Rest, Recover and Regroup

These are busy times movin' along in Patty. We have only a week left in the South Island and we are filling it with as much as we can sanely do before we drive onto a north-bound ferry on 1 Feb.

We finished the Kepler track and have about 1,000,001 photos for you to process. In the meantime, I will leave you with a taste of the in between time we had after Stewart Island before Fiordland...

While we were on Stewart Island we left our van at a sweet retired couple's home in Bluff, the South Island's southern most city. The woman grew up involved in the NZMCA as her parents had member number 100 something (ours is 48003.) She shared some historical books with us and told us the story of when she "had the privilege to meet the founding members." She told us about the days before dump stations when her dad would just dig a hole for their grey and black water. Nowadays with self containment, NZ caravanners must be more environmentally conscious. These two were such sweet hosts they even let our stinky bodies use their shower after our 3 day mud expedition.

From Bluff we began the journey north. On the way we hit up the last Pac 'n Save we will see for a long time. This is a Kiwi-owned grocery chain we are always happy to find because it boasts the cheapest groceries. Living in a van means you take groceries straight from the cart and put them in the fridge right away.

We stocked up to capacity.

We also took advantage of some down time and nice weather for Alex to learn to drive stick shift. He's a natural. Since he's started I think he's stalled about twice only. I'm impressed with him and happy to have some time in left side seat to look out the windows.

 

We puppy sat this little girl. Her name is "mate" because her Aussie foster father finds it easy that way. Someone abandoned her at the freedom camping spot we were living at and so Dave has taken her in until he moves back to Oz. We fell in love with her and wished we could have kept her. 

Also, we saw our first hedgehog! These guys were introduced to NZ at some point and have established quite a ferrel population. We see many that have been hit along the road, but this one was quite alive scurrying about a sheep field, oblivious to us. If we had approached, it would have curled up in a tiny ball, revealing only its spikes. Our field guide says this protection works well for dogs, but not so much for oncoming traffic. Bummer.

We left our favorite freedom camp outside of Invercargill once again and made for Te Anau and Fiordland National Park. Photos and a descriptions to come when we finish our rapid tour of the west coast of the South Island. 

Mercí beacoup for reading. Especially to Alexandre's family that takes on the challenge my English. Bisous!