Land of the Kiwi

As a list-lover, and a lazy girl still on a holiday, I'm gonna take you on our journey in a form of various lists and some pictures (taken by Kimmo!). Here we go..

List 1. NZ IN NUM63R5:
-2 people
-2 islands: North and South
-2 rental cars: Brand new Toyota and dead old Nissan Sunny
-2 CD's for 3 weeks: 80's classics & 80's classics
-12 nights in a tent, some of them on a camping site, some just under a cosy tree, or on a nice old couples' yard with their million sheep
-5500km :I drove about 500 of them, ONLY because I am such an awesome planner and map-reader/ Lonely Planet-reader, nothing to do with the fact that I truly succeeded driving on the left, no.. the right..wait..was it the left..side of the road in the winding narrow mountain roads)
-50 GB of photos taken. Check Kimmo's facebook (Kimmo Savolainen Photography) and website for more pics later.

List 2. ADRENALIN:
-Skydive above Abel Tasman National Park. This was maybe the coolest thing I have ever done. The weirdest thing was not panicking,not being terrified for life, not peeing in my jumpsuit, not even closing my eyes as we jumped, but actually loving every second of it, I actually laughed out loud most of the time.
-Caving in the Waitomo glowworm caves. Pushing through narrow crevices, crawling through dark tunnels, swimming in a cave river in total darkness.
-Snorkeling with a Stingray at Goat Island Marine Reserve.-Walking through Christchurch demolition zone, through silent streets, collapsed blocks, disappeared buildings. Looking in from the windows of some buildings it was like time had stopped..you could almost see the waitress dropping the plates that lay still on the floor of the restaurant, hear the granny saying "oh mi lord!" as she storms (can a granny storm?) out forgetting her hat on the table. ..piles of shirts dropped from the shelves of the retail store, half finished burgers on Hungry Jack's tables, spilled coke on the floor.. little creepy, very sad and extremely humbling.
-Hiking to Mt Doom (Mount Ngauruhoe) in Mordor (Tongariro National Park) in a windy rainy day. -The power of Thundering Huka Fallsand the strenght of the winds that had sculped the forests of the southern cost of the southern island
List 3. CHILL & BLISS
-Kayaking at Kaiteriteri beaches at Abel Tasman with dolphins, seals and beautiful views
-Floating in the cave rivers in the Glowworm lit caves was like floating under the starry sky, just the sound of water dropping from the cave roof and the occational echo hitting the walls
-The scenic,scenic,scenic, and scenic views of Snowpeaked mountains, fjords of Milford Sound,white sandy beaches, tropical bays, soothing waterfalls, rainforests, volcanic and thermal springs, the sun setting behind the mountains, what has claimed to be worlds clearest freshwater spring -the Pupu springs-The beaches from Narnia movies
-The grandness of Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers-Sipping some of the worlds best wines at some of the world's best wineries at some of the worlds most awesome locations
List 4. MISS ATTENBOROUGH-MOMENTS:
-Observing the worlds rearest penguins, the Yellow-eyed penguins coming back from a day of feeding at the sea returning to their calling partner and hungry hatchlings-Trying to defend the car from worlds only mountain parrots, Keas. (Our hitchikers from Israel also in pic.) These teenagers of the parrot family are also thought to be one of the wisest birds alive, beats me..
-Weka, a flightless native bird, this very dinosaur-like aviator, circling our tent trying to find something to eat.
-Observing huge (smelly) colonies of NZ Fur Seals for hours, seeing the mothers defend their young, the bulls defending their females, the tiny pups learning how to play in little pools of water.-Huge Sealions lazying on the beach not moving an inch, sleeping like grandpas.-Fossilized trees from a Jurassic forest -The funny song of Tuis above our tentsites.-The giant Kauri trees (over 14 m in circumference)

All in all it was an awesome adventure.. :)