New Zealand Part 2 - Mount Cook to Picton

Right. So after Queenstown, the pace of my holiday has really slowed down. New Zealand is not a very busy place.  

I have spent the last 4 days in mt. Cook, Rangitata, Kaikoura and Picton (where I am now).  Since not a lot has been going on, I figured I would just share this highlights

 - In Rangitata we stayed at a sheep farm. it was really in the middle of no where. They did, however offer white water rafting, as the near by river has class 4 and 5 rapids, but I decided not to go since I have been before.  Instead, one of the owners drove me down to the river and I spent about an hour walking back. I'm not usually one who enjoys quiet time, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed my walk and my stay on the farm. Dont get me wrong, I hve no intentions of becoming a farmer, but its nice walking around with no one else around within miles. I scenery on the walk was beautiful and on the way I chatted at some cows (who then scared me, as there were hundreds of them looking at me and coming towards me, and the fence did not look that strong) and also saw a sheep dog round up about 1,000 sheep. Sheep are really stupid animals; the cows look like they might be up to something, the sheep just blindly follow the others with no thought.  I really enjoy how safe NZ feels.  I was walking alone for an hour in the middle of no where (with no mobile reception), and my biggest concern was whether the cows had figured out how to open the gate to their fence. 

- The town of Kaikoura has a number of interesting things to do; swimming with seals, swimming with dolphins, fishing trips, whale watching, etc. I decided to go fishing for a number of reasons: it was the most reasonably priced option, before I left everyone told me that I had to fish in NZ, and after the fishing the captain has a BBQ and wine with the fish caught on the trip. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Kaikoura the weather had turned and all the trips were cancelled as the water was too rough. Luckily though, the captain had a back up plan....skip the fishing and just do the BBQ and wine part. He had the 10 of us (who were supposed to fish) over to his house, along with a handful of his friends (middle ages locals), where we ate as much fresh crayfish as we could, and got absolutely hammered on an unlimited supply of lovely New Zealand Sav Blanc. There was also an amazing home made fish salsa, home made French onion dip, mussel cakes, and something called Paua, which is a sea snail. It was a bit rubbery for my liking, but the way it was cooked on the BBQ made it quite tasty. He did all of this for $15 each, which was a pretty good deal given that each of the bottles of wine was about $30 each, and that on the walk back to the hotel we saw a sign for "happy hour" crayfish - $49 for half. 

- I spent a night (last night) in Picton, which is right at the top of the South Island. It's mostly a gateway town - either for the ferry to the north Island, or for hiking the Queen Elizabeth Trail (which from what I gather is like the west coast trail - up to 7 days long). Since I am doing neither of those things, it's pretty much just a layover point for me. There were no buses until today, so I had to spend the night. I was massively hung over from the wine and fish night, but I managed to go for a nice bike ride with one of the girls I'm traveling with (a fellow Canadian from TO). The bikes were pretty shit as they were free at the hostel, but it was a nice ride. Of course the scenery was spectacular, although very similar to what you would see on Vancouver island. I think I'm gaining a new appreciation for how pretty BC really is.

- I am heading off to Able Tasman National park next for a few nights.

New Zealand is quite a quirky place. I think because it is so sleepy, even the smallest things become big news. Some of the interesting things I've discovered are:

- New Zealand's most famous sheep is named Shrek. Years back a farmer lost a sheep - no big deal, until it turned up two years later alive and perfectly healthy. It was pretty mangey though, after 2 years of no sheering, so it gained the name Shrek. When they finally shaved it (which was big news), they took 29kg of wool off.  Normally, sheering a sheep takes off 3kg. Naturally, books were written about Shrek and the Prime Minister paid him a visit.

-  we drove by an Army "base" in between Mt. Cook and Rangitata. I'll tell you what - we better keep our eyes on the Kiwis. Who knows what they are up to in the 4 small wooden buildings they call a base. I reckon they are in cahoots with the cows.

- the legal drinking age is 18, and I was IDed 3 times in my first 3 days here. If it was going to a bar or club, fine...but I got IDed while ordering a cider with my Furg Burger. When she saw I was 26, she was a bit embarrassed. 

- the Kiwi's have something called hokey pokey. It's honeycomb toffee - like the yellow stuff inside a crunchie bar. It's most common in ice cream, but you also see it covered in chocolate. It's everywhere and is quite delicious.

Cheers