Day 63

Lighting done kindly by the recent PhD graduate Sebastion. More of his work: http://sebastienvoerman.com/

Unknown to us at the time, this would be our last day for the South Island road trip, and it was also Christmas Eve (this we were aware of).

We woke up around 8am and had breakfast before heading into town. On the way we received a message from the lady we had met with the large beach house, unfortunately she had selected someone else for her spare room. However we also got a message from one last house who said we could come and look at it after 10. We got a little lost finding it, first finding instead a house undergoing a large renovation. Finding the house on offer was more startling.

The large building at first seemed like it was surrounded by hording occupant. As we met the guy, he explained the house was 100 years old and up until recently had not been given permission for renovations. Here was a quick rundown of the place: Three story building, with five self – made extra little rooms scattered around the yard. A total of currently 16 housemates occupying all the rooms, including the attic which had a ladder bolted to the outside of the house as a fire escape. There was a very small kitchen and security cameras on all the floors. After being given the surprisingly high prices for the rooms, we thanked the host for being able to see the place, and was also offered a large communal Christmas lunch for tomorrow.

Having been thoroughly shocked we drove over to the warehouse and bought some blue Christmas lights,  as a means to decorate sue. We went to a nearby park for lunch, where we had a go at a little flying fox before sitting in the shade and filling up our water containers. Counting our losses I gave my friend Sebastien, in Nelson, a phone call. Through an energetic conversation he was able to weasel out of me why I called, and we were invited to have Christmas with them! A little relived, we filled up Sue, and Marianne began the long 5 hour drive to Nelson.

Along the way we stopped by a little waterfall to stretch our legs, and got to see a wild Weka again! It had been a long time since they had been around, as they were not found in the south of the South Island. On our way through Murchison we stopped again at the large op shop, which was still open, to find some little gift as a thank-you to Seb and his family for Christmas. I found a very old little red book, for four dollars. As we neared Richmond (a suburb near Nelson) Seb informed us that they had pitched up a tent for us, as their grandparents were also there for Christmas. This turned out to be very helpful for finding their house, and as we pulled into their driveway, our two month road trip finally came to its end. We met all the Voerman’s and moved our bed into the tent, with Seb kindly setting up the Christmas lights inside it.

We shared a wonderful dinner, and also called Ann to surprise her about our location before going to sleep in our incredibly spacious tent – we could have fitted Sue in it!

Entree Written By Jack