6 February 2014-
Yesterday I bought new running shoes at a specialty shoe store in Queenstown. And…Mark bought me a very cool running watch that has all these fancy bells and whistles. It's supposed to keep track of my heart rate and keep track of my mileage and keep track of my route and do the run for me. Ha! I just made that last one up! But really, it does keep track of just about anything I could ever think of. So…this morning I'm going to try out my watch (with the heart rate monitor on..per Mark's request. (cuz I'm not really interested in wearing a belt)
I'm going to tackle the mountain! Who's with me???? It's still dark…the sun hasn't come up yet over the mountains.
Whew! The jog up was TOUGH! I had to walk some parts of it as they were too crazy dangerous to run (hello snarly tree roots! I see you and I'm NOT running on you!)
I'm at the top now…and the light is just breaking over the mountains. It's like the sun is kissing the mountaintops. Absolutely gorgeous!!!! And guess what? I forgot the camera! How stinky is that? I wish I couldve shared with you how gorgeous day break was on that mountaintop but alas you'll just have to take my word for it. Bummer.
Time to scramble back down the mountain…lickety split!
Whew! Time to grab breakfast (on-the-go) from Fergbaker (which happens to be located next to Fergburger…are you surprised by that? Yeah, me neither.). Hmmm….delicious baked goodies and lattes for the road.
All set to go?
Reality sucks. We have to get back to Christchurch (area) tonight. Beth and the boys are flying out tomorrow morning.
Waaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!! I don't want to leave…and I don't Beth and Ray and the kids to leave either!
*sigh*
*sniffle, sniffle*
Time to hit the open road and make a blazing trail back up to Christchurch.
Some scenery for you to enjoy while you sit for endless hours in the car:
Are we going the right way? Yep…we are!
What the heck???? What is that??? Oh, it's a giant statue of fruit. There are a whole bunch of fruit orchards in this area (just outside of Queenstown).
We did end up stopping at a fruit orchard in the hopes of finding sweet juicy ripe fruit. While we were in the shop there was a Chinese lady (customer) smoking a cigarette. Come on! Smoking inside a shop like that? Really??? That's like playing soccer while smoking…or jogging and smoking. They don't go together at all!
Back on the road!
We're actually heading to a town called Geraldine. Mark ordered a custom-made whip from The Whip Man and it's ready to be picked up. He said we're welcome to drop by his home to get it. :-) You all do realize that Mark is Indiana Jones (in partial disguise), right????
Enjoy the mountains while they last!
And yes, that's the south end of our north bound campervan! (several of these photos are from Beth).
Sheep!!! What's the saying in NZ? That there are more sheep than people here??? Honestly haven't seen that many here while we've been traveling around the South Island. (not the case on the North Island though!):
I'm in love with the BRIGHT blue skies with puffy white clouds.
Check out the crazy color of this lake!!!! I think this is Lake Tekapo…with the snow-capped Southern Alps in the background.
I love our goofy kiddos!
Beth waiting patiently to get a good photo of our Minions:
Me & my sweetie. <3
We stopped for…what? Two minutes at this stop…just long enough for me to jump out and get a photo of this historical church…Church of the Good Shepherd (I think). I also think someone might have had to pee….but I could be remembering wrong!
Gentle rolling hills…so easy on the eyes to look at. Just breathe it in!
We said our good byes to Beth and the boys in Geraldine. WAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!! They're heading onwards to Christchurch and staying at a campground there whereas we're making a stop at the Whip Guy and then heading out towards Akaroa (which is close to Christchurch).
I'm not going to starting balling. I'm not going to start balling. I'm not going to start balling.
I'm grateful I got to see family and one my bestest friends ever so far away from home. (yes, keep saying that. Over and over. Just be grateful for the wonderful times we had together these past two weeks!!!)
Okay.
I feel better now.
Ready to go see the Whip Guy? His name is Peter Jack and he's a very interesting and creative person (he's got lots of hobbies – including making music…ring a bell, Mark??). He's also a very patient whipping instructor!
He tried teaching Lily:
the Annika:
and finally me how to crack the whip. I also managed to mangle my ear and smack my back but it's all good. LOL! Just kidding. My ear isn't mangled. And it's still attached so I'm all good. (I'm kidding…I did hit my ear but just barely!). I'm normally right handed but I found it easier to crack it using my left hand! Peter explained why that was the case… I'm not sure I'm going to take up whip cracking as a hobby! I might lose a limb…or my eyesight! LOL!!!
But Mark got his new whip so he's happy. :-)
And this here is I think the longest bridge on the south island….I say I think because I can't find it on my maps here at home. I think it was labeled as such on the maps we were borrowing from the campervan company (Kea). Regardless, it's loooooooooong bridge:
And we went from land with mountains to flatlands:
Ooooooo!!! This is more interesting! We're getting close to Akaroa now. It's located on the peninsula just east of Christchurch. I read that it's one of the very few French settlements in New Zealand so it has a very French feeling to it. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?
As you can tell, the sun is leaving us! The roads are narrow and winding so I hope we get to the campground soon. I don't think driving on these roads after dark with the Beast is such a good idea!
Whew! We made it to the campground! (Another Top 10 Holiday Park) Looks like we got the last free campsite!!! Glad we called ahead to book it. Actually, we ended up arriving at the campground after the main office closed but they had our reservation up on the board. No problem!
Let's let the girls (we've still got Lily with us) unwind and get out some energy before bedding night…our last night…in the camper:
Good night! It's been a long and crazy day. Tomorrow…sigh…tomorrow will really stink for so many reasons. We have to drive back to Christchurch and give back the Beast. Waaaah!!!!!
Okay, I'm not going to think about that tonight.
Good night and sleep tight!