SURPRISE!!!!!

Well, what a suprise for our friends and family when we mysteriously show up back in Denmark!

Yes, we're back home now, and have been for almost two weeks...wow, doesn't seem like that long since we left beautiful New Zealand, but there it is!

I suppose I had better apologise for the huge gap between posts, really should have gotten onto this sooner, but we have been so busy catching up with everyone back home. It was actually getting very difficult to post towards the end without giving anything away to our unsuspecting friends and families. 

So I will explain...

Pretty much Bohdi had decided he really wanted to be back home for his big 18th birthday, and plus we were really running out of money as we were unable to get any work while we were away due to the whole economy being a bit dead right now, and the fact that we just purely unluckily missed all the seasonal work. So about the time we were telling you all about our adventures in Wellington, we had been thinking about all this, and ended up dashing into the travel agents to secure our ride home. This was actually a lot more difficult than you would think, as the travel agents themselves are not really allowed to book anything for under-18-yr-olds without a signature from someone over 18 - apparently this can actually be anyone random off the street, but luckily my cousin Lara was able to come in and sign the silly piece of paper for us, so thanks a lot for that Lara! 

So the next parts we could not tell you jump all the way down to Southbridge with Aunty Bren and Uncle Steve, who were amazing in helping us sell the van and taking us to the airport, so thanks to you guys, it all would have been far more difficult without your help! 

Selling Bluey was a huge stress for us all, made worse by the looming deadline of us leaving the country. It got down to our very last day in NZ, the day before we were flying out, after having taken him to a car market, put him on trademe (nz's ebay), and put up signs in backpackers all over Christchurch, all with absolutely no success...until we met this awesome "Texan" (as in from Texas) couple, Matt and Cat, who were on what sounds like the most awesome extended honeymoon ever (think four months spent doing Nepal, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia etc etc - pretty much everywhere -  before a a couple of momnths in NZ, on to Tahiti, and home for Xmas!) and who just happened to want to buy a van! Bluey did himself proud and stuck it out for the most awesome owners, who actually invited us to come stay in Texas! And who may just come along to Denmark one day in the future. 

So thanks guys, for being the perfect people to take care of Bluey for us!

Actually even once we had all agreed and they were all set to buy Bluey, it really wasn't easy...

The first problem was that they had some sot of limit on their cards which stopped them from being able to draw out enough money, then when Matt tried to cash his travellers checks he was refused because he hadn't signed them before he walked in, so he had to walk back outside, sign them, and make them out to Cat so she could cash them. Still a few hundred short, the only other possibility was suggested to Matt by a lady at a convience store that didn't do cash out on Visa...she said to try the Casino...so off we went, squished into the three seater van, to the local casino, where Matt and Cat had to go in, buy like $500 worth of chips with their credit card, wander around the tables, put one chip into a pokey machine, and then walk back out and exchange them for cash. Pretty ridiculous that thats what it came down to! Anyway, now we had the money(thankyou nameless convenience store lady!!), but our problems weren't over...we still had to do the change of ownership papers, which in Nz can only be done at the post office, and seeing as though it was a saturday afternoon...nothing was open!! Luckily, when we stopped by the cop-shop to ask if they did the exchange, we were helped by a really nice receptionist who looked it all up on the net, and even rang a post office she thought was open, and it was. So off we went again to the mall whree this post office was, and miracle of miracles...it was still open, and we were able to switch it all over!!! Thank God. 

So that was the story of selling Bluey.

The only thing left to tell is saying goodbye to the family (we were sad to leave, as it was really great staying there in Southbridge, and was the best way to finish the holiday, not to mention, it was awesome to catch up with all the cousins!), and the plane ride home.

The plane ride, well, rides actually, were not particularly eventful (On second thoughts, I don't suppose you really want a plane ride to be overly eventful, so that was probably a good thing), but it was an incredibly long journey. It began with a 1hour and 20min flight from Christchurch to Auckland, followed by a 2.5hr stopover there, then we got on our 3hr flight to Sydney, after which we hung out back in Australia for like another 2.5hrs, before getting on our final, 5hr, flight back to Perth, where my Mum (who was the only family member to be told - although only a week before we came back - as she just happened to coming up to Perth that same weekend...weird huh)was eagerly awaiting us at the airport. So after a night at Mum's friend Jedda's house (thanks for having us Jedda!), we headed off back to good old Denmark to surprise everyone!

Well thats about it really...wow it will be weird not thinking about this blog anymore...

But to everyone who has been reading about our travels...Thanks. We have really loved having you all along for the ride!

Thanks for having us New Zealand!!

Bohdi and Tahns

P.S. Boh had an awesome 18th in case anyone was wondering...

Finally....

Again, photos at the top...



Layla

Jaz the speed demon

Boh cruising down in Jaz's awesome "sceanie" (scarf plus a beanie!)

Boh busting a jump!!

Me finally getting the hang of it with a perfect run down the slope!

Me celebrating after said perfect run

close-up of the sceanie

me on a not-so-good run lol laughing it up

all of us at the start of the day

Tyler at the end of the day!!

us on the pier in Akaroa

Awesome car we saw in Akaroa

Sorry it's been so long in between posts everyone!

We have started to get into holiday mode, hanging out with the cousins and all. But nevertheless, here we are once more! So we are currently back in Christchurch, but since we last posted we have done quite a few things...

We took a day trip to the beautiful, french-settled, lakeside town of Akaroa with Aunty Bren, as she had the day off work, and we weren't sure what the roads would be like. But we arrived without drama, where Bren showed us around (which didnt actually take too long, it's pretty little!), and pointed out a couple of shops worth having a look at. After that we had a yummy lunch of fish'n'chips (Jaz says they're the best there), and, given the fact that we had pretty much seen the whole town, and that it was starting to get late, we headed back to Southbridge.

After another day or two of waiting out the bad weather with the family, on thursday we decided to take a quick trip down south a bit while the forecast looked good, and get back in time to avoid the weather warning for sunday (there did end up being a snow blizzard so we were lucky we did hurry back). So we headed down to Lake Tekapo, which Bren said was beautiful. And it was! As we drove in at about 4pm, the cloud had come down, and we were literally driving like, in a cloud! Plus the whole place was completely covered in snow, so it was like driving in a white bubble! We also stopped along the way at this lake which had completely frozen over, and the ice was so thick that someone had been driving on it (there were tyre tracks!). So Boh had a bit of fun sliding around on that! Unfortunately we got a tad bogged in the icy snow...but it was ok...we got out in the end! We stayed in a caravan park right on the lake shore, and next door to a snow-park/spa! We wasted no time in trying out tubing, which was wicked fun! Although we had to use up the very last scraps of cash we had, cos there was no atm in the town.

The next day it was on to have a look at Wanaka, another pretty lakeside town in the mountains, and a place that rivals Kaikoura for our favourite place in NZ! Although we would have liked to stay, we really didnt want to risk the weather, so we pushed on to Alexandra that day and stayed there for the night, as it was a step closer on our big drive home. It was a bit of a boring old town, reminded us a bit of Albany actually...haha!

So the next day was the massive drive back to Southbridge, so we decided to push our leaving time to 9:15am...sigh getting up before nine! lol. And drove all day until we got back at about 3.30pm....exciting...

Now unfortunately we have no photos of this trip down south...because about an hour into the trip we stopped to take photos...and Boh dropped my camera on the roadside. So now it has a couple of massive dents in the front, and won't turn on at all...

Which sucks.

But ah well, we have now gotten over it, and will just have to sort something out before we leave Christchurch.

Well the next thing of note we have done is *drumroll* SNOWBOARDING!!!! That was yesterday, and it was awesome. Really hard, really tiring, and relativley painful...but awesome!!! Now I'm not going to say that I'm particularly good at it...but I tried! Haha, and definately improved by the end of the day!!! (woulda been hard not to) Boh went pretty good, although he said it was a lot harder than he expected. But he picked it up pretty quick and had a really great time. Brenda managed to get us this deal for Porters Pass Ski field (one of the smaller ski areas)which included a bus from Christchurch to the mountain and back, snowboard and boot hire, a 1.5hr lesson, and a full day lift pass for $88! (Mt Hutt would have cost $140 without the bus!) So we were stoked, and so were the cousins, cos Bren decided that Jaz and Tyler could have the day off school and come too , seeing as though it was so cheap(and luckily Layla was allowed as well).

So it was a really amazing day, and sooooo worth all the pain...which is saying something...cos we are really hurting today!

So thats about all, and the photos from yesterday are up top(we took Bren's camera up with us)

Now THATS a decent sized guinea-pig!

Photos first today cos we can't make them go to the bottom...

Me and Jaz ice-skating

Jaz's rugby game

The guinea pig...(read on, and you will know what we are talking about)

The frost in Hanmer

Sharing the road with sheep

Me buried at the rock beach in Kaikoura

This cool little sculpture at the beach in Kaikoura

Bluey checking out the view in Kaikoura

Hi there everyone!

We are currently staying with my Aunty Brenda and her family (Tyler who is 16, his girlfriend Layla, Jaz who is 14, and Jayde who is 9 and Bren's husband Steve who is actually in Sydney atm) in Southbridge, near Christchurch, which is like halfway down the South Island on the east coast. So it's great here with the family, been a while since I've seen everyone, and they hadn't met Boh so yeah it's been fun to catch up!

Ok so we've probably skipped a little bit...it's always hard to remember our last blog...I guess I should probably read the last one before I write the new ones! I think...we left you guys in Blenheim, and from there we headed down to Kaikoura, which is like THE most beautiful place we have been so far! It was amazing! It's a beachside town, but get this...there were MOUNTAINS...with SNOW...like right behind the town, pretty awesome backdrop. The place we stayed there had a spa too, so it was really crazy to sit in the spa with that view, and also to wake up, stick our heads out the door, and the first thing you see is these amazing mountains!

Yeah and on our way there we stopped to look at this seal colony, which was super-amazing, like all these seals just hanging out on the rocks (like hundreds and hundreds), sun-bathing (well they would have been if there was any sun...) so we took a few photos of them just from the side of the road. They are really camoflauged too so you could pretty much drive past and not even see them, but we are in the know so we were keeping a look out...

So we stayed the night there, then hung out until like lunchtime so we wouldn't have to drive on scary icy roads. We had a coffee, walked around the town a bit (it's actually a really cute town, reminded us of Denmark!) and had a look at the beach, which was REALLY cool...cos there was NO sand...weird huh? lol Yeah it was just like little rocks and pebbles, some of them greenstone, so we played with the rocks for a while...you wouldn't believe how much fun it could be...haha.

Then after a treat for lunch (fish'n'chips..mmmm), we headed off to Hanmer Springs, which is inland from there, and is one place I remember going to last time I came over with the family. The drive to there was made pretty epic by the huge herd of sheep that happened to be borrowing the road for a bit. Pretty funny catching up with like every one of the many many cars that had passed us throughout the drive! Unlucky...

First thing about Hanmer was the COLD...it was soooo freezing. By the time we rocked up, there was just time for a quick spin around town to check out our caravan park options, before booking in, cooking dinner, and heading off to bed. The morning saw some awesome frost, and iced over puddles, and ice condensation on the inside of the van windows which, I am sad to say, entertained us for a fair while...

Playing mini-golf was our big activity in Hanmer, and it was not so great for me cos I got put off my game by the infuriating little kids infront of us (who takes a 2yr-old kid to play mini-golf anyway...), and Boh picked up on the weakness and actually managed to beat me...sigh...

So we decided not to stay another night there because we were afraid we may freeze to death...therefore we pressed on to Christchurch. The only thing of note that happened on the way there was that we pulled over to check out this obstacle course thing (we ended up being too expensive...but thats not the story...), and we spotted the owner's pet pig...yeah pretty cool huh?! So we patted the pig, and just as we were leaving, another guy walked up, and said to the owner guy "now thats a decent sized guinea-pig you got there" - completely deadpan - which had us in hysterics back in the car...haha... So from now on anything big...shall be called a decent sized guinea-pig...lol.

Since then we have been hanging out with my cousins, went and watched Jaz's rugby game yesterday, which was awesome! Jaz scored a try, and her team won, so that was great fun to see some good rugby! Then we met up with my Uncle Lance, and cousin Holly, who also live in Christchurch, and we went Ice-skating, which was cold and painful, due to badly fitting skates! And really quite scary, as we havn't been ice-skating since yr 8 camp! Fun though!

So now we are just hanging out, as we are a bit scared to go anywhere cos Bren said its supposed to snow soon! Boh is super excited! Had a massive pancake cook-up this morning, and Layla introduced us to what she says is the Kiwi way of eating pancakes...brace yourselves...it may sound gross, but we have been converted now so we will make you all eat it when we get back!

Pancakes, maple syrup, fried bananas....and bacon!

Trust me its goooood!

So I guess we will post again soon.

xoxox

South Island!

Hi there everyone,

We have finally made it to the South Island! We are currently in Blenhiem (the place names are getting a bit more european down here, so a little easier to pronounce, which is a bonus! haha), which is a town below Picton, where the Ferry comes in, and where we stayed last night.

So the past few days since we last blogged have been nice and cruisy, just hanging out with Lara, Sven and the kids, but the time haad eventually come to move on, and get started on the next half of our trip! Lara was nice enough to offer to book our ferry tickets on the internet for us, which meant a lot less hassle, as we were able to just jump on the ferry yesterday, no worries.

It was a pretty neat experience, driving the van onto a huge boat, especially seein as though Boh had mentioned to me that once they forgot to shut the back of the boat (surely they employ soomeone to remember small details like that...) and it sunk! SCARY, but we got over our fear when it hadn't sunk in the first few minutes. We also noticed that a train was driven on to the bottom level which is pretty awesome when you think about it. Apart from feeling a little queasy, which we remedied by sitting up on the deck for most of the time, it was a great trip, as the ferry was really quite coll, with it's own bar, cafe, shop, and CINEMA on board!! Coming into Picton was absolutely beautiful, sailing through the Marlborough Sounds, seeing all the farmland on the side of little mountainous islands, and houses only accessable by boat. Getting into Picton at about 5pm, we headed straight for a campsite, which ended up only being like 800m from the ferry or something, so that was very easy. It was there that we had a bit of a surprise, as we got chatting to an older couple who were in the kitchen area, and when i mentioned that my mum was from Ashburton (one of the places she grew up), he said "oh what's her name, that's where I'm from", and I said Karen Hampton (her maiden name), and he was like "not Lynley and Lochie's Karen?" (this is my aunty and her ex-husband) and I was like wow omg, yes! So it turns out he used to hang out with mum, who was friends with his ex-wife, and he actuially movved to brisbane with my aunty and her then-boyfriend Lochie! And he's really good mates with my Uncle Mark too! CRAAAAZY... So that was pretty insane. Small world huh?

So anyways, having headed out of Picton this morning, we are headed down the east coast of the South Island, and will probably head down through Hanmer Springs, before going on to Christchurch. So it is time to email my rellies there! (If you are reading this Jaz, or Aunty Bren, I will be emailing you in a minute!)

More soon,

xoxox

Unfortunately we were a bit slack in Wellington, and didnt remember to take some photos of Lara and her family, so we just managed to remember to quickly snap one of Bubba and Abe, who were the only ones home (with the nanny, not on their own! lol) when we left. So heres a bunch of photos of the crossing, and some other stuff we have done in the past week or so...

Heres Bubba eating his lunch...

Sven's awesome Jaguar!

Me at this awesome pirate adventure mini golf place we went to.(I won...)

The Ferry coming in to get us.

Boh chowing down a Big Mac on the side of the road...cold...nice.

On the Ferry and going through the Sounds...

Warmth and Children....

We have arrived in Wellington to stay a little while with my cousin Lara and her family (Her husband Sven, their four boys; Ike - 8, Joe - 6, Abe - 4, and Ezra a.k.a Bubba - 2, dog Friday, cat Mouse - the cat is called mouse in case anyone is confused - and horses Rocket and Ash) which is awesome, great to spend some time with my little cousins! Though I must say that Bohdi is much more popular than I am, as you would expect...teenage boys are so captivating to little boys, he practically has three little adoring shadows (Bubba is a little young to mind about gender yet). Lara has been really helpful, offering to pay us an hourly rate to do some jobs around the house, as we were keen for some work at some point on the journey to replenish our funds somewhat. And the digs are just fantastic, as we have our own little self-contained flat above the garage to hang out in.

So it has been a great few days here so far, hanging out with the kids, and doing some work round here, including babysitting Bubba for a bit today, which is hardly work at all really, he's adorable!

Yesterday we headed into Wellington for the first time (Lara and Sven's is quite a way out of town), leaving then car in FREE parking in Plimmerton, which is near their house, and taking the train from Plimmerton to the city. Our first stop was the Museum of Wellington (entered into purely because of the fact that it is FREE), which was basically just the history of the city, but pretty cool all the same. Then it was on to "Te Papa" which is the museum of New Zealand, and is also FREE!! It's actually quite surprising that it is free because there is some really awesome stuff going on in there, from volcano exhibitions to a giant squid! Also, it contains the skeleton of Phar Lap, which was one of the things I do remember about visiting then museum last time my family came over. Then after scoffing down some lunch we headed off to the movies to see Transformers! Which was Awesome! Really really really long, but cool all the same. Then we dragged our exhausted little selves all the way back to the train  station and headed back to Lara's. 

So today we pretty much just spent the day doing stuff around here, and hanging out with Bubba which is really fun as he is just an awesome little character.

Not much has really happened apart from that since we last posted...So I guess we will let you know when something else does, and as far as our plans, well we think we will probably spend the weekend here with the kids, then off to the South Island on the Ferry.

More Soon, 

xoxox

 

(oh yeah just wanted to thank Issy for the plug on her travel blog - she is in Canada at the moment, if you wanna check it out click here, her blogging was what gave us the idea!)

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Actually, the rain isnt so bad, as we have quickly figured out, because when it is raining, it's not frosty or icy on the roads, which is much less scary!


Anyway, as you may have guessed (and I suppose you guys dont see NZ on the weather maps over there, but there is the most ridiculous cloud cover over the entire North Island) it has been raining lots here! Pretty much non-stop for like three days now! Not like Denmark were it's on and off all day, literally yesterday it was rai
ning when we woke up, and it rained all day and all night, though we have had a couple of hours now without rain...WOW! lol.

So lets see, the last post was pretty hurried because the last few places we have stayed have had really expensive internet (like $2 for 15 mins), and also silly somputers with no usb drives, meaning o photos, so sorry about that. We are now sitting in Maccas (who knew - they have internet there...) and it is like half the price that we have been paying lately.

But to continue on from the last post, I guess we are at saturday...

We headed off at the usual time (10am - which is checkout time at most places), and started out on a leisurely drive around the lake for a look, had fish'n'chips for lunch, and found out that there are some really smart, and really stupid people around here (unfortunatley we fit into thne second category...). Explanation - so these clever guys have set up this golf thing called the "Hole in One Challenge" on the lake, where people come along and try to get a hole in one in various sized holes to win various prizes...unfortunately it is pretty much impossible to atually get a hole in one, so it is just a bit of a waste of money, but regardless, Boh and I decided to have a couple of goes. Needless to say, we didnt win a dime...but ah well, it's not like you actually can, so those guys are pretty darn smart!! After this we decided we were done in Taupo, cos everything is just so darn expensive, and
poor backpackers like us just can't afford a place like that! So it was around the lake to Taurangi, at the southern point of Lake Taupo, where we stumbled across a backpackers that had it's own climbing wall! Despite the fact that I was embarrassed by the fact that I am so terrible at that sort of thing, and the fact that the little monkey-spawn children in there were making me look even worse, Boh (who is actually quite a good climber) had a great two hours there before heading off for the dingiest caravan park we have stayed in yet (though we didnt know it yet). It had a real creepy feel about it, made worse by the scary owner guy (well we presume he was the owner...)who was stalking around smoking and looking scary. So that wasn't the best night...but it was ok...cos we left in the morning, not even waiting to have brekky (probably more due to then fact that our milk had gone off than anything else, but anyway...).

Now it was off to Mt Ruapehu, and, as we found out, to Mordor and Mt Doom! (Lord of the Rings...in case any of you didn't know) So that was kinda awesome, because we now have photos of Mt Doom!! haha. It was pretty wild weather at this point, but we decided to check out Whakapapa Village anyway (which is right at the base of Mt Ruapehu), and then ended up driving up to the ski area, as the rain meant that the freezing level was pretty high (meaning the road was open), and....*drum roll*...Boh touched the snow for the first time!!!!!! That was super exciting says Boh, who was pretty much bouncing up and down at the time. But Bluey doesnt like the cold, so we decided to haul ass back down the mountain and regain feeling to our faces and fingers!
Then we decided to drive on to Wanganui (the town where my dad was born) which is on the west coast, and stay there before starting on down to Wellington to visit my cousin Lara and her family. So here we are in Wanganui, a riverside town/city (it's pretty big to be town...but not sure if it is a city), having stayed last night in a nice caravan park by the beach, unfortunately a night spoilt by the incredible amount of rain, so it was kinda like an extension of the ocean, or maybe just a muddy lake...Well to make up for the photo drought, heres a big bunch of the last week or so since we left Malcolm's.

P.S. Thankyou again Mal and Fiona for the blankets and Boh's Jacket - they have kept us alive these past couple cold of days!!

Huka Falls>

^Mt Doom....

Crazy Chicken that we saw

^My Wristband came off!!!!!! soo sad...damn u budgie! But I got a new one that very same day at zorb!

^The incredibly smelly mud pools in Rotarua

^Us at the climbing place

^Boh in the SNOW!!!

^My most awesome photo ever

^The HUGE redwoods

^THE ZORB!!!

^It may look like I'm just being a retard and doing funny stuff with my hands...but I am actually holding shards of ice out of a puddle...yeah...

^Boh reaching the heights

Biiiig Lake...

So here we are in Taupo,
Yesterday was a big day of adventuring, starting off with a walk through the beautiful and interesting Redwood grove just outside of Rotarua, where there is an amazingly diverse tree-scape (made that one up...), due to then fact that the trees were originally planted to decide what trees would be best for timber plantations in NZ, and although some other tree won out, the Californian Redwoods have taken over the grove, and they are awesome! And HUGE!
Next on the trail was this "3D Maze" that we passed on the way into town, and mentally marked down for a closer look. Although at first glance it looked easy, the wooden castle-like construction, actually presented a real challenge! The idea was you choose from one of two start points (Boh and I decided to go separately and add a little competition to the mix), and must reach each of the four coloured corners, before exiting the maze from your original entrance. Now, the result: a grudging second to me...sigh...while Boh pulled off a miraculous win (even though I actually reached all corners first...just got a little lost on the way out...lol).
So our final activity for the day was also the most anticipated...THE ZORB!!!! This futuristic sounding contraption was invented here in New Zealand, and consists of an 11 foot high plastic ball, with a smaller ball suspended inside, separated by like 2 feet of air. Now, you might be wondering what on earth they do with such a thing...well the answer is obvious...add water, up to three game thrill seekers...and roll it down a big hill...yep. Awesome. So it came down to the choice of going together down the straight track, which looked pretty tame, or going solo down the zig zag...yeeeaaaah. So clearly we opted for option two, which ended up being crazy fun! Although our most expensive splurge so far, it was definately worth it. (Unfortunatley didn't buy any of the photos cos they were major expensive!)
Finally it was back to the caravan park for a long soak in the hot pool to warm us up.

Today started off with rain, which was actually good in a way, because there is not likely to be so much ice and frost on the roads. (yesterday at the redwoods, we were astounded by an iced over puddle - sounds silly, but it was cool - which had like centimetre-thick shards of ice on top!)
Despite the bad weather, we decided to follow through on our plan to conquer the "Luge" today, which meant taking a gondola up a mountain (cant remember the name...), then jumping on some little cart type things and zooooming down again, jumping on a chairlift back to the top, and going again!!! IT WAS SOOO COOL! Very cold, very wet, and very sore hands (from holding onto the handlebars) but so worth it! We even ended up getting two FREE rides each cos these other tourists decided they had done their dash, and gave us their remaining tickets. Again, unfortunately the photos were hell expensive, but we can asure you that it was an awesome track, and great fun.
After drying off, we headed to Taupo, where we are now, gotta be quick time running out
love you all