After cruising through Mildford Sound we took our time
driving back down to Te Anau, stopping here and there to get out for a walk or
see some beautiful landmarks such as: a Mt Tutoko hike, the Mirror lakes, Lake
Gunn, Deer flat Creek and other places where we could skip rocks in water. J This took us a few
hours and we arrived in Te Anau at 7:30pm giving us time to catch the last
cruise across Lake Manapouri to a glowworm cave at 8:15pm. They took us a few
minutes into the cave walking on a metal path over the rushing water to a place
where we climbed into a boat for a peaceful ride to the dome where the
glowworms lived. It was so beautiful and almost mesmerizing. Back at the entrance
to the cave, they showed us a presentation about the glowworms and we found out
they really aren’t worms, but larva…..but no one really wants to see a maggot
cave so they call them glowworms, thank you to our new friend Vedant, who was
one of the tour guides at the glowworm cave. The next day we invited Vedant to
join us on a walk to a bay where we skipped more rocks. It was a beautiful day
for a stroll and visit with new friends.
Once we said goodbye and stocked up on some groceries we
headed back up to Wanaka to catch another friend of ours, Susan McLay, on her
day off. On our way out of Te Anau, we noticed two travelers who were hitch
hiking and decided to give them a ride. Their names were Kai (Pronounced kye)
and Marcus. They are from Germany and also traveling and working on farms. They
were quite grateful for the lift as they had been waiting for three hours for a
ride! We were able to help them on their way and it was neat to meet fellow
travelers and exchange advice and stories. We took the scenic route through
Queenstown stopping for breaks wherever there was water to skip rocks! Yay! (This
has become our thing. We stop at every body of water and skip rocks. We didn’t
intentionally do this, it just kind of happened. Good times!) Finally, in Wanaka
after a half a day of traveling, we were really looking forward to spending the
night NOT in the back of a car!!!! Don’t get me wrong, Stella was a life saver!
But we were kind of ready to sleep on something a little softer than a folded
up car seat and eat food other than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which
we had been living on for the last week. Robyn, Susan’s host, greeted us at the
door and helped us take our luggage to our own room where we would sleep the
next two nights. We would have been happy with the floor or a couch and were
not expecting two lovely, white fluffy beds and a hot meal of yummy stir fry awaiting
us!!! After our grand hardcore adventure, that meal tasted sooo good and those
beds felt like fluffy clouds! The next morning we almost expected to wake up in
Rivendell where Gandalf would greet us with a “well done, Frodo.”
We spent the next day exploring Wanaka with Susan. First at
Puzzling World, we faced all sorts of trippin’ illusions in the illusion room
and got lost in the labyrinth of a maze under the blazing hot sun. We almost didn’t make it, but we overcame and
found all four corners in order, plus we found the exit. Then we decided ice
cream was a must and all three of us had a nice big scoop of mochaccino (kiwis
pronounce it mockaccino) while window shopping in downtown Wanaka (or at least
the few blocks that made up the entire town of Wanaka). Since it was still such a beautiful hot day,
after stalking Susan’s work, we donned our togs (swimsuits) and headed for the
lake. Of course, once we arrived, the
clouds joined us making it too cool to actually swim, so…. We skipped more
rocks!! Yay! Lake Wanaka was absolutely, hands down, definitely, affirmatively,
totally the best rock skipping collection of H2O we had found thus far! All
three of us, Susan being a rookie, were able to skip rocks halfway across the
lake with no problem whatsoever. It was the best rock skipping experience of
Trina’s life! Our adventure at the lake ended with a good old-fashioned water
fight. Back at Robyn’s house, she had another wonderful hot meal just waiting
for us to dig in. It was a wonderful, relaxing visit; spiritually, physically,
and emotionally.
The next day as we drove toward Invercargill, taking the
scenic route along the Fiordlands, we saw more beautiful mountains, ocean,
caves, air shows, and wetlands, where the scene of the dead marshes from the
LOTR was filmed. We spent the night in another campsite near Clifden, where the
stars were breathtaking. The morning found us on Thursday the 7th of
March, as we took our final road trip with faithful Stella. We drove through
Invercargill to Bluff, close enough to the southernmost point of New Zealand.
We found this hill in the middle of the town that had a lookout at the top
where one could see for miles. There was a map showing us a bunch of different
landmarks that could be seen from that point. They had all sorts of unique names
that sparked our interest as to the stories behind them such as; Dog Island-
where the dogs were eaten, Woman Island, and the Point where (some name we
couldn’t pronounce) valiantly stood. Then we headed back to Invercargill, but
first stopped at a little inlet, called Ships Graveyard, where we, of course,
skipped rocks. Susan put us in touch with a friend of hers in Invercargill
where we could stay for the night. After some good company and a restful sleep,
we drove Stella to the rental company where we parted ways from our beloved, dear
rental car who had become a special addition to our trip. Catching our bus back
to Balclutha, we were excited to once again be with our New Zealand family, the
McLays! They have become family to us and it was so good to see them once
again!! We were grateful for our trip to the Milford Sound but so happy to stay
in once place for a wee bit.
This past week with the McLays was full of more laughter, another
visit from Susan, a Thanksgiving feast (where we introduced them to yams with
marshmallows and pumpkin pie!), more games on the hay bales, church fellowship,
rugby games, wave jumping and sand fights at the beach! Along with the fun, we
helped with the chores and did some additional work like sweeping the drive
way, deep cleaning the bathroom, laundry, babysitting, etc. During our visit,
an Israeli couple also stayed with the McLays and invited us to go sightseeing with
them for a day. Accepting the offer, we explored the Catlins national park and
learned about a new culture as well! It was neat to share our different lifestyles
with one another while climbing through Cathedral Cave (where Aslan, from
Narnia, walked on the beach in the end of the first movie!), the McLean Falls
and the Purakanui Falls.
Much to our dismay, we will be parting from the McLays
tomorrow after a potluck at their church and staying with family friends of the
McLays in Dunedin, where we hope to see an Albatross or two before hitch hiking
our way to Christchurch! We are so grateful for all the friends we have made on
this trip thus far and plan to keep in touch as much as possible; encouraging
them to come and visit our homes back in the states! Hopefully we may see each
other again in this lifetime and, if not, look forward with expectation, that
we will see them in the next life. Throughout this trip, we have been striving
to show the love of Christ to all we meet and encourage them to also love
others by serving willingly, going out of our way and giving of our time with a
joyful heart. We have truly been blessed by having love centered attitudes and
have really seen inspiring results. I want to encourage all you who are
presently reading this, to remember to take the opportunity today, to express
love to those you meet through your actions and words. You may not see the
result, but it does make a difference. Love never fails.
