Days 148 & 149

Day 148,

We're back! So I hate to admit this, but this blog post was started on 7/22/2009 and today is 9/23/2009...where have we been? (I will explain in future blog posts).

Today was another beautiful day in paradise. We are back in Abel Tasman National Park for the second time. Last time we were here we did a two day kayak trip and a scenic flight over the park in an ultralight (you know that hang glider with a lawn mover engine). So this time we decided to see the park from land. We loaded up our daypacks and headed down to the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. It is one of New Zealand's Great Walks. It typically takes 3 to 5 days to complete, but we decided to run the whole thing in 1 day...NO WAY, did you actually believe me? We decided to walk a portion of the first section of the track.

We walked the beach on the way to the track and searched for cool seashells and admired the awesome patterns in the sand.













We had to do a little wading to make it from the beach to the trail head, but we made it.













We took a few pictures at the trail head then headed West into the park.













We hiked for a couple of hours enjoying this incredible park from land. Along the way way we admired the amazing vistas.













We stopped at Apple Tree Bay to have a little lunch and soak in the scenery.













After lunch we turned around and headed back toward the park entrance. We took some more time on the way back to enjoy the views and take some photos, like this...













and this... (last time we were here we kayaked next to that island)













and this.













After making it out of the park we headed back to our little cabin to get cleaned up, have some dinner and relax. We enjoyed a quiet evening and a beautiful sunset.













Day 149,

We woke up early to make some breakfast and get packed up. After a quick bite we headed down to the main road near the water to wait for the bus. Luckily the bus stopped and we loaded up to make our way back down to the west coast. Along the way to Barrytown we stopped to get some coffee then some lunch then we took a few pictures. The weather was pretty poor so we didn't head out to the pancake rocks this time around. Eventually we made it to Barrytown and got settled into our room. We weren't interested in partying and doing the dress-up night, so we just had a little pasta and played some computer games in our room. We went to sleep early after our long day of traveling.

Days 146 & 147

Day 146 - Leaving Kaikoura!

Today is a big day, we are leaving Kaikoura where we have been living for the past 3 months! We woke up early to finish packing and do some final cleaning before leaving our house. With our packs on our backs again we headed down to meet the Stray bus to continue our journey. John has been working on getting Andrea to be early for things... so we got to the bus at 8:15am and it didn't leave until 9:30am! Ok, so the bus was scheduled to leave at 8:30am ;).














Along the drive we stopped by the waterfall just outside of town to see the baby seals. We have been here before to see the seals, but it was fun to see them again. They are too cute!














As we continued along our drive north towards Picton, we passed a large crayfish... so while John mourned the death of Michael Jackson and protected himself from swine flu, he posed for a picture. Many New Zealand towns have their "claim to fame" and then make a very large sculpture of that. Naturally, just outside of Kaikoura there is a large crayfish, you might have seen some of the other large objects in previous posts.














Then we arrived in Picton and checked into our backpackers before heading out on a walk along the harbour. It was a beautiful day so we were out enjoying it.














Andrea made some friends...




















then we headed to the grocery store and went back to our backpackers to take a nap, it has been a long day!

We got up and went in the spa pool, had some dinner and free hot chocolate pudding and ice cream, YUM! Then relaxed a bit more and went back to bed.

Day 147

The morning started off slowly as it was raining outside and we had the morning to ourselves before meeting the next bus. After cleaning up we headed out to the spot we were meeting the next Stray bus. While watching them pull up, we were a bit worried about the state of the bus we were traveling in as it jerked forward and was making a lot of noise. We drove a little bit down the street and then had to unload the bus and go get some lunch while we waited for another bus to come and pick us up.

We were in Picton hanging out for another couple of hours before the bus came to get us and we headed west towards Abel Tasman National Park. It was nice to get moving again.

We stopped in Motueka to go to the grocery store, and then finally arrived in Marahau (just outside Abel Tasman National Park). We cooked some pasta and played cribbage before heading to bed.

Days 143-145

Day 143, Another Big Day
Andrea woke up early to head into her Monday morning meeting. Andrea came home and woke me up to have some breakfast. After breakfast we did some work on the computer and got a package ready to send home. After lunch Andrea headed to work and I went down to the post shop to send the package, then to the movie store to return some movies and close our account and the grocery store to get a few items. On the way home I stopped by Hislops Cafe to get a coffee then went and chilled on the couch. Andrea worked till 9:03 pm then she was done, done, done. No more working for her. She came home and we celebrated her last day and watched a movie.

Day 144,
Today we did two things in Kaikoura we have been meaning to do for a long time. So, after a little breakfast, some computer work, cleaning and a chat with our friend Fran we headed down to town. On the way we stopped by the Kaikoura Museum (1st thing). We pass by the museum every time we go into town and have been talking about stopping for a long time now.




















There is not a lot in the museum, but we did find out the meaning of Kaikoura (actually we already knew that)...














And we got a picture with one of the old timers...














After exploring the museum for at least half an hour we headed down to the fish store. At the fish store we picked up dinner (more on this later). Next we went over to the internet cafe to upload some pictures and then to a shop to get a couple of gifts. We headed home to relax before making our dinner of this...














New Zealand green lippped mussels and this...














crayfish (rock lobster). This is the second thing we have been meaning to do; eat crayfish in the "crayfish food" town. We cooked up our seafood and enjoyed every bite. After pigging out on the awesome food we relaxed, watched a movie and took a bath.

Day 145, Last day in Kaikoura!
We slept in a little this morning before a nice breakfast and some laundry! Fran came by to pick us up to head out to the local Irish restaurant/hotel.















We had a great lunch at the Donegal House and walked around their grounds a little before heading back into town. We stopped and had a coffee and cake on way back home from lunch. It was great to hang out with Fran for a little while.

Back at home we did some cleaning, packing and organizing in order to get ready for our last two crazy weeks in New Zealand. Later in the evening we met up with Cally to go check out her new place and then headed over to Dusky Lodge to get some pizza and hang out with some good friends. After pizza, a few beers and some good conversation we headed down to the local pub to meet some more friends and have another beer. It was great to see everyone and sad to say goodbye to our new friends. We will miss our friends and this neat little town, but are excited to get moving again.

Days 135-142

Day 135,
Andrea woke up early to head into work for the day shift. I slept in a little before getting a call from our housemates who are in the Czech Republic. They are having a great time visiting Jana’s family. I let them talk to their fish so they knew they were still alive. The rest of the day I spent working on the computer and relaxing. Andrea got home around 5:30 and we had a nice stir-fry dinner. Then we watched a movie and Andrea’s favorite shows (it’s a Sunday).

Day 136,
Andrea got up early to head to her Monday morning meeting and I got up just after to head down to the building site. Andrea came home after her meeting, had some breakfast, then got ready to chat to the DC in NH. I came home for some lunch and Andrea was chatting to the DC so I just ate quick and went back to work. Andre headed into work for the afternoon shift after her conversation with Dr. P. I headed over to Hislops Café after work, then went down to the movie store to get some more dollar movies. Stopped back at the Café on the way home to pick up a free coffee. I spent the evening relaxing and watching some TV. When Andrea got home we watched some more television then headed to bed.


Day 137, Big Day!
Andrea woke up early with me to make some breakfast before I went down to work at the motel construction site. She hung around the house doing some stuff on the internet, making a bunch of phone calls and taking a few pictures.


























Pretty cool eh.



























I worked for a few hours then found out my boss wasn’t feeling well, so he was going to see his doctor and wouldn’t be back for the rest of the week. Holy cow I am done working…sweet as! This was going to be my last week, but I didn‘t expect it to be this short. It was a physically demanding, but interesting job. So I thanked the owner and headed home. When I got home I got cleaned up and talked to Andrea for a while then gave my Mom a call to make sure she was doing alright. After talking to my folks we headed downtown to have a final lunch at the Thai restaurant then borrowed a car to head up to the grocery store; we stopped at the Whale Watch along the way to find out about going on a cruise. We dropped off the car and headed home to have some dinner. After dinner we went down to a local pub for a beer with some friends then headed back home to watch a movie.

Day 138,
We woke up and had some breakfast before walking down to the Whale Watch center to catch our cruise. Hoping we will see lots of whales. We hoped on the bus to ride over to the marina to get on our boat. We boarded the boat then headed off into the pacific ocean.

The ocean floor next to Kaikoura is very unique. Kaikoura lies at the intersection of the Pacific plate and the Australian plate so, there are mountains 2600 meters high just 12 km from the coast and canyons 1000 meter deep in the ocean floor just 1.6 km offshore. This large canyon in the ocean floor is known as the Kaikoura Canyon and provides perfect conditions for all sorts of marine life including whales. The primary year round residents are sperm whales, however many other types of whales, including humpback, ocras, etc., migrate through the area during different times of the year.

On the boat we kept a close eye out the window looking for the...













the spray of the sperm whale.













Luckily we saw one, then...













the tail comes up as the whales dives down deep to go get some lunch. The whales come up to the surface to rest and let their food digest after every snack.

We were lucky enough to see another whale...













and another...













and we also got to see some of these...













Dusky dolphins. They followed our boat for awhile as we cruised to find another whale.













They did some tricks while playing in the bow wake of the boat.













We saw another sperm whale













and another as we were getting ready to head back to the launch.













In total we saw five male sperm whales.













What a cool trip!













And what an amazingly beautiful piece of New Zealand. We had an incredible time watching and photographing these awesome animals.















After our cool whale watching trip we headed home to have some lunch and relax for awhile. That evening we got some awesome pizza (like hula hula, hen and ham, drunken rabbit, or gone hunting) from the local pizza joint and watched a movie.

Day 139,
Pretty boring day after yesterdays fun. Anyway, we woke up, had some breakfast, did some internet stuff and watched a little TV. Andrea headed off to work, while I finished organizing our final weeks and did some odd jobs around the house. When Andrea got home we relaxed a little, took a bath, then headed to bed.

Day 140,
We got up, had some breakfast and went over our plans for the end of our trip. After a little lunch we walked down to take a few photos of...














me at the construction site with my "flash" hammer (as my boss liked to call it.)













This is the half done motel. We also took a few photos of...













Andrea at Hislops Cafe. We had to have a little photo proof that we actually did a little work (Andrea more than me).

I hung around the cafe for a little while drinking a coffee and talking to the staff. Then I headed home to relax for the evening and do some work around the house. Andrea came home around ten and we chatted for a little while before heading to bed.

Day 141,
Andrea got up early to head into work for the day shift. I slept in a little then hung out at the house relaxing. When Andrea got home we looked at some photos from our wedding that one of her friends had put on facebook then cleaned up for our date night. We headed down to Hislops Cafe to have dinner since we hadn't really eaten any of the menu food. We had a great dinner; Andrea had the lamb steak and I had the roasted chicken 3 course dinner special. The food was awesome. After dinner we walked home and sat on the couch watching movies. It was a wonderful date night!

Day 142,
We got up, cooked some breakfast, did some internet stuff and did some more planning. After lunch Andrea headed down to the cafe and I hung around the house making reservations and relaxing. Andrea had a busy day (served lots of coffee and comfort food) due to the cold and rain. Andrea got home late, so we relaxed for a little bit then went to bed.

Days 127-134

Day 127,
Big day today...June 27th 2009 our first live All Blacks game!

You probably think we were so excited we couldn't sleep last night, well actually we did get some sleep (I actually got a lot of sleep, tired after all that physical labor). Andrea had to get up kind of early to head into work for a couple of hours. After I got up I headed down to the local Mitre 10 (Home Depot) to get a new pair of gloves then stopped by Hislops Cafe to get a coffee and wait for Andrea to get done with work. On the way home we stopped by the internet cafe to talk to Cally about heading down to the game. Back at home we relaxed, had some lunch and got ready for the big trip down to Christchurch.

Cally came and picked us up. On the way out of town we picked up friends Brian and Alvi. We made it down to Christchurch and found the stadium after a few circles around the city. We were a little early, so we grabbed a burger and fries at the concession stand and watched some of the pre game warm-ups.













One of the coolest parts of the match was the All Blacks performing the Haka before the game. They perform this Maori war dance before all matches to try and intimedate their opponents.













It was a cold night, but the action was hot (Andrea's words).













Okay, it wasn't the most exciting match, but the All Blacks did beat the Italians and it was really, really cool to see a live test.













After the match we made it out of the city and back to Kaikoura around 12:30AM.

Day 128,
We both slept in after our late night at the game. We eventually got up, had some breakfast and did a few things on the computer. Andrea headed off to work and I stayed home to make some chilli and relax a little. I headed down to the Cafe around 4 to do some dishes. We worked until about 9:30 then walked home together to get some sleep.

Day 129,
I woke up early to go to work. I got to work and saw Shamus, but no one else. I waited around for about 20 minutes before heading home. Andrea slept in while I did a few things on the internet before making some breakfast. Andrea got up, had some breakfast and talked to her potential boss in New Hampshire before heading into work. I did some cleaning and organizing before heading to the movie store and stopping by Hislops to talk to Andrea, and get some free coffee of course. I went home, relaxed and waited for Andrea to come home. After she got home we watched some TV and went to bed.

Day 130,
I woke up and headed into work. Andrea relaxed at home doing some things around the house. I came home and we had a quick lunch together before I went back to work. Andrea did some stuff on the internet before biking down to the grocery store. She got this picture on her way out of the house,













and this picture.













After heading to the grocery store, she came home, baked some banana bread then made some great dinner (yummy, yummy). After dinner we relaxed and watched a movie, Cold Mountain.

Day 131,
We woke up and had some breakfast before I headed over to the motel (work) to cut some steel or move some scaffolding or something. Andrea chilled at home doing some laundry and working on the computer. I came home for some chilli then headed back to the job site. Andrea did more stuff on the internet waiting for me to come home from work. I got home and we watched a movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (great movie, 1...2...5 3 sir, 3. Right 3!) before cooking some dinner and relaxing before bed.

Day 132,
I got up a little earlier than normal to help with placing the concrete spans for the second floor. I was there for about an hour before my boss came and about 2.5 hours before the trucks came with the spans. Andrea relaxed at home, watched a TV show she missed on Sunday (has anyone figured out what show is on Sunday nights???...yep Grey's Anatomy) and had some lunch before heading to work. I worked into the afternoon, then stopped by the Cafe before heading home for the day. Andrea worked until about 10 and I relaxed at home doing some house work and watching some TV.

Day 133, July 3rd HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAITLIN!
We slept in a little since I didn't have to work today. Then I made some breakfast and we tried to get a hold of Caitlin to wish her a happy birthday before they headed up to the cabin (we were too late). We hung out doing very little until Andrea went down to Hislops to serve some coffee and lunch. I hung out at home doing some more planning for our last two weeks in NZ and borrowing some music from our housemates computer. Andrea came home late in the evening from work and we watched a little TV before bed.

Day 134,
Woke up, had some breakfast, watched a little TV and relaxed at home. Tried again to get a hold of Caitlin, but no luck so we left a message for her on my parents answering machine. Andrea headed into work and I hung out at the house for awhile before Andrea called to have me come into the Hislops Cafe to do lots and lots of dishes (man do I hate dishes). We worked together until about 10:30, it was a pretty busy night at the Cafe. Back at home we unwound for awhile before hitting the hay.

Days 118-126

Day 118,
Still kickin it in Kaikoura.
No work for John this morning, so we did the old routine of wake up, breakfast, relax, internet and TV. Andrea went down to work around 1:00pm, so I hung out at the house for awhile before heading down to visit Andrea and grab a coffee. When I got back home I spent the rest of the afternoon baking banana bread and working on our blog (still way behind). Andrea got home later that evening and we relaxed a little before hitting the sack.

Day 119,
Same morning routine (food, web, morning shows). Andrea headed in for her afternoon shift (1-10) and I spent lots of time planning our last two weeks in NZ. We have lots to do in those last two weeks. I also spent a little time surfing the web getting caught up on world events and Twins baseball. Andrea came home after a hard day in the salt mine and we went to bed.

Day 120,
Morning routine (read above). Andrea headed off to work and I did some laundry and e-mailing before heading down to Hislops Cafe to visit Andrea and grab a coffee. I got back home and was relaxing when I got a call from Andrea's boss; they need a dishwasher for tonight. So I now have two jobs...yippee. I headed down to the cafe and worked for 4.5 hours cleaning dishes and making deserts while Andrea served the customers and made drinks. It was great to get some work but, I'm not a big fan of dirty dishes. We walked home from work together, then unwound with a little TV and some reading.

Day 121, June 21st (Happy Father's Day John and John!)
Andrea had a split shift today, so she got up early to head to work. I slept in a little then had some breakfast, did some blogging (still behind) and relaxed. Andrea got home from work, had some food and relaxed for a little while before she had to go back to work for a little while. When Andrea got home from her second shift we cooked a nice dinner then watched Andrea's two favorite shows (Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice).

Day 122,
Andrea got up early to go to her 7:30am Monday morning meeting. I woke up a little after her to get ready for work and call my Dad to wish him a happy father's day (remember 16 hours ahead). Andrea stopped by the motel job site after her morning meeting to drop off a coffee then headed home to call her Dad. She also got a chance to call her brother and sister-in-law. Andrea headed into work around noon and my work mate Shamus and I headed over there for a little lunch (Shamus's girlfriend also works at Hislops Cafe). We had a nice lunch then went back to cut more steel and move more cement blocks. After work I went home for a little bit to get cleaned up then went to meet Andrea after work to go to the movie store ($1 Mondays!) and the grocery store. We made it home (man am I tired after all that physical labor), had some pizza, watched a movie and then went to our nice comfy bed.

Day 123,
We woke up early and Andrea made me some breakfast before I headed down to work. Unfortunately (for our bank account; fortunately for my sore muscles) they didn't have any work this morning so I was sent home till noon. Back at the house we finished watching a movie we started yesterday and relaxed a little before having some lunch. I went back to work at noon while Andrea stayed home and did some housework (wow this is a change from the past month). She also went and did a little shopping and cooked a great dinner. I got home from work and we had a nice meal then watched a movie and relaxed.

Day 124,
Once again we woke up early and Andrea cooked some breakfast. I headed off to work while Andrea stayed home to do some computer work and other stuff around the house. I came home for some quick lunch then headed back to the motel (doing some fencing work today). Andrea ran a few errands in the afternoon then went home to relax. When I got home after digging a bunch of holes we made some sushi and had a wonderful sushi dinner together. Later we relaxed with a little TV then to bed.

Day 125,
We got up early again and Andrea made some breakfast and took these awesome photos...













What an incredible sunrise













I headed off to work and Andrea did some internet work, return trip planning and laundry. I came home from work for a quick lunch with my wife. I returned to work and Andrea took these amazing photos...













It is quite the view from our deck!


























Andrea headed into work at one. Later in the afternoon Junko (Shamus's girlfriend) brought over some coffees that she and Andrea had made. After work I went home to have a quick bite to eat and clean up before heading down to a "locals" bar to meet the guys from work for a beer or two. After a couple of beers I headed down to another bar to meet Andrea and a few others for a drink to celebrate our friend Jessica's last night in town. After a quick one we headed home to get some sleep.

Day 126,
We got up and had some breakfast before heading off to work. Andrea hung around the house doing some stuff on the computer and other things around the house before having some lunch and heading to work. I worked till 6pm (10hr day!) because we had a concrete pump truck onsite and had to get the brick walls filled. After work I stopped by Hislops Cafe to say hi to Andrea then headed home. Andrea worked her regular 1 to 9:30-10:00 shift. I took it easy all evening waiting for Andrea to get home. When Andrea got home we hung out for a little while before heading to bed... very tired.