Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

What if I told you that you'd get to wake up in the middle of the night to move your tent out of a growing lake of rain? Just another bit to add to Jim Gaffigan's camping jokes. haha. Yep, that was us last night. We drove into Te Kaha with a clear sky and the sun out and went to bed and could see stars. Then not 45 minutes later I think, it just started pouring down. We couple figure out why it sounded like someone was spraying the tent with a hose, or to hear splashing as the rain fell. We both looked out our sides of the tent and didn't see anything of concern. Then Dustin put his hand on the tent bottom where our feet were and it may as well have been a waterbed! So, luckily there was a pause in the storm so up we got and sussed out a drier site. We threw the heavier items into the car and then carried the tent across the way and put everything back inside. Then we laid there for more than an hour or two trying to sleep amidst lightning that was so crazy you would noti...

Feb. 20/11 3:44pm We spent a couple nights just south of Hastings at a beachfront campground where there was actually some surf! And Dustin said the people were quite friendly too. We went up to Napier and Dustin got a new surfboard. This one is a mini-mal and it's got a lot more volume than his current board which makes it better to catch waves. It's the same length but it'll be more fun. After staying with that surf coach and talking to him about boards, Dustin decided that something bigger would suit him better. As the surf coach said, most people start on boards that are way beyond their skill and they spend so much time fighting to get waves and aren't having fun. He rides an 8 footer normally and maybe if we weren't travelling, Dustin would go for that length or longer. The surf coach also had a surf shop and said that the whole industry is so hyped up about long boards vs. short boards and that there's too much ego involved. So, already Dustin's noti...

Feb 13/11 8:21pm It's the eve of our departure from Cwmglyn (pronounced coom-glin) Farm. We've been here since the 10th and it's a farm with 3 milk-producing cows that they use to make farmhouse cheese. They also have a set up of a model railway that they open for the public for a small admission fee. So it's been a bit interesting although we're both suffering from clutter-induced anxiety. We haven't really been able to take part too much in the cheese-making and we haven't been able to do anything in the rail display but sweep and clean glass so I guess we were expecting it to be a little different. We did get to weed about 5-7 acres of paddocks though... So yeah we haven't clicked quite as well as some of the other stays but well everyone is different. We did end up having a nice clear ferry crossing on our way up so some of that scenery was very pretty. Very much like the Gulf Islands of BC but still it was lovely. The water seems to get to a ni...

Feb 7/11 3:13pm The West Coast turned out to be a very quick go. We left Wanaka and drove out towards the coast and the weather wasn't too bad. We stopped in at Fox Glacier and walked to the face which is only about 45 minutes return and it's an easy walk. We drove down to this campsite on the beach near there but it was super windy so we had to keep moving. The townships in the glacier areas are really touristy and thus are busy and crowded and expensive. Much earlier in the trip we had been considering taking a day trip hike on the glacier but after talking to some people about it the tour didn't sound like it would be that great since we've been on mountains and snow before. You don't get to do any of the mountaineering bits (which Dustin was interested in) and you just follow a guide and have crampons on your shoes. So, though we thought we'd stay a night there we kept going up the coast. Got a little takeaway in a tiny town and found a really lovely campsi...