Did you see that F-R-E-E sign?

For the past week or so we have been exercising some great advice given by two beloved ladies we met on our flight to Auckland: "When travelling the world, follow the F-R-E-E sign!" In fact, when something isn't free, we find a way to make it free or really really cheap. Don't worry, we aren't "borrowing" (as I like to call it) anything of real value...only electricity, water, showers from random campsites, and other things of that nature. We have learned that peanut butter really does fill you up and it tastes great on a variety of crackers, breads, fruits and vegetables. We have also found that the current temperature in New Zealand is really conducive to sleeping in Cher (our rental car, model Nissan SUNNY). Her seats recline fully and are quite comfortable!

Anyhow, after a couple days of relaxation in Auckland to recover from our 4 day stint on the plane, we were on the move yet again. Accompanied by our tour guides, Lauren and her friend, Kyle, we took a short relaxing day trip to Waiheke Island. The island is about a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland and really peaceful and downright cute. The following day us girls went north for the weekend to the Bay of Islands. The views on the car ride were great (but only a warm up for what was to come on the South Island). The highlight of the weekend was probably spending a day on an tiny beach in the middle of nowhere where Jess learned how to breathe underwater (courtesy of our new air force friends/chauffeurs who had scuba gear).

After a quick nights rest in Auckland, Jess and I are on our own yet again! The government probably should have sent out a warning that someone actually gave us the keys to a car. At times it is difficult to stay on the left side of the road but....hey....we are still alive and have yet to kill anyone.

The first stop on our road trip was to Rotorua, one of the larger touristy spots on the North Island. It isn't nicknamed "Sulfur City" for nothing...the place wreaks of rotten eggs. When walking around you occasionally get a whiff of the stench and cringe. Anyhow, aside from the various activities the city has to offer, our main reason for heading in that direction was to meet up with our long lost family member, Gustavo, from the Inca Trail in Peru. He was having withdrawal and who are we to deprive him of our stunning beauty and charming wit? We took a ride to Hell's Gate, where we saw naturally boiling mud and even took a mud bath. The place stank really bad but it was interesting to see and the mud was fun to play around in. And yes, in case you were wondering, we did get a family discount.

Since we had to get to catch a ferry, the next day was spent mostly driving to Wellington. We parked Cher first in line for the ferry and turned out her lights for a nights rest. People must do this all the time as the staff was very welcoming and even gave us a delightful wake up knock on the window. Since arriving on the South Island we have done quite a bit. The views on the drive are stunning and we find ourselves looking out the side window instead of at the road (don't worry mom, we are very good drivers). One day we stopped to go white water rafting in Buller Gorge (the rapids were formed by an earthquake years past), checked out Pancake Rocks and blow holes (the pictures explain), took a short walk to a rocky beach, and saw some glow worms in a cave in Haikei. The next day we completely disregarded the "extreme danger" signs (we aren't pansies) posted on the trail and walked right up to both the Franz Josef glacier and Fox Glacier. The ice was so blue it was freaky. There were signs posted along the drive to show where the ice reached years past...it was eye opening to see how much of the glacier has actually melted. Here we are right on the Fox Glacier:

The next leg of our drive was through Arthur's Pass. Thankfully the weather cleared and we got to actually see the veiws. It is hard to put into words what the landscape looked like...so I will post pictures soon. We made it safely to Christchurch, where we are soaking up the sun right now. Since we don't want to overexert ourselves, we plan on chilling out on the beaches for a couple days (attempting to surf) and then heading back north to catch the ferry. However, if a F-R-E-E sign points us in another direction, that's where we'll be.