דניאל והילי מטיילים בעולם

"Hilly and Daniel you are the first team to arrive"...

We landed. The two 12hrs flights had one benefit: we experienced a double dose of jet lag, so when we got here we were lagging 24 hors behind the local time but our biological clock was in perfect sinc. In Christchurch we had a few tiring days of organizing.
Buying a car, food, cooking equipment, local cell phone, and each of those required making decisions. Van or privet? three pots with no lids for 14$ or one in 30$. Strawberry jam or Nutela? Van or privet? White bread or brown? Should we open a bank account? Van or privet? Cooler ? Butter in small pacs or one gigantic pack? Van or privet?
Finally after non ending dilemas after we almost bought a van we changed our mind at the llast minute and decided to go for the privet (easier to sell ext.). We bought a Toyota Corola (red). from an israeli who wanted 1600$ but setteled for 1300$ after we did the un-kiwi thing and burrgened - israelis after all.
we took the car to an israeli car goru that checked it out and gave us an ok to go. we finaly left town not before stopping to buy the finest quality steaks - as amizingly cheap as they get (750gr=24NIS). We drove to Kaituna Valley on the Banks Paninsula. Leaving our car with a fully loaded trunk and started a treck.
We only took supplies and our sleeping bags. It was 19:00 only two hours of light left. By 21:00 (sundown) we were at our destination: a secluded mountain hut.
Going up was breath taking (literaly), but we were pleased to finaly be out in the wild. The hut answered all our expectations and to our great pleasure we were the only ones there. we lit the fire place and started cooking dinner. Steakes and potatoes. No words - it was amazing!
Before hitting the sacs we went out to see the sky. they were filled with stars.
We have to say, sleeping in a hut in the middle of nowhere can ber quiet creepy, Especialy when there is an axe lying around the entrance (for logging..).
in the morning we ate yesterday's left-overs and went to conquer mount Bradly.
In the begining the climb was easy but it became steeper with time. The bags were heavy, the sun was strong and had no mercy for those who forget their sun-screen in the car.
eventualy we got to the summit, very tired but the 360dg' view of the Banks Peninsula was our reward. We hurried back to the car and found out that descending was as hard as climbing up.
We were pleased when the car was finaly visible - whole and red as we left it.
Next destination - Le Bon Bay hostel. An old farm house with a lovely garden surrounded by wooden huts. In the main kitchen the smell of "the famous" dinner waited us. Without a shower we joined a long wooden table in the garden. around it back-packers from around the world. We were next to a swiss who was traveling by bicycle with his laguge behind. Powered by his legs he climbed roads that our car could bearly climbe. . We ate fish soup and fish cakes. then everyone helped with the dishes just before desert. we sat by the fire place and drank tea. Around us music and different languages. We were so tired we went to sleep at 21:00 (still light) and slept 12 hrs. We woke up just in the last moment for breakfast. We got a few tips for our trips from israelis in the hostel, and drove to Akroa.
We built a tent in a campsite near town and toured the town. We are now in Akroa in a nice farm called Onuku with view of the bay. We decided to rest for a couple of days. We are sleeping, reading, lying in hamoks and cooking. Today in the morning we went kayaking with dolphins. The dolphins come near the kayak and are very playfull. When they come up for air it sounds like a human with Shnorkel.
We thought the kayaks would be a peace of cake but it required a lot of strength. Even our resting day was exhosting!
Tonight we are going to sleep in a stargazing hut - a small wooden hut just big enough for a double bed with glass sealing through which the stars are visible at night. Can't wait... 
'Till next time kisses to all..

Btw. our phone # here is: +64211029423

הסיפור הזה נכתב ביום ראשון, 29 לינואר 2006, בשעה 20:45, והוא שייך לנושא כללי. את כל התגובות והטראקבאקים אפשר לקרוא ב-RSS 2.0‏. אפשר להגיב עליו באתר הזה, או לשלוח טראקבאק מאתר אחר;