Our time in Wanaka is coming to a close. The scenery here is really amazing and also very diverse—you have lakes, mountains, ferns, beaches, and even deserts. On Sunday (Happy Easter!), I got to have a short and sleepy conversation with Alex before 8AM my time and then we all got a chance to skype with Anna and Grandma, which was exciting. Apparently Anna is now an expert cook, so anyone who doesn’t feel like making dinner, just call her up! Afterwards we tried to get to Easter Mass at the nearby church, only to find out that it had been at 9AM, not 11AM. Whoops. We headed back to a craft fair in Wanaka where Mom and I both got jewelry from this one guy who had some pretty cool stuff.
We headed out to look for an easy walk around Lake Wanaka. We decided to walk around part of Glendhu Bay and it was fun to walk near the beach. Mom found a piece of driftwood that she liked, although we’re unsure if it will make it through customs. We even took some pictures of each other so that Anna would be happy. Usually she is in charge of taking the portraits while I do the scenery, and apparently looking at my pictures of scenery “is as boring as reading your blog.” I guess I can be assured that she’ll never read and get upset about that statement!
After a jaunt through town, we stopped for some lunch at a local seafood restaurant. The waitress mistook us to be from Chicago, seeing Dad’s C on his jacket (which would only further have confused her since it’s a Canadiens jacket). Dad made the suggestion of prawns, which sounded good to me. Then these five huge shrimpy things with all of their heads, antennas and body armor arrived on a skewer. Unfortunately my camera was under the table in my purse and Dad was unable to capture the prawns or my look of absolute disgust. He did all of the manual labor for me, hooray!
On Monday, we got a chance to talk to everyone who was over at Grandma’s for Easter. I was awakened after this conversation began, so I was looking my finest. I was a little confused (remember, I was sleepy!) as to why everyone was more interested in talking to me and seeing me on the screen than Mom and Dad…then I remembered that I had been gone for over two months. Whoops. Then it made more sense! After finishing our Skype session, we headed to Cromwell to check out some wineries and tasting rooms. Unfortunately it is a public holiday here, ANZAC day (similar to Memorial Day and Veterans Day), and there are rules against serving alcohol in the morning. A lot of places were also closed for the whole day, so instead we stopped in Cromwell to get a picture of the giant fruit. It’s pretty exciting, as I’m sure my pictures will show once I get them online. We headed back towards Wanaka but discovered that a winery that had been closed was now open. We stopped and learned about the rules with alcohol in the morning and were told that some of the bigger wineries down past Cromwell in Bannockburn. After stopping for a scenic lunch along the lake (with some ducks that appeared threatening at first but moved on to pester other people), we stopped in at one more winery. The specialty down here is Pinot Gris, a dry red wine. Needless to say, I don’t have much of a wine palate myself, but it was perfect for Mom’s taste. She got a bottle of Chardonnay at the first place and one of Pinot Gris at the second. Also at the second winery there was a yellow Lab in residence which was fun. I miss Evey! Later on, Mom and I went for a walk in town and later we got some vegetarian pizza at The Cow (a bit backwards to get vegetarian if you think about it!). The pizza was described as having “any vegetable in the house.” Turns out that celery was one of those in the house. Can’t say that it’s my new favorite pizza topping, but it was definitely different.
The past couple days have been mostly comprised of time in the car. On Tuesday, we left Wanaka and headed to Ashburton, which was just a stopover point. On the way we drove near the desert-area, the “real” mountains (with new snow), and two stunning lakes. We stopped at Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo on the way to take some pictures and eat some lunch. After reaching Ashburton, we laid low after looking around the craft village and getting some Thai takeaway.
Wednesday we were up and out before then, before heading to the illustrious McDonalds for breakfast per Mom’s request. I guess she got tired of cereal and muffins. We then hit the road to Kaikoura, stopping in Christchurch on the way. We were in the central business district, which was the hardest hit area by the earthquake back in February. The earthquake’s effects were still obvious from the surroundings. Almost all of the bridges across the river were not accessible with what I would guess were Army Reserves at each one. All of the buildings had pink spray paint on their doors indicating when they had been checked for safety. There was a lot of broken buildings, and it was far too quiet in an area that should have been bustling at lunchtime on a weekday. We walked around the Botanic Gardens, although I have to say that I’m partial to the gardens right outside of my door in Wellington. The ones in Christchurch just weren’t hilly enough!
We continued on to Kaikoura, which is on the east coast. The Pacific seems a lot rougher than the Tasman on the other side of the island, but it was also a bit of a dreary and wet day. We found a few seal friends, one of whom reminded me of Evey—no movement when I approached, but just continued to lie like a lump, completely unbothered with everyone else. While checking out another nearby seal colony, where there were a few seals posing for pictures, I ran into one of my housemates. Surprise! She and her friends said that they had visited a seal colony up the road at a waterfall where there were about fifty baby seals who were very friendly. Before it got dark, we headed off in the direction of the waterfall, but must have taken a wrong turn. Hopefully we can locate it in the morning on the way to Picton.
After a night in Kaikoura with noisy neighbors who were up late and rose early, as well as the delightful sound of trucks rushing by on the highway, we headed out to Picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington. Along our drive, we stopped at another seal colony that was near a waterfall. There were no baby seals, but we did get to see a few exceptionally lazy ones. We were remarking that they reminded us of David anytime before 6PM. After reaching Picton and returning the rental car without problems, we continued on to the ferry terminal. We already knew that our ferry had been delayed five minutes, but when we arrived at 12:30, the 10:30 was just leaving. Uh oh. They loaded us all on to the ferry (we sat in the family area with the Disney Playhouse channel) on time. However, only once we were onboard did we learn that we would not be leaving at 1:15, but more like 2:30. Luckily we had brought our lunch with us so we had a chance to eat before the boat left the dock. After a decent passage (Mom and I thought it was less rocky than the ferry to Picton), we loaded onto a bus with about eight million other people to the train station where we walked back to the hotel. We decided to try something different for dinner and went to the nearby Cambodian restaurant, which was packed. The food was pretty good though, so I might have to make a return trip before I leave. After picking up some Hokey Pokey ice cream for Dad to try (vanilla with toffee pieces for those of you who have forgotten since my Rotorua blog updates…I don’t blame you), we spent our last night in a nice and quiet hotel room.
Friday morning we were up early to fit in some last minute shopping before Mom and Dad had to get to the airport. After shopping and getting my luggage up the hill to my house, we had some lunch and headed out. Turns out that airport procedures are a little different in WLG than at BWI. You don’t go through security until you get to your gate, and they won’t let you in to your gate until about twenty minutes before your flight leaves. Therefore, we were a little early. After a wander around the airport and some even more last minute shopping, we exchanged our final hugs and they went along their way. I’m really glad that they were able to come and visit me. Even though it’s still two months until I come home, I feel more at ease being here now that I’ve seen my parents. I guess it kind of let me understand that they’re still real even when I’m here, as strange as that sounds.
And now here I am, back at home base for a while. Now it’s time to catch up with my friends and their adventures and write a paper by Monday. Really, why do teachers insist on having work due the first day back from break??
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