Moving to New Zealand--Christmas Vacation Part II

..Living the goal..

Down Highway One..
After Nelson, Mike and I continued up Highway One, passing through small towns, wineries, and heavily forested mountains. As mentioned previously, we also had a breakdown. It's one of those sick feelings you get when you're in the middle of nowhere and all the lights on your dashboard suddenly switch on. Turns out the radiator had absolutely no water in it and was overheating. Luckily, we were straight across from one of the few cell phone towers on the South Island and received a nice reception. Tow truck, water, and $100 later, we were back on the road again .
We spent the night in ChristChurch and then continued on into the Banks Peninsula to the tiny French town of Akarora. Truly beautiful. We stayed the night at a great Bed and Breakfast called The Maples and the next morning, I went paragliding off one of the mountains surrounding the area. It was quite an amazing feeling being suspended in the air and floating down to the town. From our highest point in the air, the houses looked like monopoly pieces. The whole peaceful and weightless trip took about 15 minutes. Well worth it to anyone who gets a chance to try. The rest of our time was spent wandering through Akaroa's lavender shops. We thought about swimming, but apparently, a 5 meter Great White Shark had been spotted in the harbor. Quite significant considering the largest shark sighted in NZ waters has been a 5.6 meter. We decided to play it safe and stick to the beach.
5 hours later, we were back in Dunedin and psyched to have a couple days to unwind. More trips are one the way including: Stewart Island, Porpoise Bay, Milford Sound, Fiord land, and Queenstown.

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