Epilogue

If since Day 1, you have read everything up to now, and you’re not Ann (shout out to my mum), then thank you for reading our entire journey. It has been one good drive. To all the people we met and friends we made, thank you for making our trip that much more special, and we hope it made yours special to. Our Christmas with the Voerman’s, and their wonderful hospitality while we searched for a place to stay in Nelson was amazing, and just before the new year, we found a great room in Toi Toi with a great housemate and an awesome veggie garden and view of the valley. Marianne returned the favor using her special cooking powers and, surprisingly, the family was thrilled with our little red book.

Looking back at the South Island road trip, we thought we would share some opinions. Firstly, we spent  $1,575 on fuel for the car – we almost paid off Sue! But we were also very lucky not to have any major issues with her during our travels (though I desperately want to get her serviced). We don’t know how far we drove yet, but that will hopefully be added. As far as planning for a road-trip, I would advise not to. Identify a few key places that are the must-see’s but leave the rest to discovery. You will get loaded with information on your travels, if you visit I-sites and ask around. Of course, in a country which doesn’t speak your first language, more preparation might be handy.

If you make your own little camper-car, we highly recommend curtains! This might seem obvious, but we didn’t really get into them until the last few weeks of our trip (we used towels).  A good things about not having curtains though is you get up early and use most of the day. Traveling across New Zealand does emphasize one very big aspect of this great little country – mountains.  Sue is a great car but she is turning 15 and gets a little stubborn when the road gets steep. Probably why we used so much fuel. Also, we wouldn’t recommend going to Queenstown.  Maybe it is good for skiing, but down in the town it’s cramped and expensive. Also road-trip travellers, as has been mentioned, there is literally no where to camp in Queenstown!

Last note is blogging. For us, the blog was unintentional, but it slowly developed, and has become a nice diary for us to remember and share our trip with. In part it took a longer amount of time because everything was hand written first, then typed up. Going through a hundred photos for a day also takes time to pick a handful that highlights each day.

Will there be a second road trip? Will there be a second blog? We aren’t sure yet, but we do hope to revisit the North Island before leaving New Zealand.

Thanks for traveling with us, Marianne, Jack, Sue and Salsa.

Entree Written by Jack