Had the fun, time to work

This might be the last post I can do for the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow morning(at 6:20am) Ashley and I start work at a cherry orchard. It's the prime picking and packing season so we'll be working straight through without days off for the next three weeks or so. It should be a good chance to bolster our bank accounts.

The last two weeks have been pretty full on, seeing a lot of the South Island. We traveled with the German couple, Philip and Anja for two weeks, parting with them only yesterday. We weren't able to look for penguins again on the Otago Peninsula do to rain that night. We did just catch a short glimpse of an albatross over the hill. The next day we travelled south, camping next to a lake in some real tall grass(being in a vehicle we camped in some out of the way places, basically anywhere that had room for us to put the tent down). From there we headed to an area called the Catlins and hit some beaches that were rumored to have sea lions. Though we didn't see any we did see some baby seals, and some playing in the water up close. After checking out some waterfalls we pulled into a campsite for the night and took a walk on the beach where we almost ran into two sea lions half buried in the sand. They weren't very interesting at that point, but later in the evening one of the them charged the other and they had a brief fight before returning to their spots in the sand.

(regretfully I haven't been able to put up pictures for a while and can't until I get some time at a good computer. When I do get them up it should be worth the wait.)

The next day we travelled to Curio and Porpoise Bays and spotted some Hector's dolphins in not far from the beach. Hector's are a very small type of dolphin and only found in New Zealand. That night we went penguin watching again and got some great views(and hopefully pictures and some video) of two yellow eyed penguins. We stayed at a backpackers that night and the next morning while having breakfast saw the dolphins surfing in the waves. We quickly popped on our swimming suits and ran into the water. It was quite cold but well worth it. From there we had a great view of the dolphins popping up all over the place, jumping over one another and getting as close as 20 feet away. After a much needed hot shower we headed towards Invercargill, the biggest city in the far south, before heading to nearby Riverton, where we encountered some car trouble. After swerving to avoid some straying from their lane, the van starting maybe an odd creaking noise and after closer inspection you could see that a piece where the wheel connects to the frame was broken off. We were deciding what to do when a women pulled over and asked about it. She said that she owned a backpackers in town and that we could camp in the back yard and only pay 3 dollars apiece for showers. Soon after arriving there some guys from the bar came out to have a look at it. One of them offered to weld it back on the next day, saving them from having a lot of expensive repairs. The next day he welded it back together, asking only for 20 dollars and a case of beer. This was a pretty amazing example of Kiwi hospitality. That afternoon we took a walk on the beach. I noticed some women going through the rocks in a tidal area. I started talking to them and found out they were gathering pipis, a small shell fish similar to a mussell. She pulled on out of her back and cracked it open for me to try right then. It tasted pretty good so i picked up a few of my own to have for an appetizer that evening. We stayed a second night in Riverton, then drove to a campsite at Lake Monowai, which was very nice even with an abundance of sandflies(this would be the case for the whole next week). Swimming in the lake was a little chilly, but a nice change from the cold southern pacific. We drove a little further the next day-heading north now- and camped on Lake Manapouri. It rained all night and most of the morning and so we threw our wet gear into the car and travelled to Te Anua which is the staging point for most excursions into the Fiordland. We stayed there two nights drying out our tent and waiting while the van got some more repairs(this time for the brakes) and took a day walk on part of the Kepler track, one of the most popular big walks.

With the breaks fixed and a full tank of gas we head into the gorgeous Fiordland. A Fiord, as we later learned, is a river carved by a glacier that is then filled from the ocean, which results in incredible scenery. The mountains rise straight up out of the water. After camping next to a mountain lake(which had some big eels in it) we headed to Milford Sound(actually, it's a Fiord). Milford is the most popular Fiord because it is accessible by car. We took a 2 hour cruise around the sound which gave great views of the mountains and waterfalls. The best part, we came upon a pod of bottlenose dolphins heading out to sea. We got sweet views as they swam right under the boat. A few miles back down the road we took an afternoon walk up Key Summit, and took in the scenery from above. That night we camped again on the Milford Road in a site along a mountain stream and with mistletoe growing all around.

The next day we departed from the Fiordland and headed into the central-south part of the island. After camping another night, yesterday we split up with Philip and Anja who were heading towards Queenstown, which we'll see later. We spent a night in Cromwell, then today hitched to Alexandra, where we found accomodation and a job.

Heaps of pictures-and maybe even some video- to come, but for now you'll just have to trust that I'm not making it all up.

Best Wishes