lighthouses, vineyards, and seals, oh my!

Greetings from a tired traveler! I am not too tired, but after getting back from a wonderful weekend and pouring over Geology notes, I am growing sleepy-eyed. I promised a blogpost, so you will get a post. Maybe not a totally coherent one, but a post nonetheless.

We left early Saturday morning, took a bus to get our rental car, and hit the road on our way to Cape Palliser and Martinborough for the weekend. The drive was filled with back-seat drivers, beautiful scenery, and wonderful music due to a thoughtful iPod adaptor. Emma and I (both Aggies by the way), were the only ones over 21 years, so we had the wonderful responsibility of transporting us to and from locations. Did I mention driving is done on the opposite side of the road here? It actually wasn't that bad after you were over the initial shock of that and seeing the speedometer go over 100. Kilometers, that is. We were on more winding roads than I have ever been on, and the pressure of having a wooden 'railing' literally on its last leg separating you from an abyss of 'broccoli' (trees) towering below really sobers you up about learning to drive this thing. Oh, this 'thing' I refer to is our trusty station wagon we named, The Silver Bullet.

The three hour drive (or so) was a beautiful one, and we arrived to the cape greeted by a colony of seals. We stopped to take some pictures, and then made our way to the lighthouse. We did indeed climb the 252 steps (debatable apparently?) to the top. We all chose to count in our heads the number of steps and came out with some varying numbers. None of us were willing to count again after the steep trip up. The lighthouse was massive, and quite the candy-striped sight to see. We even climbed some rocks nearby putting us a comparable distance from the top of the lighthouse.

We drove down the road a bit to eat our lunch on the rocks among the seal colony. They were very friendly (not charging us, I mean), and I enjoyed feeling the cool air, hearing the waves crash, and the listening to the sounds the seals made. I think it went something like ARRRRRR. Seeing them waddle off was quite the sight too! I have no idea how they got to the tops of the rocks waddling like that!

At this point, we decided to get back on the road after deciding it was not a good idea to kidnap a baby seal and headed over to Aorangi National Park to do some hiking. We were excited about this place because a few scenes from Lord and the Rings were filmed here. While we tried to get in as much hiking as the setting sun would let us, we never actually made it to the pinnacles, but saw some wonderful sights on the way. Most of the hiking was done on rocks, which made it a little more difficult than usual, and I was extremely mindful of the lethal combination of uneven surfaces and weak ankles. There were a few laughable spills among the 5 of us, but nothing serious.

We journey further into the trails, actually we kind of made our own, and braved the rocky surface. Karalyn almost sunk into a mudhole, Kevin basically jumped into the mudhole on accident, and Emma and I almost had heart attacks laughing at the whole situation.

Soon after, we climbed back into the Silver Bullet, muddy and tired, and headed over to Martinborough for the night. We stayed at a cute homestay called Kate's Place. Kate is a middle-aged woman who lives by herself, welcomes travellers in a out of her house daily, and has a huge map of the world in which travellers stick pins indicating their hometowns. The girls slept in a 4-bunk room, and Karalyn and I found ourselves in 'big girl beds'. Those would be very tall bunk beds with no railings. After spending much of the night laughing, singing, and talking like we were at a slumber party, we finally got some sleep.

Breakfast the next morning was at The Village Cafe, a favorite spot in Martinborough. It was an eclectic little breakfast place with more 'egg dishes' than you could imagine! We are always eager to try new cafe places, because the 'drink art' is unbelievable! The meticulously sprinkle cocoa powder on the tops of hot chocolate and cappuccinos, and even do designs in the cream. Oh, and they always give you marshmallows for your hot chocolate. Love at first drink.

The rest of the day was spent driving around Martinborough, admiring the vineyards, and even stopping at one for a wine tasting. My favorite wine here so far is the Sauvignon Blanc. It is a 'Christina wine' - whatever that means. It is just perfect. We made it back to the dorm just in time for dinner (nachos, which weren't all that bad), and I was reminded of my other 'job' here - school. I have my first assessment tomorrow - a geology lab quiz. I am eager to see how it compares to school back home. Anyways, I am going to go 'rock' the rocks. Cheers!

Oh, if you don't have a facebook, try and use this link to see the other pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2784918&id=8366411&l=74ac3caeed