We have finished the quest of destroying the ring and made it back to the Shire! Now what do we do, except make our way to the sea to catch the last boat/plane across to the "West" (you LOTR people will understand this). Therefore, we started off. There is this beautiful peninsula on the north east of NZ called the Coromandel Peninsula. On this peninsula, there is a cove named Cathedral Cove, where the two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve re-entered the land of Narnia when Prince Caspian blew the horn for help. It was this train tunnel that turned into a cave to the beach that we drove to. It was a 40 minute hike to the cove, but worth is! It was like a little secret beach hidden from the rest of the world. As we stood there in the tunnel, it was almost like we really had ventured into the world of Aslan and talking animals. As we made our way to the city of Coromandel on the north tip of the peninsula, we noticed how the beach was a gorgeous bright green, with lots of island rocks jutting out sporadically. It was a rainy day, so we didn't get to really play in the water, but treated ourselves to a hot drink and yummy lunch in a cafe in Coromandel and read a Sherlock Holmes mystery (We have been reading a lot of those this trip). It was nice to escape the rain and eat some fresh food after dwelling in our car for the past few days.
Back on the south side of the peninsula, we had heard of a hot water beach that was there. This is made from a hot spring that is right under the beach sand, so when the tide goes out, you can dig to it and hot water will ooze from the ground, creating your own little make shift hot tub. :) We wanted to try it especially since it was a colder day. There was quite a crowd of enthusiastic travelers all with spade in hand. We all stood around for a bit not knowing for sure where to dig. It was like we were all hunting for gold and wanted to be the first to find it as shovels and hands started digging anywhere their feet took them. You would here some shout with glee as they discovered a hot spot on the surface, while others determinedly kept digging on a cold spot, convinced that they would strike gold at any moment! A bit later, as new comers joined our little group all dressed in togs (swim suits), they would come across a collection of cold puddles of water where diggers gave up, small groups of people who were content to just dig their feet into a warmer section of the sand, and a great crowd of people all digging together making a huge trench, where it was discover one of the bigger springs was located! With everyone working together, it wasn't long until there was a shallow pool full of people young and old enjoying the hot water. It was so neat to stand there and observe how water really brings people happily together. :) It was such a comical site! Here was a huge group of people dressed down to their togs, sitting in close quarters, sharing the hot water they had all worked to find with complete strangers; people who, otherwise would probably have never talked to each other or even met. Brought a smile to our faces as we joined them in the hot springs.
After our wonderful experience on the hot water beach, we drove the rest of the way to Auckland, where were stayed with Elijah and Kristen (such fun!!) before making our way up to Whangarei, where we visited with our New Zealand Grandparents, Keith and Jill, the first farm we stayed at. It was so great to see old friends again and neat to look back to when we first started our travels to now, as we were nearing the end, and what adventures lay in the middle. We told them stories of our experiences and things we had only dreamed of before this trip that were now a part of our past and a part of us. All these experiences have added to what we have become. It was neat to realize this as we talked with our friends in Auckland and Whangarei. But our trip wasn't over quite yet. We still had to make it up to Cape Reinga, the top of New Zealand.
We left Whangarei after breakfast on Wednesday and made our way up to Kaitaia. Along the way we stopped at the big Kauri trees that were mostly likely around in the time of Christ. We met a rooster, who likes peanuts, at a lookout in Northland Forest Park. Then that night we went to 90 mile beach and witnessed the most beautiful sunset we ever did saw! :) The next morning we woke up early and headed up to Cape Reinga. It was a lovely drive and when we got there we had our breakfast and walked out to the lighthouse. It was very cool to see the place where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. There were these great whirlpools at the spot where they colided. On our way back south, we had to stop at every bay that we could find and we went swimming in the ocean! So now we can say that we have swam in the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea in the same day! There were even these great big sand dunes that people can climb and slide down, the cardboard that we took was too wet by the time we reached the top of the dune (because it was raining) so we sat on it and pretended like we were flying down the sand at crazy speeds, complete with sound effects. We also built a sand castle and Mickey Mouse ears. There was just too much sand around us to not build something with it, plus because of the rain the sand had just the right amount of water in it to be able to keep its form. Since that night was to be the last we would have on our own, we decided to splurge and stay in a cabin at a Holiday Park, so romantic! :) We had a hot meal, hot drinks, and hot showers, it was a nice last night. In the morning we started our trek back to Whangarei, stopping at some amazing toilets, Rainbow Falls, Haruru Falls, and some lovely rain that we drove through, making it back to Whangarei in time for tea. That night we talked to the McLays and it brought tears to our eyes. We miss them so much! In the morning we started cleaning their house with their nine year old granddaughter, Ella, who we had met on our first visit. We spent the day cleaning and at tea time Keith and Jill surprised us with going out for a chinese food picnic that we ate in a park by the bay. It was so good to see them again, they will be missed so much! Sunday morning we went to church with Keith and Jill and their family. It was a commemoration of Anzac Day, which is their version of Memorial Day. Pretty cool to learn some of the history of New Zealand, rugby is a very big part of this country. After lunch with their family, we said good-bye to Keith and Jill for the last time this trip, and drove back to Auckland. We stopped for ice cream along the way and made it in time for church with the Peters' family. So good to see everyone there.
These last couple of days we have spent with Alice and Liz, having sleepovers and vegging out after our crazy travels. We baked so many sweets, vacuumed the house, and organized our bags for the trip home. It is crazy to think that today is our last in the fine country that we have called home for the last 82 days, a sobering thought, but we have things to do back home that we are excited to get started on. Once we get back to LA we will fill you in on the wisdom we have gained on this trip and tell you all about where the Lord is leading us next. Look forward to seeing ya "in the west" (LOTR term). Farewell, New Zealand, or in Moari, Aotearoa. We are grateful for the honor of sharing these past moments with you. Hopefully, someday we may meet again.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The Final Road Trip
Cheers mates! We made it back to Auckland! Of course, there were many events, places and people along the way. The following is our story of the final road trip....our last two-three weeks in the beautiful paradise known to the world as New Zealand.
The beginning of this great voyage began in the small town of Picton, where we said farewell to the South Island. Unknown to those around us, who were taking the three hour ferry home from work, seeing family members, or also traveling, that this would be the last time we would gaze upon the majestic southern land of New Zealand. The ride was a little rocky, but they did well to distract us by providing entertainment through the means of "Mr. Bean's holiday" and "Total Recall". It was 10pm when we stepped onto the North side in Wellington. the City was dead and as we walked the lonely streets to our hostel, dreading having to carry our bags the whole way a kind stranger, who was a couch surfer host, pulled over and offered us a ride. He had seen us get off the ferry, where he had picked up his guest and noticed we were traveling on foot. Having compassion on us, he lent us a hand, which we gratefully accepted after learning who he was, of course. We were already tired from the days travels and weren't looking forward to the long walk to our destination, so we were relieved and very thankful! The Lord is good to those who love him. :) Reaching our hostel, we found our room, threw our turtle shells to the floor and plopped on the bed with a deep sigh, knowing that tomorrow we would be picking up our fellow travel mate, our home, our shelter from the rain, our freedom to explore as we wish, our car. Needless to say, we slept well that night naive to the cost that would come with this freedom.
In the morning, we looked for the bus stop that would take us to the airport, where our car awaited us. Sadly, we didn't have internet at that time so we had to figure out on our own what bus to take. The maps at the bus stops were no help. So we just started walking in the direction of the airport, hoping we would come across the right stop. We never did find the bus stop and ended up walking the whole 5 Km to the airport, which took us 2hrs, with all of our possessions on our back. We weren't too excited about walking the whole distance, however, this walk did make us appreciate our car even more and we got a perspective of Wellington we wouldn't have got before. We wouldn't have noticed the Mt. Victoria tunnel and how long it really is, or the colorful, interactive wind art along the bay. Therefore, we made the best of it! Like we always say, it's not really an adventure unless you get lost! :)
Relieved to have our car, after taking a gander at the giant Gollum fishing in the airport (so cool!) we drove over to inspect the Weta Cave located at the Weta Workshop, where most of the props, prosthetics, costumes, armor, weapons and special effects were created for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Hobbit! They also helped create other movies such as: Avatar, Narnia, Tin tin, Jane and the Dragon, King Kong, etc. There are a lot of sites around Wellington where they filmed scenes for LOTR, so we drove around and checked them out. The following are the places we checked out, the path where Frodo yells for the other Hobbits to get of the road, the spot along the river where the Fellowship launched from Lothlorien, the gardens of Isengard, and Rivendell.
In Blenheim, we made friends with someone who had friends near Bulls, which is two hours north of Wellington, that he got in contact with for us to visit. We called them up and they were happy to have us stay. They were celebrating the Passover that night and invited us to come up that day to celebrate with them. We graciously accepted and made our way up, weaving through a narrow, steep "detour" through a mountain pass. Thankfully, we made it alive! They were a home school family with five children of which four were still at home. Helen and Phil and their children were very welcoming and their oldest son, David, offered to take us to Mt. Egmont the next day to explore different waterfalls and such (side note: this is the mountain that acted as Mt. Fuji in "the Last Samarai"). We pleasantly woke up that day to breakfast in bed, which Helen had prepared for us. This was quite the treat, for neither of us have ever been given breakfast in bed! Helen was so understanding of the life of travelers and how much one needs to take the time to rest and she made sure we took our time. After enjoying 2 wonderful nights with this family, we woke up before the sun and headed to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This is where Mt. Doom is located, the real name of the mountain is Mt. Ngauruhoe, but even the locals know it as Mt. Doom. Looking at the mountain, Trina said that it was the most volcanic looking volcano she had ever seen. We hiked for a couple of hours to the base of the mountain, it was a beautiful view of the valley from that point. Mount Tongariro had blown its top in November and half of the 19 km crossing was closed due to the volcanic activity. We could even see smoke coming from the dome, pretty crazy stuff there!
The next day we went to this really cool museum depicting the history of New Zealand, it was the creative design of... Weta Workshop!! There was a boat ride and everything. Then we visited the town of Stratford, where they have a glockenspiel clock, and 4 times a day Romeo and Juliet come out on the balcony and perform a scene from Shakespeare's play. The next day we drove to Taupo and picked up a hitch hiker along the way. After dropping her off at the bus station, we went to a thermal park in Taupo and soaked in the hot spring, basically all day. It was amazing! The water was so hot and then it joined the big river, which was cold, so where the two met was a nice mixture of hot water on the surface and cold underneath. We treated ourselves to some ice cream and made our way to Rotorua where we saw some more hot springs, but these smelled horrible! It reminded us of the Labyrinth and the Land Before Time, with this big, muddy, bubbly soup looking thing. That night we made our way to Cambridge, where we stayed at a Torchbearer School, which is a Christian College. We met them through a teacher from MWSB, the Bible college we attended in Montana. He was from Ravencrest, another Torchbearer School located in Colorado. They were lovely and because the next day was Sunday we attended church with them at a little country church. After saying our good-byes, we headed to Matamata, where Hobbiton is located. We were finally nearing the end of our adventure. Looking back on our trip thus far, we realized that we had journeyed through Rivendell on our quest to destroy the Ring at Mt. Doom, and finally made our way back to the Shire. It was pretty cool how the order of our travels went. Hobbiton was everything we expected and so much more! It was great to experience the Shire for ourselves, and can't wait to watch the movies again and be able to say that we have been there!
This marks the halfway point of our final road trip. In one week we made it from Blenheim to Matamata. Tune in next time for the second portion of our road trip.
The beginning of this great voyage began in the small town of Picton, where we said farewell to the South Island. Unknown to those around us, who were taking the three hour ferry home from work, seeing family members, or also traveling, that this would be the last time we would gaze upon the majestic southern land of New Zealand. The ride was a little rocky, but they did well to distract us by providing entertainment through the means of "Mr. Bean's holiday" and "Total Recall". It was 10pm when we stepped onto the North side in Wellington. the City was dead and as we walked the lonely streets to our hostel, dreading having to carry our bags the whole way a kind stranger, who was a couch surfer host, pulled over and offered us a ride. He had seen us get off the ferry, where he had picked up his guest and noticed we were traveling on foot. Having compassion on us, he lent us a hand, which we gratefully accepted after learning who he was, of course. We were already tired from the days travels and weren't looking forward to the long walk to our destination, so we were relieved and very thankful! The Lord is good to those who love him. :) Reaching our hostel, we found our room, threw our turtle shells to the floor and plopped on the bed with a deep sigh, knowing that tomorrow we would be picking up our fellow travel mate, our home, our shelter from the rain, our freedom to explore as we wish, our car. Needless to say, we slept well that night naive to the cost that would come with this freedom.
In the morning, we looked for the bus stop that would take us to the airport, where our car awaited us. Sadly, we didn't have internet at that time so we had to figure out on our own what bus to take. The maps at the bus stops were no help. So we just started walking in the direction of the airport, hoping we would come across the right stop. We never did find the bus stop and ended up walking the whole 5 Km to the airport, which took us 2hrs, with all of our possessions on our back. We weren't too excited about walking the whole distance, however, this walk did make us appreciate our car even more and we got a perspective of Wellington we wouldn't have got before. We wouldn't have noticed the Mt. Victoria tunnel and how long it really is, or the colorful, interactive wind art along the bay. Therefore, we made the best of it! Like we always say, it's not really an adventure unless you get lost! :)
Relieved to have our car, after taking a gander at the giant Gollum fishing in the airport (so cool!) we drove over to inspect the Weta Cave located at the Weta Workshop, where most of the props, prosthetics, costumes, armor, weapons and special effects were created for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Hobbit! They also helped create other movies such as: Avatar, Narnia, Tin tin, Jane and the Dragon, King Kong, etc. There are a lot of sites around Wellington where they filmed scenes for LOTR, so we drove around and checked them out. The following are the places we checked out, the path where Frodo yells for the other Hobbits to get of the road, the spot along the river where the Fellowship launched from Lothlorien, the gardens of Isengard, and Rivendell.
In Blenheim, we made friends with someone who had friends near Bulls, which is two hours north of Wellington, that he got in contact with for us to visit. We called them up and they were happy to have us stay. They were celebrating the Passover that night and invited us to come up that day to celebrate with them. We graciously accepted and made our way up, weaving through a narrow, steep "detour" through a mountain pass. Thankfully, we made it alive! They were a home school family with five children of which four were still at home. Helen and Phil and their children were very welcoming and their oldest son, David, offered to take us to Mt. Egmont the next day to explore different waterfalls and such (side note: this is the mountain that acted as Mt. Fuji in "the Last Samarai"). We pleasantly woke up that day to breakfast in bed, which Helen had prepared for us. This was quite the treat, for neither of us have ever been given breakfast in bed! Helen was so understanding of the life of travelers and how much one needs to take the time to rest and she made sure we took our time. After enjoying 2 wonderful nights with this family, we woke up before the sun and headed to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This is where Mt. Doom is located, the real name of the mountain is Mt. Ngauruhoe, but even the locals know it as Mt. Doom. Looking at the mountain, Trina said that it was the most volcanic looking volcano she had ever seen. We hiked for a couple of hours to the base of the mountain, it was a beautiful view of the valley from that point. Mount Tongariro had blown its top in November and half of the 19 km crossing was closed due to the volcanic activity. We could even see smoke coming from the dome, pretty crazy stuff there!
The next day we went to this really cool museum depicting the history of New Zealand, it was the creative design of... Weta Workshop!! There was a boat ride and everything. Then we visited the town of Stratford, where they have a glockenspiel clock, and 4 times a day Romeo and Juliet come out on the balcony and perform a scene from Shakespeare's play. The next day we drove to Taupo and picked up a hitch hiker along the way. After dropping her off at the bus station, we went to a thermal park in Taupo and soaked in the hot spring, basically all day. It was amazing! The water was so hot and then it joined the big river, which was cold, so where the two met was a nice mixture of hot water on the surface and cold underneath. We treated ourselves to some ice cream and made our way to Rotorua where we saw some more hot springs, but these smelled horrible! It reminded us of the Labyrinth and the Land Before Time, with this big, muddy, bubbly soup looking thing. That night we made our way to Cambridge, where we stayed at a Torchbearer School, which is a Christian College. We met them through a teacher from MWSB, the Bible college we attended in Montana. He was from Ravencrest, another Torchbearer School located in Colorado. They were lovely and because the next day was Sunday we attended church with them at a little country church. After saying our good-byes, we headed to Matamata, where Hobbiton is located. We were finally nearing the end of our adventure. Looking back on our trip thus far, we realized that we had journeyed through Rivendell on our quest to destroy the Ring at Mt. Doom, and finally made our way back to the Shire. It was pretty cool how the order of our travels went. Hobbiton was everything we expected and so much more! It was great to experience the Shire for ourselves, and can't wait to watch the movies again and be able to say that we have been there!
This marks the halfway point of our final road trip. In one week we made it from Blenheim to Matamata. Tune in next time for the second portion of our road trip.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
A Milking Experience
Our lovely friend, Sandra, picked us up from the Whataroa store just in time for the rain to hit. We grabbed some dinner from the local hotel, took it to her dairy farm of 350 dairy cows and got to know each other over some yummy burgers! Sandra and her husband have two dairy farms. One here and another near Nelson. Her brother in-law Brian was helping her down at this farm while her husband was running the other. On a dairy farm, you have to milk the cows twice a day at the same time everyday, 4am and 4pm. Thankfully, we didn't have to get up for the am shift but we helped with the afternoon one. Boy is that an experience! You are down in this long pit, surrounded on both sides by the backsides of about 60 cows, knowing that at any moment you could be hit with a warm, green shower....One must always be on guard. Boy, does it make you put those milkers on the utters fast! :) We got pretty good and had a couple close calls, but thankfully never actually got hit by that green shower! Not directly, anyway. :)
Along with the milking, we stacked fire wood, helped move the cattle, and bring the dairy cows in using a truck one day, a 4-wheeler the next and, yes, even horses. :) We really felt like cowgirls then! On our day off, we drove over to the Franz Joseph Glacier listening to a good ol' classic country cassette tape. :) The glacier was beautifully tucked away surrounded by plenty of waterfalls and luscious green brush. The West coast is so beautiful! It's a whole new world over there! It is completely different from the rest of New Zealand! Once we hit the west side of the mountain pass, our jaws dropped in amazement! It is spectacular! We had a great time on the dairy farm! Brian even took us spot lighting one night in hopes to kill a deer. We didn't see any deer, but Trina did shoot a rabbit! booyah!
After our lovely stay, we took a 9 hour bus ride to Nelson, driving the west coastline the whole way. That was the most gorgeous 9 hours! The bus driver stopped at the Pancake rocks for us to take a gander. Pretty cool to see huge towers of rocks shaped like a stack of pancakes! Once in Nelson, we stayed at our first backpackers called Paradiso. We treated ourselves to some yummy pizza and a movie! :) such fun! The next morning, the 6th of April, we hiked to the top of the Centre of New Zealand, overlooking all of Nelson, with a breathtaking view of the mountains surrounding the area! After our lovely hike, we checked out the sites of Nelson, stopping at the cathedral, the goldsmith shop where the One Ring of Middle Earth was made, and the Saturday market before hitchhiking our way to Blenheim. Two wonderful German ladies, who were on vacation while their husbands were back home making the money, picked us up. :) They were the jolliest ladies, blasting their happy German music as we wound our way around the mountains. They even offered a place to stay at their holiday home, but we already had a place for the night with Sandra's niece. After dropping us off right at the door, we said farewell to our German mothers, as they called themselves. :)
Here in Blenheim, today, we found a baptist church close by that we walked to for some worship. We haven't seen so much joy in a group of people in quite a while! It was so refreshing to see people so full of the Holy Spirit and just glad to be alive! They were so welcoming and even invited us to join them for lunch, which, of course, we accepted! Our new friends, Rosemary and Steve, took us to the potluck, where we met so many lovely people and were spiritually encouraged in so many ways! We are so thankful for their warm hospitality! It was such a good way to spend the day!
And now, here we are, about to head out to catch the ferry up to the North Island, where we will stay the night in a backpackers in Wellington and pick up our rental, which will be our home for the last two weeks of our travel here in New Zealand! phew! wow! two more weeks! Has it come to this already? How the time has flown! Two more weeks of playing in the beautiful countryside of New Zealand, maybe spotting some hobbits along the way, and then it's back to the states! See you all soon!!!
Hazelnuts and Hitchhiking
Hey y'all!! Courtney and Trina speaking to yous from Blenheim, New Zealand! How did we get here, you ask? Well, you are about to find out! You are in for the ride of your life! Let me tell you! Have we got a show for you! Hold on to your magic carpets! Get on the edge of your seat! We have lift off!
Well last stop, on our voyage we were in Balclutha. After saying farewell to our lovely New Zealand family (the McLays) we stayed with their lovely friends and relatives, Roger and Joy, in Dunedin. Joy took us to the Albatross nesting grounds on the opposite side of the bay in Dunedin. At the same place that we saw the graceful soaring albatross, we also saw the world's smallest Penguin, the Blue Penguin. They were the cutest little things! As we were watching them waddle up the beach, Trina thought it would be neat to see some live action and hoped a seal would show up. Well, friends, be careful what you wish for....the seal made an appearance! To Trina's disappointment, all the penguins were already on the shore. Ok, she was relieved, too. We were going to hitchhike to Christchurch that next day (Monday the 17th of March) but it was finally raining so we decided to take Roger and Joy's invite and stay one more night.
The next morning, Joy dropped us off on the outskirts of town at a popular hitchhiking spot. Feeling a little vulnerable out there on the side of the highway, we prayed a little prayer of protection. Wouldn't you know it, God is so faithful! Within fifteen minutes, a lovely lady named Andrea picked us up and was headed the whole 3 hours to Christchurch! We shared lovely traveling stories, as she is a teacher and has traveled to India and Australia teaching primary students. It was a wonderful visit and the time seemed to fly by.
We met our next host, Nikki, at the local McDonalds in Christchurch and headed out to her quaint hazelnut farm. Nikki, her husband Bill and their 8 year old son, Luca live on 9 acres of land with some sheep, chuks, a horse named Bailey, and their faithful pup, Tahi. They also have a couple paddocks full of hazelnut trees and these were the main focus of our time there. We spent at least 5 hours a day under the trees, picking up the fallen hazelnuts so they could be bagged and sold to a local factory. During our free time, we played soccer, rode Bailey, made desserts, visited the cutest little country church, and got lost on the way home. Don't worry we're still in one piece! Our last day with the family, we went to the city of Christchurch and explored. It was really interesting to see the city after the major earthquakes that happened about 2 years ago. There was so much damage that they are still cleaning up the debri and not many of the buildings have been rebuilt. We also went to the Antarctic Centre and experienced the cold, icy lifestyle of Antarctica. Christchurch is the last place that the Antarctic explorers stopped to replenish their supplies before heading to the icy wilderness of Antarctica. We were able to experience a summer storm, saw more little blue penguins, and learned so much more than we could ever have imagined. Our week in Christchurch was a blast and we were sad to be moving on, but happy to have been able to be a short chapter in the lives of the Coleman family.
Nikki dropped us off at yet another great hitchhiking spot, where we got a ride with Sue from Christchurch to Springfield. Then we were picked up by two German travelers who took us as far as Arthur's Pass, but not before stopping at Castle Hill, the location of the final battle in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. After a lunch break, a kind gentleman, on his way to the West Coast, took us to the Kumara Junction, where the family in the caravan behind us stopped and picked us up. They were a nice family headed to the West Coast for their Easter vacation. We stopped in Hokitika for a short break before arriving in Whataroa, our next destination. God has really provided great people to pick us up whenever we hitchhike, it is so encouraging to know He has everything taken care of.
Well last stop, on our voyage we were in Balclutha. After saying farewell to our lovely New Zealand family (the McLays) we stayed with their lovely friends and relatives, Roger and Joy, in Dunedin. Joy took us to the Albatross nesting grounds on the opposite side of the bay in Dunedin. At the same place that we saw the graceful soaring albatross, we also saw the world's smallest Penguin, the Blue Penguin. They were the cutest little things! As we were watching them waddle up the beach, Trina thought it would be neat to see some live action and hoped a seal would show up. Well, friends, be careful what you wish for....the seal made an appearance! To Trina's disappointment, all the penguins were already on the shore. Ok, she was relieved, too. We were going to hitchhike to Christchurch that next day (Monday the 17th of March) but it was finally raining so we decided to take Roger and Joy's invite and stay one more night.
The next morning, Joy dropped us off on the outskirts of town at a popular hitchhiking spot. Feeling a little vulnerable out there on the side of the highway, we prayed a little prayer of protection. Wouldn't you know it, God is so faithful! Within fifteen minutes, a lovely lady named Andrea picked us up and was headed the whole 3 hours to Christchurch! We shared lovely traveling stories, as she is a teacher and has traveled to India and Australia teaching primary students. It was a wonderful visit and the time seemed to fly by.
We met our next host, Nikki, at the local McDonalds in Christchurch and headed out to her quaint hazelnut farm. Nikki, her husband Bill and their 8 year old son, Luca live on 9 acres of land with some sheep, chuks, a horse named Bailey, and their faithful pup, Tahi. They also have a couple paddocks full of hazelnut trees and these were the main focus of our time there. We spent at least 5 hours a day under the trees, picking up the fallen hazelnuts so they could be bagged and sold to a local factory. During our free time, we played soccer, rode Bailey, made desserts, visited the cutest little country church, and got lost on the way home. Don't worry we're still in one piece! Our last day with the family, we went to the city of Christchurch and explored. It was really interesting to see the city after the major earthquakes that happened about 2 years ago. There was so much damage that they are still cleaning up the debri and not many of the buildings have been rebuilt. We also went to the Antarctic Centre and experienced the cold, icy lifestyle of Antarctica. Christchurch is the last place that the Antarctic explorers stopped to replenish their supplies before heading to the icy wilderness of Antarctica. We were able to experience a summer storm, saw more little blue penguins, and learned so much more than we could ever have imagined. Our week in Christchurch was a blast and we were sad to be moving on, but happy to have been able to be a short chapter in the lives of the Coleman family.
Nikki dropped us off at yet another great hitchhiking spot, where we got a ride with Sue from Christchurch to Springfield. Then we were picked up by two German travelers who took us as far as Arthur's Pass, but not before stopping at Castle Hill, the location of the final battle in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. After a lunch break, a kind gentleman, on his way to the West Coast, took us to the Kumara Junction, where the family in the caravan behind us stopped and picked us up. They were a nice family headed to the West Coast for their Easter vacation. We stopped in Hokitika for a short break before arriving in Whataroa, our next destination. God has really provided great people to pick us up whenever we hitchhike, it is so encouraging to know He has everything taken care of.
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