Hello, from Middle Earth

Day 13:

Up early this morning to get packed up, eat breakfast, make lunch and hit the road for Napier. Although long, it was another beautiful drive. Kick started the trek with a stop at “Candyland”, a little side road chocolate shop. Whenever we’re together we have a rule that we can’t have chocolate for breakfast unless we don’t have class or work that day. Since we’re on vacation we were golden; chocolate covered hokey pokey (honeycombs) and chocolate peanut slabs. So delicious. We kept driving towards Napier and must have seen a dozen rainbows. We have literally seen more rainbows in the last 4 days then we have in the last 4 years. It’s crazy. Another thing there is a lot of, sheep. Sheep everywhere. Hills of sheep around every corner. Our estimate is that there are more sheep in New Zealand than people, or at least an equal amount. We haven’t had luck with wool things yet though. Where is all the sheep wool going?!

Arrived in Napier in the early afternoon and checked into our hostel. Napier is one of the wine hotspots of New Zealand so it was fitting that we made our way to the National Wine Centre. Here we did a “virtual wine tour adventure”. We were taken into an aroma room where we were able to smell 50 odd scents that are used when describing wine. After this we went into the theatre and watched a video of 6 different vineyards. Each clip showed the wine maker describing a type of wine we had in front of us so we could sample it at the same time. Very different to any wine tasting we’ve done before, but very cool and convenient since we were unable to get to the vineyards individually.

We left the wine centre with a bottle of red and a bottle of white and went to a little Irish pub for dinner. Since the All Blacks game we have noticed a lot of Irish influence here. A lot of flags and pubs around. We’re settled back into the hostel now with our bottle of white open and ready to turn on The Two Towers; our tour is getting close!

Day 14:

Thank you for our wool things : )

Free breakfast at the hostel this morning, which turned into free lunch as well as we made sandwiches to go. Had a slower pack up this morning but hit the road before 10, headed to Wellington. Another beautiful drive of hills, rivers, and sheep. And guess what? Today we found a wool shop on the side of the highway. Pulled in to have a gander and found wool everything! Made a few purchases and went on our way. Arrived in Wellington and set out to return the car and explore the town. After a few days of long and twisty drives, Alex was happy to see the car go (we’re picking one up again after we cross the ferry to the South Island).

This is our second YHA hostel experience. Our first, in Pahia, was lovely. Clean, beautiful facilities, but had several older guests than we expected at a Youth Hostel. At the YHA again tonight, and the same thing, several more older guests (45-60). They keep to themselves and I guess it’s nicer than being somewhere with a bunch of loud partiers when we have early mornings, but still a little odd. Oh well. Settling in now to finish The Two Towers and start and finish The Return of the King before getting up early to go on our tour tomorrow. We’ll take lots of pictures – we’ve realised that the scenes from The Lord of the Rings are not photo-shopped at all. New Zealand is just that picturesque.

Day 15:

Alex will lead you to Rivendell

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in Wellington, and we enjoyed it to its fullest. We started our day in Middle Earth on our Lord of the Rings tour. We got to see sights for the three movies including the forest on the way to the ferry to Brie, Minas Tirith, Helms Deep, the River Anduin, some of Isengard and a stop for high tea (our second breakfast) at Rivendell. The best way to spend the morning ever. We are actually considering doing another tour when we are in Queenstown next week. Our tour guide was a really big LOTR nerd (who played an Orc in the first movie in the scene where Boromir dies) and was so nice. It was the two of us and a father and daughter from the states. The father was originally from the Czech Republic, but was sporting a Nova Scotia Tall Ships hat when we stepped on to the bus.

Maura "Legolas" Casey

When our tour was done we went back to the hostel to re-watch all the scenes we had just seen. After this we headed over to the Embassy theatre where the Return of the King premier was held to look at photos and some old Hollywood star books. Our plan now is to have an early night before catching the ferry to the South Island tomorrow morning.

Day 16:

Well, our early to bed plan didn’t work. We got caught up in a bottle of red and a block of cheese before remembering we needed to re-pack everything. Whoops! Up early, early today to catch the bus to the ferry to take the first crossing of the day. For a three-hour ferry between two relatively close together islands, we narrowly escaped our second round of motion sickness. This ferry got air on the waves this morning. The first hour was awful. However, after it calmed down we were able to catch some sleep. We lucked out and choose the side of the boat that faced the sun and enjoyed a catnap in the rays. A much-needed nap we may add.

After reaching Picton we deboarded, got our luggage and our rental car and were on our way towards Nelson. For those of you don’t know, the drive from Picton to Nelson runs straight through the Marlborough region; a very famous wine region in New Zealand. We lost count of the vineyards we drove past around 30. We stopped into 3 for Maura to have a tasting (as Alex is driving she only sampled the best ones Maura picked out because spitting or dumping even a sample glass is unacceptable). Of course we walked away with two bottles and continued on our way to Nelson.

We are now curled into our room with our electric fireplace going, sipping on some pinot gris while doing our laundry. Free laundry at that. It’s the little things in life that can make you so happy. Love you all!

Day 17:

Back to our wet laundry. Our evening didn’t exactly end peacefully as our last day sounded. We went outside to check on our cloths and low and behold they where smoking the dryer and still SOAKED. So we turned our lovely Victorian “hostel” room into a dryer. (We quote hostel, as it was really a mansion on a hill/bed and breakfast). As they were still wet in the morning, we turned the car into a dryer as we headed off to Hanmer Springs. Another gorgeous drive. Since we switched cars for the South Island we also have a new GPS. Our last one, we named Billy. He was smart, reliable, and specific. Our new GPS we have named Ally (in reference to Ally from The Notebook). She is proper, nice, with a slight dementia since she seems to forget the way occasionally. Funniest part of our drive to Hanmer was Ally pronouncing Whakatu Dr. “Fukatu Dr. – not the first time she said it, but by the eighth we were both in stitches.

The view from our "motel"

Arrived in Hanmer to check into the “motel” and got a free upgrade to a beautiful suite room. And we say “motel” because it’s more like a 4-star hotel – we are lucking out with our internet accommodation bookings. Hanmer Springs is our halfway point and also a little treat to ourselves after being on the go for so long. Hanmer Springs has been our choice as it sits on a Geothermal plate, i.e. Hot Springs. So tonight after we got settled in our room (which included laying out our wet clothes again) we headed off to the hot pools. Oh wow, what a lovely evening. Crystal clear skies, a tad chilly, not over crowded and not too hot. Perfect. Had a good long soak in several pools before heading home. Off to sleep now so we can get up and soak all over again tomorrow.

Day 18:

HAPPY CANADA DAY!! To fully appreciate our nation today, we slept in. For the first time in three weeks or so. It was much needed. We’ve been trying to make the most of our time here so we’ve been up by 7 at the latest every day and checking out by 9 and hitting the road. Busy busy. After our sleep in we took our time having breakfast and getting ready for our day before exploring the outskirts of town and visiting Marble Point Winery for a tasting. This is also the highest altitude vineyard in New Zealand. Sample a few lovely wines, and of course, came home with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. After the tasting we headed back to town for lunch at the Monteith’s Brewery Bar. Monteith’s is a very popular New Zealand beer that we wanted to try so we thought it was a good stop.

Hanmer Springs Hot Pools

Did we ever luck out. Not only did we enjoy a few good beer and a great meal, but we stumbled into the bar just as an Irish man was taking the stage for a few sets. We both appreciate good tunes, but this was phenomenal. He was so talented. He played the guitar, mandolin, bass, an instrument with each foot (tambourine and bass drum) and the harmonica. We have never heard anyone play the harmonica as well as he did. He was playing tunes that sounded like they should have been played on the accordion or even a fiddle. It was amazing. His repertoire was also sweet. He went from Jack Johnson to the Eagles to traditional Irish tunes to Guns and Roses. What a great way to spend an afternoon. After this we headed back for another soak in the hot pools before heading back to our room four hours later. How did you spend your Canada Day?!