ello again!
Today I'm writing from a cafe in Glenorchy - we're in the middle of gorgeous mountains, on a lake just north of Queenstown. We've been in this area for a few days, although unfortunately day 1 was rain and so we had a non-active day of movie watching (and yes Steve - more of the wire...season 3 now) and relaxing in the camper, day 2 I had a stomach flu/food poisoning, so more camper time (for me anyways, gavin went for a kayak), and now, day 3, it's raining again (and not just a little bit...it's pouring) so we came into glenorchy (the closest town to where we're staying at a super basic campsite not too far away in Kinloch). So that's put a bit of a wrench into our 'active' plans for this area. We're going to stay around here for at least 3 or 4 more days though to be able to get everything in. I'll probably only be able to post this once we get back to queenstown though because we don't have any internet here - so likely after we've done all of the fun activities (I'll try and update at that point again too)! On the plate for the next few days are a hike of the Routeburn trail (it's actually a 3 day, 30k hike, but you need to book huts, and organize transport, which is a bit of a hassle), so we're just going to do part of it as a day-hike, and try and get in about 12kms into the hike, then turn around and head back the way we came, which should get us into the alpine saddle and past the waterfalls! We've also got a day of canyoning booked (which I'm super excited about) - basically you get to absail and jump/climb your way down a canyon, and then we're also planning to bike to a place called 'paradise' (the roadsign on the way there says 'Paradise - NO EXIT' :) - not too far from our campsite, and go for a kayak on the lake! My fingers are crossed that it stops raining soon, as I'm getting a bit tired of the confines of the camper :) The area that we're in though is incredibly beautiful. It's around where they filmed a lot of the lord of the rings movies, especially the parts with the elves (so the gorgeous forests / waterfalls etc.). Our campsite is beautiful - camper is parked right on the edge of the lake, with mountains on all sides...couldn't ask for a better view :)
After almost a month and a half (I think we're at 40 days now) of living in a camper, there are definitely some things that i'm missing, and will be very diligent in making sure that our next apartment/home comes with (in no particular order):
- a bathroom (and all of the wonderful things a bathroom has - toilet, mirror, sink, shower...sigh...having the stomach flu with only an outhouse a few minutes walk from the camper is not a fun experience)
- running water
- the ability to shower on a regular basis (without either a. having to jump into a freezing cold lake, b. wear flip flops c. require us to pay 30 dollars to stay in a shit campsite just to use the showers, d. have gavin pour buckets of lukewarm water over me)
- having a bed that a. doesn't have to be taken down each morning and put up each night, b. is in a separate area from the kitchen / living area
But other than those few inconveniences, I think this whole camper thing is great - there are a lot of plus sides (you can put down the bed and sleep basically wherever, you always have all of your stuff with you, you always have all of your food with you...) so I think I'll survive another 40 days or so... :) fingers crossed :)
alright - until next time!! :)
(quick update - am now posting this from Glenorchy as we bit the bullet and finally bought some internet so that we can book a few more activities for the coming days. We're waiting for our 'group' to arrive to do the canyoning!! yippee!! should be fun. We did get the hike in yesterday, didn't get soaked by rain, only frozen by the blowing snow (hehehehe - we're here in the summer right??), but it was BEAUTIFUL. We hiked about 13k into the hike, up to the highest point (harris saddle), then turned around and came back. Gavin's proud because he ran 28km's the day before, then hiked 25km's yesterday - so over 50k's in two days. He's rubbing it in because I was a lump on a log and didn't do the 28k run with him. At least my knee is thanking me a bit :) We also discovered that the lodge near our campsite allows us to have a HOT shower (only $5...) :) yay! So after playing in the cold canyon water today, we'll have a way to warm up.
Huge hugs!
a
