got the rental car from scotties today @ about 12. all went smoothly, i guess those reports we read on the lonely planet forum were fraud entries from competitors. car is a beaut! it's a corolla station wagon 1991 with 250k kilometers on the clock! 1st reaction when i saw it was bollox, but it's feckin deadly! not a car i'd like to own, but perfect for a road trip - pretty economical, automatic (for laziness) and a huge boot, which will come in handy when sue arrives. the legroom aint too bad either. we've named her bertha, because she has got a big ass. she got a serious case of junk in the trunk. oh yeah. i went there.
drove about 2 or 3 hours inland to arthur's pass. it's in the middle of the NZ alps. they've spent loads of dosh here making lots of nature paths and reserves/national parks, so there is loads of great walks and tramping. we headed to a walk called the devil's bowl but it was closed for renovations, so we took the bridal veil walk instead. 45 mins to end, 45 mins back. lovely sunny day (seems like we are catching great weather here - it only rains every 4 or 5 days). the nature is just beatiful with waterfalls all over the shop.
we're gonna head on another short walk tomorrow morning, then head off to franz josef (glacier!)
