What a weekend

I'll start off in advance apologising for having no pictures as I am in a hostel in Aukland at the moment. So bear through it, it's all interesting writing.

This past weekend has been half an adventure and then some. It was definitly one way to start a break, and excitment is my game. It staterted off with a peaceful weekend watching over the horses and multitude of other creatures at the ladies house we had met. It was absolutley beautiful and inspiring to realise that just four years prior the entire propeorty was a paddock and they built it all themselves.

Then it was off to cram for the exam and paper I had to do before Wensday. It was a crazy little sprint of having to crack down and doing work, but it was all too short for before I knew it I was crammed into a shitty little car driving down to Queenstown for a weekend adventure.

After a long drive we pulled into Queenstown around 11 pm and crashed. Queenstown is built for two things, thrill seeking and bars, and I decided I couldn't leave town without doing both. So I started off the day Paragliding and finished it with a shortend pub crawl due to the midnight closure of good friday. The paraglidng was a much needed relaxing ride in the air. It was so peacful I could have done it for hours just soaring through the sky like a bird, but alas it only lasted a mere few minutes.

The next day we drove down to Te Anu where the fjorlands are. It was great to get back into that area, but alas it did not turn out how we planned at all. And here is how the weekend of hell came about.


The Weekend from hell...
Well it was fun, but oh man it was crazy. It started out with my friend Alice going to Milford sound for a day of Kyaking and then the rest of us (me, Lilly, and the Alice sibblings) driving to Milford around 14:00 to go pick her up and enjoy the scenery of the fjorlands as well.

But as all good stories go, this did not at all happen in the least. In a moment of ill judgment and stupidity we failed to fill up our tank in the rented car before we drove out to pick up Alice. Now for those that do not know the road to Milford lets break it down like this: its a two hour drive and there is no such thing as petrol along the way. In fact there is a sign and many advisories that say fill up the tank before you go, no petrol in Milford sound. Somehow we failed to see or pay attention to such notices and a lapse of communication between the map guy and the driver let us run out of fuel at a place called The Divide, about an hour from Te Anu and Milford. Great.

We decided to send two of us in to town to get petrol and leave two to safegaurd the car. The great thing about breaking down at the divide is that it is a common stopping point for buses and the like. So we decided that two should stay with the car and two would go back into town to get some petrol and then head back to pick up the car. Anna (a sibling) and I decided that we would head back into town and found a ride with some transportation company.

As soon as we got into town we asked about buses going back out and they said that there were no more. Great. It was also rainy out so hitchhiking was out of the question. Also, to top it off neither the divide or Milford sound had cell reception meaning that we had no way to contact either party stuck out in the middle of nowhere. We went back to the hostel and set up a command centre of sorts having the front desk send out calls to people to try and figure out how we were going to get them back that night seeing as we had no way of getting out there again until the morning. We were able to contact a bus company and give them descriptions of the two at the divide and it turns out the kyaking company just ditched Alice in Milford for the day since the trip was cancelled so we called the lodge they supposdly left her at. Of course she wasn't there anymore so that became a cross the fingers and hope she gets back thing.

After much due stress waiting for a few hours wondering what will happen to those stuck out in the boonies I heard the bangles of Alice and turned around to see all three walk into the hostel. It was a releif to see that somehow with no communication to the others we managed to get them all back to the hostel for the night. The car just had to spend the night at the divide.

The next morning we had to go rescue the car. We would be having a lengthy drive back to Christchurch so we woke up early so we could be at the front desk at 8:00 when they opened to ask a few questions. But daylight saving time had happend and we were an hour early to the desk. We waited only to learn that no bus was legally allowed to carry petrol and the only option was to hitchhike.

Let me say there is nothing like sticking your thumb out with a can of petrol by your side. Surprisingly enough within ten mintues though Anna and I had a ride that was going to the divide as the guy wanted to run the track there. It turned out to be a smoothe sail and very rewarding as it was no longer cloudy and rainy, but rather blue sky and sunny. It was so much more beautiful than before. Within due time we had the car back and headed up to Christchurch were I found out my computer was fucked up due to it installing updates without my permission.

I got about three hours of sleep that night and then woke up and got on a plane to Aukland to start the true part of my break. 3 weeks on the North Island WWOOFing. We spent our day in Auckland and it was not as bad as people say it was. I didn't feel like I was in New Zealand and the city seemed to be a mix of Buenos Aires and Seattle oddly enough. Tommorrow I will be heading further north to go work on a Vegan Spritual Centre for a week. I am excited to break away from my oh so loved cheese for once.

Again, I apologise for not having pictures and making it a lengthy post, but if your reading this you made it through and are thinking oh my.

Cheers.