hobos go city

yeah yeah i suck! we are now in the north island! auckland in fact. the land of orcs itself. uh, just a quickie at the mo coz have to go out to tea. had a few days in welly - caught up with quite a few people which was great. went out and hit welly town on first night there. and i feel like we ate a bit of food. generally a safe assumption :) i know em was a little wary of how we would feel in a big city - being that we are hobos and all - but it was sweet eh. so big ups to welly and all the people we caught up with there!!
then we moved on to raglan where em's friend angelique came and met us. had some fantastic lazy days there - went for a coupla surfs even though the waves were pretty av. soooo much warmer than in kaiks though!! one day we got up, went for surf, and then spent the rest of the day lying in the back of anges van in the sunshine. good times :)

Ocean Beach at Raglan... beautiful!

El Capitan finds a friend... Ange's van Rodriguez

then we booted it up to auckland. staying at laurens flat which is very flash (cheers dude). went to beauty and the beast (the disney musical) on friday which was awesome. cool dancing and costumes and stuff. beauty was kinda annoying though. whiny.
and we went to the auckland zoo yesterday - animal fun! the elephants were rad - one gave itself a mud bath which kinda looked fun :) and then we went out last night - first to my friend janelles for some drinks and then to a party of some guy lauren knew and then in to town. was soooo random!! but heapsa fun and got to get our groove shoes on for a bit
tomorrow we are moving on up north - up to waipu tomorrow and then around there a bit. only a month left! and we have been on the road for 50+ days. woop woop!

2 monkeys hiding behind an elephant

See.. told you it looked fun!

Monkeys are rad

hey hey (its the hobos)

so we are now in golden bay! well nearly... currently in motueka. had some great days in blen with my ma and pa. ate some great food (cher mum!) had some great showers and spas and generally sorted our shit out. managed to catch up with my friend ingrid too which was rad. good luck for the job hunting ingy!
we also went down to our bach in the marlborough sounds on friday (went swimming - we're hardcore!) and then went out fishing (in the sounds again) on saturday. we caught a wee bit between us but my blue cod was the only edible one. still, a great day... esp coz we saw a gigantic pod of dolphins! we went and played with them and then they were swimming in the wake of the motor right behind the boat! like you could see the big grey masses under the water and if we'd had a large pole we totally would've been able to touch them!
this greatness continued on monday when we drove down to kaikoura and went for a walk with our icecreams on the beach when this lady starting yelling at us to look at something and we looked out at the sea and there was a WHALE!! woooooaaahh!! that NEVER happens. coolest thing ever eh. esp coz it was hardcore jumping right into the air and then it dived so we got the whole tail fluke thing too. there were a couple out there and you could see them spouting away. rad... i tell you the animal kingdom loves the van plan. we have had too many random occurences with them for it to be coincedence.

Beeeauuutiful!!! The view from the surf :)

Em & her board Charlie at Maungas

went for a surf in kaiks too. weellll... an extended paddle since we didn't actually catch anything but it was fun all the same. we rented booties too - genius! warm tootsies are great :) and also purchased a crayfish from the famous cays crays! i named him merv. he was delicious :)

Merv the crayfish

then drove to hamner and spent a whole morning (2hrs) in the thermal pools... mmmm.... and then took an extended drive to nelson area. on the way we nearly ran outta petrol!! haha!! got so freaked that when we were going down a big hill (not the hope saddle with those 35k corners) we turned the car off and cruised down!! hahaha!!! ah we can laugh about it now :) also stopped in at maruia falls which is the one all those crazy paddling people go off. the word - nuts - comes to mind....
are booked on the ferry to go to welly on saturday afternoon. prob a good thing coz i swear i could spent a whole month here alone! doesn't matter how much time you have its never enough.....
laters!

just some tales and phots from golden bay since i have otherwise missed it!...
we stayed at this gold little camping spot called mckees which is before mot. its something like $2 a person and has a fantastic view over towards nelson. heres a photo of em cooking brekky on the beach... a task we did at many fantastic locations!



our 1st proper day we decided to drive as far as we could and then make our way back. our initial plan was to go to abel tassie and maybe do some kayaking but that didn't happen. we'd both been there before anyway. never enough time!!! we battled over takaka hill - all without sounds as the stereo had eaten our cd - which led to a MAJOR case of vd (vague dissatisfaction) setting in. we went to pupu springs which just made it worse coz you can't touch the water!! do you know how tortuous it is seeing all that delicious clear water and not being able to touch it?!?!? eventually we got rid of the vd in the only way we knew how... we bought a 6pk and headed to the beach :) perfect! whilst there em practising her surfing pop up... i love this photo :)



stayed at pakawau that night and awoke to yet another beautiful day. it was so clear you could see over to farewell spit. that was a good day - we managed to fix the sounds! went to wharareki beach where there are sand dunes galore! unfortunately it was windy as hell at the beach and the sand felt like tiny razors hitting every available peace of skin! i battled on feeling like a desert explorer but em retired to the comfort of el capitan :)

Pakawau beach - looking towards Farewell Spit

we also stopped off at mapua - a wicked little seaside town with a definite hippy feel. while there we stumbled across an ice cream parlour called hamishs.... so you're in australia in the outback eh hamish? haha!!




captain jack also found a boat that he took a particular liking too. aarrgghh!! :)

so golden bay was rad. we both understood how people can go and never return. its a different pace and way of life for sure. we could've spent a lot more time there but it was time to venture onwards to the north island! cruised back through the queen charlotte drive, had a coffee in picton, and made our way across the strait on the blue bridge... which, by the way, kicks the interislanders ass!

The Coast baby!!

So now Em and I find ourselves on the wierd and wonderful West Coast. We pretty much booted it up the coast and are now in Karamea in the BEST backpackers ever! Its called Rongo and honestly, its worth coming to Karamea for - esp if you are hippie inclined (Jared I saw your writing on the wall - sweet!) Yea so we did the first day of the Heaphy yesterday and came back out today. Gold! Crazy crazy coastline with gigantic waves and heaps of nikau forests. We survived the so-called 5hrs sweet as - just have a few bruises. Oh and Em nearly fell over half a million times - and I thought I was the un-co one! Must be those paddle feet of hers :P (hehe! I love this coz she can't respond to my harassing!)
Before coming up here we went and did the glacier thing - were disappointed to find you can hardly walk close to Franz at all!! Way different than I remember - I'm not a stupid tourist!! So therefore I should be able to go closer. nevermind
had a grey yucky night in greymouth where we succumbed to the lures of the holiday park and a warm shower. did the monteiths tour the next morning - 10am - walked out an hr later considerably less sober. hehe!!
and spent the weekend in good ol westy! unfortunately my old flattie keri was in oz at the time but caught up with my friend kirsten who was nice enough to let us sleep in her spare room. FINALLY went for a surf - out at the tip - soooooo great!! felt fantastic to be back in the water. not even cold! em stood up but i didn't manage to - its been so long!! also managed to catch up with my friend guy who was back for uni hols and the twins mitch and kenny. we went out for some drinks with them on saturday night. the bustling night life of wp!! haha!!
right thats me - my book is calling. more soon - and photos in the next coupla days coz we're heading to Blen for a bit.
love yas!