Christchurch to Queenstown

This should be Amy & Elliot in NZ, right?

Well, we made it! The flight was a quick and painless three hours and we picked up our Xploremore hightop camper and off we went. We spent the first night in Christchurch (which is also where we fly out of) and realized that camping would not be cheap. The New Zealand dollar is not as good as the Australian dollar so we have to get used to everything being a bit more expensive.

The picture of the church is from Christchurch. Christchurch is known to be a resemblance of England in its architecture. We didn't spend too much time there because we started to get a little anxious to ski and to see some mountains.

The next few days were dreary and rainy. Our camper van is so cozy and it came with a heater and a dvd player so we were able to just hang out in there. This is such a treat for us after tenting for so long! We just love it. It's name is "Gibbo", not sure if you can see that from the picture.

The drive from Christchurch to Queenstown is approximately six hours and we did this in four days. It wasn't until our third day that we started to see the gorgeous mountains. They are absolutely breathtaking!

We are now on day five and we are currently in the lovely little ski village of Queenstown. We spent the day yesterday touring around and trying to find me some mittens. For some reason they don't stock mittens here because there is no demand for them! Seriously. We also did some research on ski and clothing hire so we can go skiing in a few days!!!! We are first going to the Remarkables and then we are going to do Coronet Peak. They are both said to be amazing. Surprisingly, its not as chilly here as we had originally thought it would be. Elliot and I were actually discussing that we were probably colder while camping in South Australia than we are here! No complaining...

So next will be the ski post. We can't wait for that one:)

Also, our cell phone from Australia is rendered useless. So we can't receive or send calls. We are going back to using Skype because it isn't worth the cost to buy a new phone AND a new sim card. So get on Skype!!

'Till next time

Love, Amy & Elliot x

Bye Bye Australia!

Wow, can you believe it's been 10 months? That's what we keep saying to ourselves and now that we are leaving it's become surreal that we've even had the chance to do this exploration of the land of Oz. So many good times, good memories and good friends that we will cherish forever.

This week in Sydney has flown by and although we had more time to explore, it still wasn't enough! We met up with Miriam and Sebastian on Friday for a very rainy day of touring around Manly and a lovely ferry ride that ended up being nice as we were docking so were were able to take some great pictures of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and the Sydney skyline.

Bondi is a happening place! The past two days have been beautiful and there are so many people out and about exercising and just taking in the views. There are also a ton of surfers and they are pretty fun to watch. We're super lucky that we were able to stay at Roberta and Helen's flat to save money and be so close to everything. Thanks so much to both of them.

Oh, and Magna is gone. We sold her. Finally. Actually, we practically gave her away. It was stressing both of us out, but she's gone and hopefully someone will get the chance to travel and explore with her. She was pretty good to us!

Today, our last day in Australia, has been spent walking all around Bondi having coffee, calling some of our family members and tonight we are going with Roberta and David for some drinks. What a way to end a trip! Tomorrow we fly out at 9 a.m. and arrive in New Zealand around 1 p.m. Believe it or not - bring on the snow! Neither of us can wait to ski and view the picturesque views we've heard so much about. We promise to post again when we get the chance.

'Till then,

Love, Amy & Elliot x

Back in Bondi

Well, we made it back to Bondi! Only to be welcomed by rain, wind and a lovely and warm flat. Margo's roomate from St. FX, Roberta opened her place up to us to stay here for the week before we fly to New Zealand. So not only do we have the comforts of a warm bed, people to chat with and tv, we also have HEAT. It's fantastic.

The trip to Bondi took us three days of traveling. The first two days of which was outback flatland. We did stop in Mildura for the night to see "The Dark Knight" and it was amazing. I'm sure some of you have already seen it and wow - Heath Ledger's performance...

Our second and third day of driving was much more lovely. We drove through the green rolling farmland and the weather started to be looking up as we crossed into the New South Whales border.

Since we have been in Bondi we have finished our taxes, toured around and met up with friends from Waikerie, Miriam and Sebastian. They arrived in Bondi yesterday afternoon and we are meeting up with them again today to do a little more touring around.

Also, not that we are excited, but 4 sleep until New Zealand!!

'Till next time

Love, Amy & Elliot x

Seeing Orange But Wanting to See White!

First things first, tickets are booked! We are on our last week of work at Nippy's here in Waikerie and then Saturday we begin our roadtrip to Sydney where we'll hang out in Bondi and try our darndest to sell our car (bye bye Magna!) and then we are flying out Monday, July 28th to head to New Zealand! Thanks to Elliot and his handy computer skills he found us some great deals on flights. We wil be staying in New Zealand for approximately four weeks when we'll fly to Thailand! If we sound excited that's because we are! We have yet to book our flights home but the tentative date for now is mid September. I promise to update all of you as soon as they are booked.

You're probably wondering about the pictures. Well there was a 100 year footy centary game held here in Waikerie on Saturday which drew a huge crowd. The boys with Elliot are his work buddies Sylvain and Roch, both from France. Roch (middle) turns 21 in September and have to fly home to take over his families vinyard. Elliot REALLY wants to go for a visit! Edwige is in the picture with me. I mentioned about her before. She's fantastic! She, Daniel, Elliot and I went out on Saturday night to the two bars here in Waikerie and it ended up being a pretty good time. It was great to finally get a picture of Daniel because as you can see in the first picture he doesn't like getting his picture taken and after many failed attemps of him ducking out of picutres and throwing his hands in front of his face he finally makes that face and wants me to send it to all of his friends in Germany. He's hilarious!

Just a note that we will continue to blog about our trip in New Zealand and Thailand on this same blog. There is no since starting a new one, I just wish I would have made a more clever name. We will have a new phone number when we reach New Zealand as well so anyone wishing to call us we'll let you know what it is as soon as we do.

Yaay!! So much to look forward to.

'Till next time!

Love, Amy & Elliot x

Adelaide and More Stuff About Oranges

We promised you a post on Adelaide, so here it is!

Although we only spent one day in Adelaide City it was long enough to do some shopping (so important) and touring around. The city is just over one million in population and is quite small and easy to get around. I, personally, knew I would love it before I went there because of what I heard about it and it didn't disappoint. Shopping at Rundle Mall, the famous brass pigs, large and new footy oval and the gorgeous countryside surrounding the area.

The hard thing about being a backpacker is not being able to shop the way we would like to. Not only do either of us have any money to justify spending on clothes, but we have no room to put them anywhere! My favorite spot in Australia to shop is Sports Girl (pictured) it is so hippie chic and I love every article of clothing and accesories they have in that store. I'm not sure why it's called Sports Girl because there isn't much sporty about it. Maybe it's calling my name? Everytime I enter this all women's store Elliot comes with but always leaves within a few minutes saying "i'll be waiting outside", and he does, patiently while I browse and dream!

Today (Thursday) we were let off work at Nippy's early because of an unheard of event - we ran out of oranges! The weather has been cold and rainy so orange pickers haven't been able to work. We don't have any work tomorrow and Monday we don't have to go in until 10 a.m. You'd think we'd be happy, but we actually want to work. We have decided to stay for another full week to make some extra cash and hold off on Sydney for a bit longer. We'll be booking our tickets for New Zealand soon! I hear Summerside is having wonderful weather - Enjoy :)

Love, Amy & Elliot x

Too Much Time On Our Hands?

We really wanted to post these pictures to our last post but our free internet time at the library was running out before it would process! The pics of the other couple is our friends Miriam and Sebastian from Germany. We both love the one in the Borat "Mankini". The left us on Saturday morning after a big breakfast and we miss them already!

We hope you enjoy the pictures of the oranges! We have a few more, but we had to take our favorites. I found the ear orange while sorting one day last week and Elliot drew on the earring and the hair. Too funny. The orange with the little button on top is actually a "Tangelo". A fruit neither of us have never heard of that tastes like a mixture between a grapefruit and an orange. Not so tasty in our opinion, but people from Japan seem to enjoy them...

Enjoy!

Love, Amy & Elliot x

PS post on Adelaide coming soon!

A Month in Waikerie

Three weeks of orange factory work DONE! Elliot and I are in the midst of debating whether to work just one more week or stay and work another few days in the following week to miss World Youth Day which is happening in Sydney. The good news is we've found some really cheap flights to New Zealand the week after World Youth Day is finished so hopefully (fingers crossed) our car will be sold by then!

We have officially been in Waikerie for a month! Neither of us can believe how fast time has flown and we have met some wonderful people who will definitely be missed and have been SO good to us! Some of which have already left us! Becs and Simon from Scotland and England respectively, gave me a new pair of aviators before leaving because it didn't suit either of them! Our new friends Miriam and Sebastian from Germany who we had a double date with to the chocolate factory and we've shared many stories and adventures with. They've both been to Thailand and have been filling us in on everything. Edwige, from France who is also working at the factory with us and is amazing travelling on her own! Daniel, also from Germany who we befriended on our first day arriving but will not let me take his picture has accompanied us to Renmark and has spent many evenings with us explaning to us how he can pick seven bins himself in one day! Honestly, amazing! Mel, who has given us an extra blanket, hot water bottle and a blow up mattress when ours failed on us and John who gave us his six man tent to use because he was moving to a trailer and didn't need it anymore. We had a big meal last night together because Miriam and Sebastian are leaving tomorrow morning so one last night with them tonight. Everyone has been so unbelievably kind to us and it's amazing how you can meet someone, chat with them and not know their first (or last name)for days and then you think "is it too late to ask them?"

My birthday was pretty great afterall! I got some nice phone calls and some lovely gifts from my Caravan friends. Elliot and I went out for a nice meal and then it was back to the factory nice and early the next day!

Tomorrow we are going to spend the day in Adelaide checking out the sights. So I will update you on that sometime next week.

Big congratulations to Margo and Steve on the arrival of Miss Sadie Chaisson! We are so happy everything went well and Elliot is so honoured to be the Godfather!

'Till next time

Love, Amy & Elliot