So...it's been threatened for a while but people are still waiting... Kind of like the Second Coming that way...
This one, though, has arrived! In 2 parts (cause all the pictures won't fit in one email...)!
So, basically, I did a lot of stuff in a week. To give a sense of scale, I'll start in list form:
I took a lot of photos until I realized that if I stopped at every picturesque location, I'd never get anywhere (and this only counts the places I actually could stop without blocking the road...). This happened fairly early on the first day... It also happened that many of the activities I partook in were not conducive to photography... Sorry I can't show more, but I had things to do and places to see! Also note that, while I like these pictures, I couldn't even catch the best parts:(. C'est la vie.
As the title says Poorly Planned, I should probably explain. At any given point, I had little idea of what I'd be doing after my currently planned exercise. Sometimes I decided what to do from my list of options from a friend who used to live in New Zealand. Sometimes I decided based on the advice of a random person I met at a previous activity. Sometimes I looked in the guidebook or on a map and said "that sounds interesting". Sometimes I saw a road sign and thought, "What is that?" and just turned off. Sometimes I just asked the GPS, "What's nearby?". Many of these side trips don't even make the list. Google Maps tells me the suggested route hitting all these destinations in order would take 1957 km (and 26 hours)--my trip distance was closer to 2600 km.
Related to the above, I should mention the driving. New Zealand roads are fun (dad would hate them). Speed limits are generally 100 km/h (~60 mph). Many of the turns (in a cheap rental car) require you to slow down closer to 30 km/h (~20 mph) to avoid slipping off a cliff. They also drive on the left. This would be an epic place to rent a motorcycle or sports car. If you get a normal rental, expect the driving to take you significantly longer than what the distances and speed limits would suggest.
And now...*drum roll*...the story!
To be continued in part 2...