Road Trip

I just returned from a bit of a weekend roadtrip with my flatmate, Ben, who just got a car on Friday. We knew going on a long trip right after getting a cheap used (and old) car could lead to trouble, but we decided to go for it. Saturday morning we woke up and left the flat by 530 to make it to the Moeraki boulders at sunrise. The boulders are really neat. They formed like pearls do; calcite built up layer by layer around a rock or fossil. The result is a bunch of large spheres. It was high tide, so most of the beach was underwater, but still a neat place. Then we drove up to Mt Cook (where Sir Edmond Hillary trained to climb Mt Everest!) and did some hiking. It was a beautiful day with gorgeous scenery. We convinced each other to continue west towards Lake Wanaka to do a bit of hiking there and possibly even skydive. We were both stoked that the weekend was going so smooth and everything just seemed to be fitting into place. Of course, no trip is perfect...

About an hour down the road from Mt Cook the car dies, just sputters a bit and dies. Luckily, we weren't too far from a small town and a nice German couple offered to give us a lift in so we could figure out what to do next. The problem turned out to be a simple fix, just needed to reattach some wires to the alternator, a bit of fiddling with the belt, adding oil (nearly empty, ouch!), and we were good to go. Did cost us (well, Ben actually) a bit of cash since we had to call the mechanic after hours, but we were all set and ready to get back on the road. Determined not to let a bit of car trouble foil our plans we continued on towards Wanaka where we stayed the night in the car and woke up early for a beautiful sunrise. The sky soon darkened and rain poured down, canceling our plans to go skydiving, and making for a mediocre hike. Still, we were determined to end the trip well. So, we headed back to the east coast to Oamaru, a small coastal town known for it's penguin colonies. The town has a cute historic district, and we got to see penguins which was really neat. They are so cute when the waddle up the shore! Unfortunately, there seems to be something wrong with the clutch now, so it looks like the car troubles aren't quite over. But, we made it home on time and overall it was a good weekend, though a bit frustrating at times. I'll try to post a few photos later, once I get them uploaded to my computer.