Christian & Mari Down Under: Report from Punakaiki + pictures from Wellington

After a 4.5-hr ferry ride and a long and streneous 400-km drive along the west coast of the south island we finally arrived in Punakaiki 0030 am Thursday. We are staying at a backpacker hostel called Te Oka (= the hideaway), which is located in the middle of the rainforest. It's name is certainly well earned, as we had a really hard time finding it (we drove around it for about an hour before spotting it- there was no sign on the road telling us where it was situated). It is incredibly beautiful here, so we are enjoying our stay even though though it is raining and blowing like crazy. The place had a fireplace and they baked fresh bread( the bread was amazing) and muffins every morning, so Mari was in heaven. It was great to wake up in the morning and smell newly baked bread and hear the fire in the fireplace. So since the weather wasn't on our side we went for a jog and took it easy with cacao and a book in front of the fireplace; not too bad that either:)

Today we've met the kiwi birds 'sister', the Waki bird. It is quite a charming little creature which has managed to survive despite the fact that is has no wings (but it still classifies as a bird) and run about as fast and steady as trondere after drinking moonshine.
Also, we went to see the pancake rocks and the "blowholes", a quite fascinating geological phenomenon. (google blowholes + punakaiki to find out more) .
Tomorrow we'll move on to Franz Josef Glacier to do some trekking and try glacier walking. It is a 300 km drive from Punakaiki, so we'll have to get up early even though this is against Mari's principle that 'thou shall not wake up before 10am during holydays'.

I got this shot of Mari in between her visits to the numerous shops on Cuba Street.

Since I'll be going into the consulting industry in January, I figured it'd be best if I prepare a little. From Buzzy Bee, a major second hand book shop in Wellington.