well i’m on my way…

Naomi and I left Christchurch and headed for Mt Cook.  The rolling hills soon turned into snow covered mountains as we continued driving westward.  I kept on exclaiming about the scenery so we had to pull over a few times so Naomi could see the beauty of the countryside I was.  We sat on the top of the car and shivered while we watched the sun go down over the mountains.

We arrived in Mt Cook, located the YHA, and learned it was booked.  The girl at reception directed us to the Unwin Lodge, which was basically a hut.  If this was a hut, it sure was luxurious by hut standards with hot showers, electricity, and a fully equipped kitchen (expect for a busted can opener that we got to fight with in the morning).  We met some hardcore Kiwi rock climbers and went to bed a bit early in hopes of climbing part of Mt Cook the next morning.  Before we went to bed though, we marvelled at the stars and wondered what magnificence the outlines of the moutains would show for us in the daylight.

We woke up to beautiful scenery as we were in a valley of the snow-capped mountains we were admiring on the way in and to overcast skies.  We headed to the DOC and were told that if we did climb up, we’d have no view, which meant there was no point in doing so.  We decided to leave for Lake Wanaka, the un-over-touristy version of Queenstown.  Although we were sad about missing Mt Cook, I figured it was better to have gone there and known we tried than to miss it entirely and wonder what we missed.

Lake Wanaka is a glacial lake-which means it’s an amazing shade of blue.  The town of Wanaka is a cute lakeside town that really wakes up in ski season, which is coming swiftly.  We ran around town making plans for the next week-our last week together.  Naomi is going WWOOFing, something I won’t have enough time for, so I’m checking out the north island instead.

So far, going along with the Passover rules have been tough, but we’d been doing it.  We made it five days before I became really tired and a bit unresponsive.  Naomi thought I was getting bitchy, but I explained to her that a quiet uninterested Laura is not a bitchy one.  My body was craving carbs.  Naomi decided that it was impossible to continue traveling like this; in Toronto her suburb became a kosher one and all the food is made ‘Kosher for Passover”.  Nothing in New Zealand is “Kosher for Passover”, so we quit.  I told her that my five days can count for the five days she didn’t make it, so technically, she compeleted Passover.  I literally jumped with my arms in the air when I realized that I could now eat Tim Tams!  We hurried to the supermarket and drooled over bread and muesli before we bought it.

We stayed in Wanaka two nights and just hung out enjoying the scenery.  We met an American, Anna, and she and I went to Puzzling World to look at the world’s largest hologram collection, a room of heads that follow you as you walk by, a room that is really big in one corner and tiny in another, and got lost in a maze for almost two hours.

Naomi and I took an overnight Milford Sound cruise.  The scenery, boat, food, and staff were nothing compared to the Doubtful Sound cruise we took.  We tried not to be disappointed and make the best of it.  At night we could go outside and stand in the pitch blackness of Milfor Sound.  It was a bit creepy…until we noticed fish jumping and a large blackish mass making splashes as it jumped after the fish.  It was a seal going after a midnight snack!  Most of the people still up came out on deck to watch the fish and the seals go after them and play with eachother.  In the morning we headed out towards the Tasman Sea.  I stood outside in the crazy wind to watch it pick up mist and create semi-tornadoes over the water as it flew past us.

After the cruise we headed to Arrowtown (a little gold mining settlement) for the night since I’m trying to avoid Queenstown at all costs.  I want to be able to say “I went to New Zealand but I didn’t go to Queenstown”.  We’re resting up for the walk ahead of us: the Routeburn and the Greenstone-five nights of tramping in the mountains, here we come!

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