For the past few days I haven’t really done much, though we have seen a large chunk of New Zealand’s South Island through the window of the car. In the past few days we’ve travelled in a large loop from Wanaka to Lake Tekapo, Dunedin and then Te Anau. Thankfully I’ve got loads of motion sickness tablets with me and a few long books on my Kindle, which means more enjoyment and less staring out of the front window trying my best to keep my meals down.
We had two nights booked in Tekapo, though with so little to do in the town I decided to just take the time to switch off. On the first night Mark went wandering with his camera around the lake, but I just stayed in our hostel and got lost in the book I was reading instead. We did make it up to the observatory at one point during our time in Tekapo, though the winds were so strong I’m amazed we didn’t get blown back down the hill.
Our roommates at the hostel were a bit odd, with one just slumped on his bed staring at his phone for hours. The other guy pretty much ignored us for two days, but we heard him telling several stories involving poo to others in the lounge area, so I guess it’s no big loss.
Before we left for Dunedin we wandered around and took some photos of the lake with its crazy colouring. I still can’t believe how solid it looks when the sun’s shining down on it.
The next journey took us down the east coast towards Dunedin, with brief stops in the middle at Oamaru and Moeraki. In Oamaru we stumbled across a steampunk museum, a brewery where we picked us some tasty cider and craft beer, and a whole bunch of penny farthings. I was pretty close to spending far too much money on some whisky too, but somehow managed to resist the urge. Our stop in Moeraki was for Mark to see some really spherical boulders, which involved an awkward walk along a beach where the tide kept threatening to soak our feet.
It seems these days I’m far more relaxed about sightseeing than I was five months ago when we left home. Back then I felt like if I took a day off from exploring I’d be missing out on new and exciting things around me. These days I realise that taking a day to myself to do absolutely nothing adventurous can be just what I need to recharge my batteries. Even though we’re in charge of our own schedule, sometimes it’s nice to just wake up with no plan or time pressure at all. Unfortunately it seems Mark’s not quite comfortable with doing nothing yet, which is why he keeps heading out with his camera when I slob around our hostel instead.
Dunedin was another lazy break for me, probably because we were upgraded to a private room from a six bed dorm for free. Over two nights I only left the hostel once to get some bits for dinner. The rest of the time I spent messing around with the Liverpool Print Fair website, trying to get it ready for applications next month. I may have also spent some time following the hostel cat around trying to convince him to love me.
We eventually got back into the car again to head over to Te Anau, stopping briefly in Gore for some tasty pies. When we reached Te Anau Mark and I made use of our new frisbee discs and threw them around a park, failing miserably to hit trees with them for an hour.
Tomorrow the real excitement begins when cruise out into Doubtful Sound to see some of New Zealand’s magnificent fiords.