Three more stops to go in New Zealand and then we fly to Sydney, our favorite city in Australia.  One more bus driver change, this time nicknamed Papa G.  He’d been driving tour buses for the last 16 years and did one thing I wish the other drivers had done.  He stopped the bus frequently to let us take pictures of the beautiful scenery.

Queenstown from the top of the ski lift

After Queenstown, we were headed to Mt. Cook.  Unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there, so there wasn’t much to see or do.  We roomed with Sam and Jamie and made the most of it though.  There was a pool table and a bar and a big Rugby game going on that the locals were very interested in and for the first time on our trip, I thought about what it’s going to be like not being able to sit down and watch any of football on Saturday or Sunday.  So, we played pool, drank a few beers and chatted with our other Stray bus people.  Except for Crazy and her kids.

We left the next day bound for Rangitata.  Mandy found herself in the very front seat, next to the driver and took her favorite photo in all of New Zealand, which I present to you now:

During the summer months, Rangitata is a base for white water rafting.  During the winter, it just rains all day apparently.  We grabbed a private room for ourselves here and were thankful when we walked by the dorm beds.  They were stacked to the ceiling, three beds high!

We would have our last group meal here, which was stew that wasn’t that bad.  After dinner everyone from the bus was hanging out in the main living area and we had some movies to pick from.  Top  Gun is up first, a classic.  Afterwards, we take a vote on what to see next and The 40 year old virgin is selected.  We pop it in and right at the scene where they’re at speed dating and a woman’s shirt is so low, you can see her entire nipple, out walks the spawn of crazy, who happily take a seat and are now watching this movie with us.

It’s not sitting well with me and being that we’re the only ones they have interacted wth, I ask the older one to go ask his mom if it’s ok they’re watching an R rated movie.  He disappears and comes back and lets us know his mom said it’s fine.  Of course it is. Crazy is as crazy does.

We left for Christchurch the next day, which would be our last stop in New Zealand.  We would be flying out in three days bound for Australia.  We would say goodbye to Sam and Jamie and at the time we were all pretty sure our paths would cross since they were headed to Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand, all places we were plannng on going to, but it turns out we’ll have to meet them in England one day.  Darn.

Christchurch had two really bad earthquakes a few years ago and a lot of the city was destroyed.  The second earthquake struck while the city was busy and people were everywhere and unfortunately a lot of people died.  They’re still rebuilding.  Papa G told us on the way in that if we were in construction, it was extremely easy to get a job.

They’ve come up with a genius way for businesses that were destroyed by the earthquakes to remain open while their respective buildings get repaired or rebuilt.  There’s a little village in the middle of town made out of shiipping containers, where banks, restaurants and retail shops all operate.  It’s fun, cute and something that you  can tell will probably remain open even after all the buildings are repaired.

And thus ends our  epic journey of this fantastic country.  Everyone should get to experience this place at least once in their lifetime.  I’m looking back on my posts and I’m not even doing it justice.  Truly, the definition of the phrase ‘you have to see it for yourself to believe it’

What’s next?  Australia!  Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and at the time of this writing, Thailand.  And in about a week or so we’ll head into Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia.  I’m going to try and have a new post up at least once a week from now on.  It should be easier now that we’re not on islands with beautiful beaches anymore.  Cheers!