that think GBK is the bomb, this is a lot better!

My first day in Wellington I decided to get Sinbad fixed. I called around a few places and found a guy who could get him fixed that day and quickly. I dropped him off and wandered around

My manly beverage

Wellington. It was the first time that I had voluntarily given away the keys to Sinbad, it was scary and liberating at the same time. I walked down to the harbour and they have a special diving board set up over the water so you can come and jump in safely. Genius. I then spent a few hours in a museum called Te Papa, learning about the history of New Zealand. It was very interesting and I got to see a Giant Squid. It was time for a game of American Football so grabbed some afternoon luncheon and watched the game in a bar that had a sofa in front of the TV. I then received the call from Wayne (the mechanic) saying that Sinbad was fixed and ready to roll. We were whole again, wooo. Petrina called inviting me for a drink at a cool bar called Hangar, based on a plane hanger, strange coincidence.

Petrina was away for the weekend so I had a few options of what to do, so I organised a house party with all of my friends. It was off the chain! I’m hoping Petrina reads this and has a fit before she realises that I don’t have any friends and it was just me on my own. The next day it was a bit overcast and rainy so I sat around for a few hours writing my blog for the other places, ha. Now work out where this blog is written. But once the clouds parted a little I decided on a trip to the zoo.

This is a Sun Bear, cute
but scary!

I love a good zoo and even though Wellington Zoo isn’t the biggest zoo in the world it packs a punch with a few different styles and animals. The first part is they have an onsite vet surgery with glass windows so they can show the patrons what they are doing and all the work that they need to do. Something like 80% of all their animals get treated in that facility. They seemed to have misplaced their penguins. I always wonder when an enclosure is empty, where do the animals go? Do they have send them back to the wild for a holiday? That would be nice wouldn’t it. Then you don’t feel like you have been conned into believing the animals would be there. So yeah, zoo. I did some awesome timing of visiting, I got to see the Sun Bears get fed, I hadn’t experienced a Sun Bear before but they are really cool. They have a flabby neck so that if they get attacked from behind they can turn around 180 degrees in their skin and fight back. They also have a yellow sun on their chest! After a fun look at the traditional Tigers, Cheetahs, Baboons, Giraffes and Deer I entered the Neighbours zone (this is more of a TV show joke than proximity BTW), dedicated to animals from Australia. There was a Tasmanian Devil, Wallabies, Kangaroos and of course, there was a Dingo! The best part is that you literally walk through them, just hanging around by the side of the path. It was the closest I’ve felt to the animals out of any zoo I’ve been to.

Good job I don't have any babies! PS, this is a Dingo, now laugh!

Well this is just cute

All that exciting stuff didn’t even prepare me for the chimps, I watched them for about an hour. They are such interesting creatures, so humanlike in their actions and their interaction. There was a baby baby that just stuck on the mumma chimp, a baby that just played around, a couple of older ones that just hung out and my fave, the chimp that just sat there and picked its arse. I have a disgusting photo that I won’t share with you but will let you picture it, of a chimp with pooey fingers licking them clean. It was disgusting but funny at the same time. No wonder they get ill a lot. A bird was flying around the inside enclosure and flew into a window and fell to the ground, an older chimp picked up said bird and carried it up to the fenced window out to the world. A couple of the younger chimps went along to observe and help. Unfortunately in the process of trying to poke it through the gaps in fence the bird was killed but I think the intention was positive. On a simple symbolic level it was really nice to see the compassion of animals even if the result wasn’t the best.

Family photo

Red Panda doing Red Panda things

After that experience I watched as a Red Panda admired the keeper as he took in more food and cleaned up a bit. So chilled out and then followed the keeper around a bit like a dog. I then went to find a Kiwi, they are notoriously hard to find even in a zoo. They live in a blacked out room with one Kiwi on either side and a footpath down the middle. With very limited red lighting you could hear them but couldn’t spot them. Then I spotted one, that it would appear was the easy part. Trying to take a photo of a Kiwi was even harder, for those that don’t know how hard it is to focus in the dark, it is very hard! But I think I kind of succeeded. I had spent so long at the zoo that I was actually ushered out by one of the keepers, you know you’ve had a good day when they are kicking you out, ha. 

Ok fine, this is an actual Kiwi

Told you I saw one!

For the Sunday I was recommended to go to the Farmer’s Market by a beautiful young lady so thought I

A Farmer's Market

would give it a go. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even buying some fruit and veg as instructed, it was good. I even went off script and bought a delicious breakfast for myself. Then I wanted to go up the Cable Car and set off to find the bottom station. This was made very difficult by some roads being closed by guess what? Oh yeah, it was a Christmas Parade. I couldn’t have planned my trip better if I had been wanting to see all of the Christmas Parades in New Zealand. For the record, that wasn’t actually my plan. The road closures led to me trying to do a U-turn on a one way street as I needed to go the other way only to realise that once I was facing into the traffic. After gently nudging a lamppost and going round one loop 3 times I decided to call it a day and have a picnic in the garden. 

After American Football Day I joined Petrina and a couple of her friends in a park overlooking the harbour for a picnic. The best part was a slacklining club was practicing in the same park. They had one that must have been 30 metres long, it was impressive seeing someone walk all the way.

Quick visit home

Prior to departing Wellington the next morning I wanted to succeed in riding the Cable Car but the only way to do this whilst parking was driving to the top and taking the car down. This didn’t make logic to me but hey ho. Having got up there I realised that this still meant I paid for parking but didn’t have to walk to the station, very complicated! But I did it anyway, a beautiful view from the top and a fun experience. After taking the car down and then up again I found out that I could have had a nice walk down through the gardens and then get the Cable Car up. This made what the same beautiful young lady had said make sense. So if you go to Wellington, walk down through the pretty gardens and then get the cable car up. 

My plan was to drive up the west coast to Auckland for Christmas. Hmmmm…

Woodie’s Wisdom: If you are having a bad day, don’t try and force it. Things will only get worse!

I wuv wooo

Nelson - Being at One with Nature Hurts

A rock made of rock pancakes of rock

Part of my day long drive to Nelson involved looking at lots of trees, as those avid readers will know, I seem to have fallen in love with looking at trees. New Zealand has a plethora of trees (this is why you've waited so long for a blog, I was using a thesaurus and got confused). Big ones, small ones, tropical ones, evergreen ones. It’s amazing and the forests look they are having trouble holding them all in one place, no wonder they’ve had to install walkways to the monuments. One of these well placed walkways was to the pancake rocks and blowholes. It was very humid but well planned, the roundtrip walk was only 20 mins so I

Selfie on a wobbly bridge

got cracking. I got to see lots of pancake type rocks but the water didn’t want to Free Willy through the holes. I was looking forward to it but alas. Further along the road I found a bridge, not just any old bridge, but a wobbly one. It is like the millennium bridge just not as big but with the same wobble factor (prior to fixing obvs). It also involved a small walk, making me complete my 30 mins of exercise for the day meaning that everything that happened later was bonus and therefore making me healthier, there you go mum! It was even and educational walk with information boards around the route and awesome rusty vehicles that they used when the place was a gold mine.

One of the rusty mining vehicles

When I finally arrived into Nelson I got to my campsite and received a text from Jimi (friend from camp, lives in Nelson, also short for Jimi-Zara, friend girl) saying that she was going to be free sooner than expected so I only needed to fill an hour. I had a chat to my campsite neighbours who just so happened to be from England and in dire need of medicinal smoking grass, unfortunately even with my contacts I wasn’t able to provide. We did have a nice chat about traveling South Island, they really went big and actually slept in the back of their car with no mattress either. Jimi picked me up around 8 and we went for drinks and dinner at a pub, enjoyable experience. I then realized that my

A drunken guy wearing a
Champions t-shirt (Modin reference)

night wasn’t going to be that chilled. We headed into the “city” for continued beverage consumption. My 2nd big night in a week, my aging body nearly conked out. But we did go to a few interesting bars and nightclub things. It was my first real appreciation of the kiwi way. I was wearing trousers but only had the jandal (flip flop in kiwi) on. I was allowed in everywhere and didn’t lose them to a sticky dance floor. There was a lot of dancing until we got to the club that had the football on and I might have got distracted.

Larry the llama

The next morning I was collected once again (I enjoyed the chauffeuring) and we went on a tour of the city. Much like my experience in Invercargill I encountered the Santa Parade, this time it made a meal of Jimi showing me around. We then met up with some friends for a delicious brunch. Jimi and I have a very similar approach to organisation and rushing. Eventually we went to the beach, which was cleverly placed right next to my campsite. Before that we went to a little zoo farm like thing that had monkeys and we definitely didn’t feed them, did we Jimi? #rebel. At the beach we did beach things like a bit of splashing around and getting my tan on.

Jimi, Edd & Tim selfie

We also tried a bit of slacklining as we brought one with us. Tim was by far the best, I realised yet again that I don’t have anything that resembles a core muscle group. It’s like they went out for milk 5 years ago and haven’t been seen since. This could explain all of the injuries that I have had since. After that I think we all needed an early night so I crashed at the campsite with instructions to be at Jimi’s house bright and early for our next adventure…. Abel Tasman!!

When I arrived at Jimi’s house and was immediately confused as to why there was no one at the house until she fetched me and showed me to the shed which when you walked round it was magically another abode (thesaurus time again). The views were amazing, looking over fields for miles and only being about 300m from a river thing. We hung out for a bit and then slowly headed over to Abel Tasman (massive national park, lots of trees, by the sea). We arrived a little late, again the planning was a little poor, so there was only one walk that we could do. This is based around the fact that they need to know how many people are staying in the park overnight and if you are supposed to be coming out that day then they have to send a search party. And if you are extra special, you get a boat and helicopter to remove you from it. That wasn’t us by the way. The nice girl in the tourist office thing mentioned that she did the 4 hour walk that we were going to attempt in 2 hours 30 mins and she was barefoot, do I hear a challenge being laid out? Yes you do. As Jimdog and

Abel Tasman view

I were only wearing our flipity flopities anyway we thought we would give it a shot. For the record, 12 kms is not a distance that the modern human foot is comfortable walking. There were some pretty views and lots of trees, some sea and some incredibly sharp little stones underfoot. We had exactly 3 hours 45 mins to complete the 4 hour walk before the last ferry home left and we did it in 3 hours 15 mins. Success!! And we even had time to run into the sea and cool off before the boat ride back. A fun day out. Oh, the chaffage was terrible. Nearly forgot that. It was bloody hot and I was in agony by the time we got to the end, I won’t go into too much detail but it wasn’t pretty. The one thing that I needed and didn’t have, Aloe Vera! I did have something that was nearly as good though. Jimi has an outside shower, not the summer house kind but an actual shower with warm water. It was amazing, perfect pressure and if I stood on my tippy toes I got the view of the countryside. A new and interesting experience, I want one in the UK!

On the way back from Abel Tasman we stopped and picked up the freshest fish and chips I’ve ever had, it was so soft and tender and was battered to perfection. That evening the whole clan were there

Sinbad sleeping in a field

and we watched TV, the first proper TV I had watched in NZ other than American Football. There was something called the Block, home design show from Australia, then some Criminal Minds. It’s the small things that remind you of home. When it was bed time I went out to Sinbad and was lost in a field, everything was quiet and still. It was an amazing experience, like nothing I’ve ever felt. Looking up to the sky I saw more stars than I thought existed, it felt like a dream there were so many.

The next morning Jimi was tasked with babysitting her nephew whilst everyone else in the family was off doing stuff so we took him to the beach. Lewis is 2 ish I think and incredibly cute and very photogenic so I had a lot of fun taking photos of him, some that might even make it to my website, who knows… As well as having an outdoor shower, Jimi’s family are incredibly creative. From calling their son Fox to wanting to build a chic backpacker hostel made out of shipping containers, they do it all. Another example of Kiwis using shipping containers for use everywhere. At the end of the drive they were building a container pop-up coffee shop for the summer. 

After lunch I left for another adventure after a sunny and thoroughly wonderful time in Nelson, a place that I would love to go back to. I headed off to Picton to catch the ferry to North Island. Jimi’s mum told me that I probably didn’t want to go the windy windy way so obviously that’s the way I went, more by accident than intent. It was an incredible journey, driving up a sound was amazing. And turning the corner onto Picton Harbour was amazing. I found my campsite and realized that the weather the next day was supposed to be shitty so not the day you want to go up Queen Charlotte Sound. So I booked my ferry for the day after when the weather was going to be much nicer and had a really chilled out day, wandered round Picton and watched a couple of movies. It was my first day that I hadn’t done anything, it was a nice change, like being back in England all over again…

My day of travel I woke up to sunshine and few clouds, just what I’d ordered. The ferry was a little delayed so took a walk into town to grab some breakfast, a warm bacon and egg bread thing. The crossing itself was pretty uneventful, beautiful views and a nice comfy seat inside. Made it to Wellington unscathed!

Sinbad and I on the ferry

Thank you South Island, it has been a pleasure. I will be seeing you again. One of the best days of my life and some memories that will last a lifetime. 

Woodie’s Wisdom: Walking barefoot may seem like a way to feel at one with nature but nature will win and your feet will hurt!

Wanaka - A Crate of Beer, Frozen and Some Old Men

View from the top of the Crown Range

Flip waiting at the top of the mountain

After leaving Queenstown there is a beautiful drive up over the Crown Range. With an amazing view over the mountains I stopped at the top to take some photos. As I got back into the car for the rest of the journey over the mountains I tried to wind my window up as it was a bit chilly. Unfortunately Sinbad refused! The electric motor was working but the window wasn’t moving. So I had to continue on into the sunset with an open window. On went my wooly hat and the heater and it was all good. I got to the campsite (the same one that my parents watched Lewis Hamilton not win the F1 World Championship in 2008) around 8pm. It was only when I got out of the car that I noticed I was missing a flip flop. So I was one flip flop down, one broken window and

A twig holding the window up

the rain starting to fall. I booked myself in for the night, then the campsite owner helped me take the door off (I became a pro) and prop the window closed. I decided to take a leaf out of the US Military handbook and not leave a man behind. I went on Mission Flip to collect the missing flip, I still had the flop. It was about 45 mins away but was so worth it. I now have both flip and flop but decided that I should get a backup pair in case I do something silly again.

Sinbad by the sea

After a good nights rest I had a nice time chilling around the waterfront with my book, bought a new pair of flip flops. For the first time in a long while I didn’t buy a pair of Reef flip flops because they don’t import them into New Zealand. I went with a pair of Hurley ones that have the sole made by Nike, unfortunately they didn’t have a bottle opener. I feel like I failed myself a little but they are pretty comfy so I will take it. I found a lovely little Italian restaurant, called Francesca’s, round the back of a car park. It would appear it’s actually very popular and people came from miles around to eat there. It was really good food and I think you had to be English to work there. I ended up watching a movie with a couple from America, they claimed that it was a Steven Spielberg film, it wasn’t. Fun fact, don’t watch a film called Sanctum, it’s not very good but it is in some way associated with Steven Spielberg.

Awesome car starter from Peter

The next morning I was chilling in Sinbad (still in my bad books) whilst charging my phone. However, when I came to drive away it would appear that I had no battery power, the phone was still charging though. I politely asked a passing couple if they had a booster, fortunately Peter was on hand with the coolest little device and just like that Sinbad was running again. To charge my battery I drove around a lot, taking photos as I tootled around the peninsula. In the afternoon the wind had picked up and I spotted a guy getting ready for a windsurf so went and took some photos. Another guy showed up with a kitesurf as well, supposedly the best wind that you get in Wanaka. A good day to be about.

Windsurfing on Lake Wanaka

American Football day was spent in a really smart bar that did some spiffing food. One of such foods was a loaf of bread filled with a cheesy core and garlic butter. I might have had 2. Football happened. I had been put in touch with a local by a friend from Greece, go Biebs. I had sent him a message but he happened to be at work but popped in for a quick beer beforehand. It would appear we got on, what a surprise. I had been planning on heading off that evening buy Josh mentioned that he was going to be having a day drinking session the next day and invited me along. On the camp site there was a trampoline that is springless, really cool concept so I tried it out. I haven’t been on a trampoline in a while and it would appear it has got harder, after about 10 mins I had to get my inhaler! I did put on a bit of a show for the German campers though, landing a front and back flip in those 10 mins! Earned my sleep though.

The drinking day was a lot of fun; 3 of us and 48 beers. Some may say it was a day well spent. We then went out to a few bars, I honestly don’t remember where we went and the next day I couldn’t even recognise them, whoops. At the end of the night Josh got into a scuffle with a bogan and ripped his favorite t-shirt. It was a lot of fun but it was the most drunk I have been in a long long time and therefore the worst hangover. We both woke up still pretty drunk and thought that we might as well go for a morning swim in the lake, it was fresh. We didn’t exactly rush after that, after breakfast we decided to take my virginity, my Frozen virginity. What is better on a hangover day than watching a Disney musical? Nothing, that’s what!

Slightly hungover swim in the lake

Josh made me breakfast

Frozen and ice cream

At about 5pm I decided to head off to Tekapo, when the hangover was starting to fade. It was my favourite drive in New Zealand so far. Over mountains, countryside and then into the lakes. Just as I came to the first big lake the clouds parted and gave a spine tingling reflection.

I arrived into Tekapo just as the sun was going down, I did miss the sunset but did get a beautiful view of the lake from the campsite. The next morning I headed to the hot springs for a relaxing morning overlooking the lake. I was developing a bit of a cold, it would appear that my aging body can’t handle a full day of drinking anymore. I decided that a relaxing head massaging was in order,

Yummy!

thank you Alicia. She got a little flirting in, telling me I was the funniest customer she had had. I can’t deny it, handsome and funny, these kiwis know what they are talking about. After a bit more of a relaxing soak and steam, teaching a German girl how to use the plunge pool properly, I had a sit out in the sunshine for some food. After making friends with the bar staff and chef, the offered to let me try some of their new menu before anyone else, this could have had something to do with me not being able to pick anything from their menu. I had a delicious pulled pork sandwich looking out over the lake. My best meal so far in New Zealand.

Who knows what bird
this is?

I pootled off into the wilderness after my lunch, taking my time but there wasn’t really much to see or do, time just passed. Other than driving back in the direction of Christchurch which I was worried that I would miss a turn and end up back there! To cross from the East to West of South Island you need to go over some rather large mountains. I drove across one that was called Arthur’s Pass, when I was basically at the top of the world whilst also stuck in a valley, fun feeling, I decided to get a little creative with my camping. I have an app that shows where most campsites are in New Zealand (incredibly useful) and as it was getting dark I needed to find one. However on the app the descriptions of the local campsites weren’t exactly stellar. They were all DOC campsites, meaning they are run by the conservation department, also meaning that they don’t have running water and stuff. I went big and went to the one with a tap, also based in the town of Arthur’s Pass, also the cheapest campsite of my trip ($6). Now, calling it a town is a bit of a stretch. The high street was about 100 metres long but that wasn’t even the worst thing. I arrived at around 7.30pm, get Sinbad all set up on the grassy knoll and walked into town to get some food. I went to the pub and asked if they were doing food, the answer was no because they were just about to shut. IT WAS 8PM!!!! You know you live in a small town when no one wants to be in the pub after 8pm. Fortunately the night took a turn for the better on the campsite when some Kea (New Zealand bird) decided to come play.

Meet Kea

They big! Everyone on the campsite got involved with the taking of photos. It was a proud moment for me because people were jealous of the size of my camera, and as I’ve been told on multiple occasions that size matters, haha. I even gave out some free photography advice to a young german man trying to get an arty photo. It’s like those 2 years of “university” weren’t wasted after all.

I did some more driving the next day, I was starting to get the first sense that I was in a rush as I needed to be in Nelson in 3 days from when I left Tekapo! Somewhere along my scenic route I passed a couple of lakes, they were pretty, the mountains were pretty. You know the drill. As I was driving round the side of a big lake I passed one Malibu Wakesetter (for those that don’t know, it’s a boat) and that got my juices going. Then just like that, about 30 mins later, a Malibu Response (for

Steve carving it up

those that don’t know, another boat) pulled out in front of me. Being on my travels I thought, let’s follow it. I did, for about 20 minutes, off the main road and down into a small town all the way down to the waterfront where there was another Response and a group of middle aged men. I thought it was only polite to introduce myself and explain why I had followed him down here. “Not that I was stalking you but I saw your boat and wanted to see where you were going”. They were a bunch of lovely chaps setting up a slalom course. I did a bit of helping out, a lot of talking and by the end of the afternoon they had invited me to dinner and also out on a boat to watch some skiing. I was so nice to be out on a boat again. Moana was turning out to be a lovely little town, the pub was also open after 8 o’clock. I also saw another Wakesetter than had a sparkly purple paint job, well done them.

My new friends, thanks guys

Fly doggy fly

Historic but not for tourists

After a night staying in the most relaxed campsite I’ve stayed in, I could have just driven in and stayed the night and driven out again without paying but I didn’t because I was raised proper like. I had a long day of driving to get up to Nelson, 6 hours worth but I did enjoy the previous few days. Just outside of Moana I saw a sign to a historic bungalow and thought it would be interesting. However, as you can tell from the sign, it isn’t exactly the most tourist friendly attraction. Only open on a Sunday between 2-4. I very nearly hopped the fence to go see but thought I would hold off on my law breaking.

Woodie’s Wisdom: Don’t mess with Sinbad

Sexy underwater selfie