As you saw, we had room service last night....we worked on the blog for HOURS. The internet service was so painfully slow, I could have COOKED the dinner in the time that it took for each picture to download....and what is worse, we had to PAY for it! Everywhere else, it was free, slow, but free.....so this was adding insult to injury....stayed up well past midnight to try to finish just one day, thinking all that time, that i could be doing the laundry since we had a neat machine in the bathroom.....it is one unit that washes and dries the clothes, all in one...decided that the blog was more important. Laundry in the a.m. cause we have an unusually late check out: 11:00 rather than the usual 10:00. Before breakfast, Tom puts the laundry in said machine. We return and they are still washing....we blog a bit....they are still washing. Tom double checks....all OK, just a few minutes....to abbreviate this four hour scenario....when we check out at 11:00, we had the wet clothes spread all over the back seat, hoping they will dry! Not our best start...
Lake Wanaka, however, still takes our breath away.
Within 5 km or so, another one, just as majestic, Lake Hawea.....we drove for an hour or more, seeing each of these two lakes at various intervals along the way....that means these lakes were 40 miles long!!!
Last night's moon....reminding us that we have been in NZ two weeks. The full moon was a week ago in Lake Takepo where the observatory was.
In just one hour, lakes, rivers, mountains, glaciers, .... There is no way we can do justice to the beauty of the South Island. We crossed a bridge....saw this site down below. Many were stopped on the bridge, trying to get a picture from their car or a bus. We pulled off, found a place to park and went down to the site....fabulous, just fabulous.
Now THIS is a ROARING waterfall!!! Thunder Creek is an appropriate name.
Reading the above citation about where we are standing in the world, coupled with this site below and all around, leaves us awestruck. We stood here for several minutes just thinking about this whole experience and being mindful of how fortunate we are to make this odyssey.
A grove of my now favorite tree: the rough brown tree fern....they are everywhere, covering the banks, in the rain forests, along the road, in the gardens...
For a few days, we have been hearing an annoying noise in the front, left wheel area of our car which comes and goes....but now it is non-stop....going forward, going backward and getting louder and far more persistent. I'm driving, pull in here to this establishment which seemed to have seen better times to stop and check under the car....nothing....but we are too concerned to keep driving.
This is the Lake Paringa Lodge!!! No signs of life....and we have no phone service. This is a telling moment....of near panic! We are miles from our last destination and miles from our next destination, in the middle of nowhere....and no phone service. We have noticed a lot of hitchhikers....perhaps we could try that. There is no way we can walk the distance....what to do?
Looking to the left, I notice this structure.....A PHONE BOOTH!!!!! Now when is the last time that ANY of you reading this has used a public phone???? Some reading this blog may now even know what it IS!!! We figured that it probably wouldn't even work, but thank GOD!!!! it did! Our rental car is covered by AA, NZ's version of our AAA. We called and they told us, "It might be a stone caught in the brakes. Try backing up with the foot brake applied to shake it loose". Tom tried that....no results. The very chirpy, friendly customer service agent for AA told us someone would be there "hopefully within an hour".
Decided to take a few pictures....the lake and a pretty tree fern on the property....otherwise, desolate and rather forlorn......Tom read his book on his iPad mini. I leafed through maps and travel books about upcoming destinations....We are both thinking and wondering: what if we have to be towed, gotta call the next 3 stops to cancel, what if need a new car, will we have to spend the night in a neighboring town?????? on and on and on....you can imagine....After waiting one hour and 5 minutes, we decided to call again...as Tom is on the most beloved pay public phone, a AA contractor came ROARING in, spun gravel, braked with a jerk!!! The most welcome sight imaginable!!!
Eammond is his name....pronounced like Raymond without the "r".....He had us up and running in approx 10-15 minutes!!! As he is under the car, he asks "You been 'off road'"? (I stand there mute, unable to utter a word, because, in fact, one time a day or so ago, when I was driving, I hit a rock and we in an "off road" location). It was rocks....stuck in tar from when we went through an area of resurfacing....You could have heard our collective sigh of relief across 3 oceans! Eammond kept us entertained for another 10-15 minutes with his banter.....a very friendly mate, chap, bloke.....e.g., while I'm taking the pictures, he mentions that he has a "complicator" (computer)....Tom says: "I thought that was a wife (a complicator).....good ole Eammond replies, without any hesitation: "No, she's the hard drive"!!!!!
Reminds us a bit of Boneyard on Bull Island, SC
Upon closer look, people are writing names, notes, graffiti on the rocks....we had noticed along the roadside that rocks are stacked in formations.....very similar to the native Inuits in Alaska who left stacked stones in their path to notify the followers that this is the path to good fishing or good hunting.
We are running very late to our night's destination....hoping they are holding our room....and we meet three!!! 3!!!! one way suspension bridges.
Aaaaaah....Misty Peaks, our home for the night.....we noted the misty peaks as we drove in the driveway......we arrived in time for a glass of wine with our hostess, two Brit couples and two young women traveling from Houston, TX
As we drove down the road a few kms, we passed this small church (Catholic, this time)....door was open at 7:00 p.m......quite surprised.
As we exited the church, this delightful lady was just arriving to lock the church. She comes every evening to do so....her name is Maggie Sullivan and she has lived in this valley most of her life. They used to leave the church open 24/7; regretfully, they lock it at night now. They have Mass here twice/month, on Sunday mornings for 20 parishioners.
This day is done and we are exhausted, but amazed at the many beautiful people we met through all the frustration and anxiety of the day.....
