Monday, June 11

June 11, 2007

I'm heading into my second week of work as an International Student Co-ordinator at Universal College of Learning (UCOL) in Palmerston North. It's one of those jobs you have to learn as you go seeing as I've never worked with international students before. So far, I've been successful in taking students' online visa applications and running off a letter of enrollment so a student could open a bank account. Career-wise, I'm excited to return to the States, or our next destination, to try to enter the Study Abroad arena at a university there.


Apparently, I'm coming in at the middle of semesters at UCOL (students are taking exams right now) so it's kind of quiet. This makes it a good time to learn about my position without being overwhelmed. I'm working part time in this position (4 days per week from 10-3 = 20 hours per week). This is good because it leaves me time to make Rotary commitments. This schedule will change somewhat when I begin my second role at UCOL as an Academic Counselor which will be in addition to the International Student Co-ordinator role. I'll still try to keep to the 4 days per week schedule as it allows flexibility to travel around New Zealand over long weekends.


Speaking of Rotary, this week is a very Rotary heavy week. Although we returned to Palmerston North on May 31 and had scheduled a week off to recover from the trip and get settled back into Palmy again, we were called to present at Woodville (about 20 kms out of Palmy) last minute on Thursday, June 7 (a scheduled speaker canceled). Since we didn't have other plans, we agreed to present.


Then tonight, we presented at the Milson Rotary club in Palmerston North (we've had this scheduled for about 2 months). Once we returned from the meeting, we received a phone call to present at a Feilding Rotary club tomorrow night because their scheduled speaker canceled. Feilding is only 12 kms away and we didn't have any other plans for tomorrow so we agreed to speak. Wednesday, we are meeting with David and Bernice regarding our July 5 presentation on how Americans celebrate the Fourth of July. Finally, this Thursday, we are speaking to our host club, the Takaro club, about our careers in the States. Whew!


Josh and I have a pretty good statistic regarding our presentations in New Zealand. At the end of this week, we'll have completed 16 presentations in 19 weeks (and we have more scheduled)! In truth, we are SO EXCITED to be here on the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship because we've looked forward to it for so long (since Henderson State). Everytime we speak at Rotary, I remind myself that I am actually living out my dream. I told Josh that when I dreamed about the scholarship (again, since like 2000), I never thought about where we'd specifically be located, but it's nice to be in New Zealand.


All this to say, we are very happy here. Sure, if I start to think about all the Chili's, Outback, Mexico Viejo, and Red Lobster I'm missing I can get stir-crazy (don't get me started on how I've labeled all our kilojoule food labels to kilocalories thanks to Google!). Too, I think Josh and I are both ready to begin "grown up" life in the sense of having our own house and a place to be more settled. Whether or not that place is in the States or abroad, we'll have to see. Ultimately, when the scholarship ends and job offers begin to come in, we'll have to determine whether or not we can see ourselves in a particular place for an indefinite amount of time. Josh REALLY is ready to not have an end date in mind when beginning a new position. For example, we knew HSU was 4 years, NMSU was 2 years, UofA was 4 years, and the Ambassadorial Scholarship in New Zealand is slated for 1 year.
On another note, winter is fully on in Palmerston North. It is so rainy, cloudy, windy here right now. I took for granted all the things I'd read online before moving here about New Zealand houses being cold in the winter. They are cold! Well, houses like ours (which lack insulation, central heating, or a log burner) are really cold anyway. We have one "oil heater" (thanks to a VERY KIND Rotarian) which is like an electrical, portable radiator that you might see attached to the wall in older homes in the States. Anyway, during the day, Josh and I shut off the doors to the two bedrooms and sit as close as we can to the heater to stay warm. Then, at night, we roll the heater into the bedroom and close the door. Fortunately, because the bedroom is one small room, we usually turn off the heater in there durign the middle of the night. Then, the process starts all over again.

Before we had the heater, and keep in mind this was in April during fall here, I was wearing my jacket with a hat and gloves inside the house in order to stay warm! Crazy! A special thanks to Aimee for the multi color slippers she sent me (and which I'm currently wearing) and to my mom for sending my bathrobe in the last care package. Taking a shower in the morning is less cold now that I have that. Although I have a sporty red jacket, Josh and I went to a thrift store today so I could buy a winter coat here. I only ended up spending $20 instead of $70 for a new coat, so I was happy. It would have cost a lot of US money to mail my business-y coat down here so I feel like I got a bargin. The coat is dark navy rather than black but beggers can't be choosers so I'll take what I can get.

I must admit, however, that I'm beginning to feel a longing to shop for new clothes. 4 1/2 months is a long time for a girl not to buy herself several somethings new for the wardrobe. Ultimately, (although it's a borderline hard choice) I'd rather spend the money we have in New Zealand on travel rather than clothes so I have to remind myself of that. I can get new clothes once we have "real jobs" and are settled somewhere.

I'm including some pictures of our oil heater and also of the electrical plugs in our home. In New Zealand, you have to flip a switch in order to generate power to it. One picture is of a standard outlet, the other is the switch you have to turn on to give power to the stove.

Thursday, May 31

May 31, 2207

Josh and I woke up this morning because the laundry was being started up across the hall from our room. A GOOD THING! When I looked at the clock it read 7:45 or so. Apparently, because I hadn’t checked the alarm clock very well the night before and because we’d left the cell phone in the car, we woke up about 15 minutes later than we had planned.

Josh got up to shower first and I packed up and made the bed while he was out of the room. Then, it was my turn to bathe. I had told Josh to take a “one quarter” shower which referenced the times when we were on our other camping road trips and we would have to use pay showers. In order to save money, we’d try to shower by using only one quarter each which meant taking a REALLY FAST shower.

We were ready to eat breakfast at 8:10. The “porridge” aka oatmeal was sitting on the stove for us and the dishes and cutlery were out as well. Ken was sitting in his recliner and Fenn was scuttling about taking care of the laundry and other chores. After helping ourselves to the porridge, Josh and I sat down at the table and ate our breakfast.

We spoke a bit to Ken and Fenn then we returned to our room to get our things to pack up the car. We were backing out of the driveway at 10 till 9. We hoped that was sufficient time for Ken and Fenn to make it to Timaru for their appointment. We, certainly, had time to make it to Christchurch for our 1:30 flight to Palmerston North.

The drive from Ashburton to Christchurch is only about 80 kms and on the drive Josh and I commented that even though we just spent over a month together almost 24 hours everyday we wish we could spend more time together. When we reached Christchurch around 10, we found a park with plenty of open parking spaces to sort out our luggage situation. We opened all the car doors and the trunk and went about the business of organizing all our papers, books, and clothes. Josh is definitely the master organizer in our relationship. It only took us 30 minutes or so before all of our gear was neatly packed up.

We drove over to a Subway to suppliment that morning’s porridge. We split a toasted foot long club sandwich on garlic bread. Since we ordered the sandwich as a meal, the girl at the counter asked us if we wanted a medium or large drink but told us refills were free so we might as well get the medium…FREE REFILLS…we love Subway…and we purchased the medium drink.

Josh and I enjoy hanging out in Subways because it brings back memories of hanging out in the Caddo Valley Subway while we were at HSU. I could have hung out longer (especially with the soda free flowing) but Josh (for the first time EVER) was pushing us towards the airport so we would not miss the flight.

We left Subway around 11 and stopped in to buy gas before reaching the airport. Josh topped us off (I noted that there are not many pay-at-the-pump gas stations in NZ) and we headed to the rental car depot to return the rental car before going to the airport.

Josh had feared the impact that the broken hubcap would have on our pocketbook, however, the young guy at the counter did not seem overly concerned about it. He said that he would take a picture of the damaged hubcap and the agency in Nelson would let us know if there was anything we needed to do. So, no pocketbook damage YET!

We were driven to the airport in the Sunny T (which was only a 5 minute drive from the rental car depot) where we unloaded all of our luggage onto a trolley. Then it was off to check in. However, before we could check in, we needed to finish getting ourselves sorted (like Josh wearing his fleece jacket and his suit jacket to take weight out of our luggage). We pre weighed all the bags at this convenient scale the airport has set up before you reach the check in counter so there aren’t any surprises. Surprises include having to pay $5 NZD for every kilo you are over the 20 kgs/person you are allotted.

By the time we had taken care of all this, the Air NZ line had dissipated, so we were able to walk straight up to the counter. The whole process of flying domestic in New Zealand is interesting. At least this time, the guy who had checked us in asked for identification and if we’d packed our own bags and if we had any sharp objects in our carry on bags.

I had originally booked us in seats in row 1, however, when I was talking to the ticket agent, I asked for an emergency exit row over the wing…Well, there is no “over the wing” in this aircraft as the wing is attached above the body of the plane. I don’t think the guy understood what I was asking for (because as it turns out row 1 is an emergency exit row with additional legroom) but he did do us the favor of putting us in row 9 C,D and because it wasn’t a completely full flight, he blocked 9 A,B so we could move over there during the flight. Our luggage was only .3 kgs overweight so we didn’t have to pay any additional fees.

After checking in, we had about an hour before our flight departed. We picked out a seat by the departures monitor and sat down to read. Remember how quickly the status of a flight can change here (based on our first experience on the Auckland to Palmerston North when we were moving here?) well, it was the same situation today. Watching the monitor, here is how the post-check in process goes on the monitor: Proceed to Departure Lounge (which is a big open area), Proceed to Departure Gate (but remember, there aren’t really gates like you think of in the states…it’s just one big corral about 30 feet from the Departure Lounge…so you might as well stay in the lounge and have more space), Boarding (which literally last 5 minutes on the screen), followed by Final Call.

When it was our turn to board, we loaded up our carry ons and pushed through the crowds standing around the Departure Gate (we’d opted to stay in the lounge) and then boarded our flight. Josh and I sat together for take off (which felt a bit wobblier than usual) then, when I realized the view from this side of the plane was only going to be of the ocean, I switched to the other side of the plane to have a mountain view. Overall the flight was smooth. I was able to view the snow capped peaks in the Kaikoura area from the air, however, as we flew over the water separating the South and North Islands, the clouds thickened and nothing but white cloud was viewable. Well, Mount Egmont was sticking up out of the clouds as we approached the North Island. It was dramatic but not quite as AWESOME as the flight we had to Nelson on a sunny day.

The flight took an hour and it was neat to land back in Palmerston North again like the first time we arrived here. Josh joked about me doing a leg kick when I got off the plane, so I did that again…I guess it’s going to become a Palmerston North Airport tradition! We picked up our bags, found where Grame had parked the car, checked to see if the mail we had held was available (it was 3:30 and that part of the post office had closed at 2:30…New Zealand hours!), bought groceries and gas and settled into the house again.

It was an amazing adventure!

Wednesday, May 30

May 30, 2007

Josh and I woke up around 9:00 (even though we’d set the alarm for 8, I hit the snooze several times) to the sound that had not ended throughout most of the night…the constant, incessant, rolling thunder of heavy trucks blasting their way down the highway. I noticed on the back of the Ashley Motor Lodge business card that they are located on State Highway 1…why hadn’t I noticed that yesterday?!?! Bugger!

Josh and I got ready to depart and Josh read the paper which ran a headline on NCEA (education exams in NZ) and I made a last coffee to drink on the balcony over looking the “view” that had been part of the determining factor in staying at this motel over the flash motel.

We parked the car by the I-site and Speight’s Ale House and paid $1 for 2 hours of parking. We walked to the Subway where Josh bought a foot long Subway melt and I had the French toast and bacon. I have to admit that the Subway bacon is the BEST bacon in New Zealand because it is a) not fatty b) not actually HAM instead of bacon c) tastes crisp and cooked just like in the states.

We walked up and down the main shopping strip in town. The “mall” in Timaru is abysmal as it actually houses more agencies (like the YMCA and a real estate company) than shops. It was really sad. So, we continued our trek up the main street and back down. We found Josh his Allure cologne that he wore in the states but we didn’t buy it here even though the generic CK One I bought him his not my favorite. The Allure was over $120 here but I don’t know if we can find it anywhere else for less in New Zealand.

As we neared the car park it was actually good timing because the clock tower was chiming noon and we had only paid for two hours of parking. We quickly returned to the car that was still parking ticket free and we decided to do a little housekeeping with our bags and the car considering we would be staying with Rotarians tonight and didn’t want to cart all our luggage into their home.

I’m sure it made a funny sight as Josh and I had the two suitcases on the ground behind the car, shifting clothes about and packing an overnight bag into the backpack so that was all we would have to take into Ken and Fenn Leadley’s home. We got everything sorted and although the back seat of the car wasn’t 100% organized, it was better than it had been for most of our South Island trip.

We left Timaru, which I don’t ever plan to go back to (if you like the architecture just visit Dunedin), and were on our way to Ashburton. State Highway 1 along the east coast is so flat that Josh was just thrilled to be driving on it. Straight roads are a luxury not to be taken for granted in New Zealand. We reached Ashburton around 2 and we didn’t plan to meet up with the Leadley’s until 3 or 3:30.

Josh called Ken to tell him that we were in town and then Josh and I were off to look at the Ashburton Museum. It’s a highly forgettable museum but if you’re ever looking to kill time in Ashburton you should stop in because at least it’s free. The downstairs of the museum is about the history of Ashburton and the upstairs area is an art gallery where local artists sell their work. Nothing of consequence in the entirety of the place except to note that one artist’s depictions of skeletal cats standing on two legs and dressed as ballerinas or brides alluding to the actions of molestation and rape were VERY DISTURBING. See: http://www.ashburtonartgallery.org.nz/images/new-3.jpg

On that pleasant note, we took a walk in the gardens outside the museum before driving to McDonald’s where we split a two cheeseburger meal (and the lady couldn’t get our order straight…what’s so hard about meat and cheese only?...that we had an extra cheeseburger at $2 added onto the meal but whatever.

Food in our stomachs, it was now 3:30 so we dropped into the I-site to get a map of town and directions to the Leadley’s house. It wasn’t too far away from the city center. We parked on the street and went up to re-introduce ourselves to these people as we’d only met them once before at the GSE team presentation in Palmerston North.

We chatted with Fenn and Ken for awhile about what they do. They have previously been farmers, however, in the early 1980s they sold their property and moved into town. Ken now builds houses in town primarily by himself although he is 61. Fenn works in town part-time at a clothing shop. We also learned that their Rotary club meets at 6:30 so we had some time to chat before getting changed to visit the club.

Around 6, we left the house and drove the short distance into town to the hotel where the Ashburton Plains Rotary Club meets. This is the newer of the two Ashburton Rotary Clubs. We socialized and got the powerpoint set up before dinner was served. The meal was brought out by the waitstaff and consisted of chicken, mashed potatoes, other veggies. Dessert was brought out later (a fluffy orange/marshmellow tasting cheesecake) along with tea and coffee. I must admit, I am eating a lot more veggies here and I’ll tell the truth…they don’t taste that bad!

Next, Josh and I were up to speak and when the laptop went into hibernate mode and went black…Josh just kept rolling after getting his notes from the laptop case and looking over at me and saying, “FIX IT.” Everyone laughed and it was really funny. Luckily, the tech guy fixed the problem because I didn’t have a clue. Ultimately, the glitch was forgettable because Josh never stopped speaking and soon enough the images were back up on the screen. The club presented us with a gift of fresh fruits and some chocolates which was very thoughtful. I was, however, very tempted to eat the candy but Josh and I didn’t want to open the shrink wrap as we had to carry the package onto the plane the following day.

After the meeting, several people chatted us up and around 9:00 we returned to the Leadley’s house after having first stopped to check on the storage unit facility that they operate. Josh and I put our casual clothes back on and chatted with the Leadley’s until 11:00. By the time we crawled into bed, we were exhausted and we would have an early morning tomorrow because Ken and Fenn had to depart the house by 9 so that Ken could make a doctor’s appointment he had scheduled in Timaru at 10:30.

After setting the alarm clock for 7:30, we fell into bed and were fast asleep (although I did wake up around 3:30 to the dripping noise of the outdoor garden fountain!).

Tuesday, May 29

May 29, 2007

Because we were staying in a holiday home rather than a hotel, I told Josh we should plan to leave by noon in order to take advantage of the situation and sleep in more. As I’ve mentioned before, a 10 am check out time is absurd to me. When we did leave the house at noon, following the instructions for departure like properly closing the lounge sheers and turning off the water heater, we went to return the house key to Jenny.

Jenny was standing outside chatting to someone when I approached. She quizzed me on which linen we used in order to determine which beds she was going to have to make up. I was confused and like, why don’t you go down to the house and check, then you’ll know.

Josh and I decided to drive out to the Mount John Observatory one more time because we liked it so much. At the Astro Café Josh and I split a ham sandwich with mustard seed sauce on the side (delicious) and a mochachino. Josh doesn’t like coffee but if you put some chocolate in it, he’s sold. The view was again great today and we had sunny skies. We didn’t want to leave, however, we decided it would be good to get on the road to Timaru since we didn’t know where we were staying at tonight.

The drive to Timaru was enjoyable because it was flat. Josh prefers these roads over the winding roads of the wild, wet, West Coast. As we arrived in Timaru, we first spotted Caroline Bay. Caroline Bay was a man made port and it definitely has the look of an industrial seaport…i.e. UGLY with smokestacks rising up from the coast. The city center itself is nice enough with architecture reminiscent of buildings in Dunedin. We headed to the I-site in order to figure out our accommodation options.

After looking at different brochures and getting a map of Timaru we made a phone call to our top choice, Aspen on King, but they had no vacancy. Our second choice, Avenue Motor Lodge, had an upstairs room available so we went to inspect it. Room 15 was at the end of the property and was a one bedroom unit that was totally flash and new but had no view. The manager told us the room was $130 then left us in to talk it over.

Because there was no view, we thought we should check out another property. When we went downstairs to tell the manager this she asked us if the price was “too dear.” Josh was like “too dear?” Dear means expensive. Then, she offered us the room for $120 but we still left to look at another hotel.

We didn’t know where we were going so we looked at our info and picked a third choice but they had no vacancy in an upstairs room so we went to our fourth choice, the Ashley Motel. They had upstairs rooms available for $120 and it was just down the road from the Avenue Motor Lodge.

After an inspection of two different upstairs rooms, either a 2 bedroom apartment or a studio for the same price of $120, we decided to stay here in the 2 bedroom place. MISTAKE! I was so stupid to not notice that this place is on the state highway and so loud with big trucks going by. AHHHHH! I will never again make a stupid decision like this based on not wanting to drive a little bit more back to the place we'd started at.

We had to get out of the loud apartment (which didn't bother Josh at all) so we went to the Speight’s Ale House for dinner and drinks around 4:30. Our waiter asked us where we were from and said he had spent time working in the states. He also told us that they were still on the lunch menu so that saved us a couple of bucks off of the dinner prices.

When we finished dinner at 6:30, we walked up the main shopping drag in town and realized EVERYTHING except travel agencies and fast food joints were closed…New Zealand hours ahh! Josh decided to get himself an ice cream cone from McDonald’s and at .50 cents each they are probably the best deal in the country. However, his ice cream was very melted as it came out and looked very flat on his cone. It was very funny.

Back to the world’s loudest hotel where I tried to go to sleep early but when that failed I read more of The Tommyknockers. Josh and I used the double spa Jacuzzi and then I went to bed. Josh came to bed later after watching movies and having some of his Absinth which he really has to water down every time he makes a glass.

Monday, May 28

May 28, 2007

A do-nothing day.

I took advantage of staying put in one place and slept in today until close to noon. Josh was watching a movie called Beat Street on tv in the living room. He can’t seem to get enough of these break dancing movies he watched with Trin growing up. I can’t believe it because I’ve never even heard of these movies.

We stayed in the house most of today, even though it was a nice sunny day outside, I just wanted to take it easy and have a down day like being on vacation rather than on a trip. I found some magazines in the house so I read those.

For dinner, Josh and I drove into town to pick up a side of rice since we had leftovers from the night before. We also bought another thing of Diet Coke, the price of which had risen overnight. Seriously, there is no stability in the food market in New Zealand. Prices here fluctuate so much!

Josh and I ate dinner and waited until 7:30 to call the Earth and Sky people to see if the 8:00 tour was going to happen. After getting off the phone, Josh said it had been canceled tonight because of the clouds. However, he said the lady he’d spoken to made it sound as though yesterday’s tour had been canceled too so we didn’t feel too bad about having stayed in to watch AI. We’ll try to come back here with Josh’s parents to view the stars.

Josh made another fire in the log burner and we watched movies on tv until we went to bed.

Sunday, May 27

May 27, 2007

We woke up this morning around 8 so we could plan to have breakfast around 8:45 like yesterday. Because the New Caldonian couple had departed at 5 am (actually, I heard them leaving closer to 4:45!!!), we were the only one’s having breakfast today and we hadn’t specified a time with Sean and Nic yesterday.

When we went into the kitchen/living room area Sean and Nic were sitting in there one of them on the sofa and the other in one of the chairs. Josh was sitting in the other living room chair so that left me to sit at the kitchen table.

Sean and Nic lounged around there and talked to us for thirty minutes before offering to make breakfast. Because Josh had enjoyed his omelet so much yesterday, I decided to have one myself. Breakfast was really good and Sean and Nic ate with us. Highlight of the conversation for me was informing them about Tripadvisor and how Omahau Downs B&B was listed on the site because they’d never heard about it before!

We got on the road around 10:30 and headed towards Lake Tekapo. On the way there, we pulled over to take a look at Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki. It was such a nice, warm, sunny day so the water was so incredibly blue to look at. The drive to Lake Tekapo didn’t take very long so when we got into town, Josh went to the information center to get a map so we could figure out how to reach our holiday home.

First, we had to get the key from someone named Jenny at 8 O’Neil Street. As it turned out, Jenny operated a Bed and Breakfast but held the keys to the Rylee Retreat holiday home for Deb. Jenny asked how long we’d be staying and I told her two days and then we were off to the house.

We had spotted the Rylee Retreat as we had driven to Jenny’s house so we returned there and parked the car. Finding the entrance to the house was not so easy because where you park the car and where you see sliding glass doors onto the deck is not where you enter the house. The main entrance to the house is on the other side of the building which you can’t see from where you park.

Once we had that all figured out, we unloaded our gear and Josh commented that this was probably the third worst place we stayed at on the trip (above the two hostels). Well, it was only $100 a night for a 3 bedroom house so it was a good deal anyway. It wasn’t flash and there wasn’t really any coffee left to drink but it wasn’t a horrible place.

Josh and I decided to check out the sites in town but first we had to reschedule an event we’d signed up for ahead of time. When I was planning our trip, I scheduled us on a Star Gazing tour at the Mount John Observatory. The tour was scheduled for 8:00. Because the American Idol finale was coming on tonight instead of next week, Josh and I decided that we should change our star gazing tour from tonight to the following night.

We went into town and visited the Earth and Sky office but they didn’t open until 3:00. It was around 2:30 so we walked down the strip of shops in town (about 10 shops or so) and then we popped into a café to use the internet for about 30 minutes. After we’d checked our emails (and read more good reviews about the Excellence Riviera in Mexico which we’ve had on our brain for a return trip once we’re in the Northern Hemisphere again) it was time to see about changing our star gazing tour.

The woman at the office made the change for us with no problem and said as it was, we were the only people booked in for a tour the following day. However, she did note that tours are canceled a lot due to wind and cloud so there was no guarantee for going on a tour. We decided to take our chances in order to watch the finale of our show.

Next, we drove a short distance to the Church of the Good Shepherd. Josh and I were the only ones there for about 5 minutes before a tour bus unloaded about 30 people at once. The people from the bus only stayed about 10 minutes and then Josh and I had it to ourselves again. The lake view and the church itself were really nice on this sunny and completely clear blue sky day.

Near the Church of the Good Shepherd is a tribute to the collie dog for all the assistance that the dog has historically provided the Mackenzie Country sheep farming. Josh wasn’t blown away by either place and soon we were on the road toward Mount John Observatory to take in the daytime view.

And what a view it was! The Lake Tekapo village below on the shores of the lake plus all the snow capped Southern Alps in the distance were just amazing as the sun continued to set in the sky. At the top of the hill, there is a café and observation area. It was pretty windy and cold outside so Josh and I went in to the café to enjoy the view. I ordered a mochachino and Josh had a piece of apple pie. The view was just amazing and we really enjoyed our time up there.

The café closed at 5 so Josh and I headed back down the hill into Lake Tekapo. We ordered takeaway at Jade Palace. I had sweet and sour chicken and Josh had chicken curry. While the food cooked, we went down to the grocery store to buy Diet Coke. When we returned to the restaurant 10 minutes later, our food was ready.

We went back to the house and got everything set up for dinner. After dinner, Josh started a fire for us in the log burner and spoke to Ken Leadley, a Rotarian in Ashburton who we planned to stay with for two nights. After speaking to Ken, Josh said we’d only stay at the Ledley’s house for one night. This was fine, however, it meant we’d have to decide where to spend our extra night before arriving in Ashburton on the 30th.

Regarding the fire, we spent a good deal of time trying to locate matches in the house and were really fortunate we found some in the pantry because we didn’t want to drive back to town even though it was less than 5 minutes away. Josh got a great fire going for us and we watched tv and the American Idol finale (Jordin won as Josh predicted weeks ago). We were glad that we stayed in to watch the show.

We didn’t really have plans for the next day other than going on the star gazing trip but that wouldn’t be until 8 pm anyway. I went to bed planning to sleep in the next day.

Saturday, May 26

May 26, 2007

We woke up this morning as the phone alarm sounded at 8am. I went over and opened the curtains to realize that we can – for the first time here – see Mt. Cook. AMAZING! It’s huge and covered in snow and situated perfectly out of our deck area. Josh comes over and takes a look… then we opt for a few more minutes to sleep. Around 8:45, we wander into the kitchen – we’re the last to arrive.

The other couple was already sitting down with their breakfast, as the owners were standing in the kitchen ready to take our order. I had scrambled eggs, a hash brown, three pieces of toast, and two pieces of ham. Josh had the same thing except he took his eggs in an omelet with mushrooms, tomato, and cheese. We had tea and orange juice to drink. The breakfast was so good!

The girl of the tourist couple is originally from Ecuador and the guy is originally from France. They are living on the French island of New Caldonia which is a two hour flight from New Zealand.

Because we had to get up so early to make breakfast in time, we were out the door and on our way to Mount Cook by 10:30. The drive to Mount Cook wasn’t that long…maybe 45 minutes or so…the mountain views were spectacular. The mountains were everywhere around us.

After stopping at Peter’s Lookout and some other pull offs along the way to take pictures and shoot video, we entered the national park and followed the signs to the visitor center (only getting turned around once). Before driving out here, I thought that our best walking option would be the Hooker Valley trail which was a 4 hour return walk.

Josh and I looked around the visitor center for a little while and Mount Cook was clearly visible through the windows. We read about the different walking tracks and confirmed that the Hooker Valley would be best. I found the most interesting thing in the center to be the two log books documenting the lives and deaths of those who have perished in the park. It was historical and current. The last person to die in the park occurred in January. Many people perished while climbing and crossing the mountain. The grim thing about the book was that there were empty plastic sleeves at the end of the book for the park’s next victims.

After leaving the Visitor Center, we were ready for our walk. We drove down to the Hooker Valley car park area which was full of cars so Josh and I ended up parking on the side of the road rather than in the parking lot. We hoped we wouldn't get a ticket for doing so.

The first thing we spotted on our walk (about 5 minutes in) was a memorial to all the people who have lost their lives on the mountain. We had to climb up a small hill to reach the memorial. Then Josh, in adventure mode, walked down the hill not on the path we'd come up on but just down it making his own way. I was thinking, "What an idiot" while I stayed up there. Josh started walking down the wrong path a the bottom of the hill (I could tell this because I was still on top of the hill) so I had to direct him how to make his way to the correct path. Geez, stick to the main path is it that hard?

The next stop was an overlook that viewed the mountains and a suspension bridge. It was really windy at that spot but the sun was out so we sat at the only bench there for awhile before continuing our hike. We made it to the suspension bridge which can hold up to 20 people (which seemed like a lot more than the suspension bridge at Fox Glacier that only held 5 people at a time). We kept walking because although the mountain views were spectacular all around us, we could not see Mount Cook from here.

Our walk brought us to a really crazy piece of track that ran alongside the mountain. The mountain was covered in mesh to prevent rock falls from occuring. There was even a Danger sign to tell visitors not to stop on this part of the path because it was so dangerous. I wanted to get through that part as quickly as possible. At the end of that section of the trail there was another suspension bridge.

Josh and I could start to view Mount Cook about 10 minutes after passing the second suspension bridge so we decided to sit on a rock and just enjoy the view from here rather than to continue on the trail. We had a mostly clear view of the mountain for about 15 minutes and then the clouds started to roll in. No reason to go further so we turned around and began our hike out of Hooker Valley.

Once we returned to the car, which didn't have a ticket, we drove back to the Visitor's Center to see if the cafe was opened. It was closed until the end of July so no coffee for me. We headed out of the park when we spotted a sign for Tasman Glacier. Even though we were tired from our first hike, we decided to go check it out. The drive to the car park was really nice and when we reached the parking lot we saw that the walk to the Tasman Glacier viewing area was about a 20 minute walk. I thought, it'd better be worth it.

The walk took us up a steep path and we could view the "blue lake" which was really green as we climbed. Josh was leading us up the hill and when he got to the top he was like, "You're not going to believe this."

The Tasman Glacier was nothing like I'd expected. I was expecting to see something that looked like the Franz or Fox Glaciers. The Tasman Glacier was all broken bits and pieces and the sign said that underneath these broken bits that were floating on a grey lake, there was a large glacier. This was too cool!

Adding to the spectacular surroundings were the snow capped mountain peaks that were clearer and in more sunlight than Mount Cook had been when we'd left. It was so incredible: a magnificint and majestic place. Sitting on the top of the hill with this view, just the two of us, I told Josh that this was my most favorite place in the world. We definately want to bring his parents back to this spot when they visit in August.

Josh and I headed back to the car and left the Mount Cook park. As we were leaving, the sunset was so pink with fluffy clouds and the moon was rising so I took a lot of pictures. We drove into Twizel to get some dinner. We contemplated eating at Shorty’s or another restaurant (there were a few open) but Shorty’s was by far the busiest which we always take as a sign that the place is good to eat at. Because I was hungry, I thought buying groceries to cook at the B&B would be faster than waiting for our food at a restaurant.

After parking the car, Josh and I had to navigate our way past an unleashed BIG dog that was standing by what must have been his owners vehicle. The New Zealand news often reports on how people are mauled by dogs on the loose in this country so I wasn’t feeling very confident. However, we made it past the dog and into the 4 Square grocery store where Josh and I bought soups for dinner and I bought a Magnum chocolate/caramel ice cream bar too.

When we left the shop and walked back to the car the dog was gone. Whew! We drove back to the B&B and made our dinner before watching the American Idol results show in the living room with the log burner going. One of the owners had started the fire for us so Josh didn’t have to make it today. There was a rug placed in front of the burner, however, which we thought was interesting since Josh had made his previous comments on why anyone would place carpet so near to a fire.

The New Caldonian couple left the B&B to eat dinner in town so Josh and I could watch AI as loud as we wanted. When they returned about 2 hours later, the show was still on but wrapping up. They watched the show for a little while, making comparisons to the French version of American Idol and other pop music reality shows they have in France, then they were off to bed because they had to leave at 5 am to drive to Kaikoura by noon in order to make their whale watching tour. That seemed crazy to us!

We got a bonus with AI when we found out that we would not have to wait another week to watch the finale. NZ tv was going to run the finale the following day. Sweet!