Heading South

I had a rough night last night, even though I had a great place to sleep. I think I had food poisoning, which I have never had before but I was sick at 1:30 in the morning. Needless to say, when I finally got up around 9am, I still wasn’t feeling all too well. Thank goodness I had a hotel room cause being sick in the car or a tent would have been super miserable.

I got myself going and headed out to a town called Bluff, New Zealand. This south of Invercargill, right on the water. I have never seen an area like it before. Most coast lines have waves of course and these crash just like any other….BUT if you looked farther out about 100 or 200 yards there are massive waves out in the middle of nowhere! They were all just sloshing and crashing around, nothing like I have ever seen before. It would be a huge mess for a boat to encounter which is why they have a signal station out on tip of the town. There was a nice long walk but since my stomach was still a bit uneasy, I decided to just jump back in the car.

I headed out to the Queens Gardens (notice that I like these kinds of things yet??) to check out a few places the hotel I had stayed at (Victoria Railway Hotel) had mentioned. My first stop was the rose garden. Surprise surprise huh! I wandered around and took a bunch of pictures yet again, and then meandered over to their aviary area where they were housing some different birds from cockatoos to different parakeets. Unfortunately, they only have one area that you can walk into but it was still nice. The cockatoo was right up against the front of his cage area and pretty much ignored me until I started to walk away, then he said “Pretty Bird”…so I turned around and he put his head down wanting me to scratch it. Of course I wasn’t about to put my hand in his cage, so I felt bad but oh well. I then headed over to an area where they housed all sorts of other animals from rabbits, chickens, pigs and deer to check them out. I have never seen a red deer before, they had 2 of them. The males have velvet antlers which are really pretty. If I could live on a farm with a bunch of animals like bunnies, sheep, chickens and the sort and enjoy it I would lol but I know it is a lot of work ;)

Yellow and Pink Rose

Pig with Nose Ring

Odd Bird

Claude Monet Rose

Arbor

I then decided it was a good time to head to Te Anu where I would be spending the night before I headed off to Milford sound. The roads are very long around here and you don’t see too many people so when I saw 2 young guys hitch hiking I passed them, and kept driving…then I turned around and felt bad so I picked them up hahahaha. Jeremy and Nicholas, who are from Switzerland are just out of high school and doing 3 months of holiday. They were going to Te Anu as well so what the heck right??? So here I sit right now, in a camping park updating my blog. I ate peanut butter and jelly for dinner (to be safe…lol) and they are in the little kitchen area cooking up a storm some rice mix thing lol. We are hanging out tomorrow and going to explore, then head to Milford Sound early Sunday morning for a cruise of the Sound and then I will bring them back to Te Anu and bid them farewell, while I make my way to Queenstown.

Here is till tomorrow!