Feb 22

The Jade Experience in Hokatika. Gordon cutting out jade into the shape of a hook.












After 5 hrs of cutting (Gordon), sanding and buffing (done by me) my necklace is complete. The dark spots are iron in the jade. It's a Maori symbol (Maori being the local native New Zealanders).












Punakaiki park - otherwise known as pancake rocks. The layers are about an inch thick.











Walking around Punakaiki















More of Punakaiki - the water is eroding the rocks.












Hey, that's me with a pancake rock!











Kawarau river in Queenstown.














The first bungy bridge ever. Nov 1998 - made famous by AJ Hackett on the Kawarau River in Queenstown


















Te Anau lake... this was a nice little town.










Feb 22

Well, it's been a day of driving. Believe it or not, there's a shortage of rental vehicles. It's the touristy season plus all the Ice folks are returning. I stayed an extra day in Cheech in order to wait for a vehicle to be returned.

I've been just driving around NZ and sleeping in the car. The deal I made with myself was either bus the South island and stay in hotels or rent a car and pull over in camping parks and sleep in it. Haha... yeah, well I chose the car.

Last night, I went to Hokitika and made my own jade necklace. It's in the shape of a hook which represents good health, prosperity and safe travels over land and water. It's really cool. You can see it shine in the sun. It took about 5 hrs to make from cutting it out to the buffing. Crazy thing, my co-worker Will used to work at that place. The guy is a jade carver/ hostel owner. No wonder why Will told me you could carve your own jade! I didn't realize they were the same place. Then I went on to Punakaiki – about 1 ½ hrs north. They are called pancake rocks since the limestone is to thin like a pancake...well, realistically not that thin but that's really what they are called.

Bought my first tank of gas and paid in shock. I forgot they go by the liter here, not gallon like in the States. So for a ¼ tank I paid $30 NZ. Wow. Then I came back south and went to Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. Incredible! Seems like there's a drought here. The water is all dried up in the creek and river beds. There were signs that said in 1935 the glacier was here and in 1789 the glacier was here... it's backed up quite a bit. It rained all morning and afternoon so I didn't take too many pics. I kept driving… all the way to Queenstown. It’s soo crowded here! Makes me want to leave town in a jiff! It'd be a nice town to live in but as far as taking it easy, having a quiet relaxing vacation - that is not the place to go. But I promised a friend I'd take tons of pics of Q-town since she's planning on moving there. There's a nice park and a lake close by so that was a nice retreat to hangout at.

Anyway, it gets dark around 9pm so I'm calling it a day and gonna spend the night here, eat dinner. I had plans of going to a Maori concert and Hangi feast. Weird because I called from Cheech and they said to call the day of since I wasn't sure when I was arriving. It starts at 7pm and goes to 930...so I was going to cave in and spend 2 nights in a hostel since in the morning I was going to get on a bus charter to Milford sound. But calling the Maori place a few hrs ago, I came to find out that place has been closed for 2 years. I've no idea who I spoke to before. So that being said, I cancelled my hostel and am going to skip the charter and am going to drive there myself. I'm pretty sure there are boats there to take me out on the water. If not, that's ok...something to do on my return trip here if I come back.

So far, I've driven just a bit over 1000km. I wish I knew how much that was. And I wish I knew how many liters are in a gallon. Other than that, NZ is a really nice place to see. Tons of tourists though.