December 5th It's a rainy Sunday, and all the shops - including the hire place we wanted to go to to get bikes to go on a long ride - are shut. So it's back to civilisation and internet. We had our first experience of a NZ Christmas parade today. An awful ecclectic mix of bad music and sequins that will burn in my memory for a long time. We've swapped our little honda civic for a sleeper van, which was a process and a half. We were told to arrive at the hire place at 12pm Friday, and the car would be there ready for us. Only, it wasn't. We called at around 11:30 for directions to the place, only to be told that the van wasn't there, and our scruffy 19 year old friend Byron was in fact in Auckland, on the North Island. Brett someone was looking after the business while he was away. So we called Brett, who didn't know who we were. He said something about a couple who were going to drop a van off to him, and would need a lift to the airport - was that us? It wasn't his job to find us the van, ANYWAY. So we drove around Christchurch debating our options. 20 minutes later, Byron called back, and talked to Brian. His instructions were that the car had been left in either Orchard Road or Peter something drive at the airport. We were to go there, and go to either the domestic or international airport and find either "backpacker rentals", "Backpacker transport" or "Downtown Rentals" and ask for the key. The first part of this somewhat vague set of instructions was easy - we found a shabby looking van parked in one of the streets, and assumed it was ours. So it was off to the airport for the next part. There were none of the rental places he mentioned. We were directed to a phone, where we called one. She'd never heard of us, and didn't understand what we were asking, but decided to send a shuttle bus to collect us regardless. In the meantime, we called the head manager in Auckland, who gave us a new job - to go and look on the tyres of the car. So we did that, to no avail. This time I rang Byron and got a new set of instructions - to go to either the domestic or international terminal Information desk, and ask for the keys there. So, back to the airport - I got to the info. desk, and asked for keys for either of us - there were none. I walked back to the car dejected, when Brian had a brainwave, and said to ask for the keys to the names of the 3 companies he'd named. So I went back and asked again. No luck. I was begging by this stage - were there any keys left with any information whatsoever about ANY of those companies? She searched again, and found one from a "P. Morris"....lo and behold, it was ours. I could have kissed her... except she had been rolling her eyes for the past 10 minutes. I didn't think she'd appreciate it. Who would have thought it would take 3 hours to swap a car for a van, that had been organised a month prior? We're driving anti-clockwise around the south island. Yesterday we drove through Picton, a town on the Eastern side of the island. We'd explored there a bit, and were driving on, with the amazingly blue ocean to our right. "Dolfins!" Brian said excitedly, and we pulled over and jumped out. We walked through thick tall grass, over a train line, and trhough some more thick tall grass to get to the beach (who would have known about the driveway 100m down the road?). We ran excitedly over a dune of grey sand, and gazed out to the ocean to see...... kelp. Kelp gracefully bopping up and down on the swell of the water. We walked along the beach for a while collecting rocks, and turned back to the car. "Look", I said, pointing to some footprints "we're not the only ones to make that mistake - other people have been here too!" "They're our footprints, Lara", Brian pointed out gently. Bugger. Last night I'd just drifted off to sleep, when Brian climbed into the van, and rustled around for something. "Here we go",I thought. "Sweetie?" He said hesitantly....."Have you seen the keys?" That question precipitated the next hour and a half of searching through the entire van. Lifing up the mattress, emptying the cornflake box, EVERYWHERE. Eventually we made the decision to leave it till the light of morning. I started putting things back in their places, and Brian went to the back to close the back door. And there they were....in the lock, all along. We (you know, I should stop using that word. Most of the time I've said "we" I've usually meant "Brian"!) have managed to lose a few things along the way. Brian's warm coat, Brian's socks and slipper things, Brian's sunnies, the key, and today - our water container. If we ever come back here, we'll be able to trace our tracks, just by following the trail of items left behind.... Despite these emails full of near miss disasters, we're having an awesome time, with lots of beautiful scenery and experiences. We went through a cave filled with ice-cold water up to my chest (Brian's waist)...didn't help that I went first and found all the underwater potholes. Next time I'll let him go first and discover them! We climbed up waterfalls with white water rushing over the top, and the limestone walls of the cave shot up either side of us vertically. It was pitch black when our torches were off, and the water was pretty fast in some points. Anyway, I think that's it for this email. Not the most exciting stories to tell, so I should probably stop typing and relieve Brian of his boredom (he's sitting half asleep in a chair behind me.... I don't know what happened to the agreed "you can write the next email" I said after the first one)
