Mmm Wanaka you make me sleepy

"The best part of waking up is Sprinklers up your butt!" - Mike

(to be sung to the tune of Folger's coffee commercials)

Getting up at 6 in the morning to avoid paying a camping fee: not as worth it as we perhaps thought. Sure we didn't end up paying any money and we got to eat breakfast on the lake front while the sun rose to light up the mountain ranges - but being that exhausted? No. Not worth it.

The boys made us oatmeal on a picnic bench and the sprinklers decided to come on in the middle of everything. So I watched, safe and warm from inside Adi, and decided to video tape them get soaked while trying to rescue breakfast. It was entertaining for certain.

We had already agreed that we would get a cheap motel room for that night as we knew we'd be sacrificing sleep, we hadn't showered in 7 days, we'd managed to camp for free all 7 days, and it was rumored to rain that night. So Dan fell asleep in the car, Mike went for a walk, and Tim and I hunkered down in the motel lobby to use the internet until we could check into our room. I had set up a much needed skype date with my friend and tour mate, April, and after several exhausted hours of internet use was able to take a shower in our motel room. We did our laundry and watched the worst television soap opera I've ever seen (hey- it was New Zealand made) and I fell asleep for a delicious three hour nap. I wish that I had had an opportunity to really hike around the Wanaka area because that is what it's known for: it's breathtaking views from its hiking trails up and around the lakes and mountains.

We made potato pancakes and a warm veggie salad for dinner before heading to Cinema Paradiso to watch "Due Date" starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. The theater was so worth the $14 entrance fee: it only has one screen and there are old comfortable sofas and car seats and actual cars for people to sit in while watching the movie - AND they make their own previews/ads - AND there were the most AMAZING warm homemade cookies that are served during intermission (yes. there. was. an. intermission.). Hands down awesome sauce.

The next day we got up early to find it was pouring rain and ended up spending most of the day curled up indoors reading, journaling, and catching up on blog posts. Mike and I booked us a hostel in Queenstown, where were headed to that night, so that we wouldn't have to camp if it continued to rain. We said fairwell to a now rainy Wanaka and headed for the "Adventure Capitol Of The World": Queenstown.

Hello Wanaka

Carrie: "Mike take my pants off!"

Mike: "As your brother I would be honored."

Now that I have your attention, I first have to apologize for the lack of posts as of late and specifically the lack of photo posts. I am currently back in the US and on a poetry tour and therefore have had very little time to catch up on all of my NZ posts. Additionally, Mike - who is currently in Melbourne - has all of my photos and has had difficulty getting them to me. BACK TO THE ADVENTURE (and the explanation of the above quote):

We rolled into the lakeside town of Wanaka after an incredibly beautiful drive through the bottom of the West Coast. We stopped so many times to just gasp and take photos and stand in sunny lake water that it actually got annoying. Nothing should be so beautiful but it is. The lakes that you see below are huge and brilliantly blue with these powerful green mountains lining them and the entire drive winds around them.

Wanaka is kind of what I imagine Aspen, Colorado to be: a small, gorgeous, resort town with lakes and mountains and sunsets and incredibly expensive everything. We picked up our most expensive groceries yet, got gas for a parched Adi, and scoped out information at the iSite which happens to be right on the grassy beach of Lake Wanaka. We ate some snacks, checked some emails, and Tim, Mike, and I went swimming in the blissfully cold lake water as the sun began to set behind the mountains. We made dinner at a picnic table (chicken sausages and beans) and drank tea as it began to get dark.

Mike and Tim were off chatting up some pretty foreigners as Dan and I got the tea ready and somehow I managed to dump my entire mug of tea across my lap while fighting with the honey bottle. I started shouting and trying to rip my pants off as fast as I could on a public beach front. Dan had no idea what had just happened and started to video tape what I was doing as Mike and Tim came over to see what I was shouting about. Let's just say it's a pretty good video and someday will surface. I was writhing on the grass with my pants around my ankles screaming "My crotch! Is! On! Fire!" and thus said the quote that began this post much to the boys' delight.

We rewarded undressing in public with ice cream and spent some time standing in front of the Real Estate windows exclaiming over the number of 0's on some of those plots of land. We heard from some other backpackers that we shouldn't freedom camp in the area as the Rangers were particularly active and that instead, we should camp in a nearby campground and just leave at the crack of dawn. That sounded like a good idea to us for some reason so we went to the campsite and tried to sleep through the loud techno music being played ("They have to be German" - Tim) and the full moon. Dan and I gave up and just watched an episode of Friday Night Lights on my ipod before passing out somewhere around 3:30 in the morning for two and a half hours of sleep.