27.06.2003

Due to rain we are currently sitting in a Backpacker in Wanaka after we had 14 days of sunshine in the biggest city of the south island of New Zealand, Christchurch...

We have been already 14 days in Christchurch and by the look of it there will be a view more. During those days we organised ourselves and bought a car, applied for the tax number and besides that were looking for a job. We actually did not really know if we should hunt for a job again since Suse worked so long and almost without a break in Melbourne. So she fancied more travelling than working. But she is the one who's got a job already again while Konni is still hunting for one. Through this we can at least cover the costs for accomodation which is quite expensive here.
Well better write something about Wanaka... It is the first time that we do a trip into the mountains and it is raining where as we expected some snow. The locals say that the snow arrives mid July by the earliest and then everything will be pretty crowded close to the snowfields.
At the moment it is rather funny to watch all the cool guys in a bad mude stepping with their snowboards under their arms through the paddels. Cafes seem to be the only alternatives to the snowfield by the look of it.

During the 6 hour drive from Christchurch to Wanaka we had more luck with the weather. The sun was smiling down on us and only in the afternoon some small clouds came over the mountains. So the view towards the closer and closer comig mountains with the white caps was beautiful. On the way we passed several hundrets if not thousands of sheep and we had an encounter with a herd of cattle. They were just running around on the street and we had to go right through the flock of them. First they all ran away from us but a bit later they turned around and came straight towards us... since the farmers came from the other side with their trucks.
Anyway, the sheep seem to be the main inhabitans of the islands. New Zealand welcomed the 4 millionst citizen last year but counts around 60 million sheep on the islands. No wonder that other nations do jokes about the 'sheepnation'.

We used yesterdays afternoon to pay the 'Puzzling Worlds' of Wanaka a visit. A part of the worlds was a two storied labyrinth where one had to go to all four corners and come back to the entrance the complete the cours. After this adventure we visited rooms with crazzy optical effects which made you feel dizzy from time to time...