...and on that farm there was a rooster

a very effective rooster who took his job extremely seriously.

WE ARE ON THE SOUTH ISLAND! and we love it so much that we have changed almost all our informal plans so we can stay here for the majority of the holiday. monday afternoon we arrived in picton which is the cutest little harbour town. i wish we had more time because i would have loved to stay there. but both of us have this urging to keep going to the next place because we don't want to miss anything. so on to nelson we went. fabulous. our favourite city/town so far. if i moved to NZ, i'd move there. the best beach we've been to was there and was called something like taranui, but that might be slightly off - i am having more trouble remembering maori names than i thought i would.

our evening and tuesday day were spent doing a bit of planning. we have found that phoning and booking takes so much time so we booked for the next 5 nights and feel so relaxed now. we also booked our 3 day walk down in fjiordland. milford track and abel tasman were full (as we'd expected) so we are taking a recommendation and doing the routeburn track. both a little nervous about hiking 3 days with packs since we've been so posh-ish-ly leaving everything in our car and the longest i've walked with my pack was through the MAF line at the airport. but whatever - we've booked it now so we are doing it. tuesday afternoon we went to the beach and then drove to marahau where we stayed in a shared room at a hostel called "old mcdonald's" with some dutch twins (whom we loved - first people since Auckland that we clicked with). in the morning (wednesday) i awoke to a rooster who takes his job very seriously. the twins and i ate our breakfast in the outdoor kitchen and laughed as this rooster crowed again, and again and on and on. there was also a duck that hung around our little area just following us around. erik and anareaka (the twins) started feeing it a bit of bread and then the rooster came for his share. then the hen and and chicks came running. then the turkeys. it was hilarious. we gave the duck the most though, because she had been been the most persistent and, we felt, the most deserving. the best part was, jess slept through all the noise. i really do not know how she made it through that rooster.

we had pre-booked a kayaking trip on wednesday up to tonga island marine reserve. we enjoyed our day of kayaking the seas very much. the story is too long to tell here, but just know it was lovely. and we even saw seals although talked to others later (who didn't pay for an expensive tour) that just saw them at the beach and swam with them. we felt a bit cheated. that evening we had booked at another hostel (long story) so we had to move over from "old mcdonalds" to "the barn". a barn it was not. we got there already knowing that her "dorms" are tents. but they are the kind you set up at a field camp somewhere with cots and rooms and stuff so we weren't too worried about it. but wouldn't you know she had actually booked us in the Seaview Cottage. it was amazing. the view was stunning. i am slightly embarassed to admit that i liked it so much, i took a video so as to give a virtual tour to people once home. we quickly ate supper and ran back to our new dutch friends (still at the farm) to invite them for a lovely evening of watching the sea from our deck. we stayed up late laughing and talking and planning to meet again later in our trip.

yesterday we stayed as long as we could in our beautiful cottage before heading to takaka. on the way we spent more than hour trying to find the harwood hole - the biggest hole in new zealand. the lonely planet guide does a much better description. anyway, you drive 11 km to the carpark (that is the part that took us over an hour - it's not as easy as it sounds) hike 45 minutes through a forest (used as chetwood forest in lord of the rings) to this 180 meter deep hole with no barriers around it. scary but very cool. i loved the forest - it was so eerie and beautiful. anyway when we got to takaka we checked into our next hostel and drove part way to collingwood to stop at the recommended "mussel inn" for dinner. ate an exquisite mussel chowder. best thing i've eaten so far here in NZ (jess says for her it ties with pizza that we had in auckland and at nelson). bronwyn, if you ever come here you must plan to go to mussel inn for dinner or drinks or something. and you must drink a lot of fluid so you have to go the washroom at least 4 times because you will die when you see the stall walls. someone has taken hours and hours to collage them - and not in a cheesy way, in a "so cool i don't understand it" (which obviously means it is good art) way. i thought of you immediately. afterward we drove up to wharariki beach which you have to actually hike to after driving to the ends of the earth (it feels like). lots of sand-dunes (reminds me of leader). we barely got to see another seal. three other people found it in a cave and were trying to call us for like 15 minutes but we didn't hear them until just as the seal was swimming out. cheated again! we plan to go back today (and are determined to see some seals up close) before driving to punakiki where we are staying 2 nights on the beach. there are cool "geological formations" there and rocks where the ocean shoots through like a blowhole. very excited.

having a great time. finding that when we take a recommendation from someone local that it is worth it.