final NZ SUPERPOST!!!

Hello all, thanks to my man Brins' beautiful broadband here is a super post with pics and vids that will catch everyone up on our adventures through the end of NZ. Hope all is well and sorry for the delay. We love and miss you all and will see you real soon.

Tash and Sean - first up are some vids to catch up

 

The NZ Dogs on Blogs winner- He's a "dogfish"

 

Some other "pups" that we found

 

 one of the prettier spots we found

 

 same -just on the side of the road one day

 

 

 a video from the same spot.

 

Now back to the end of N Zed

Day 13: back to Doin’ it Deiter style

I was shaking off the fog of an open bar Diwali movie marathon at 6am when my alarm went off for the Browns game so it took me a second to realize that something was missing. The ever-present sound of rain on the roof that had tracked us for 4 days (except when it was snowing) was gone. I opened the door to find that the sun was shining and that Queenstown is surrounded by obnoxiously beautiful snowcapped mountains on all sides. I put in my headphones and quietly cheered my beloved Browns to their traditional Sunday loss while tash slept in. We got up fully recharged by our movie marathon and the early morning sun and went to ride a jet boat on the Shotover river which was going to be “a little bit more exciting” according to the staff  because of the rain. I remember thinking that it was hilarious that we didn’t have to sign a waiver as we bolted through a rocky canyon at 90K.P.H without seatbelts, darting at rocks before turning away at the last second (please watch the video!) It was worth every inch of the $129 per person and is sure to be a highlight of the whole trip. Then we went and played Frisbee golf in Queenstown Gardens, a park in the center of town, where the sun was shining and each hole brought another stunning view of the lake and surrounding mountains.  The afternoon brought another meat pie (butter chicken this time) and one of the more beautiful rides of the trip to a town called Te Anau which is a waypoint on the way to the “Milford Sound” which is the main natural attraction that drew us to NZ in the first place.

 

 

A video from the jetboat

 

 

 

 

 snow the day before

 

 same

 

 I'm HUGE in NZ. - this one is for the gentlest giant I know, we miss and love you buddy

 

 big enough menu?

 the famous "ferg-berger"

 

 

 getting ready for the jet boat

 

The view from hole 10 for my man Shannon clapper

 

the view from the disc golf course

 

same

 

Day 14: Soundin out milford.

Todays wake up brought the traditional bowl of Kellogs cruchy nut cereal out of the back of the van and the great news that the road to Milford sound was open. Apparently the recent “bit of weather” had increased the avalanche risk to the point that they had to shut it down, but after hearing that the Deiter’s were in town they scurried on up there, swept off the snow and made sure everything was safe for the trip in and out (you take the same road). Its about 120K from Te Anau (where we stayed) to the sound but it takes a few hours cause some parts are super skinny and curvy and there are plenty of sights to see on the way. We stopped at a place called Mirror lake which reflects the mountains in the background and has super cool ducks that will shoot underwater for like 20 seconds at a time huntin for whatever and then pop up in a different spot (when they dive they just disappear like Jaws got em). Then we stopped at a giant gorge/waterfall called “the chasm” where an alpine parrot called a kia landed on our roof looking for food and then tried to chew his way into our van. Then it was through a 17K avalanche zone where you want to mash the gas to get through but max out at like 20 because it’s a steep mountain road and the van has 300,000K on it. After we got out of the avalanche zone and then through a long dark scary tunnel our hearts started beating again and we descended towards the sound and our boat “the lady bowen” and our “encounter nature cruise”. The sound was beautifull and exceeded our ex-expectations which is a lot to say because NZ can spoil you after a while. Then we almost got murdered- see below

 

 

 Tash makin a goofy face outside of the road to milford

One of the waterfalls at milford go-pro style

 

Why do they call it mirror lake again?

 

Oh yeah

 

 

The kia alpine parrot outside the Diwali

 

 

Then tryin to chew his way into our van

Tash and I at Milford

                                                      Me in front of a waterfall at Milford

                                                                Then in a water fall

                                                                              our boat in the sound


                                                                          Milford sound

                                                                             Same


NZ Travel Wrap: Days 14-18


So as I write this we are at x-thousand feet cruising from Melbourne Australia to Perth and it’s a full 7 days from our last post. A combination of lack of internet access and too much fun conspired to keep us off the computer so I have to summarize the last few days in NZ and our time in Melbourne to keep all you devoted deiter-ites up to date. As for NZ we essentially spent the last 4 days traveling down to the bottom of the southern island then up the east coast to our departure city of Christchurch. Here are some highlights:

Almost getting murdered (ok I’m totally being dramatic) - so the day we went to milford sound we drove for a total of 8 hours working our way into the sound and back and then down the coast. We were looking for a D.O.C. campsite (DOC = Free) and pulled into one by a lake in the early evening. These places can have a spooky feel about them because they are generally quite remote and vaguely marked so you have a “are we sure we’re in the right place” feeling unless there are other people there. Even then there are no lights and nothing around, so you can really feel vulnerable if you let your mind wander which brings us back to the campsite. 8k down a gravel road leads us to a lot by a lake with one car in it and a young guy cooking out back. We get out so tash can use the facilities and give the guy the customary “hey we’re not wierdo’s” wave. His response – Nothin. Tash and I exchange glances and she hits the port-o pot. I’m outside our van taking things in and waiting for the guy to acknowledge me because were 10feet apart and were the only humans in 10miles. – nothing. Tash comes out of the port-o-pot and the door slams, she calls out “hello”- nothing, Ohhhh Kayyy, so now were mildly creeped out and we decide to head up this road into the woods to look for a less creepy spot (yes I realize how many horror movies start that way) and we find a small parking area with a fire pit and room for like 3 cars. We think “ok that was strange but this place is sweet and we’re just letting our imagination get the best of us” We park the van and start setting up for the night when the dude races up the trail we came in on and pulls up like right next us, hops out the back and starts cookin his dinner again without a word, like we’re not there. It was like being there were 30 open urinals and this dude slides up rite next to you, (gimme some elbow room bro)…except it was in the scary and now almost getting dark woods So we said in the beginning of this trip that we would listen to our “spider sense” and trust our instincts if we felt anything was dangerous/weird and this dude was giving us the hebegebe’s big time. Maybe he was a regular dude, maybe he wants to make skin suits out of us, we weren’t going to stick around to find out. We hauled it out of there and back on the main road. A few hours later we were rewarded with a free beachside psycho-killer free campsite where we grilled our dinner and listened to hot beats before bed.

 

                                   Here's where we ended up on that murderish night- not too bad

The next day we went to the southernmost point on the south island

                                             Tash thankin the Diwali for all of her hard work

                                                                           A southern Light house

 A big sleepy sea lion

 Same

 Now with me

 Tash at the southernmost point of the south island. closer to the south pole than the equator

                                                                It was pretty windy there

                                                               With lots of beautiful beaches

                                                                      Don't be pig headed

                                                       penguins comin out of the sea

 This is the "container mall" in Christchurch. Still very heavily damaged by the earthquake they have this mall in shipping containers in the center of town and they pick it up and move it step by step as they repair the center of the city

 

Despite some bad press that we got

We absolutely loved our time in NZ