November 21st & 22nd - "Shut Up!"

Today we drove about 6 hours or so to Wellington to catch the ferry the next morning.  (*Luckily we made a reservation about 10 days ago.)  Stopping along the way in little towns we passed through including this one where we found the *Roaches! We also made a pit-stop for *pie and an iced long black coffee in the beautiful town of Whanganui.  The woman at the coffee stand was probably in her 50's originally from the USA, followed her Kiwi husband here more than 20 years ago "because he's a mama's boy".  They've since divorced but she loved NZ so much she decided to stay anyway!

Our choice of chips for this road-trip was BBQ Ribs.  Seriously good chips.  Aside from the crunch of the chips, you could tell yourself you were actually eating BBQ Pork, like Chinese BBQ pork.  Super tasty!

Just under an hour away from Wellington we thought we'd try and sort out accommodations by phone for a place to sleep.  I called a place named Harcourts Kiwi Holiday Park to see if they had any cabins available. Spoke with a women who wasn't very friendly at 5:20pm; said yes they had space and that she would only hold the cabin for us until 6:30. I said great, but then asked of she could hold it till 7pm just in case we ran into traffic...She said, "well if you have a credit card I can hold it all night."  So silly me, I gave her my credit card#.  After mapping out our route we realized that this place wasn't as close to town as we thought it was and our ferry was at 8:00am so we'd need to be there by 7:00am.  About 45 minutes after I spoke to the women, around 6:10pm, we called to cancel saying we weren't going to make it there. She then told me she was going to charge my credit card a cancellation fee.  I tried to dispute by saying that it hadn't even been an hour; well before 6:30pm, the original time she said she could hold it for, and that she never advised there would be a cancellation fee. She then rudely told me to "Shut Up!" and that I was putting words into her mouth, and that I was being unreasonable.  I tried to again speak and she said "whatever you're being charged!" then hung up the phone on me.  My blood was boiling.  I was driving so I pulled over to try and call visa to put a stop on my card but she had already charged it.  It was only $23.00 but still.  Arrgh...  I knew there was no point calling her back since she already hung up on me.  We finally got to our cabin but I was still reeling.  Took me a long time to let it go after trying to find their equivalent to our BBB.  I found the Consumer Affairs but it would be quite a lengthy process so I chalked it up to a lesson learned to let Karma work it out.  But just to have the last word, I called her back about an hour later to advise her that I would be filing a complaint with Consumer Affairs of NZ and she said "I only told you 6:30 because I didn't think you had a credit card, WHATEVER" and hung up on me again.  

One bad egg is ok for all the amazingly nice people we've come across on our trip so far.  The majority of Kiwis are over the top friendly, helpful and generous!  :)

That night we went out to this Fish & Chips place we heard about and I'm so sorry we forgot to take pics but it was huge!  We didn't know that each serving would be almost a whole fish each.  It was crazy big, can't remember the name of the place either...guess I was still distraught over dragon-lady!

We got to the ferry early at 6:45am the next morning and Matt & Amelie pull up beside us.  (Just met them in the line up.) They are from Quebec but have been traveling off and on for about 8 years picking fruit.  Their last 2 years were in Australia but they also lived in BC for a few years cherry picking.  Avid fruit pickers!  They told us they can make up to $450/day each, picking fruit!  Cray cray!  They were off to Blenheim to pick cherries that day!

We spent  most of the 3 hour ferry getting to know them over breakfast.  I managed to find some time to write reviews on multiple sites about the Harcourts lady as well as advising the website where I found them about the incident!  OK I think I've finally let it go now...maybe.

Ryan tried to take some pics as we came through the Cook Strait and all the Bays along the way.  It was quite foggy and windy out there but here is a decent one.  







After having lunch with Matt and Amelie at Seamus' Irish Pub, below is a pic of Picton we took just as we started our drive on the long squiggly roads over the mountains to Nelson. The roads were so narrow and squiggly I could barely go over 30km.

Picton

When we got to Nelson we saw the beautiful Tahunanui Beach that was in the main center of town.  We found a super cheap place to stay for the next 3 nights at $8/person/night for camping.  We thought this was a steal and the only catch was the coin operated showers ($2 for 6 minutes..Yikes) and if you wanted your phone charged you had to pay .50 and leave it at reception for a few hours.  It was still cheaper even if I needed a 12 minute shower which I only did once.  We got our tent set up and then headed back to the beach for a walk because we couldn't resist. 

That's Nelson in the back hill there.  This is a place you could easily live for a long time.

After a walk on the beach in the sunset we found Smuggler's Pub which was a little on the pricey side but we figured since we were only spending $16/night for the next 3 nights accommodations, it was ok to splurge a little.  Totally worth it. Ryan had the BBQ Ribs and I had the King Fish with roasted Kumara, caper berries and spinach.  So Good!!!  And of course beer and wine!  :)



*The main ferry (about 3 hours long) from the North Island to the South Island is called the InterIslander and we figured it worked the same way BC Ferries did where you can either make a reservation or drive up early and wait.  But just to be sure, we checked out their website only to find that they were fully booked up a month in advance.  We wanted to be on the ferry next week.  It seemed odd so Ryan called and they confirmed that for cars the next available sailing was Dec 20th!  I'm not going to lie, Ryan started to panic a little while I was searching the interwebs and found the reason is that one of the boats had a malfunction so they were running short.  Luckily we had our NZ Lonely Planet and I read that there are two options for ferries and the second being the BlueBridge which we got on but were booking about 10 days in advance too.

*For any of my friends reading the blog that don't already know this, "Roach" is Ryan's last name.

*For any past or future reference, "pie" in NZ always means a savory meat pie of sorts.  The most popular and original is mince which is really just ground beef and gravy but some put veg in it like peas.  However I have heard from a local we met recently (John) that he's not a fan of the veg in a mince pie.  "If I want a mince pie, I want a mince pie, none of those peas and carrots and veg in it, it should be just meat".  The next most popular would be steak and this can come with either cheese, mushroom, kidney or veg but not usually all together.  Ryan's fav seems to be the Steak & Mushroom.  We've also tried the curry chicken pie, that was a miss... as well as the venison pie and that one is usually a big hit with us.  Each time it's been quite good.  And might I also add that I have a knack for choosing the less good pie and always wish that I had chosen the same one Ryan did after I've had a bite of his.  Nothing that a little "tomato sauce" can't fix though.  Tomato sauce is their version of ketchup with a hint of all spice or something like that...can't quite put my finger on it but I do prefer the regular Heinz ketchup which McDonald's with gladly sell you for .40 a packet.

p.s. forgot to mention on our road trip to Nelson from Picton we stopped a few times for snacks in super tiny towns, bought some homemade choc fudge and a date sugar swirl scone; Ryan bought a bag of Spare Ribs flavored chips.   Seriously,  Kiwis know how to do chips right.   They actually Tasted like ribs accept for the crunch.  Ryan said they were reminiscent of BBQ pork. Yum!

November 20th - Day 12 - Kiwi's & Caves

We went to the Kiwi House which was a really good deal at just under $20 NZ.  A great experience but Shirley, you might not want to read the next few paragraphs!  Just cuz I love you!

We saw 2 Kiwi birds which was super cool because they are nocturnal.  The Kiwi bird is indigenous, endangered and flightless.  The Kiwi House created an opposite day/night scenario in an enclosed area just like they would be outside, allowing them to continue hunting for their own food at night (our day time) and sleeping during the day (our night time).  This way we were able to watch them dig with their long beaks and run around and play in the water.  We also saw many other birds but my favorite two are the Plover and the Tui.  The Tui bird makes some weird noises but he's really neat looking.  A little like a deep blue bluejay but with a white ruffle under it's neck.

And then there was Thor.  He was a cheeky little Plover who likes to squak at you and come up close, then if we tried to walk away he'd follow us.  We would bend down again and he'd just stand there squaking but in a different tune.  Seemed agressive but I think he was more social than anything else.  :)


We saw some pretty cool birds (giant pigeons, Kea, owls, parrots, heron...) as well as 3-4 foot long eels, tuataras,..the list goes on.  FYI - the eels were massive.  Their heads were about 8 inches wide. Such a good deal!  We spent about an hour and a half there and towards the exit you got to go through a giant Aviary and walked with some Tui's and these green parrot looking birds.
 

Alain met us for lunch at the Thirsty Weta (Weta is like a cricket), then off to Waitomo for our GlowWorm Caving adventure, the Black Abyss!

We told Alain about the Ostrich so he got out his go-pro for some footage and sure enough as we stopped on the side of the road again, the Ostrich quickly came over to see us.  This time there were donkeys tied up on the road side of the fence and once again, LOL  Ryan is completely freaked out as the donkey puts his head almost in Ryan's window.  Instead of just rolling up his window, Ryan is practically on Alain's lap trying to get away from the donkey!  LMAO!!!


So we've got the Ostrich, the donkeys and now the farm dog is running down the hill from the house and sneaks under the fence for some love!  We all pet him for a bit and then as we drive away, he chases the car for about 20 feet then stares at us longingly and eventually goes home. 

We get to The Legendary Black Water Rafting and they size us for our wetsuits, jackets and boots...which I was dreading but we all did just fine! :) I'm sure it's the best I've looked in the last few weeks!  ;)

Pip and Ben were are tour guides and they were both fantastic, funny sarcastic and supportive (i'll explain supportive later)

 We were given helmets with head lamps and a harness which we had to put on before getting into the van to be driven out to the cave.  They gave us an interactive demo on how to repel /abseil and then Alain went first down the Black Abyss.  It was pitch black, going down about 100 ft, I went next, then Ryan.  Everyone knows I'm afraid of heights so I just didn't look down or think about it and I was fine.  The rope was a bit difficult as it felt really heavy, but other than that, abseiling was fun and done!

At the bottom we have to wait for the rest of our group to come down which is only another 5 people.  4 Japanese students, 3 of which barely spoke english but Yoshi used to live in Toronto and was their translater; and also an Indian guy Adil (who couldn't swim).   While we were waiting we all turned our flashlights out and looked up... there they were.  Glowing directly above us! As Pip put it, "Glowing Maggot Shit"! Soooo Cool.

FYI - Glow worms are the larvae of a fungus gnat.

Anyway, it reminded me of when I was a kid and you thought it was so rad to put up those glow in the dark sticker stars on your ceiling and around your bedroom.

Everyone is down and while we're waiting for Ben to set something up for us.  Pip has us tell everyone our name, a famous person we'd like to have dinner with and who we'd like to see in concert...  She was stalling for what comes next.

So we are in the bottom of the cave now and Pip tells us to make sure our lamps are on.  We walk along these large rocks until we are single file on a metal platform where we need to hook our harnesses onto the rope.  Alain reaches the end first and she says "Wait."  she unhooks his harness from the rope and hooks him into a zipline!   She makes us shut all our lights off and lets him go.  It's pitch black, you have no idea where you're going and then we hear this big bang, like something hit hard.  She turns her light back on!  I'm next!  I'm a little freaked out but Pip our guides seems quite calm.  She unhooks my harness from the rope on the wall and hooks me into the zipline.  She tells me to slowly bend my knees and let my feet come off the ground, she then releases a few feet and she shuts her light off again.  Pitch black, I'm zipping through the air, no idea how far or where the eff I am and so I'm screaming..."weeeeeeeoooooohhh oooooh"... 

And Jolt!  I'm stopped mid air and hanging.... still dark!  Then I see a light and Ben is there to rescue me.  I have to do a slight pull up to get off the zip and I'm safe on the ground again but not before clutching onto Ben; Alain is waiting and laughing.

Ryan comes down next and this time I hear another really loud thud and bang.  Then I realize there are rubber tubes everywhere and to be funny Ben is slapping them to make it sound like something is wrong!  What a jerk...but it was really funny!

They had us all sitting down on a ledge and fed us hot chocolate and super dense granola.

After that, everyone picked a rubber tube.  (some were small and some were bigger but the bigger ones were better for the neck support) We then walked down to the water but we were about 6 feet up on a platform.  We got to jump off with the tube on our bums but I was terrified...I went last...it took me a minute but I sucked it up and jumped.  Sploosh!  Super fun!

We then all followed a rope along the wall in the water and shut our headlamps off.  Looking up it was a million stars...but they were glowworms... actually they were larvae.  lol...  Followed that along for a while, we then stopped and she told us the story of the glow worms while we stood on some rocks out of the cold water. Got back in our tubes and made a train by each person putting their feet under the arms of the tube in front of them.  We then ditched the tubes and were walking in the caves about waist deep for me, lower for the others as I was the only girl in our group.   We got more hot tang like drink and some dark chocolate - I think they were afraid of losing us to hypothermia, dehydration and starvation! Walked further through the cave until we got to a very small hole in the cave wall which we saw Pip squirm her way through.  

She said this is where we forgive your sins.  You climb through the hole, (a very tight squeeze), you say your sin, she splashes water in your face and all is right in the world again!  lol

Still walking through the cave water, we saw an eel, a 25 million year old whale fossil and  then we slid down a man made slide in the cave.  Fun!
AND THEN!!!!  We had to climb up a water fall - hardest thing I've ever done I'm sure. I was terrified.  I was second last to go with Ryan behind me. Still in the cave, they told us to stay to the side of the waterfall and they would motion us where to put our feet and hands for climbing.  Again, fraidy cat for heights, I struggled and said "I can't" a few times but Pip and Ben were awesome!  I'm so glad I did it, such a relief and I had a good case of the shakes after.  Ryan rocked it of course!  :)  Just when you think you're done, you're not...another smaller waterfall to climb but this was easier...not easy, just not as scary!  lol  And then we're out.  Daylight! 

There was a long trek back to the car in the heavy wet suits which felt like a lifetime after the 3.5 hours in the cave and I really had to pee! Once back, you get showered and they provide hot tomato soup and bagels!

Exhausted we head back to town for beer, a glass of wine and to split a burger!

What a great day!

November 19th - Day 11 - Oh Natural...

Our next stop would be the Waitomo Caves in Otorohanga but because it was only about 2 hours away we thought we would spend the morning exploring a bit more in Rotorua.  I Googled "Free Rotorua" and found that there are natural crystal clear springs about 20 minutes away (by car) which would fill our morning perfectly.  It was a bit tricky to find, not very well marked and not very touristy yet as they are in the process of rebuilding the area for tourism.  It worked out in our favor; only a few other people on our path.  Hamurana Spring!  Breathtakingly beautiful, crystal clear icy blue water with hues of turquoise, green and blue.  About 4 different varieties of ducks greeted us upon the entrance of the springs, which happens to be a bridge so Ryan took a few pictures of them and they eventually moved out of the way.
 



The deepest natural fresh water spring on the North Island; 920 feet (280 m) above sea level and is approximately 15 meters (50 ft) deep. It produces an estimated 4 million liters of crystal clear water per hour at a constant temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. The rock surrounding this spring is volcanic and the spring water travels down through underground aquifers, taking 70 years to get there.  The water coming out of this spring everyday is enough to fill 2 Olympic sized swimming pools.
   

Looking down into the spring itself, the volcanic sides are made up of ledges with lots of nooks and crannies. We read that people throw coins into the spring to watch them "dance" on the up-current as they sink, so we looked down and saw many of the coins resting on some of the ledges.    Well... when in Rome...  we both dropped a coin in to watch it dance.  Very cool!   :)

About 50 years ago, pioneer divers from Wellington recovered 5000+ pennies from the spring which were donated to local children's charities.

Next on the walk was a small area called Dancing Sands where the sand on the bottom literally looks like it's dancing and hopping about because the effect of the emerging water on the bottom of the spring.  It was too hard to capture a pic of it but glad we stopped by there.
Just as we were about to make our way around the loop back to JCDV, we heard a loud clap of thunder that sounded like it was right above our heads.  This sure put a hop in our step because it immediately began to down pour.  Not prepared for rain, we ran as quickly as we could the last the 400 meters back.  We were soaked by the time we got in the van.  It was really coming down hard with thunder and lightening so so we figured it best we be on our way.

The drive to Otorohanga was only a few hours but the storms followed with their dark grey ominous clouds surrounding us.  We had the odd break every half hour or so but it didn't let up until we arrived.  We've driven through many smaller towns but we hadn't stayed in a super small town.  Otorohanga itself only has about 2600 people.  Yep, you blink and you've missed it but even though it's a small town, the people here seem to be not that unlike vancouverites. 


Found a decent place to stay, which was very basic (bed, sheets, electrical outlets...) communal kitchen, fridge, toilets and shower but it suited our needs just fine. 






We had booked The Legendary Black Water Rafting "Black Abyss" tour for ourselves and Alain for tomorrow but we knew there was more exploring to be done this evening.  Got out our touristy map and that lead us to the Mangapohue Natural Bridge.  This was cool but on the way there we saw these huge birds on a farm...like really big.  They were Ostrich.  This was the funniest part of our trip so far.  As soon as we parked the car on the side of the road, this male Ostrich makes a b-line for us.  At this point Ryan is already out of the van and attempting to get his camera via the side door.  He turns around and sees the Ostrich.  He's scared shitless and repeats over and over again, "that's a big bird, that's a big bird" while climbing in the side door of the van, ready to close it at any moment. 
It stayed with us for a while, luckily on the other side of the fence but Ryan was happy to stay in the van!  Seriously LMAO!!!!!
Btw, we also saw Emu's.  Cool!  


We did eventually make it to the Natural Bridge after about 30 minutes on a beautiful, curvy, lush, vibrantly green road.  


The 17 m high limestone arch, which spans the Mangapohue Stream, is all that remains of an ancient cave system. The track is stepped and passes under the bridge giving a view of the ceiling studded with stalactite-like formations and an excellent view back down the gorge.

      




Saw some potential photo ops on the way there and made a note to stop on the way back.  We weren't sure what this was at first but upon closer evaluation from a distance, they look to be bee farms of some kind.  We could see the bees flying around the bottom of the stacks.  Since then we've seen many on our travels through NZ so far.



 

Not sure what these represented either but it was picture worthy!   Shoes, boots and a flipper all lined up on the fence. Probably about 30 or so...








Home for groceries and dinner which we bbq'd.  (Honey mint marinated lamb chops with,salad)


G & Sunshine, our chips of choice for tonight were "Burger Rings" (supposed to taste like a burger but we both agreed they were not worth buying and would be ok if we never ate them again) and Feta Garlic corn chips with poppy seeds.  (These were decent!)

November 17th & 18th - Days 9 & 10 - Kia Ora!

On the road again...

And we're off on our much anticipated road trip with our JCDV fully loaded up!
Travel mugs of coffee in hand, Rotorua bound.  Still on the North Island, about 2.5 hours from Auckland, Rotorua is filled with Maori culture, towering Redwood forests, hot springs and geothermal mud pools. Every time we tell someone that we're going to Rotorua, they say "oh it's amazing once you get past the smell."  Sulphur!

We were only on the main Highway for a bit until the main Highway becomes very remote, tons of sheep and cows.  I say Sheep,  Ryan says Bahh ahh ahh....  I say cow, Ryan says Moooo...  I say Pterodactyl,  Ryan says "Dead"

We've had JCDV for 5 days and I've yet to drive him.  It was just easier to let Ryan drive because he drove in Australia and it would be quick for him to get used to driving on the left again.   But now its my turn.   :)
After we stopped at the Big Pink Cafe for a steak n cheese pie, Ryan handed over control...  errr... I mean he handed over the keys.

         

Honestly, the only awkward part was sitting on the right side to drive. The foot peddles were the same but the gear shifter, signals, lights, wipers and rear-view mirror were all opposite to what my brain was used to.   Driving on the left seemed oddly normal and comfortable for me.   I only turned the windshield wipers on once instead of my left turn signal, and I'm getting used to looking up to the left instead of the right for the rear-view mirror. 

 

Once in Rotorua, which you smelled immediately because of the sulfur from the geothermal mud, we found The Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park.  Apparently the World Rafting Championships were being held here for 2 weeks and the camp site was almost full.  Many countries were there including Canada, Russia, France, Italy, Germany...  Because all the cabins were taken we were going to attempt to sleep in the back of JCDV but we quickly realized that the back of the van was full of all our crap and if we wanted to sleep in the van we would have to somehow move everything either outside or up to the front.  It was jammed, wall to wall!

So we decided that we should go to The Warehouse to buy a cheap tent & some groceries.

And so we had our tasks, Ryan would put up the tent and I would take care of dinner.  It only took him a few minutes to get the tent up and dinner wasn't much longer as I only had to heat up our Lamb Stew with some beef tortellini.  It was pretty decent with some cold beer!  :)




This camp ground had full kitchen facilities but I didn't realize that until I went to use the washroom.  And what I mean by that is they had 4 separate stations each equipped with a sink, stove-top and oven, and an electrical outlet. There was also 2 communal fridges which you could put your groceries in as well as a microwave and a hot water station for coffee and tea.  People seem to camp here for very different reasons than we do back home.  Mostly for traveling briefly through towns or because it's cheaper than a hotel.

The birds are soooo crazy constant and loud here but I quite like waking up to them.  Breakfast was streaky bacon, eggs and coffee and then I dropped Ryan off at the Redwoods Bike Park because he was itching and it was about time we did our own thing because I too was itching and learned about the Polynesian Spa!  

Wow!  This place was like a dream.  My Mud Wrap was amazing, and the out door hot springs were relaxing and beautiful.  I arrived about 90 minutes early and they gave me this super soft dark blue plush robe and advised that I could spend the next hour or so in the hot springs pools and that there were 3 to choose from.  Starting from the left they are warm, hot and then really hot.  Naturally I chose the warm one which was perfect because I pretty much had it to myself as most people like the hotter pools.

 

After about 2.5 hours of soaking in a hot spring, being scrubbed with manuka honey & walnuts; caked in geothermal mud and then wrapped up like a mummy to enjoy a scalp massage; I was advised to shower and I would then be moisturized.  I felt like I was walking on a cloud when I left there and it was well worth the cost of the treatment.  For any of you ladies who have ever been to the Ancient Cedars Spa at the Wick in Tofino, you'll understand when I say that this place was right up there and may have even gone slightly above!  A must do if you're ever in Rotorua!

Just in time, as I'm driving out of the parking lot, Ryan texts me that he's ready and I head off to pick him up so we can get ready for the Tamaki Maori Village Show and Buffet Dinner.  This was a recommendation from Ryan's cousin Sarah (as was the Spa) so we didn't want to miss it.  This too is a must-do in Rotorua.  An amazing cultural experience that moved us many times throughout the evening.  There was of course the Haka which Ryan got to participate in twice before the evening ended but unfortunately both of our phones were dead so not too many pics.  Guess you'll have to check it out yourselves when you visit us here!  :)

The cost of the tickets were $105 each and that includes pick-up and drop off at your hotel or campground. Our bus driver/tour guide was phenomenal.  He was funny, sarcastic and super smart as he explained what "Kia Ora" meant in no less than 30 languages while he drove.  (Kia ora is a Maori greeting which means literally "be well/healthy" and is translated as an informal "hi")  He is also a die-hard All Blacks fan and didn't hesitate to state it many times throughout the evening.   "The All Blacks are the best looking and most awesome team ever to have played Rugby, from now and forever!!!"  

The nice thing about this experience was that it wasn't just about the food and drink and entertainment, it was a way to learn about the Maori culture, history and how they taught their children about the Warrior ways through games, instilling these thoughts and techniques at a young age, but they didn't realize at the time that all these fun games were life lessons for survival and growth.

     

And we can't forget about the Hangi - traditional Māori cooked food in a pit under the ground in ovens called ‘hangi’.  Māori were aware that the earth was the giver of all life, from the soil came food and that same food was cooked beneath the earth.   (Chicken, lamb & root veg like Kumara sweet potato)
This was quite good and went well with our bottle of red wine.  We met a father and son couple from Australia while eating our dinner and hopefully they got some pics of Ryan doing the Haka, they said they'd email it to me once they got back home.  Dessert was Sticky Pudding as well as Pavlova with passionfruit.
We had the same bus driver for the ride home and it was pouring by that time.  We were so worried that our tent was going to be soaked and we'd be sleeping in the rain but his constant humor and wit kept our minds occupied until we got home.  As luck would have it, we didn't get a drop of rain the whole night at the campground, apparently it only rained 20 km away. Just fine with us!  :)

Such a great day!!!
p.s. Hope you had a great birthday Mary!  :)  xoxo

November 15th & 16th - Days 7 & 8 - Glamping Gear!

These two days were mostly spent getting up earlier than desired (7:30ish) to move the JCDV off the street into cheap or free parking.  We had Sushi Burgers for breakfast again, cheap and tasty. 

In trying to plan our road trip we thought we would attempt the hippie life for a while by living out of our van for a few weeks.  We went shopping for most of our camping (or should I say glamping) gear at a place called The Warehouse, which is very similar to Walmart so I've been calling it The Walhouse.  They also have KMart out here (I didn't think they still existed) and we found some cheap gear there too.  We'd like to not blow our budget too much... :) For all you Candy Crushers out there, we had to take a pic of this store we drove by on our way to KMart.

If you're interested in the items we purchased for the 1st of our many road trips in the coming year:
Queen air mattress & 12v pump
2 pillows & cases
2 travel mugs - I wasn't allowed to bring our awesome 20oz mugs from home :( 

Portable Butane burner (like the hot pot ones)
4 cans Butane
2 sleeping bags
1 Chilly Bin (cooler)
2 freezer packs - which we left at the airbnb place in Newmarket by accident.
4 person set of outdoor dishes - bright pink and plastic, Ryan said he was comfortable enough with his manhood.
2 camping chairs
1 Cutting Board with knives & scissors
Camping Cook set (pots and pans...)
Flashlight/torch

Saw a movie at Rialto Cinemas called "Thanks For Sharing" starring Pink, Gwyneth Paltro, Tim Robbins and Mark Ruffalo.  Basic story line was about sex addiction, temptation, resistance, denial, trust, and honesty between family and friends.  We both agreed it was a decent movie!  The Rialto Cinemas is independently owned and therefore not only offered the usual candy treats like chocolate and popcorn, but they also housed a fully licensed bar with cheese plates, gourmet cookies, ice cream and 3 varieties of warm roasted nuts.  And all of this you were allowed to bring into the theater with you.  You buy your tickets and your refreshments at the same counter and you also pick your seats at the same time.  The seats in the theater were like Grandpa chairs that didn't recline.  Big and fluffy fabric with wood arm rests big enough for two elbows and your drink.  There was also a wine bottle holder in between the seats.  The only bummer part was that they didn't have any butter or topping for the popcorn, but we still managed to eat the whole box...it was kind of our dinner! 

Took a drive up to One Tree Hill which is a beautiful park where many sheep made their homes there.   Hundreds of sheep just roaming and munching on grass.  Once again, amazing views from the top.
 

If you're curious about One Tree Hill and can only relate to the tv show, here is a link: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Tree_Hill,_New_Zealand

We headed back home to park JCDV because it was after 6pm.  :)  AND it was also Saturday which means we don't have to get up early to move JCDV because parking is free on Sundays!  :)

We were undecided for dinner but we knew we wanted cheap so we went for a walk down KyberPass Road where we had our pick of many ethnic foods, Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Italian, Irish, but we settled on Indian and shared the Lamb Roganjosh, and a Tandoori chicken salad.  Yep, it was the weirdest salad I have ever eaten but it was quite good.  (A ton of tandoori chicken, lettuce greens, green olives, tomatoes, onions, carrots and then doused in mint sauce)  Btw, in case you were wondering, I have confirmed with our waiter that the direct translation of Mint Sauce in Indian is "Mint Sauce".