We've Sold It!

The journey of our camper has sadly come to an end, we sold her on 30th June to a young couple from France who are here to travel for the year. It was a shame to see it go but good to know its going to be back on the road touring the country once again. It didn't take long to fill the empty patch on our driveway, infact we've had a car lined up for a while but needed to sell the camper. So now we are the owners of a very well looked after Subaru Legacy which is much more suited for our day to day shenanigans along with adventures that might require the odd nights kip in the boot, we both fit in rather well!

Farewell picture of our camper

Our New set of Wheels

Meanwhile we're still waiting for the snow its a late kick off for the season but the forecast is looking good for next week. My Lifite training went down a treat and theres a lot more to the job than i initially thought. At one point we we're getting kitted up in harnesses, scaling the lift towers and throwing ropes over the cable practising evacuation in the event of a lift failure. Its all exciting and i can't wait to get up there with the rest of my 30+ liftie crew. Plenty of pictures once we're underway

NZ Mountain Film Festival , Wanaka

The NZ Mountain Film Festival, hosted in Wanaka has just kick off its the 9th annual event which will be screening adventure films from around the world along with workshops and guest speaker its sure to be an inspirational few days and me and emma are chuffed to have tickets for the full 5 days.

Emma is due an update soon, so watch this space she's been busy...

New Blog, old blog, which blog!

So as you may know we created this new blog because the subscription for the original joburt was due to finish, but as it turns out the people at mobileme (our server) decide to renew the subscription for another year, free! So now we've got two blogs, but i'm sticking with the switch to this site, its alot better for quick updates and I fancy a change. The original joburt is still active and we'll use it to link photos etc. There is a link on the right hand side if you ever want to go back and check it out.Right then just to let you know the ski season is about to start, I've got 3 days training starting this monday then the mountain will open...just one problem wheres the snow!!!

Settling In

Kia ora once again and sorry to keep many of you waiting, as we have been settling into life here, time has flown by and the question is where to start.

Our Home, Wanaka

Firstly I’m happy to say Lee has got a job working as a ‘liftie’ on the ski field, something he has always wanted to experience. It will allow him to have plenty of time boarding and a chance to do his instructors course, and he will be able to slow down those lifts for all the newbies i.e me and reduce the risk of embarrassing face plants. I hope.

Wanaka is turning into a pretty amazing place to live, with autumn passing by and winter approaching the colours and scenery have been incredible. Town has turned a little quieter, so we have had more time off work, but more importantly time to get out and play.

Before Ben and Jules left to start their journey home, we had a number of trips to Hospital Flat, our local climbing playground. Fifteen minutes down the road, the routes are short well bolted and get all day sun. To celebrate Ben’s birthday and wish our friends well, we enjoyed a final meal at the spice room, an indian where I’ve also found some work. It was sad to see this lovely couple leave but I’m sure we’ll meet again.

Climbing Wanaka

Sarah, a friend from Uni was also able to join us for the meal, thinking she would get away with just passing through briefly on her travels, but I insisted she stayed a little longer and came for a walk upto Rob Roys Glacier with me. I wish you all the best back in the Lake District now, I know you love it there.

With the excitement of seeing somebody I know from home I thought it was also about time I visited another uni friend Hannah who is living in Kaikoura. Marie a friend from work was mad enough to believe in my idea of hitching there. I am sorry to admit we hitched, I know some of you would be concerned about it but it is more accepted here and it all turned out well.

Hitch To Kaikoura

With only three days to get there and back before work the journey began, now Kaikoura is a good eight hours drive away so you can see why the idea was a little crazy, however with great success and kind drivers we set off at 10am, arriving outside Hannah’s work at 7.30pm. Not costing a cent to get there we celebrated with a few beers and planned our one day there. First thing was to book onto a coach to get back, as we didn’t want to worry about not making it home for work.

Hannah & Emma, Kaikoura

We visited on such a beautiful day, and I loved just sitting by the sea. The highlight was definitely visiting the seal pups at a waterfall where hundreds visit to play in the fresh water pool. (See Videos Ohau Stream Seal Pups)

It was exciting getting away for a few days, but it was also really nice returning back to Wanaka and having a feeling of home, especially with two cuddly boys waiting to be fed.

I have also been busy heading out with groups of students from the local high school. Mt Aspiring College has a fantastic outdoor education programme where students 16+ have lessons on climbing, kayaking, tramping, winter sports and lots more. Apart from it just being fun tagging along, I thought it would be good experience seeing what teaching outdoor Ed is like in NZ. The teachers are all good fun and have become excellent sources of information for all the unknown spots to visit.

I was delighted when they asked if I would like to join a group on the Routeburn Track, which is another of the great walks. The students all took care of one another, and it was great chatting with them along the way, over the three days. The scenery was incredible as we started in Glenorchy, making our way into Milford. Multi-day tramping is big in NZ and it is well set up with huts along the way. In the height of summer, thousands may do this tramp but for now it is perfectly quiet. Having someone who had also guided on the walk nearing fifty times meant we were able to visit secret viewing points.

Routeburn Track

There are also some fantastic walks around Wanaka, and there is always someone eager enough to come out too. Marie and I also seem to get spectacular weather and we had fantastic views of Mt Aspiring from Isthmus Peak. Recently Helen also came too as we scrambled upto Breast Peak, admiring the handy craft of a newly built hut, hidden away.

Mt Aspiring National Park (Home)

Lake Hawea

We have also finally met up with the boys in Queenstown from uni, and when I say we bumped into Ben Farren, I literally did, gazing up across the road there he was, with a huge grin and hug to match. Our quick shopping trip turned into a good catch up and plans to meet again. Ben and Breakall came over to Wanaka recently for a bit of man time when I was away on the Routeburn, although I did get to head out for a climb beforehand. Unfortunately no pictures but it was a good time all getting on top of the tombstone, chilling out and being reminded of the Lake District. On the other side of the world you never know who will be there with you at times. Lee spent a rather intoxicating night over in Queenstown with the boys and has just recently got back from a surfing trip down in Dunedin.

Dunedin Surf

Back to bits and pieces, Lee has done an awesome job getting the majority of the wood ready for winter, and as the leaves have fallen from the trees we have been pottering in the garden still amused with the novelty of it all. An attempt has been made at getting some seeds ready for winter veg, but as my mum says, you just got to bung something in and see how it does.

The van has also gone through a bit of TLC another project to keep Lee busy whilst i’m bringing home the bacon, he has covered up all the rust and just to test his skills further I thought i’d reverse into the next door neighbours post box, leaving a nicely dinted, scratched van and a post box in two. Both were repaired to a high level of workmanship. The reason being we are hoping to sell her, although we have had a fantastic time travelling  in it, it would be more economical having a car.

Firewood

Hope you enjoy seeing some of our new photos, all well and happy over here especially now that mum, dad and Hayles have got themselves booked in for christmas. I’m so excited about sharing so much with you, but mainly to just give you all a huge hug. For the time being we’ll have winter to keep us busy and i’ll look forward to telling you about the snowboarding.

Lots of Love to you all, Lee, Em and Ozzy cat xXx

Our Home In Wanaka

Apologies for the big gap since our last blog we’ve been through an exciting time recently and yes! we are now firmly set up in Wanaka, the next stage of our NZ trip is underway.Firstly, as you all know Christchurch was hit by an 6.3 earthquake on the 22nd February. Luckily enough we had left the area and were in Wanaka at the time, fortunately our friends and family in Christchurch are also safe and sound. Our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch as well as the Japanese, what is the world coming too?So lets take you on a journey of our time spent in Wanaka so far. We arrived here on the evening of 14th Feb, the crazy thing was that the camper broke down as soon as we arrived at our camp spot! it wouldn’t start up again! The following morning I had to ring up the AA luckily enough the guy knew exactly what it was, a common problem for these vans the distributor points had worn. A simple and cheap job to fix luckily. So with our camper ironically breaking down in Wanaka we dropped it off at the garage and headed into town for the first time.Wanaka is set at the bottom end of Lake Wanaka and is the the gateway to the Mt Aspiring Nation park. The town is considered as the sister town to Queenstown, its got all the ‘extreme’ activities you could hope for but is far more relaxing and doesn't have the hordes of people on organised pub crawls, plus the climbing and ski fields are closer and better!So we headed for the centre of town our focus being to look for work and accommodation, but which one first? We came across the first estate agents, popped in and came out with two possible viewing, one later that day at 4pm. We carried on down the street and came across another estate agents this time the lady offered to take us for a viewing there and then, so off we went. Already we had 3 potential houses up for rent and we had only been here 30mins. The next place I came across was the Job agency, there was some vineyard work available starting the next day, so I signed my name down. Emma meanwhile was on the other side of town I got a call saying she had found a job housekeeping at Edgewater, a posh holiday resort, she would start tomorrow too. We couldn’t believe how the day had gone. It was reaching 4pm so we set off to view the house, inside we already knew that we wanted it, everything had gone so smoothly already, we turned up with a massive grin and loved it, by 4:30pm the house was ours. What a first day.We couldn’t move into the house for another week, but it was no worries as we were both busy working. I enjoyed a week of putting nets over the vines with some other travellers who have become great friends. Ben & Julie (UK), Angharad (UK) and jamie (NZ) along with the boss Steve, we all got on really well, to the point that Ben & Juile are currently staying at ours along with frequent visits from Angharad for tea and games of cards.Our little crew stuck together with the agency, doing numerous jobs over the passing weeks such as fruit thinning and house removal work.Emma meanwhile has been meeting many people at Edgewater, many of whom quickly noted her efforts and she was soon getting offers to work in the restaurant as well as housekeeping. I have recently joined her and the team of cleaning fairies who work hard out between the hundred or so rooms. At least there is always lunch to look forward too which comes every day, as much as you want free of charge.These jobs are only the start, we just needed something to help pay our first set of bills and get us set up for the winter. I’m currently waiting for positions to open on the mountain so I can hand in my C.V. We also have a contact with the head of the local college’s Outdoor Pursuits course who Emma is meeting up with this week. I’m starting my training course with a local adventure company call ‘Serious Fun River Surfing’ / ‘Frogz’ who guide people down the white water of the Kawarau River, it starts this week and will involve training me up so that I can guide people down the river on hydrospeeds and body boards next summer.(Emma)Our house is lovely, we have done a little video tour for you to watch (see videos) so I wont describe it here. The main thing to know is that there is plenty of room for you to come and visit of course.Oh we’ve also got a kitten! With a cat flap already installed, we decided to share our little place. Ozzy is fantastic, crazy at times but always up for a cuddle in your lap.We’ve been in Wanaka a few weeks now, but not really had chance to get out and explore, the novelty of having a house has meant we have enjoyed hanging out with friends and cooking lovely food. It has been especially good using veggies from the garden and having the use of a toaster!Days off have cropped up however and we have made the most of them, like walking upto Roys Glacier in the National Park along with plenty of local crag climbing. When Ben and Jules booked to do the white water surfing, I agreed Lee should join them, and luckily the opportunity to work for the company was achieved from doing so.So there you go a quick run down and update of where we are at. We have an address and a number, for anyone who wants to contact us more directly. We shall promise to keep our blog going though as it is part of the journey.Lots of Love Lee, Em and Ozzy XxX

Hello South Island

Our journey has finally reached the South Island and over the past two weeks we’ve had a good taster, and its still only the beginning. The spectacular scenery has captured us and the fact that the population is the same as that in Auckland gives you a sense of how these Islands differ. This is the part of New Zealand we have been waiting for.Our trip began with a three hour ferry journey from Wellington to Picton across the Cook Strait, and it certainly was windy. It was only until we cruised into the shelter of Marlborough sounds that we were able to stand up and admire the first sights of the south. The choice in which direction to head from Picton was quite difficult, either go west to Nelson or east to Kaikoura in the end we settled with west.Nelson & Golden BayNelson is a lively but relaxed city and the starting point to some of the counties most stunning walks and dazzling golden beaches. Hot spots are the Abel Tasman National Park, Golden Bay and the 35km sandbar of Farewell Spit. We spent a good ten days exploring the region starting with the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk, one of NZ Great Walks, tramping through native bush, golden beaches and estuaries. Along with the scenery came some exciting wildlife including seal pups and our first penguin sighting.From the Abel Tasman we headed north along Golden Bay to the Farewell spit, we welcomed the cooler air and a spot of rain, as the heat over the past week had started to be uncomfortable. The grey weather added to the remoteness of the area too, the sands blew around our feet forming wonderful formations. The farewell spit is a huge sandbar with vast areas of wetland, an important stop off for migrating birds. The spit is sadly a common spot for whales beaching and we were shocked to hear that 80 or so had done just that a few days after we had visited.Nelson Lakes National Park consists of two glacier formed Lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa which are a half hour drive South of Nelson. The park consists of high passes, forest valleys and basins, as well as being a popular spot for boating and fishing oh and not to mention sandflies. Our time in the Lakes was short, the engine of our camper was over heating, hiding away from the sandflies meant we didn’t get eaten but the heat from the engine made the camper rather toasty in the evenings, so with all this in mind we took the road into Westport to see what we could do. Buying some coolant did the trick.West Coast & Arthur’s PassWestport is at the northern end of the West Coast Highway. This side of the Island is renowned for its wet weather and sure enough we hit rain. We had hoped to stay a few nights sampling the surf but the forecast was rain all week. Not to worry though if the weather is bad on the west a good idea is to head East. So off we set but not before seeing some of the coastline on the way to Greymouth. The jurassic like scenery on our left and the surging Tasman on our right made it a wonderfully spiffing drivePancake Rocks is unavoidable along this stretch of road, so we stopped to see this geological bafflement, best visited at high tide. Pancake Rocks consist of layers upon layers of teared rock. The big swell made it even more of a sight as the water shot through the blow holes and crashed against the shore.From Greymouth we headed East through the mountains. The journey through Arthurs Pass was really incredible the scenery surrounded us on either side, the land is covered in trees with many opportunities to explore. Still with the rain coming down we didn’t feel the need to stay around, travelling back here is something for us to keep and look forward too.ChristchurchNew Zealand is not big at all really, so if you keep moving you soon arrive where you want. So this week we have finally arrived in Diamond Harbour, home to Andy and Hillary, relatives of Emma, our base and postal address for the past six months.We have been relaxing in comfort and in good company along with evening entertainment by the harbours famous band ‘Kab Sauv,’ who gave us an exclusive performance, can you imagine the beauty of song flowing through the air when Emma joined in!A hop over the harbour brings you into Christchurch, we spent a day seeing the sights along with signs of the September earthquake. The journey home was fun too, including a ferry ride and a walk along the coast. Our eyes have been wide open looking out over the back garden for dolphins who often come to play here, apart from when we are around of course! The hills surrounding the area here provide some fantastic tramps and we ventured out for a few taking in the views from different spots. There are again so many more opportunities to have here, but as you will read next we just got to keep moving.I hope it wont be long until we arrive back here to climb the rocks, ride the tracks and surf the waves and not forgetting to see the dolphins. Hillary and Andy thank you so much for everything, the meals, the wine, your advice and help, we hope to invite you to Wanaka soon. Good luck with the Wwoofing Hillary, look forward to hearing about it.Emma is now well and truly kitted up for the winter season, spending nearly four hours in the shop was not quite so great, but it was only us and the owner in there so we really got special attention getting the perfect boarding gear for an excellent deal. Just four months to wait for the snow now.Heading for WanakaWe have been moving faster through the South, travelling rather than exploring the land. Our focus now is to get to Wanaka sooner rather than later, to find a place to settle for the coming winter season. It will get busier as time passes, and the competition for accommodation and jobs will be harder. We are both feeling ready to move out of the camper, but will keep hold of her as its going to be great exploring the south from our Wanaka base, not having to worrying about carrying all our stuff around. We leave for Wanaka tomorrow and so hopefully the next time you hear from us we’ll have an address and an invite for you to visit.Hope you are all well, I know many of you back home are looking forward to spring. It’s going to be exciting making plans with family and friends who hope to travel over this year.Lots of Love and look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy the picturesLee and Em Xxx