New Zealand

Right people, time for an update..

1: The Car: Was supposedly fixed by the garage. We went to pick it up on Thursday and the engine was still making strange noises. We told the garage we werent happy and that we couldnt wait around any longer for the them to look at it. They refused the give us a refund and to cut a long story short, we met a couple who were desperate for a car. We were desperate to get rid of ours, so we came to an agreement and sold it to them. It meant taking a 350 pound loss on the damn thing but never mind. We are now the proud renters of a EZY campervan which is far less hassle and a good laugh. If anyone out there is thinking of coming to New Zealand, do not, and i repeat, DO NOT buy a cheap second hand car..most of them have been round the country six or seven times and they are just too unreliable. And dont buy from The BACKPACKERS CAR BAZAAR.. bunch of cheating rip off merchants.

We celebrated by having a few shandies and entering into a paper scissors, Stones competition in the hostel bar. The prize was a $750 stray bus ticket around the south island. And who do you think won?!? POLLY! unfortunately we werent allowed to sell the ticket and Pol did the good deed of giving it away to a couple who had been trying to win it for weeks!

We picked up the van on Thursday and headed out into the wilderness. As its a high top, the slightest wind means it drives like a dodgy shopping trolley and after covering 100km in two hours, we headed into the southern, snow capped alps. Spent the night in a free campsite in the rain and watched a film on our DVD player in t'campervan! (proper bo!) We are travelling in a convoy with seven Swedes complete with walkie talkies and ornate campervans! We drove to Franz Joseph Glacier the next day and walked up to the face while taking pics etc.

It was a really strange place, erie and almost alien like with rocks everywhere and the most beautiful waterfalls cascading out of every crevice. Stopped in a nondescript village called Haast and celebrated one of the Swedes birthdays by having dinner in a yokel bar/diner. Cant remember its name, but its the only one in the village so if any of you make it this far, stay clear! Set out for Queenstown the next day (still raining) and drove through some prehistoric rainforest whilst the sun attempted to make an appearance. More waterfalls later and we arrived here. Stereotypical Ski Resort, lots of sports to do and loads of backpackers. Weather is a bit changeable (sunny but cold) and we have booked ourselves to do some white water rafting today (gulp!) Polly is off Horsey riding tomorrow and thats aboot it.

Loz - Congrats on RAF
Holme Farm Massive - Hope all are ok, pass on our congrats to Mark
Hainton Avenue Posse - Hope Nanna is ok and you both are
enjoying the decorating.
Dad and Joan - Havent done any more wine tasting yet.. will let you know when we do - Kathy Linskey do a nice tipple if you want to investigate - they will post to the UK too!
The Bagnall Clan - Cheers for the update on the footie, hope the various injuries are healing ok - Brian - the scenery here is unbelievable - not done as much walking as we hoped but will do soon!
Rae - Hope you didnt witness any stabbings at Hull Fair
Emily - Hows Britains next Swimming champ coming along?
Manchester Massive - Respect! oh and Phil can you email your address to us please?
Matt S - Hows uni? Slacker...

Lots of love

Pollyali

Hello all, as promised I Polly am the author of this update and have I picked an update to do! So much has happened since our last blog, for starters the weather was much better, I say was because it's just started raining again! Boo hiss!!!

Ok I'll start from where we left off.

Nelson
This is where we met up with our Swedish friends again, not much to report on the place except we had a less than average curry for dinner in an establishment called The Indian Cafe, and we stayed in a hosel called aptly named 'Backpackers',the double room we opted for after seeing the other clientele (lots of crusties and men with long greasy hair)was very reasonable.
After a very short stay here we decided to make our way futher north to the Able Tasmen National Park, but before we did that we had a job to do, to turn Betsy into a mobile bed! We bought a matress (single was the only size that would squeeze past our wheel arches)along with some material for making curtains (blue with gold flowers), some pillows and a brown fleecy blanket. She looked amazing!
We made our way up the coast followed closley by the Swedes in their Spacecar (a people carrier cleaverly made into a campervan complete with DVD!)not vary spacious I hasen to add. The views where spectacular especially now the cloud had lifted and we made our way slowly up the windy hill road to the entrance to the park. The walk itself ran along the edge of the cliffs and skirted round the edge of several massive golden beaches. We stopped at one of these for our lunch (coffee and bannana's) We then headed back to the car and went to find somewhere to sleep!
We ended up next to a motorway in a free campsite where we tested out the back of the car as a bed... very nice although a slight squash!
This is when the fun began. Our plans were to proceed along to the West coast and do some glacier walking. However, the car, had other ideas! We were roughly thirty miles out of Motueka when the dreaded engine judder came back! Queue hasty call to the AA whom we had joined only four days ago. Verdict: Electronic and Transmission problems... To top it off, we couldnt get the key out the ignition, the air con stopped working and the gearstick would stick in park! The AA reluctantly gave us a budget of $800 to get a hire car, the car towed back to Christchurch and accommodation for the night. Anyway, it didnt cover the towage costs and a decision was made to drive back ourselves with the four wheel drive disabled. We ended up using the accommodation budget of $120 and picked a swanky flat with a jacuzzi!
Drove back to Christchurch on Saturday (all 500km) and took the car to the garage where we were told that nothing could be done until monday and we would have to stay in the city until then. They gave us a courtesy car which we drove off and promptly died in the middle of the street as it was completely drained of petrol.
So here we are.. total cost of car problems.. $500 and rising fast.. we need to stay here another night as there is no promise that the car will be fixed in time to leave today.. we dont know what to do and get angrier by the minute. Note to all: Do not buy a car from the back packer car bizarre!

weather has improved though!

Well, Where do we begin? First point to be made refers to a comment left after our last entry. The issue of authorship of these entries. WE would like it to be known that they are a team effort and not solely the work of the male half of the duo. i.e. I just happen to be faster at typing whilst the Polmeister is faster at talking!

Anyhoo, back to the story.
We picked the car up from the car dealer on Monday afternoon and after some MORE last minute shopping we drove to a picturesque town called Akaroa. This was originally settled by the French and still maintains a strong tie to the mother country (Its streets are still called Rues and there is a French flag flying!) Akaroa is a small holiday town frequented by Christchurch's wealthy and as such had a lack of activities for the intrepid adventurers that we are! In fact, the biggest peice of news in the local paper was regarding planning permission for an outdoor swimming pool... People actually complained saying it would ruin the ambience!

After a swift Coffee and walk, we proceeded North up to a town called Kaikoura. The map pointed this place out as a area to spot dolphins and whales. Well, we would have done if the visibility was more than 10metres! It rained and rained and rained and if we closed our eyes we thought we were back in Manchester! But we werent... We stayed in a small cabin as it was too wet to camp and Pol put her new found bargaining skills to work to secure us a third discount of the trip (1: Walking boots, 2: Car (Betsy the Beast) and 3: Cabin)To say that it was cold was an understatement and we both woke to more rain and chilly winds.

Yesterday was a funny old day. We started the drive up to Nelson went Betsy started complaining and juddering loudly. We managed to make it to Blenheim were we sought a mechanics advice. The damn garage we took the car to originally hadnt replaced an oil pipe properly and transmission oil had been leaking all the way from Christchurch. Anyway, after much nail biting, the mechanic declared the problem fixed and after the salesman we bought the car from promised the refund us the cost onto our card!

After all this excitement, Poor old Polly was in dire need of some refreshment. The Marlborough region (does this name ring a bell for anyone! - Joan,Dad,Sara?)Famous for its wine! especially Sauvignon Blanc was our current location so we popped into a couple of the local wineries to sample their wares. (Note to self and others - Do NOT buy from the Fromme Winery.. very vinegary!) We did however got to one called Kathy Linskey and her Sauv Blanc was absolutely Heavenly! We intend on taking a bike tour round the area in a couple of weeks when the weather is better and getting smashed!

Day ended in Nelson, meeting up with the Swedens! Went for a curry and then a drink. Off to turn Betsy into a floating fortress today (bed in back!) so we can sample the delights of the Abel Tasman National park! Weather today.. sunny but cold!

Take care everyone... our New Zealand Mob number is 02115198863.

Pollyali (Pol is GOING to write the next one!)

xxx

Its us again (who did you expect?!?)
Arrived safe and sound in Christchurch around ten thirty yesterday morning. We are staying in a nice hostel in the centre called Base backpackers.. Its very busy and there appears to be lots of Yankee Doodle Dandies staying here. Nuff said about that then!
First major thing was a tooth related disaster for me.. we were in an outdoor shop looking for some walking boots. I put a peice of chewing gum in as i was suffering from major coffee breath. Next thing i know.. i was chewing on sommat really hard. Lo and behold, the filling i had replaced merely three months early had decided to make an early appearance. Queue frantic phone calls and a rushed trip to an out of hours dentist where she gave me a white filling for $85 (about thirty pounds) She looked at the one that had fallen out and shook her head while asking "Where did you get that one done? a cowboy?" to which i replied Önly the finest the NHS has to offer in Manchester!" Needless to say, she didnt reply to that!
After the dentist, we had a couple of shandies last night in a two for one special from the bar downstairs and plotted our itineray for the next few weeks:
1: Buy a car... DONE... completed around half one today when we signed papers for a Subaru Legacy 4x4.. purchased from a garage and a salesman of dubious heritage (he was born and raised in Dundee - Scotland!) Anyway - Pol managed to outwit the poor bloke and secured a $450 reduction on the advertised price by claiming we would starve if we paid the full amount. We pick the car up tomorrow and intend on seeing our very first glimpses of rural New Zealand (I cant wait! Especially as we dont tend to agree on driving practices and we always.. i repeat... always end up having a ruck when we drive anywhere. Even to Asda!)
2: Updated our insect bite count... current is 14-6 to the Polmeister (sorry about the lack of updates on this!)
3: The purchase of some warm clothing was also deemed necessary so we toddled off and spend even more cash on some nifty clobber!
This may be your lot for a few days as we are off walking and camping for a while.. next chance we have, we will upload some pics of the scenery we come across.

Take care all,

Pollyali

xx