I got back in time for breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, OJ, bananas and oranges. I am eating way too much. I need to get back out and hike.
We said our goodbyes to Ann Marie and Julianna. It was great to hike with them for the week. I think the next time people plan on meeting us is in England/Scotland. They are a couple of men that we met, at separate times, while hiking the AT. It is nice to have people join us.
Laurie and I went to the post office and mailed some stuff home. Then we went to a bakery so Laurie could get coffee and we sat upstairs on their terrace planning the rest of our days in New Zealand. You will have to stay tuned to read about them. We need to plan because we were getting a rental car and needed to know how long we were going to have it. We are getting it in Queenstown and dropping it off in Nelson because we will need to take a ferry to the North Island. I mentioned earlier that if people were going to stay here a long time they buy a car. A lot of dealers make an agreement to buy back the car for a certain amount. It certainly would be cheaper than renting a car for a long period. Most people we have met seem to stay in New Zealand for a long period.
We spent sometime at the internet cafe reading and writing emails. We got groceries. It seems like we spend a lot of time there. I guess it is like what they do in NYC. They buy only what they need for a few days because that is all they want to carry home.
For the rest of the time we just hung out and reorganized our stuff. It is a lot easier when you have a car.
There were two young girls in our room with us. They are from Denmark. They had just spent sometime in Vietnam. In the room next to us, which shares our kitchen and living room, were 4 men; 2 from England, 1 from Whales, and 1 from Japan. The one from Whales showed us his bungie jumping pictures. There is no way I could do that. I don't think I like the idea of having my feet and legs strapped together.
As you can see, it wasn't a very exciting day, but I enjoy a day off once in a while.
March 23, 2003
Packed up my stuff and I was ready to leave. We couldn't get our car til 12:00. We put our stuff in storage. When the guy saw me he remembered me. Laurie and I had dropped the key to the storage area down one of the slots in the pool table and we couldn't get it out. I have been having trouble with keys the last couple of days, because I also lost the key to our room. I told Laurie that when we get the car key she is keeping it.
We went to the post office, grocery store, bakery, bookstore, and internet cafe before we picked up the car. This was going to be a new experience for us. We have to drive on the opposite side of the road and we get to drive over 100 kilometers per hour. I let Laurie drive out of Queenstown, since she has had more experience. She drove in Ireland about 12 years ago. She was told by someone that you just have to remember "keep the passenger in the dirt". I think the most confusing part is turning and rotaries. I haven't seen any stop lights and I don't know what the protocol is for intersections because I don't see stop signs. The drivers don't seem to care about pedestrians. I am always afraid drivers are going to hit me when I walk. It would be easy to do because I keep looking the wrong way for the traffic.
One of the places that we wanted to go to was a place called "The Warehouse". We wanted to get a cooler to be able to keep refrigerated items. It was like an "Ocean State Job Lots". I felt like a town local going shopping.
After shopping we were on the road to Wanaka. We heard that it was a neat little town. It was about 110 kilometers away. I took over driving after a while. It wasn't difficult, but then again, it was straight. The only problem I had were the signals and the shift. I kept feeling for the shift in the column. I don't know why because I haven't driven a car like that in a long time, but since the shift was not in the floor on the right, my right hand kept going up there. The shift is on the left. I also kept turning the windshield wipes on everytime I wanted to signal. I think I will wear out the blades. Again, everything is on the opposite side.
Luckily, we got into Wanaka without running out of gas. We forgot all about it. Besides I don't think there were any gas stations along the way.
It was a nice drive. It seemed like we were in a valley with mountains on both sides. It looked like a lot of sheep farming. There must be a lot of fruit orchards also, because we saw a lot of fruit stands along the way. I was told that if I wanted to stay and work I could probably get a job as a fruit picker. I have some experience because when I was young I use to pick blueberries and strawberries for an orchard. I don't think I would like to pick fruit, but maybe I could do something else. Well, I am not ready to go back to work yet, but I can keep it in the back of my mind when I am ready.
Laurie and I got into Wanaka without running out of gas and in one piece. We checked out a few hostels and they were full. We found another, but the office wasn't going to be open for about half an hour. It looked like the beds were full, but we thought we might be able to tent. It was a nice night to tent. It was a warm night turning cool. They said we could tent and it was only $10.00 NZ which is about $6.00 US. We saved about $5.00 US by tenting. Laurie was just questioning about staying within our budget for the rest of the time in New Zealand. I guess if we can sleep someplace for $6.00 a night we are well within our budget. We kind of used $50 a day as a budget, not including our airline or railway tickets.
The hostel that we are at is nice even if we are tenting. They have a nice common area. The people seems to be of all ages and it is fairly quiet.
We went shopping again. We decided on cheese and tomato sandwiches at the time. After sitting here and smelling everyone cook, we are drooling for something else.
I guess that is it for another exciting say of a traveler.
