Malaysia : Malacca - Economy Boosters.

So.... after heeding no warning, whatersoever, from our parents on the do's and the do not's of South East Asia, we arrived in Malacca and promptly jumped into the car of a strange man handing out flyers for his 'new' hostel. Sorry to all loved ones for such irresponsible behaviour, but Anderson, as he has now come to be know, was a very lovely, kind man with a very nice, clean and fairly priced hostel called Global Travellers. In all honesty we did make him ring the hostel so we could speak to the reception and prove his affiliation with the hostel. We were put through to the co-ower, Andresons wife, Joanne, who found the whole thing more than a little funny.

The car ride to the hostel allowed Anderson to give us somewhat of a guided tour of the town and information on the history and heritage of Malacca, recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Malacca has an interesting and intriguing history amd has been ruled by a number of countries, over powering one after another for hundereds of years. The reign of these individual countries can be seen in the architecture of many buildings around the town. Notably the Portuguese, 'A Famosa', the Dutch, 'Stadthuys', and the British influence, Town Houses. We arrived at the hostel much more knowledgable about the city we were about to explore and were shown to our lovely twin, airconditioned, private room for a mere 45RM, the quivelent to 10GBP. It was peaceful, quiet and a true delight, the 5GBP per person, per night only sweetened the deal.

After a quick freshen up, there was no time for resting as we left the comfort and safety of the hostel and headed out for our first taste of real Malaysia. It was immediately apparent stepping out the door that we weren't quite prepared for the heat and humidity as we both glaced at one another vaguely amazed and confused at this rapid climate change.

First stop on our hit list was Chinatown, which is where we found the infamous Jonker Street. Jonker Street is a shopaholics delight and supplies a never ending source for browsing, eating, bartering and generally the ability to have a really good time.

We literally spent hours pinballing from store to store untill we conceeded defeat and rested at a small cafe by the river for some light refeshment and truely needed rest.

It was here that we had our very first encounter with the standed of toilet available to the public in Malaysia. On the whole, squat toilets come as standard but with very varying degrees of disgustingness. Susie naively requested directions to the toilet and left immediately still needing relief. Now, we must stress here, we are not being precious, we kid you not, these toilets make your eyes and nose run.

Jan had mentioned in passing something about Chicken Satay Sticks, this immediately become a fixation for Susie as she started asking passers by... "Where's the Satay place, you know, the Chicken on the stick dip dip place?" There were of course a Macarena of hand guestures that accompanied this question. After strolling around for more than a little while, we found Capital Satay, easily identifiable by the queue of people spilling out into the street waiting to get their Satay fix. After queuing patiently next the the cess pit that was the open gutter running along the front of the resturant, we were finally shown to our table where our own vat of bubbling, peanut sauce, lava was waiting to be violated by the two of us. With a very significant language barrier, we were pointed towards a fridge full of uncooked meat and veg, with of course, no labels. With no one to ask about the self service produce available, we blindly loaded up our tray with almost one of everything. Maybe out of curiosity or maybe out of madness we picked up a Century Egg as a side dish, Eww!

Following our selections, we now had to try and safely cook the tepid meat on a stick. We were totally out of our depth and after consuming the resonably well cooked food (if we do say so ourselves), we happened upon a lovely English speaking lady who informed us that we had just consumed the following, Liver, Kidney and Intestine, all lovingly cooked in delicious peanut satay sauce. We had well and truely done ourselves proud as our understanding of Satay is obviously very different. Last but not least... The Century Egg!!! For those of you who do not know, Century Eggs have been preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quick lime and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, giving the yolk a dark green to grey colour and the whites of the egg become a dark brown transulcent jelly. Theses are a delicacy for the locals, but we literally found the comcept rather hard to swallow. It took maybe 5 minutes for us both to comsume our divided portions, but we were not to be defeated, and with some gentle oesophogeal massage we managed to get it down the trap with only a gag here and a shudder there.

With the fusion of Euopean and Malaysian influences doused with a splash of Little India and a Pinch of Chinatown, we were fast falling in love with Malacca. The sudden change from the very westernised Singapore to rough and ready Malacca really rang true the saying, 'Malaysia, The True Asia.'.

Peace and Love,

Jan and Sooz

Singapore : Food for thought.

The next morning we headed straight to Golden Mile on the MRT to try and arrange our bus ticket across the border to Mallaka in Malaysia. Golden Mile is known as the Thai area of Signapore, although left a lot to be desired as the streets were sparse and unless we missed something glaringly obviously, the biggest trade in this area seemed to be shops specialising in arranging wives from abroad who were apparently 'very happy to do household chores.' Pfft. They wouldn't much like a British wife then.

Whilst in the neighbourhood we had a breakfast of chicken porridge (surprisingly delicious), whilst Susie ate pork ribs, noodles and deep fried tarrow. Whilst Susie ordered food, Jan hunted for a refreshing beverage to combat the heat and returned with a meal in a cup - an avacado and honey smoothie, and a sour sop (local fruit) smoothie.

We took a mosey on down to Arab street where the paths were overflowing with fabric.
And although the fabrics were beautiful, thats all we have to say about this area. Apart from the overpriced shisha. Overpriced.



We couldn't resist a final visit to Little India again to buy more trousers. Whilst here we indulged in the most beautiful, flavoursome samosa either of us had ever eaten. Chinatown also deserved a revisit for a denim jacket Jan had been lusting over and finally decided to spurge 7GBP on it. Beauticians vied for our attention and we finally gave in to having our eyebrows threaded, ouch, but damn they looked sharp.

Whilst Jan bought the denim jacket Susie indulged in an even cheaper Merlion T-shirt which she needed to cover her shoulders before we visited the Buddha Tooth Temple.

After yet another site seeing marathon and foodie tour, we couldn't stomach another flipping noodle, so we went to 7 eleven, bought a load of unusual junk food and stuffed our faces watching movies under the air con. Bliss.

Before leaving for Mallaka we culled a load of clothes to make room for all the stuff we had bought (and were intending to buy in Malaysia and Thailand.) These clothes unbeknownst to Chee Yean, are still sitting in the back of his spare room wardrobe. Sorry Chee Yean.

Peace and Love,

Jan and Sooz.

Singapore : Girls on Tour.

We arrived late after negotiating the Singapore public transport system and failing to get off the train at the right stop. What we later found out was usually a maximum of a one hour journey took us nearly 3 hours to complete. Tourist commuter cards are a must have in Singapore and literally got us from A to B to Z throughout our time there. London underground could learn a lot! We were staying with a friend of Jan's from her days as an SHO at Hallamshire who was now a consultant in ENT in Singapore.  Chee Yean kindly put us up in the spare room in his flat and even entrusted us with it whilst he went on business in Hong Kong. It was a delight to have some air conditioning now that we were back in a very hot country again!

The morning of our first day we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do with ourselves and headed cluelessly toward the nearest most interesting sounding stop on the underground (MRT), Harbourfront. There was a huge mall at Harbourfront that we had to negotiate in order to reach Sentosa, it was full of American and British shops, most notably a large shrine to Barbie which we found quite distasteful and demonstrated the power of the Western Media. A bridge across the harbour led to a place called Sentosa Island, a big amusement park full of bright colours and lots of touristy things to see, it was a little bit garish for our tastes.

Seeking a more 'cultural' experience, we headed to Little India where we were greeted by waves of heat and an abundance of little hawker stalls selling food we had never seen or heard of before. It was a smorgasboard of new smells and sights and we couldn't wait to get stuck in. Even in Singapore, which has a reputation as being rather over priced, we found some comfy looking patterned trousers for less than 2GBP and were feeling well chuffed at our bargain purchases. Lunch was a plate full of yummy treats, deep fried fish, bread, marinated cuttlefish amongst others, we crossed our fingers that we weren't going to regret this culinary adventure and the multitude of local food to follow.

Next we made for Clarke Quay, a collection of old warehouses which had been revamped and turned in to snazzy looking restaurants and bars beside the river. We had a little wander around here before boarding a water taxi which took us through the city seeing all the best sites along the way.

We docked at Marina Sands Bay, a huge complex of three towers with an enormous boat (The Skypark) perched on top, spanning their entire width. The entrance fee was a bit steep but worth it, and from the boat deck where we sat with an equally steeply priced beverage, we were able to see the most breath taking views of Singapore city scape. We had views of the Gardens By The Bay which looked like something alien and space age from War of the Worlds. Hundred of cargo ships were visible out at sea from this great height too.

Raffles Hotel is aparently a notable sight to see in Singapore and we had heard that it had an interesting museum, but after a half hour of wandering around asking befuddled looking bystanders where the museum was, we finally found out that it had been shut down a few months beforehand. The hotel, with its pretty courtyard and marble staircases was still very impressive though. Unfortunately our budget did not stretch to the Chanel and Gucci shops this side of town and so we made for the underground once again to check out China Town.

Jan was suffering from a most horrendous cold and as we arrived at Chinatown it was all sniffles and sneezes as we wandered through the neverending market stalls full of souvenirs. Amongst the drivel and tat of the stores, we witnessed a local drink being made with crushed sugar cane pressed between what looked like meat grinders, but in actual fact 'milked' the sugar water from the cane. In the centre of this district was a food court full of Chinese cuisine, we were after a traditional feast. After much deliberation we settled upon pig leg (and trotter), a greasy bowl of sesame chicken-like soup (which unnervingly looked and tasted much like the pork) and for pudding we "indulged" in a bowl of hot and cold pudding; a bowl of crushed ice with sweetened red beans and peanuts on top. The suspicious looking brown stains in the ice really put us off, fortunately it melted quicker than we could eat it, ha!

Our first day in Signapore had been a twelve hour adventure marathon and we were fast falling head over heels for this city with its diverse culture appealing to all travellers requirements.

Peace and Love,
Jan and Sooz.

Australia : Sydney - whistle stop tour.

After such an awesome time in Nz we were sad to leave this great country. Just a quick skip across the pond and we had arrived in Sydney. We were very grateful for a pick up from the airport by Jan's uncle, Freddie and his friend John. Jan hadn't seen her uncle in almost 8 years, so it was somewhat of a family reunion.

When we arrived at the house we met Jans little cousins Josh and Jake who were real characters, and Jo and John, friends from England who were staying since emmigrating. Clare insisted that we head out for dinner and we went to the RSL for some top notch Chinese food. It was so nice to catch up.


We spent Friday with Jo and John. John has been unemplyed since emigrating and so had plenty of time to show us the sights ;) We caught the train in to the centre and as we arrived in to the harbour area we were gobsmacked by the view of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge ahead of us as we exited the underground and were excited to see the landmarks we had only ever heard about or viewed on postcards.

The Sydney Opera house proved to be as astonishing as we had anticipated. It literally left us speechless and we were amazed at how far we had come around the world.

 The morning was spent exploring the waterfront and catching the local Ferry boat around to Darling Harbour where the four of us enjoyed a delicious steak sandwich and chips at a bargain $10, thank you Pontoon! A short walk over the bridge took us to The Maritime Museum where we walked up the countless steps to the top of the lighthouse for a delightful view.

In the afternoon we headed to Manley Beach to hunt around in souvenir stores and catch a setting sun over the waters full of surfers.

Back at 'The Rocks' Sydney Harbour, Jo and John took us to the oldest pub in Syndey for a quick drink before parting ways and leaving us two girls to wander the city at night. After bumbling around the local market stalls, chomping on liquorice and trying to avoid scoffing too many goodies, we had whet our apetite just enough for a drink under the bridge at a bar with a prime position high above the streets. We bought the most expensive apples and bottles water known to mankind with a grand total of $13 (8.60 GBP) WTF! After deciding not to spend ridiculous amounts walking the arches of the bridge like so many other tourists do, we settled on a gentle stroll instead and got just as good a view of the night time skyline. Coincidentally it was the weekend of the Vivid light show, in which the city became a canvas for light, music and ideas, the centrepiece of course being the Sydney Opera House on which a projector cast an array of brightly coloured patterns.




On Saturday morning (after oversleeping massively) we cooked everyone a proper fry up breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns; the full works. Our plan for the day was to attend Josh's party at laser siege. The afternoon was spent chatting at 'the grown ups' table, munching on delicious snacks and getting in a few arcade games including personal favourites, pin ball and Mortal Combat ("FINISH HIM!"). There's no rest for the wicked and straight after the party we had a quick coffee before catching the train to Vivid lightshow with all of the gang. We saw more buildings with multicoloured designs shining all over them and the Opera House was again a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns, the kids loved it. It was a lovely evening with the Doughties roaming around admiring Sydney at night. Some glow sticks had been left over from the boys party which were joined together to make leashes for them, the streets were packed with people and both of our maternal natures emerged as they weren't allowed more than arms distance away.

Sunday was to be a big beach adventure. We'd planned a tour of the best beaches in Sydney, stopping by  Marubra, Coogee, Tamarama, Clovelly and finally Bondi. Even the big kids in the group were excited at the pospect of a McDonald's breakfast stop on the way. The weather was fine and warm with blue skies, we all took off our shoes and walked along the beaches daring to dip toes in the reasonably chilly waters edge.

When we reached Bondi we set up camp on the Beach and most of the group stripped down their bathers and went rushing in to the surf (for all of 10 minutes.) You can't be at Bondi Beach and not go for a swim. We bothed grabbed a child under the arm (Josh and Jake that is) and launched them somewhat reluctantly in to the waves.

Whilst changing back in to our dry clothes we were approached by a TV crew and asked if we would mind being on the Australian Embarrassing Bodies "Down Under." As ever we went along with it and ended up questioning Dr Sam about reapplying sun cream after swimming and other riducilous things that we will be cringing about for a long time to come.

Jan's Family Evening:

Freddy and Clare had arranged a family meal at the Endeavor. It was a big night for me as the whole Doughty family were due to come. Uncle Lenny, grandma, my cousin Katrina and her son's, my cousin Kylie and her daughter Sky.

Nearly five years since my dad passing away I was prepared for this to be an emotional evening and it was. It was incredible to see my granma that I hadn't seen since I was a very little girl, even if she wasn't quite sure who I was anymore. Uncle Lenny looked so much like my dad that it took my breath away, seeing my dad's family who had emigrated to Australia when he was just a young boy, and being so interested in his daughter and the life we had been living across the oceans from them up until now was very touching. Kylie and I talked about how we had, had a photo of one another in the living room throughout our childhoods, a cousin I never thought I would get the opportunity to meet. Susie played camera-woman extraordinaire for the evening as she patiently took snaps of the family all together. In the space of just a couple of days it felt as though I had gained a whole new family and I know my dad would have been over joyed for me to spend time with his brothers and their families. I even learned a new nick name for my dad, 'Blue Eyes' his brothers called him this when he was younger, they thought he could do no wrong in the eyes of their mum. This evening felt as close as I'll ever get to being with my dad again, he would have been so proud of our adventures and the visit to Australia, it was a night I will never ever forget.

Monday morning was an early start and Freddy kindly gave us a lift to the airport to catch our long haul flight to Singapore. We hope to be able to come back to Australia again for more than a whistle-stop tour next time. Sydney is just the beginning!

Peace and Love,

Jan and Susie.

NZ : Christchurch - Sweet As 'ey.

Having gained a couple of hours from our rained off walk at Mount Cook, we had a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive to Christchurch, and some time to go exploring. The gales were blowing the car from side to side on the road and the usually placid lakes where being whipped up in to a frenzy by the unusual winds. As we rounded corners on to exposed areas of roads we were fearing that we might lose total control of the car! Susie managed an awesome job of driving and got us safely out of the danger zone. We took a detour to Lake Tekapo, a place Ruth had advised us to visit, and saw the most unthinkably beautiful waters we had yet encountered.

High up in the national park on top if Mt John was an observatory and cafe where we couldn't resist carrot cake and coffee/teas whilst indulging in the views.

On the way to Christchurch we picked up Xavier, a hitchhiker that we had met once before at Fox's glacier. The poor dude was so knackered we gave him a pillow and forced him to get some shut eye on the way. We pick up hitchhikers to know that they're safe and not in the clutches of nasty people rather than for conversational purposes so we often give them a snack and the opportunity to have a rest from the road.

Our arrival in Christchurch was surprisingly warm. Our arranged friend of a friend was out of town and Sophie, a friend from school kindly put us up for the night( and the following three nights!).
Sophie is a medic in NZ and as she had Monday off of work we decided to frolick around Christchurch.

We went to the re:start centre, a shopping mall made out of shipping containers and found some goodies for the family, we stopped by the monument of empty chairs representing the people who died in the Christchurch earthquakes 2 years ago.

 Across the street was the 'Cardboard Cathedral' which is currently a work in progress. The shipping containers and traffic comes have become an iconic symbol of the post-earthquake Christchurch and are still scattered on most streets within the city centre. On the anniversary of the disaster these comes are used to make shift vase.

We drove to Lyttleton for lunch at the Porthole and marvelled at the quirky interior made within yet again a well used shipping container, once we'd filled our bellies we went to the She chocolate shop in Goveners Bay to indulge in artisan goodies, a night in front of the tele was just what the doctor had ordered and we watched an awesome selection of classic Rom-coms including 'while you we're sleeping' and ''my best friends wedding'  while scoffing down the chocolate covered
Florentines we'd bought earlier.

Being in one location for more than just a night or two meant that we could spend time doing necessary errands and the following day was filled with posting boxes home, a doctors visit and shopping for things to make a lovely dinner of fajitas for the girls who were so kindly letting us stay.
Sophie and her medic friends had invited us to tag along to the weekly pub quiz, where the team 'Cunning Stunt' (a name that Susie despised) came a fair fourth.

Our final day in New Zealand saw us chilling out in the 'Make' cafe. We spent the day knitting headbands with wool we'e bought from the local charity shop. The cafe was a genius idea and once we'd finished knitting we had a field day in the adjoining haberdashery to decorate our crafts.

Thanks to New Zealand and all those that made our travelling even more of an adventure.

Peace and love,

Jan and Sooz.

NZ : Queenstown and Mount Cook

While Susie was suffering the ill effects of a nasty cold, she slept in the back seat as Jan made their way along meandering mountain roads. The further south we went the colder the weather became, dropping down to a chilly minus 4 overnight. When we reached Queenstown we parked up and hit the streets to investigate this new city. We'd heard a lot about the infamous Fergburger, less popular with the locals, but incredibly well known amongst tourists. We chose a Mr Big Burger and some indulgent onion rings to share, it was enormous, and certainly lived up to its reputation. We made our way to the other side of Queenstown to Wolly's house, our next host. He lived in a beautiful Tudor style home next to the lake, but was rather odd so we left swiftly the next day.

Whilst in Queenstown Susie had decided to do the Trilogy Loop Horse Riding Experience, a 3 hour ride following the trail of Sauroman's army for 22km of good canters, river crossings and spectacular views of The Misty Mountains, Wizards Vale and the Mighty Methadras.

We drove out to Dart stables in Glenorchy first thing on Friday morning where Susie kitted up in riding boots and floor length waterproof coat and met her beautiful gelding, Big. And big he was indeed. At 17 hands 2 he was a horse to be reckoned with, a gentle giant but a great powerhouse.

Some of the horses from this stable were used in the actual Lord of the Rings film, including a horse named Trevor who was a regular star.

Whilst Susie appeased her horsy desires, Jan went for a long run around the lake and explored Glenorchy, enjoying a coffee and talking to a lovely local in the village art gallery. Jan couldn't resist a little treat for herself and bought a book called 'The Crafty Girls New Zealand Road Trip', the book smelled and looked so good it had to join the ever increasing collection weighing down her travel pack.

After a lunch in the local pub the weather lifted and allowed us to travel down the gravel track to Paradise, a filming spot used in Lord of the Rings, The Lovely Bones and X-men for its immense beauty, snow capped mountains towering over rolling fields.

Unfortunately, as with all adventures, there are ups and downs to be tackled and often adversity rears its ugly head. On the way back in to Queenstown the car started making some strange noises and the thermostat was going wild. Smoke was coming from the engine and our hazard lights came in to use as we trundled down the hill toward the nearest garage where Jonathan took good care of us and Sooby Subaru our beloved car.

After closer inspection on the hoist we found out we had blown a gasket, literally. There was a hole in the radiator piping that required immediate attention. Kindly Jonathan dropped everything to attend to the damsels in distress as we cooed over our poorly vehicle and made arrangements for a hire car to ensure our safe journey to Christchurch nearly 500km away.
A mere hour later the car was fixed and the rental was sorted, Jonathan was kind enough to give us a very cheap deal and we are eternally grateful.

That evening, Mission : Sell Car began in full force. We set out to the streets with posters and flyers in hand with the intention of defacing every available notice board. In true Jan and Sooz style, despite Queenstown being off-season and virtually desolate, we had sold the car within 12 hours to a lovely couple from Argentina for the same price we bought it for.

To celebrate our unexpected success we headed for a craft market to browse the local goods and had an Antipasto board of cheesy, meaty delights. Susie made good use of the car money to invest in a new tattoo. She discussed the design in depth with Ben at White Tiger Tattoo on Shotover street until they had devised the perfect arrangement and site for the tattoo. As a memory of our time in New Zealand Susie decided on a little silver fern to accompany the saying 'Not All Who Wander Are Lost.'

 The ribs are a terrible place to get tattooed and she wouldn't advise anyone to have a tattoo there, half way through the procedure Susie's peripheral vasculature began to shut down, accompanied by sweating and dizziness, cue Jan running for sugary beverages.

The drive to Mount Cook was about 3 hours, but the journey was broken up by a visit to the glacial salmon farm where the Sashimi and cold smoked salmon were going for half price, which meant that we could buy twice the amount. The water at the salmon farm was incredibly blue and the lady there explained that it was glacial silt that was responsible for this stunning topaz colour.

Torrential rain and the blackest night either of us had ever seen ensured minimal adventure on arrival to Mount Cook village, we made a masterpiece out of some smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, got in to our jammies, and were overly excited about doing laundry. We snuggled under our fluffy duvets and read books whilst the storm raged outside sounding as though it might blow away the building.

Ever ambitious, the following morning we attempted a blustery walk along the Hooker Valley trail, unfortunately gale force winds, pouring rain and a necessary drive to Christchurch disrupted our plans and saw us retreating back to the car, once again being defeated by mother nature.

Mother Nature - 2
Jan and Sooz - 0

The final leg of our NZ adventure would take us from Mount Cook to Christchurch, our departing location and last stop before Australia.


Peace and Love,

Jan and Sooz.

NZ : Wanaka - Eco-friendly Nature Gangster.

We started out bright and early on our second day in Wanaka and attended to some business like buying hats, sending postcards and sourcing a giant airmail parcel for all of the winter clothing and trinkets we are about to send home before Asia. A little spot of further market research was in order as we stopped at a cafe to yam down cheese scones, drink more loose leaf tea and freshly ground coffee whilst critiquing the bland decor of the coffee shop.

Whilst knocking back the dregs of our drinks we received a text from The Boys inviting us on a drive in the Jeep out to Ahuriri National Park for some walking and shooting.
The drive out was long and winding, the scenery was spectacular in the basin of Lindis Pass surrounded by towering mountains. The air was cold and crisp, we could see each breath blow out before us. Traipsing through the snow really cleared out the cobwebs.

We pulled up to a little hut with only 4 beds and a tiny fireplace. The hut had a woodshed and chopping block where we got over enthusiastic hacking up logs with an axe to keep ourselves warm. This was the starting point of our walk through the winters woods. We kitted up with a boom box and Frisby, all wearing our finest beanie hats and hoodies ready for our Eco-gangster adventure.

 Being in the middle of nowhere meant that we could pump up the volume to our hearts content as we jumped from side to side over small creeks, stopping to admire the icicles which had formed and were hanging down from the bank.

Gordie and Jimmy introduced us to the art of tree pushing, where fragile dead trees are easily toppled to the forest floor by repetitive toing and froing. We went ferral on those trees. Never have we had so much fun running around in nature. We saw a variety of different coloured and shaped fungi and marvelled at moss soft enough to curl up and camp out on.

As the sun set we made our way out of the woodlands back to the warmth of the car, tossing a frisbee between us as we went (which we subsequently lost, oops) Gordie had his rifle in the boot and Jimmy had brought with him a cross bow, as we made our way out of the park Jimmy was hanging from the passenger seat window James Bond style shooting at the hares highlighted in the headlights. Jimmy managed to shoot and swiftly kill the first hare we saw, with Gordie not too far behind with the second one, which certainly gave him a run for his money quite literally.
Having caught enough hares for dinner it was our turn to have rifle practice, we shot at bottles and felt just a little bit badass using a scope for the first time.

We put the hares on the roof and headed back home for dinner, stopping on the way at the summit of Lindis Pass to stargaze through Jimmys telescope and snack on cold rice pudding, we were all huddled in a blanket as the weather dropped to -3 C.

Back at the boys gaff Gordie gave us a lesson in skinning and gutting a hare. After he had demonstrated with the first we were set to task on the second. Both being medically minded we swiftly removed the fur/skin of the hare and got our hands stuck in to remove the innards, inspecting all of the organs with curiosity and even dissecting the heart to look at the anatomy. Gordie prepared a real treat with the back fillets of the rabbit which he pan fried to perfection.

After a truly immense day we crawled in to the den for our last nights sleep in Wanaka before venturing to the big and exciting city of Queenstown.

Thanks goes to The Boys for such an excellent stay and some mad cap adventures.

Peace and love,

Jan (Virgo II) and Susie (Saggitarius II)
Out of the unordinary.

NZ : Wanaka - Eco Friendly Nature Gangsters.

After a full day on the glacier and an evening drive, it would be an understatement to say that we were grumpy and tired. The Loney Planet suggested that Red Star produced the best burgers in town with 21 different combinations to choose from... It was the perfect place to eat our emotions, again.
(See reoccurring  theme).

Fully feasted and busting at the seams, we reluctantly headed to our next couch surf but were on theverge of  detouring to the nearest hostel to avoid any kind of social interaction which would have been just plain annoying! Over the past few months we have come to realise that couch surfing can be very hit and miss. Although most of our hosts have been wonderful, other have be darn right weirdos that we've refrained from mentioning on the blog so far. We just didn't have the energy to sport our game faces in the event of meeting yet more freaks...
Luckily for us, 'The Boys' as they have come to be known, were a charming and hilarious bunch. We soon grew very fond of them and had a definite soft spot for Gordie, Jimmy, Lionel and Callum.

During our stay at 'The Boys' we commandeered their man built Den, a make shift structure in the corner of the room full of blankets, pillows and duvets. It was even fully equipped with a television and an Xbox 360. The Den could only be accessed by crawling behind the dining room table and raising the cotton door to our humble abode. We had 3 excellent nights sleeping in here which really rekindled our inner child. We even managed to all pile in for a movie night which was cosy.

We began out first day in Wanaka with a good old tramp up Mount Iron to view the surrounding mountains. We wandered off of the beaten track on to snowy ground and clambered over mossy rocks, we even dared to walk out on to the overhanging ledge at the top of the mountain.

Some years ago the idea of us opening a coffee shop together had been discussed and has been bubbling around in our imaginations ever since, so when we stumbled upon 'the Dummies guide to opening a Coffee Shop' at the boys we couldn't help but take it as a sign and enlisted their help in doing some market research in the town. We headed for a funky cafe after working up a fierce appetite on the walk and later on got ourselves an ideas journal to pour our creativity on to.

Lake Wanaka was just a short stroll from the cafe and we headed out to the end of the pier to watch the large eels and trout swimming around in the crystal clear water. The boys continued to humour our mad missions as we encouraged them to take us to Waste Busters - the local recycling centre and heaven for those who love the pre-loved. We ended up accidentally leaving with yet more vintage clothes and books for bargain prices.

We dropped the lads off back home and headed for the supermarket to grab traditional British fare of sausages, mash and spring greens which we were cooking up for dinner, in a house full of boys vegetables are a rarity and we got some funny looks about serving them!

Everyone slipped in to a food coma as we played a game of Settlers of Catan and enjoyed our herbal teas.

Our time in Wanaka really warrants two instalments in the blog as we did so much whilst we were there so for now we shall leave it as :

To be continued...

Peace and Love,

Jan and Sooz.