New Zealand 26 Very, Very Scary

 There were so many fantastic places to stay but no where to park unless you want to pay to park by the hour. Of course, we did not want to drive around Wellie all day and night, it is much easier to see on foot. We checked out a couple of places that were listed in our guidebook as "reasonably priced". 

Maybe they were but we never found out because the outside looked very, very scary. So we decided to check out the one described as a "charming literary flavoured B&B in an Edwardian villa". It was definitely to our liking so Matt negotiated a price that we could live with.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 25 Wellington

 Very much like, with all of the houses perched on the edge of the hills just above the sea. We liked it immediately. Unfortunately, the parking really stinks (because there is none) and the streets are almost exclusively one way. 

You have to laugh because you can literally be looking at the place you want to go but there is absolutely no way to get there without taking four streets to get back to where you were to start with. Anyway, we needed a place to stay that had parking and this is easier said than done.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 24 Kicked That Guide's Ass

 We did make it back however, thankfully before dark and I have never, nor will ever, be so happy to see a dumpy old camper van as I was that day. Lesson learned- NEVER LEAVE MARKED TRAIL. If we had gotten back earlier, I am convinced Matt would have kicked that guide's ass. Oh, and by the way, it took us every minute of 8 hours. ...

Hello all! Sorry it has been awhile since last posting....we have been on the go. Here is what we have been up to:

We drove straight to Wellington and arrived mid-afternoon. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and as we drove over the bridge we were struck by how much it resembled San Francisco.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 23 No Path

 But the fun had just begun. When we got to the top, the "path" completely disappeared, it was nowhere to be found. We really did not know what to do. But there was only one thing to do. Descend back down to the original path. 

With no path, we pretty much climbed down 3 separate ravines to get to the bottom. 3 separate ravines because no single one went straight to the bottom without a deadly drop-off. I do not mean to alarm you folks back home, but it was a bad scenario to find ourselves in with no food and very little water.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued)