After the night of the super moon, Rachelle and I woke up in our Couchsurfers’ driveway:
Where we (intentionally) woke up.
The guys had left early for work, but they were really nice and left the door open so that we could use their shower. We did and then she and I hit the road because we were still intrigued by this question: Do cows like carrots?
As we headed to Cape Palliser, we stopped to find out the answer.
On the way to the southern most point on the northern island
But first thing’s first.
Answer: Not all cows like carrots
Once we finished our research and found out that only some cows like carrots (is this an anticlimactic reveal?) , we hopped back into the car towards Cape Palliser to check out more wildlife (seal colony) and a lighthouse.
Coastin’
The Cape was so windy, it even rocked our car. Every time we got out to see the cute seals (including seal babies!!), we almost blew away. I was sort of surprised the seals were heavy enough to remain on land; I was expecting a seal cyclone (a sealclone?).
Forecast for the day: Wind, wind, and more wind
Seals hanging out, soaking in the view, not blowing away
There was a lighthouse that Rachel and I were heading to. As we ascended the stairs up, we had to hold onto the railing for dear life because… wind.
To the lighthouse!
Trying not to take a tumble down all.those.stairs.
The most lighthouse-y lighthouse
That evening, there were many incredible places to choose from to car camp for free. Yay!
- Like here 🙂
My bedroom
A great evening
And a great morning!
The next day, we kept with our regularly scheduled programming and decided to drive back up north across the country (criss-cross or bust), and stopped for a strange hike amongst wild rock formations.
Does this scream ‘Lord of the Rings’?
Nature-made castles.
After our hike, we stopped in a small town (small as in, 1300 people live there) for some food and drinks. We found a place that was a “side of the road pub” with pure local vibes. We had some really delicious meat (the meat is good in NZ because it’s free range) but lamented about our craving for a really good salad; they were hard to come by in NZ. No one does a salad like the USA.
Anyway, because this was more of a local spot, we were excited for the cheaper prices… How silly of us — they still charged $18 for two glasses of wine… but when in New Zealand, I guess.
Foodtography: at it again
Rachel and I always made up for this with our cheap accommodation ($Free.99).
free as a bird
Settling in for the night
‘mi
Adventuresam 
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