Hey everyone,
quick update here so you dont all feel left behind. I spent 2 nights in Duni's with the boys. It was alot of fun to hang out there (especially after 4 days living alone in the van), all of them are very adventurous... surfing, mtn biking etc. (most of them ski'd alot in wanaka this year). I spent most of my day walking around Dunedin taking in the sites. I wandered through some stores, realized I hated shopping and then found the Cadbury factory and took the tour. You walk through the factory (unfortunatly you dont see.... anything really apart from a lot of chocolate smelling hallways) and then at the end you get to see the chocolate waterfall which was pretty cool. I was kinda disappointed with the tour, but all in all it was nice to wander the city.
When I got home the boys all wanted to go riding, so we pulled a bunch of stuff out of my van, through the bikes in and drove to the local trails. We got a few runs in down the DH track... mostly just rocks and steep sections but a few fun drops, it was just nice to be back on a bike. After riding, we were starved and got back to an awsome roast lamb one of the guys had done, he is from a farm so it was one of his from home.
The next morning, with all the boys off to study, I headed north. I drove up to Mt. Cook, which is the highest mountain in NZ and spent the night. I got a really cool day hike in before bed, basicly ran up the trail so I would get back before the sun went down. It was up past a bunch of lakes and finally to the lake at the base of Mt. Cook looking up at the glacier. Walking back I watched the sun set over the mountains before having a quick dinner.
The next day I drove up through to the Lewis pass, it looks very similar to the Banff area and even had some really nice hotsprings to stop at. I spent some time soaking in the pools and Japanese spa before finding a small campground by a river to stop for the night. I woke up pretty early in the morning and couldnt get back to sleep so I finished driving into Nelson where I am now. I spent the day with one of my mates from Wanaka, Hamish, we just spent the day wandering the beach, throwing a football (YES, a football... not even a rugby ball) and checking out the girls (because its what you do at the beach right? and for some reason there is more girls here then in sleepy little wanaka... heh, gotta love ski towns).
I am staying at the same hostel I stayed in when I was in Nelson the first time. It is the best hostel I have ever seen and definitly worth the second pass. Complete with pool, hot-tub, hammocks and beach volleyball.... as well as free breakfast and dinner. I figured that after the last couple days in the van except for Dunedin, that for my birthday I would treat myself and stay here. After tomorow night I move up for my other birthday treat care of my wonderful parents. I am going to do the Abel Tasmen trek, a 4 day, coastal walk through some gorgious golden sand beaches. I will update after I get back and I will definitly have a tonne of pictures to show.
Hope everything is wonderful back home. Keep emailing (or start if you havent already) its always great to get news from home.
cheers,
-Jesse
