Troubles with the Beast!!!

Well, it's been awhile since we checked in with you. We have been traveling up the west coast through some beautiful, but pretty remote country so no easy access to the internet. We left Queenstown and started the drive through Mt. Aspiring National Park on the way to the west coast. Along the way we did a hike called Mt. Brewster which was kind of a killer. It went straight up the mountain and it was more like orange triangle nailed to trees through the woods in a straight line to the top! I almost didn't make it, but Mike managed to coax me along, and once we were out above the tree line things got easier because the awesome views distracted me from my sore legs!

After that we continued west finally coming to stop in the little town of Okarito which has turned out to be both of our favorite place so far on this trip. The town is tiny, but it is right on the ocean with wide open beaches, and a beautiful lagoon which is also a bird sanctuary. We spent the evening resting up and taking in the waves and the sun on the beach. The next day we rented kayaks and paddled out into the lagoon to do some bird watching. You can time it so that the tide takes you into the lagoon and then in the afternoon pulls you out again and in between there is plenty of time to explore some of the chanels along the edges where the green rainforest overhangs your boat and the birds are everywhere. One special treat was that once a year large numbers of white herons come to the lagoon for breeding and we happened to be there right at the perfect time to see them. They were so graceful to watch while they hunted for fish in the lagoon, and a couple of times one flew so close over our boat it felt like we could reach out and touch it.

It was hard to leave Okarito, but we finally did and continued up the west coast. Were 10 Km outside of Hokitika when with a cough and a wheeze the Beast concked out and came to a stop at the edge of the highway! Oh no! Mike kept his calm and cool though and with Brooke at the wheel for the first time on the trip Mike managed to push the Beast hard enough to push start it (weve practiced this manuver before with our truck at home) We limped into Hokitika and got a campsite and tried to figure out what to do. The next day the Beast started with no problem...hmmm...but we were still nervous so we headed up to Greymouth, the largest city on the west coast. It was new years eve and everything was closed except for a carparts store, but the guys running it kind of got into helping us and after much hmming and hahaing we ended up with a new battery and away we went. Its gotten us to Picton on the north coast so far with no problems, but stay tuned for updates (hopefully they will be good ones!)

Soon we will be taking off to do a four day backpack in the Queen Charlottes at the top of the north island. It is supposed to be incredible. There are some long mileage days, but the great thing is that the water taxi picks up and delivers your things to your campsite each day, so all you have to do is hike with a daypack.

We will check in again soon. Have a great New Years eve!

Love ya and miss ya,

Brooke and Mike