Its snowing in fiordland

Well am i not doing really well...............only 3 weeks since my last post.

so what the hell have we been up too and why am i tucked up cosy and warm with Elvis and daddy in Te Anau,Weather is Baltic and its snowing fiercly and settling fast Whoopee.

30th -4th

So we decided to go look at a church to buy on the West Coast in a place called Granity up near Karamea.A wild rugged place we had visited about a month previously.So abandoning all sane and rational thought,we turned the van around and pointed back north,and started our ascent back up to the north of the island Via Arthurs Pass.
Gees shes beautiful up there.We stayed monday night in Springfield ,close to Darfield(Ringing any bells yet) and famous for the Giant doughnut donated by the cast of the simpsons-unfortunately some locals didnt like it and burnt it down although it is soon to be replaced by a concrete one-LOL.
We spent the night there in the domain campground.To say it rained would be an understatement!!!!!!!!.Spent the whole of the next day in and out of the van going through the pass.Just totally awesome ,mind blowingly beautiful scenary.we stopped in Ross made famous by Rita Angus painting and where the trans alpine train visits.They are building a tiny wee golfcourse and the pub and gas station are miniturised too.LOL.You nreed to see pictures to understand that,LOL
We got attacked by two mauraudingly Cheeky Kea at Death corner in the gully,they ripped the silicone off the van roof,it was super funny they are THE cutest and naughtiest birds.
We spent a couple of days in Greymouth sussing the place out and applying for jobs and looking at housing and mortgage possibilities and then headed over to Westport and granity on friday and looked at The Church.It was on Trade me for $80,000 and we totally fell in love with it but it needed so much doping to it and things like jobs and risk of buying at such a speed and with no LIM report etc ent our dreams were crushed really.............................
the Vicar of Dibley i will not be for a while.
Spent thre friday night plugged in at Basils and that was the night the Earthquake hit!We felt it hard out in the van .We had stayed at 3 of the worst hit places in Christchurch,Weedons,New Brighton and St Albans only weeks before so we were very lucky.I did tell Shane to stop rolling around and waking me up bless him.He got up and stepped outside and the floor was jolting violently.We were far luckier than the guys in Christchurch.
So on Saturday 4th we headed back to Greymouth as friends of mine were playing in there band The Managers ,at The CoalFace that night.Hoolian nearly fell over to see me and Shane stood there and wer had a great nite dancing singing and drinking with the locals,Slept that night in the carpark across the road,LOL.Had another couple pof nights in Greymouth which were wet and Soggy.Poor shane caught the Lurgy and so did i so we both ended up on antibiotics.a bloody funny old week!!

5th -12th Sept

Spent most of the Week in Westport scouting stuff out and i had an interview for staff nurse post at Buller hospital an 8 bed ward where you are jack of every trade known to man.we stayed down by the rivermouth for a few days with the local whitebaiters..they are a lovely bunch but preety territorial,LOL.Headed out th Cape foulwind and Carters Beach where we looked at another property and wanted to buy that but it was rotton and Shane loved tHe Man Cave more than the house.We met 3 guys from Christchurch at Basils and did a bit of a road trip out to the Beach with them and there dog Gilby ,they came to look at ther house with us too as one of them was a builder.He said the house needed demolishing,
We spent days beachcoming and a great night around the campfire with a couple from the Naki and there 2 little girls.they were doing the same as us and had a big 9metre bus they were living in.Awesome.we had drinks and pizza by the campfire in the wild wind.friday night was sad as my brother was getting married in UK and i was real sad to have missed that but hey.Anyway we were planning on cancelling the trip that we had booked to Doubtful sound but they wouldnt give us our money back so we decided to head off next week on the road back down to milford............

Tues 16th Sept


Headed out of westport and drove down to Franz joseph a long drive but broken up nicely by a visit to our Fave Fudge factory Sweet Alice in Hokitika..I drove for half the journey and Shane had a fuckin heart attack,LOL.....................Stopped the night in the POP at Franz Joseph which was really stunning and well situated only 5 mins stroll out of main street.

Wed 15th Sept

Woke early and weathewr was stunning so decided to go Glaqcier spotting.We drove down to the glacier carpark and ended up doing the 2hr walk to the front of the glacier.(in Slippers!Whoops) bad Kiwi!!!!!!!!!!!we had lunch at foox glacier and then headed off to drive the Haast Pass.What an awe inspiring drive.Through the snow capped southern alps and ejected out through The Gates of Haast,a truely majestic breathtaking bridge traversing the Haast river over immense rocks.we visited waterfalls and rivers and took every opportunity to leap out and take photos.We did the walk around lake Mathieson at Fox Glacier toobeach
we stopped to make a drift wood sculpture and sign a large Quartz rock at a wild exposed expanse of Beach called Sandy Bay..........Stunning,and i found an amazing piece of Glacial rock thats gonna be pride of place in my next home. that night we stoppewd at Boundary Creek DOC camp and after dinner at 7 ish i fell asleep and awoke next morning at 9am......................................I was a little wasted.It was arctic conditions overnight and the mountains all around were snowcapped by the next morning.

thurs 16th Sept

Headed down to wanaka via Lake Hawea and Kidds bush,the wind was howelling and it was raining hard by lunchtime so we holed up in a cool cafe on the front of thew lake drinking coffee.Took Elvis for a huge 2hr walk in the arvo around the lake and after cooking chicken chasseur by the lake we went to our fave place in wanaka ,cinema Paradiso.Its an old school cinema where they srtill have an interval and serve hot cookies and beer ,its a cafe too.We sat on a busted old sofa laxing out watching the Movie.Blissed outHad a lovely day and stayed the night in Arthurstown at thew municipal campground which was great.

Fri 17th Sept
Spent the day cruising down slowly through Cromwell and Arrowtown and into Queenstown,We stopped off in Arrowtown where i had nevewr been before,Its so Quaint and Cute ,but ypou need to bew rich..We had a n expensive hot chocolate in a cafe and i bounced joyously down the main street as it began to SNOW.JOY JOY JOY ,We headed into Queenstown and it was blizzardlike conditions which ment we felt justified in lounging about at Patagonia Chocolateria by the lake watching the snowflakes gliding down frosting the street and sipping Hot Chocolate to die for and eating icecream which was a must its the law when you go into a gelateria.I had Dark patagonian chocolate and Macadamia nuts..................................................................................................
It carried on snowing and we headed out of Queenstown to Kingston on the Road to Te-Anau.Kingston is famous for the Kingston Flyer a Steam train which is parked up at the local pub/station house.Cool.We met 2 gorgeous Irish Sisters and spent the night chatting to them and sharing treavel stories and keeping warm in the Parlour .Elvis was holed up with us and took quite a liking to both the girls.we sneekily ran an extension cord out f our van and loaned them our lekky blanket for the night.

sat 18th Sept.
So heres how we have ended up in Te Anau in the middle of a huge storm.One minute its sunny and the next its grey and snowing.we have decided to stay 2 nights at a POP stop Park over property on the outskirts of the Lake with a young family who spent 7 yrs living in there bus.Hes a builder and they have bought the land and hes bukilding there dream home on it whilst working during the week.A lovely guy.They spent 2yrs on the beach in Whitianga before coming back to Te-Anau.We arte plugged in the heater is going and its lambsfry and oniongravey n mash for tea....Yummy.
Hopefully it will snow so much we wont be able to get the door open tomorrow and we can have a duvet day LOL....lifes one big duvet day .............i need a job my brain is officially mush.

We are going off to manapouri and Doubtful Sound on Monday,for the day and the family here have offerred to have Prince Elvis,lol and then we will retrace our steps back uyp slowly over to Nelson to try our luck with Jobs and rental properties over there.Bugger i ment to ring the other day for an application form.......Life is suddenly so serious.......Work /Jobs whats that all about.
Love you guys ..............wait patiently and all will be revealed.
Sat 18th