 Rainy day again… Still, we managed to have a short walk in the scrubland zone with stunted trees and woody bushes as in the Scottish Highlands before heading to Turangi where the alpine weather changed – Synco you were right… – and enjoyed a nice walk which ended up by a cuddle cat time for Ariane… Of course if the cat would’nt spoke with her, it would’nt have happened… Don’t worry she is not completely a fool, she is just missing her cats… 
 Next day it was rainning again… We stopped in Taihape and unexpectedly found a nice cafĂ©, Soul Food CafĂ©: with good english breakfast, nice music, friendly people, great cakes and among all that free internet access!!!
As funny as it could be, Taihape is the gumpboot capital of the world…
Luckily the evening was sunny and we could enjoy a nice walk around Ohakune, seeing for the first and last time, the summit of Mount Ruapehu before our nice pumpkin dinner 
 Early Monday morning – I mean, we put an alarm clock on holiday! – we left David’s parents cosy house to reach Mount Bruce and the Bird Sanctuary in order to finally see some kiwis - don’t worry GrĂ©goire, they are protected, we cannot eat them I have to say Ariane was a bit disappointed… – Unfotunately the weather wasn’t good at all, even if we waited… (As Synco said to me: “In NZ, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute”) so we continue our journey up to one of NZ “big” city: Palmerston North… A bit scared when reading the Lonely Planet guidebook with a citation of John Cleese: “If you ever do want to kill yourself, but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick.”
Actually – some might be happy to know that – I never wanted to kill myself but I could have kill people there as it was impossible to find internet access… However, we were not in the gumpboot capital…
Arriving in Wellington, I contacted David : I met him in Dublin – more than 7 years ago ! - with my friend Wafaa when going there for the St Patrick’s day and hosted him 1 or 2 nights in Boulogne-sur-Mer when he did his own trip to Europe.
Ariane & I were kindly invited to stay at his parent’s place where he is leaving at the moment with Tessa his wife and their lovely little girl Frances while waiting for their new house. We spent a great time with them on the beach in the morning and had a nice bbq in the evening with some friends who gave us many tips for our trip to Auckland… THANK YOU SO MUCH for this great time and all your advices ! We wait for you in Europe anytime J
We arrived just on time for the 2 pm ferry from Picton to Wellington… A bit more than 3 hours from the Southern Island to the Northern one.
Watching the stars was quite tiring so the next morning we didn’t do anything… Having a nice breakfast in the fjord, in front of the sea, watching the birds… So hard to be on holiday !
Pelarus Bridge trip, back to childhood… Waking up in the middle of the forest and after a nice « campingmade » breakfast – where we met a retired US couple travelling for a year already ! They came with their sailing boat from Mexico via Marquise Island to NZ where they sell their boat and bought a van - we left for a 2 hours walk which ended up to be a 6 hours one BUT (wait a minute Grégoire…) just because we decided to go up the mountain and come back after a wonderful rest laying down for Ariane by the riverside while I was playing in the water… (Mum you would have love the place !) J
After such a nice journey we stopped at the café for a vegetarian meal before heading back to our van to find a new place to sleep and watch the milkyway.
Driving the whole day on the Lewis Pass road with nice countryside which reminded us of France, Austria, Switzerland and Croatia all together, crossing many « one lane bridge » and a farmer bringing back his cows to the farm with his young kids – funny ! – we ended up in Murchison, a small NZ city… I don’t really know how to describe it… See by yourself !
After such a good start we finaly reached Kaikoura. I really wanted to see some whales but the tourist office board said to us that they couldn’t see any for 2 days… L So we went for an estimated 3 hours walk which happen to be a 6 hours one – no comments Gregoire… – with a stunning view of the coast, crossing pinguins, sea lions – describe as seals… Can someone give me the exact definition of a sea lion and a seal ?!? – and birds… It was a wonderful day !
Back to the van, we start to look for a camping, however the office we found was already closed… We had a quick diner and continue our journey on the Lewis Pass road, where we stopped for the night.
As we finaly managed to leave Christchurch – too long to explain ! You never know if you’re in or out of the town… – we stopped for dinner at Cheviot – one of the biggest town shown on our map… 1 road with some houses and 2 restaurants but only 1 opened… - where we unexpectly found a cheap power supply box for the van in our restaurant-motel-bar closing at 10pm. Excellent choice !!! Ariane was more than happy to find some cats while waking up and having our first sunny breakfast…
