Lord of the Rings 3: The return of the Blog

My wonderful husband has written a blog.  I was quite amused reading his interpretation of the events of the last little while; it was all very factual and interesting and much less dramatic than my perspective.    I’ve decided this is because Dan’s memory works so differently to mine.  He has the awesome ability to forget stressful or traumatic events, which proves fantastic when we have a tiff, ten minutes later he has forgotten what it’s all about! Anyway my thoughts...

We last left the blog having got as far as Plimmerton.  We proceeded to National Park which lies beside the biggest mountain range in the North Island.  We had a little problem finding the hostel which resulted in a few U-turns and frustrated rants (mainly about my navigation skills), but as noted above ten minutes after finding our hostel all was forgotten and an hour later we were frequenting the hot tub!  We arose the next morning wondering how to spend the day.  We drove to the ski slopes and had the season started I am certain Dan would have donned skis and been off, however it hadn’t so we went for a lovely three hour tramp to a waterfall.  The scenery was wonderful but glimpses of its splendour were rare because the clouds sat like a blanked over Mount Doom. 

We stayed two nights and then drove to Lake Taupo before on to Tauranga the same day.  I was very grumpy- a phenomena which happens about once a month and last about three days.  Dan as ever was very excited and on the rare occasion he noticed my grumpiness forgot it in ten minutes.  As we approached Tauranga The Mount came into view and the realisation that this was to be our home for the next six months caused a rare moment of silence between us...   

We stayed initially at a Motel arranged via the hospital.  On arrival Dan’s 'hunter gatherer' instincts kicked in and he was out the door to get food.  However he had no internet on his phone and insisted on going before I had looked up where the supermarkets were.  He was sure we had passed one on the way.  Twenty minutes later I received a frantic phone call from Dan who was in Pak and Save.  For those unfamiliar with NZ supermarkets Pak and Save is almost a cash and carry type place, not ideal for quick shopping and epically difficult to find things such as gluten free alternatives if you don’t know the store.  Overwhelmed and hungry Dan could not decide what to get.  I offered a few different suggestions half wishing I was there to help.  However, like a mother who finds out her toddler has had a paddy in a supermarket, I was secretly glad I wasn’t witnessing the public melt down of my husband.  Dan returned home with every single item I had suggested (which corresponded to elements of a few different meal suggestions) and as he described his frantic shop and the disaster of Pak and Save I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically as I imagined a grown man lost and confused in a maze of edible obstacles.  We laughed together, ate our random concoction which we called dinner and went to bed happy.

Dan has written about house hunting and work etc so I won’t rehash this material.  However I will tell you about Dan and his(our) ski trip.  We live about three hours from the ski slopes and Dan has always said that he wanted to go skiing whilst out here and in theory I concurred.  However it just happened that we didn’t have a weekend together until the week before we flew to England.  Dan decided that this was a fantastic time to go skiing and researched it with great enthusiasm.  I was not so sure that this was a good idea and kept imagining having to fly back to England with my leg in plaster....  We set off Friday night and stayed in an angler’s motel and then on Saturday morning we drove to the slopes.  I had been checking the weather and a little (bigger than little) part of me was hoping the slopes would be closed.  However they were open and thanks to trusty Max our 4x4 we were able to get up to the resorts. (The road was only open to those in 4x4s or with snow chains)  The next dilemma was what sort of lesson to do, I wanted a beginners class having only skied once, but Dan wanted the next one up.   I felt that for me the most important outcome of the day was to not break my leg and to make sure Dan had enjoyed himself.  I acknowledged that I had no control over Dan and his need to push himself so I agreed to the lesson Dan wanted and started practicing. 

By the time the lesson started the visibility was appalling and Dan and I were the only people taking the lesson.  The first time down we followed Kate our instructor, she kept giving me tips and advice all of which I’m sure were fantastic but my aim remained the same: to stay in one piece. Not to master the stance and lean of a pro skier!  Dan on the other hand was keen to improve.  He skied with enthusiasm and ..... well speed.  At one point we lost him completely then suddenly he appeared bedraggled and covered in snow having fallen down a six foot snow hole.  After twice down with the instructor I stepped aside and let Dan and Kate continue.  I could feel my anterior cruciate ligament stretch as I wiped out at the end of the run and all I could think of was my mother’s distraught face as I told her I wasn’t allowed to fly home.  After the lesson we skied some more and then I called it a day and retired to the cafe.  Dan would have kept going until dark but three years of marriage has taught him that looking after his wife is important; life is about compromise after all.

So Dan got his ski weekend, so I had a happy husband, and all our bones, ligaments and tendons remained intact, so Dan had a happy wife!

Next adventures- HOME TO ENGLAND

Long overdue

Blog


So hello readers of the blog, 2 apologies. First sorry that it's been an age since the last blog. Secondly you're stuck with me, Dan, for the moment instead of Sarah's unique perspective on all things kiwi.

When we last blogged we were en route north to where we are now based. It's been a bit of a shock after living in a such a small community as Greymouth to find we are having to work harder and longer hours and as such have had less time to blog.

We are now in Tauranga which is on the east coast of the North Island and is the 6th largest city in New Zealand. (OK it's not huge in UK terms, a similar size population to Colchester) But 24 time bigger than Greymouth. We were put up in a self catering unit for 5 days by the hospital whilst we looked for a more permanent lodging.  The unit was about 20 mins drive to the area we had decided to live so this meant several days of traipsing around estate agents and houses/flats whilst having only the overfilled car and a run of ever more familiar coffee shops to go to between viewings. It was fairly exhausting but I did manage to fill a loyalty card to get free coffees!

Why did we look at so many you ask? Well as great as New Zealand is they have a lot to learn from the British about houses and heating. The vast majority are either cold, damp or both and the kiwi reaction is "put on a jumper." They literally do not have central heating anywhere and you are lucky to get a heat pump or a plug in heater. Being british and cold we set to find the one flat in NZ that is well insulated, dry and has a heater. And we found it. Part of a tower block by the beach of Mount Maunganui we found a flat that has shared walls on 5 of 6 directions as well as a gas heater and electric blankets. Actually its really nice and even has glimpses of the sea. Now I have mentioned that they have to learn from the brits about heating but Brits need to learn from Kiwis about rentals. Having seen this flat we decided then and there it was the one but were concerned we had less than 24 hours left at our temporary accommodation. If this was the UK the estate agent would now write to our employer, previous landlord, banks, grandparent, parents, cousins and past teachers and ask them fill pages of forms and pay them lots of money before we could move in. Not here...we had the keys and were inside within 1 and a half hours of seeing the place having done all the paperwork required. And thats it. No questioned asked.

Work is very different to greymouth. Sarah is working in an inpatient psychiatric unit with highlights so far of a patient escaping onto the roof on her first day and another setting fire to their bed and therefore necessitating evacuating all the patients a few days later. She has many stories but I think is finding it quite tough emotionally and might even be missing real medicine.

I on the other hand have joined a large Emergency Department which invariably has a 4 hour wait before most people are seen and have in that time, either left, fallen asleep or worse. It's not that bad really but round the clock shifts and many more weekends has reduced the time we have together.

We are getting stuck into a fairly new Church called Shoreline which has been great, lots of friendly people, and great bible teaching. All in all we are doing well. That's all for now Dan

Ps. Got a new camera so some pretty nice shots to follow!

Actually since writing this ( and before putting on the web) we went back to the UK for Matt and Lydia's wedding and saw many of you who are reading it. So most of this is old news and anyway Sarah appears to be writing again so worry not.. More blogs to come

Moving North

After our South Island adventure we settled back into work for another few weeks before finishing our stint in Greymouth.  Dan at this time was one of the two orthopaedic/ gynaecology/ general surgery/ urology RMOs (SHOs) and had built himself quite a reputation.   It was his singing that had become a talking point on the ward.  Dan can make any phrase into a song, something I learn early on in the dissection room at university where Dan would hold a lung in his hands and recite those well known words from Top Gun “take my breath away....” under his breath (always done with the upmost respect for Molly our cadaver of course!)  His other well known phrase was “can we go through the list again”.  A doctors list of jobs is kept close at all times.  Losing it would not only cause a potential ‘media frenzy’ as confidential information seeps into the ether, but panic as the days carefully planned and prioritised jobs disappear.  Dan would insist on going through the list every half an hour with his colleague Katie to ensure all jobs were itemised and in hand.

I’m not half as charismatic or interesting as Dan but hope I will be known from my hard work and attention to detail. (Dan addition – this is not true and to show what an impact Sarah made in her 3 months stint on Hannan ward part of the time, all the team baked her a myriad of cakes, cookies and other edible treats and then ignored all the patients for an hour or so to tell her how wonderful she is)

That week we started packing.  We arrived in November with two 32kg suitcases (well the equivalent of this once Dan’s contents had arranged themselves over the bag collection belt), yet when we came to pack our possessions had most definitely multiplied!  This required us to purchase some plastic containers to aid packing.  So one Saturday between my am and pm weekend clinic we went to Mitre 10 (Homebase) for lunch and plastic box shopping.  Dan had insisted on bringing his iPad to enable us to write a list of things we needed to do, I was pretty oblivious to most of this as I was thinking about my morning patients; pondering diagnoses.  When we reached the plastic box section Dan placed his iPad on the shelf to he could take down the boxes and mimic packing the car.  It was very important that we bought the right boxes.  We then went home, I went to work and Dan went shooting with Al and Alan, (Steve and Steven).  It was later that evening when I asked Dan where his iPad was that we realised we had left it in Mitre 10.  Dan was devastated; the thought of losing his iPad and all it enabled him to do was almost too much.  I had that sick feeling in my stomach the sort of feeling I’d get as a child if I couldn’t find my parents in a supermarket (odd), it was the thought of losing all our pictures, personal ‘to do’ lists, blogs, documents, all those things which made the iPad unique to us.   There was nothing we could do but wait until the store opened and pray someone had handed it in in the four hours there had been between us leaving it and the store shutting.  Sunday morning Dan Wattley, yes Dan Wattley was up at 7.30 ready when the store opened to see if his iPad had been recovered.  When he asked the staff they hadn’t had it handed in so with a heavy heart Dan went to the plastic box section and was elated to see the slither of black on the shelf exactly where he had left it.  

Eventually the car was strategically packed with bikes, cushions and photo frames and it was the night before Dan’s Birthday.  We had a fantastic final evening watching the Hobbit with friends and producing a surprise pink lolly cake for Dan’s 27^th Birthday.  It was rather an odd morning as we dropped off our keys at the hospital and headed to our favourite Greymouth coffee shop for our last coffee on the West Coast.  When we got back to the car having had a full cooked breakfast with cards and presents Dan insisted on going back to the house to check the letter box in case any more cards had arrived.  There were no more cards but content all the same we started our journey to Hamner Springs.   

We arrived in Hamner Springs to the fresh cold breeze of the mountains.  We walked around town and then suddenly were gripped with the hunger bug.  The problem was the only thing I really fancied was tomato soup.   Some people love all food and can look at a menu and feel the endorphins stream from their pores at the very thought of food.  I am not one of these people.  I like food but I don’t love it and sometimes I just want tomato soup.  This was torture for Dan as none of the restaurants or cafe’s sold soup and although I assured him I could eat when I got back to the hostel, Dan would not eat without me.  We ended up buying soup and eating it back of the hostel at 4pm.  Unfortunately the endorphins were running a little thin by then.  The day was recovered by a wonderful trip to the Hamner Hot Pools and a lovely dinner out in the evening.  The following morning we woke to crisp, fresh snow.   We walked up the most magnificent forest covered hill where the snow and frost produced beautiful frost patterns which I had always associated with Christmas.  At the top of the hill we had a 360 degree view over Hamner all perfectly dusted with a white canopy.

The next day we drove to Kaikoura, a coastal village on the East coast.  This time the first thing we did was eat lunch (you’re not you when you’re hungry) and I was so pleased to see they had tomato soup on the menu.  We thought it was odd that we were the only people in the cafe and on trying their food I realised why.   Their soup lasted like sugar and purred onion and Dan’s burger was gross.  Dan really wanted to complain but I always feel that taste and food is so subjective that complaining is very difficult.  So we just left quickly.  As a child at primary school I would always thank the canteen staff for my school dinner.  Some days the phrase “thank you that was lovely” coincided with me scraping most of the content of the dinner into the slops bin.

The next stop was Picton via Blenheim.  I was not a fan of Blenheim it was far too town like.  It was at this point that the seeds of anticipation of moving to a city started to sprout.   Picton on the other hand was another New Zealand beauty spot.  The small town is nestled into the Malborough Sounds so after walking down a street of gift shops and cafes you find yourself at the water’s edge overlooking multitude of moored sailing boats bobbing on the calm waters.  I am so pleased that this will be my last memory of the South Island (for now).

The ferry across to the North Island was pleasant and a little bumpy but not retch worthy (thank goodness). 

Wellington was a shock to the system.  I guess I can explain it like going to Brighton having been in Scotland for six months.  People were dressed ‘individually’, there were more suits than gum boots, and more attitude than west coast gratitude.  There were definitely no cows.  The seeds were more like mini plants now and to my surprise, as I had loved Wellington on our last visit, I felt a need to get out of the city.  We had booked a hostel twenty kilometres outside of Wellington in a coastal town called Plimmerton.  As we arrived the natural beauty of the coast was once again our resting place for the night.  We were shown round the hostel by a lovely, slightly camp man who on passing through the kitchen straightened the matching chopping boards as we went.  He decided as he wasn’t busy to give us an upgrade to a room with a view.  We opened the door to a beautiful double aspect room with a sea view just as the sun was setting...

Road trip part 2

Mitre Peak, Milford Sound

I finished the last blog with us arriving at Milford Sound to discover our portacabin accommodation.   After a cosy night sleep we woke up excited about our Milford boat trip.  Despite genuine high levels of anticipation and eagerness we struggled to get to the boat on time.  I have no idea how Dan’s mum Sheila managed four children and Jeff her husband, no wonder she drinks so much tea (perhaps it’s secretly laced with brandy).   But we did make it to the boat and as we motored away from the jetty into the fiords the sights were breathtaking.  Every so often we would stop a few feet from a waterfall.  The spray would mist across our faces as we glanced up at the water pouring over the rocks meters above our heads.  It was amazing how close we could go; the water was so deep. 

 After two hours of glorious fiord views we stopped at the discovery centre.  This floating observatory allows you to descend 10 meters below the surface of the water where, due to a rare phenomenon known as deep water emergence, the marine life is similar to that normally found 30-50 meters down.   I had been very excited about the observatory right up until the point when our guide told us that, much even to his surprise, they currently had a leak. The glass was 24cm thick to withstand the 7 tones of pressure against each pane.  It reminded me of our safari guide in Tanzania who told us not to worry about the lions just before telling us that if we needed a pee in the night to go in our tent porch so as not to get eaten (that was a sleepless night.)  But I put aside the thought and marvelled at the experience of seeing coral and fish through the observatory windows.  I did quickened my pace when I went past the leaking window- he wasn’t’ joking.

 

We were left buzzing about the Milford experience for the rest of the day. We embarking on a small but spectacular waterfall walk (the walk was small, not the waterfall), before returning to cook dinner in the communal kitchen. There was however another dynamic added to the communal cooking that evening- ‘Aldous chicken fear’. I hadn’t noticed this before but suddenly there seemed to be raw chicken everywhere! People were chopping it on boards, washing it in the sink, stir frying it in various flavours.... I coped with this by avoiding the sinks where the raw chicken had been washed and convincing myself that New Zealand chickens are so happy and organic that they don’t have salmonella! The prayer over my food that night was particularly hopeful.

The Remarskable, Queenstown from the top of the Gondala

The next morning we drove back to Queenstown where we stayed in another backpackers. This was initiated by me as it was half the price of a motel or hotel room of which there were lots available. It was a lovely, clean, modern backpackers and I was very hopeful for a comfortable night. As Dan walked past the mixed dorm to use the facilities he smiled at the other guests with his big ginger grin to which the response was a chorus of giggles. This made him feel very old and I didn’t help by pointing out he may well be nearly ten years older than the fresh faced sparky teenagers. Desperate to cling on to his youth Dan decided we should do the luge which was situated at the top of the mountain up a cable car (Queenstown gondola). The luge is like a little go cart which you control by drawing in the handles to slow down or pushing forward to speed up. After a stunning cable car ride we donned helmets and made our way to the start of the track. Dan let me go first which I thought was very thoughtful as I assumed he wanted to be behind me in case I needed help. He overtook me at speed on the second corner.  
 

After the cable car was the Ice Bar, literally a bar made of ice, and then a lovely Thai dinner. At 4 am in the morning there was the sound of shouting and it seemed one of the girls in the mixed dorm was having a drunken rant or something along these lines. I lay in bed thinking about asking them to quieten down. I heard one of the boys say something about it being 4am and them needing to be quiet and thankfully the noise stopped. In the morning I woke up knowing that there was one shower between 8 people. I heard someone go in and so waited until I heard the shower stop then gathered my bathroom bits and went through. I waited and waited and waited. There was no way I was leaving as I didn’t want to lose my opportunity to shower. After showering this ‘sparky teenager’ shaved and did goodness knows what else as he took over twenty minute after the shower stopped. My bottom was cold from sitting on the floor. The poor young chap looked rather shocked when he opened the door and saw me. To be fair anyone would find ‘morning Sarah’ slightly shocking but ‘morning tired Sarah waiting for the shower’ now that’s a sight! I needn’t have worried as the rest of the children were still in bed when we checked out!

 

We headed off to Mount Cook Village next and allowed ourselves a little luxury the next night. We awoke to a sparkling layer of snow which greatly excited the snow deprived Wattleys. We decided to go on a tramp (hike) and laced up our sturdy boots ready for action. Twenty minutes into the walk we reached a look out where some tourists of the oriental persuasion were taking photos. They asked us if we would take a photo of them and of course we obliged. The next thing we knew they were beckoning for us to be in a photo with them. With perplexed expressions we posed again... and then again so the photographer could swap to be in the photo. Very random but hey, I was wearing what Dan calls my celebrity sunglasses. The walk was amazing but very VERY wet under foot as the snow melted in the glorious sunshine. We were pleased to reach a shelter where we ate our lunch and went for a comfort break at a wilderness toilet. Only in New Zealand could you tramp for an hour and a half through snow, in mountain valleys and then stop for lunch and a wee- I love this country! On the way back we passed our oriental friends with their white trainers and carrier bag of food (as well as their Canon 5D) and wondered how they would fair on the rest of the journey; our feet were wet and we were both wearing heavy duty walking boots. The views were incredible as the snow cover mountain peaks came into view. We felt so blessed to be experiencing the scene whilst surrounded by snow.

 

Mount Seftton

 

We then headed to Lake Tekapo. Dan was reluctant as he had loved Mount Cook and wanted to stay another night. As we cruised along the edge of the Lake all Dan’s anxiety dissolved as the beauty of yet another natural wonder came into view. That evening we went to the hot pools and watched the sun turning the sky a beautiful red behind the mountain peaks before the curtain of night bought with it the majesty of the stars. The following day we went to the Church of The Good Shepherd and once again I was struck by the strength and power of God’s creation. I was sitting in church in a pew from which I could see a vast lake lined with jagged mountain peaks. Tourists came and went taking pictures of the Church and its surrounds. I hoped their eyes and spirits could see it as I did.

After Lake Tekapo we were making our way back to Greymouth. We stopped for the night in Springfield and stayed in the oldest youth hostel in New Zealand. It was quite an amazing place with the old aga still in situ as well as the step ladder which once would have led to the sleeping area. Posters on the wall advertised various coach trips from the last century and I was left wondering about what this building had seen and who it had hosted over the last hundred years.

The Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo

 

Finally we made our way back over Arthurs Pass, a journey we have made twice before (you may remember the petrol story) yet every time we drive it, it looks completely different. This time we stopped at the boulders and saw people carrying big mats on their backs. Bouldering involves putting a mat at the bottom of a big rock then attempting to climb it knowing that if you fall you will land on your strategically placed cushion. When we got back to Greymouth we weren’t quite ready to go home as the sun was glorious and we were still reminiscing about our amazing trip. We detoured via the beach where we experienced Greymouth in all its splendour as the sun was low over the water with not a cloud in the sky. We would see the mountains which had been the host of much of our journey in the far distance and I for one felt full of joy. I made the decision during that trip that whatever is happening in life I am going to try and always be joyful. We often search for happiness but forget to make the decision to count our blessings, look at the beauty around us and be joyful. I hope some of the pictures I have attached will help you capture that feeling of joy amidst busy lives.

Much love 

 

 

Lake Tekapo

 

Road Trip Part 1

La blog



So there are a few blogs in progress but having spent four days on holiday with just myself and Dan the blogability is too great to abide chronology so here goes....

I finished work on Friday and Dan and I left for Franz Josef to get a couple of hours driving under our belt.  We had booked into a YHA hostel and arrived just as people were finishing dinner.   Having not hosteled before I found this situation very bizarre.  The room was full of couples, groups and families, all different nationalities and ages and all cooking and eating together yet totally separately.  It was like an odd social experiment- lets put lots of different people together, give them a communal kitchen and see what happens...  We loaded our food into the fridge next to "Bob and Sally's" bag, whoever they were.  I felt a uneasy, had we taken up too much fridge space, had we spoken too loudly or got in anyones way.  As we walked through the corridor I started to relax a little, my inner monologue reminding me that everyone was in the same boat and anyhow I had learnt sharing at playgroup and apart for occasional tears had performed this task generally quite well.  It was all going to be fine, we were just like anyone else...  Just before we reached our room Dan piped up in a very loud voice "is it just me or does it smell like wee?".   Ruined, so much for blending in!  In true hostel fashion I suggested we went out for dinner.  With a full belly and a glass of wine this was starting to feel like holiday.

The following morning we arose for breakfast and plodded our way to the communal kitchen.  Dan and I are barely civil to each other before coffee, a routine which suits us well and neither of us particular notice, but this may well look like a marital domestic to onlookers.  However we left half an hour later post coffee, hand in hand gazing into each others eyes excited about the adventure to come.

We started the long drive from Franz to Wanaka and just as we set off the rain started.  It didn't stop us enjoying a few spots on the way.  We had lovely sandfly sandwiches on the beach (I have literally never seen so many bugs) followed by (another) coffee and soup in a random little cafe full of antlers and stuffed game.  As we neared Wanaka the clouds started to lift and the topography changed from west coast bushland to mountainous farmland.   Not only had the shapes changed but so had the colours.  Greens changed to yellows, oranges and vibrant reds as Autumn suddenly unfolded in front of our eyes.  It was so beautiful we found ourselves wanting to stop every ten minutes to take photos only to realise that such beauty is best enjoyed by the eyes rather than the camera lens.  We reached the second YHA hostel which was right on the edge of lake Wanaka and were pleased that it seemed a little more 'twee' and a little less 'wee' than the last.  Cooking in the communal kitchen was a a challenge well rewarded with spicy Thai curry.  Dan then 'disappeared' for a while (it was my birthday eve)...  I awake the following morning to balloons and cake, followed by cards and presents.  The thoughtfulness of Dans actions were surpassed only by the excitement and willingness with which he executed his plans.  But it was another wet day.  So we did what all intelligent adults do on wet days, we went to puzzle land.  I won't say too much about this other than the 15 degree room made me feel soooooooo queezy and I sent Dan into the maze on his own as spending an hour getting frustrated and lost in the rain wasn't really my idea of fun.  I was pleased to see him when he emerged that the excitement of our reunion outweighed Dan's frustration; he had been convinced it would only take him 10 minutes.

We then drove to Queenstown where I was to be completely spoilt as Dan had booked the Hilton for the night. We enjoyed the spa, then got dressed up for dinner, ate amazing food and had a wonderful evening.  I think I'm much more suited to 5* hotels than hostels.

We had a coffee in Queenstown and walked through the park before starting the drive to Milford Sound.  The clouds were still low so we decided to come back via Queenstown when the weather had cleared up.  As we drove down towards the Fiordlands the clouds lifted and it was as if God was giving us another present to enjoy as we realised that these clouds had been snow clouds.They had left beautiful frosted, snow peaked mountains for our viewing pleasure.  The trip seemed to be taking us through the seasons and we had just hit winter.

You may remember from a previous blog that there is only one place to stay in Milford Sound, the place Jeff and Sheila had ended up in a shared dorm.  But we had learn from their mistakes and Dan had booked a double cabin so nothing could go wrong... Where Wattleys are involved this is never the case!  As we left Te Anu the little town 120km from Milford we saw a road sign which suggested that there was a tunnel we had to go though that was to close at 5:30pm.  We had no idea about this 'closing tunnel' and it was already 4pm and the aforementioned road sign (as well as numerous guide books/maps) stated we must allow 2 hours.  We gestimated that the tunnel was three quarters of the way along and that we should make it as long as we stuck to some rules
1) Dan was driving,
2) No scenic stops along the way.
The drive was so beautiful and it was difficult watching the scenery wizz by but it had to be done!

Made it!  As we checked in to our double cabin I looked at the map of the building and felt confused.  I had known there were communal toilets but this looked like they were outside.  I could feel Dan's anxiety levels rising as he also realised this.  This was a long way from the Hilton.... and our portacabin was actually smaller than the bed in Queenstown.  However when faced with these situations one has a choice, you either embrace the adventure or you don't.  I generally find this decision dictates your enjoyment and despite my appreciation of the luxurious things in life I am actually quite an adventurer at heart.  But don't tell Dan or our next trip will be tramping in -10 with snow and crampons!

To be continued .....