fush and chups

feb 23, 2010

nz rocks! e and i officially love it here. it's super green. 25% of the country is protected. the hills, fields, orchards, coastline and mtns are stunning. the water is crystal clear. salt and fresh. and people are so so friendly - even more than home i think. just come up and start talkin to you on the street or in the shops. so willing to help or even just chat. and always smiling and laughing. and everyone is environmentally concious. i'm v impressed with nz govn't. they've got the green way of life and the tourism thing figured out.

e and i just spent 5 days in an awesome little city (pop 60,000) called nelson on north coast of south island. the gateway to abel tasman nat'l park. which is awesome. did a day hike there with friends from b.c., chile, and uk/aus. spent 2 days at tahunanui beach just outside town. snagged free bus rides there =). and last day hiked up a hill to 'the centre of new zealand' survey marker in town and then swam in river on way down hill. at night we frequent a local pub that makes its own beer. and it is fabulous beer. then we usually moved to 'the shark bar' where backpackers get a "passport" which is 4 beer and a shot for $15. and b/c we're in nz's wine region, a good bottle costs $8. oh, and the fish and chips here is better than home. but it's pronounced fush and chups. ha. mostly hanging with simon from germany, rachelle from calgary, bryan from glasgow, and 3 girls from northern ireland. life is rough.

we're loving the hostel life. lots of other travelers to meet. backpackers everywhere here. mostly german and british, actually.

magic bus has been a good choice. drivers are friendly and always tell us interesting nz facts. we stop at many points to see local attractions (e.g. seal colonies, geologic features, rivers, etc), go for a hike, grab coffees, or go to the toilet. yesterday was interesting - as soon as we were leaving in the morning, the bus hit a car as we are making a turn. lifted it clean off the ground! ha. and in the afternoon as we were hammering down the mtns along the coast, we lost the radiator. awesome. but, we were impressed with how they handled it. within 45 min, another bus (schoolbus) was there to pick us up and bring us to our accommodations and our bags arrived shortly after. oh, tragic magic.

we're now in franz josef on west coast of south island. home of fj glacier. crazy beautiful mtns here. and it's pouring! flash storm. the drive here was crazy. beautiful mtns and coastline here. subtropical rainforest.

other fun tidbits:

- the liquor store is called the bottle store

- instead of `awesome!`, kiwis say `choice!`. i like that one =).

- diary products are insanely expensive, even though nz is the world's largest exporter of dairy. appar farmers aren't subsidized.

1st photo on this post is tahunanui beach where we spent 2 lovely days in the sun.

2nd photo is looking down on nelson from 'the centre of nz' survey marker

3rd photo is typical view of coastline on our abel tasman nat'l park hike.

all for now,

t