A little Merlot with your hatchback burrito?

Well first of all, Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukah to everyone.

After a brief visit in Wellington with the family, and many hours “searching” on the internet for a new car, we departed north for Wanganui with our new ride “Merlot”. Merlot is a beautiful wine coloured (hence the name) Renault, a little French car that has taken the place of Fern. Last week was his maiden voyage, which we were able to share with our Canadian friend Jocelyn. For starters, it was definitely not a traditional Christmas for us, what Canadians “traditionally” go on a canoe trip over Christmas? Oh well, that’s what we were looking for, something different so that we didn’t miss our families too much (we did still miss you though).

Like many of you, it was not a white Christmas, but a wet one, a very very wet one…at least the days leading up to it. So wet in fact that our 4 day canoe journey down the Wanganui River was nearly cancelled due to the river being between 4 and 6 meters higher than usual! Holy cow eh?! The river did end up going down significantly and we ended up having a magnificent trip despite the chocolaty brown water and the slippery, muddy, gooey banks (and dirty bums due to that said slipperyness). Join us on our little pictographic journey of the river trip….

...this picture is self explanatory...

Our first sight of the Wanganui River, despite the smiles, we are all shaking with fear with the thought of getting on the extremely swollen river...

...so we decide to have some burritos from the back of "Merlot" (the car).

Here is day one on the river. Waterfalls like this are everywhere due to the rain, however few were captured on photograph since our cameras pretty much lived in the dry bags.

Despite the rain and dirty water, we were still pumped to be on the river and not a campground.

Yum! Christmas diner, Kumera (sweet potatoe), capsicum (red pepper), quinoi (quinoi), and peperoni!

...and dessert! (the water level was going down so fast on the river that this bottle was actually in the water 30 minutes earlier!)

Post bubbly, loving life and probably thinking of family.

Christmas morning we were rewarded with sunshine...some of us may have gotten a little crazy after 3 days on the river...

We saw so many animals on this trip, wild goats, sheep, a billion ducks (and 4 ducklings), 3 very large possums (sneakily trying to get our food at night), 2 rats, and a Tui in a pear tree...er...flax tree.

Have a Happy New Year!

Rounding out our tour of the North

After cruising the North Island in true rubbertramp fashion, we are back on the parade in Wellington, overlooking Oriental Bay. Such a strange feeling to return to the capital city, some 2.5 months after our first visit, now feeling like (somewhat) seasoned New Zealand travelers. There are a few talents that mark this achievement: understanding the local language (togs, boot [of a car], jandals, a cuppa, etc.), not lapsing into shock at the sight of a 5-pronged roundabout, and never underestimating the power of foamed full milk on top of a shot of espresso.

Since we last checked in (I know, it's been ages), we have covered a lot of road. We climbed to the Pinnacles in the Coromandel, watched the surf breaks in Mt. Maunganui, admired the orchards of kiwi fruit in the Bay of Plenty, ate pie in Rotorua, wwoofed on a dairy farm near Dannevirke, and tramped in the Tararua Forest Park. For a more detailed description, please see photo montage below:

Hiking through beautiful NZ native bush on the way
down from the Pinnacles in the Coromandel.

Bry takes a dip in the (freezing cold) Cathedral Cove,
on the East side of the Coromandel.

Meet: our improvised chilly bin. It is here that I should report that after much deliberation,
Bry and I decided that Fern had to go. The (lack of) fuel economy was biting our budget in the butt, and so we are now on the look out for a wee car to see the South.
Translation: we're addicted to TradeMe.

When you're on the road, you stop at waterfalls. It's just what you do. Here's a waterfall, somewhere in NZ, rather ordinary looking, with two not-so-ordinary smelly travelers.

Eager for some new scenery, we make a dairy farm our home for the week. Jeff
(man in the yellow suit) and Annie (lady in the hot wellies) treat us more like royalty
that wwoofers (they are new at this wwoof thing). We love every minute of it.

Many lessons learned on the dairy farm, a few being:
(1) there's more to Japanese cuisine than sushi,
(2) now matter how elaborate the rain dance, it's still dry in Dannevirke,
and (3) always make more home brew than you think you will need.

We meet up with a long lost love, Jocelyne, and hike the Tararua Range.
We decided that we saw a lot of the tramp in it's true form
(or, what it looks like 90% of the time).

The beauty of NZ tramping is the huts. Oh the huts. Parnoosh warned me about them,
but I underestimated just how fabulous they would be after a day of tramping in the rain.
I am now a believer.

Sweet as.

The view from the patio: resting on the parade in Wellington with
family until our next adventure. Stay tuned.