Hello and welcome to our first weekly blog - the CJ weekly.
Each week we will be sharing with you our favourite photos, a wee travel video (Char is only just learning how to make videos now so we’d appreciate some patience here!), our expenses, things we found funny, things we liked and disliked, and of course, in true CJ style – the weekly tally. Because we know that’s what you’re all really here for – to know the weekly number of coffees, cans of soup and overtakes.
This week - week one, we left Christchurch and explored Dunedin and the beautiful Catlins.
We hope you enjoy week one!
OUR FAVOURITE PHOTOS
OUR WEEKLY EXPENSES - TOTAL $221.61
Bloody Dunedin charging $1.50 for 30 mins parking.
OUR WEEK ONE VIDEO
FIVE THINGS WE LOVED
The meticulous hedges. I don’t need to tell you how many of our conversations started with “woah check out that hedge”. We even saw some that had their insides cut out and little dinghy’s stored in there. Yep a dinghy stored in a hedge. May as well pack up and head back to Australia now, we’ve seen everything we need to see.
The friendly road workers. Seriously. Every time we saw them they gave us massive smiles and genuine waves. I’m not talking about one little finger raised on the steering wheel like some cool dude named Jarrod, I’m talking both arms flapping about like your five year old self doing the chicken dance. Every time we left roadworks, we were grinning from ear to ear. It really is the little things hey.
Sizzler Sausages. I (Char) loved these when I was a kid and got all emotionally nostalgic when we found them in Pak N Save. (Yep like true travellers on a budget, Countdown and New World have been replaced by the charming Pak n Save). When James had his very first sausage sizzler and loved it, I truly found happiness.
The local legends that made a trail out to Koropuku Falls in the Catlins (blog on this here). This made our hearts so happy.
Decorated fences – we saw one entirely lined with hubcaps, another with paua shells and a third with shoes. Any others we should keep an eye out for?? Let us know!
FIVE THINGS WE DIDN'T LOVE
Pam’s peanut butter. Seriously. James tried it on toast and I had it on an apple and we were not impressed. I thought perhaps my Eve Apple wasn’t as good as it could be (have now switched to Jazz) but the peanut butter still lacked flavour. If you know of a good (crunchy) peanut butter, please get in touch.
Gale force winds. Vinnie especially did not enjoy these. Our wet towels did though.
The terribly hilly roads in Dunedin and missing the sign that warned us of them. That really was a tick in the ‘near death experience’ box as Vinnie refused to slow down. Who knew he could get above 80kph! Not us.
The kind fellow who held down his horn while driving behind us and then proceeded to overtake us on a bend with incoming traffic. Just as we were saying how charming he was, he turned back and pulled the finger at us. Lovely.
Sandflies.
THREE THINGS WE FOUND FUNNY
One morning we were driving along and I (Char) thought we were having a great time, when James suddenly pulled over (quite dramatically) and threw his hands up in the air exclaiming “I tried to put a brave face on but I just can’t!!”. I instantly started racking my brain wondering what on earth could be so bad. I mean when had James ever needed to put a brave face on? When we got married perhaps? Haha. Anyway, turns out, he drank a cup of tea in his keep cup earlier that day and didn’t clean it out properly. And as he was drinking his coffee (on the road) he couldn’t get over the weird combined tea and coffee flavour. We have since had discussions on when to use the ‘putting on a brave face’ saying. And when not to.
Being chased by a sea-lion. We were strolling along a peninsula, minding our own business and pointing out the odd shaped rocks scattered all along it. Unfortunately as we got near one of the odd shaped rocks, it suddenly jumped up and started chasing after us. The last time we were chased so aggressively by an animal it was a crocodile in the Kimberley!
We (very foolishly) nearly ran out of petrol in the Catlins. Only funny because we didn’t, but we were well prepared for the 20km walk we thought we would have to embark on. One day Vinnie might have a working fuel gauge, but for now, it’s recording the odometer with pen and paper each day.
THE WEEKLY TALLY
We hope you enjoyed our first CJ weekly – if there is anything else you would like us to include, let us know!! We would really love to hear!
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