With rain in the forecast for the 9th and 10th, and tired muscles needing to be ready for my 6-hour hike on the 11th, I decided to spend a day or two catching up on emails, my blog, and a writing project I've been working on. It feels really weird to lock myself inside all day. I'm loving working on this blog, and some of the emails are me connecting with friends, but I'm in one of the most beautiful places in the world and I spent a good part of two days inside. I guess if you are going to leave home for several months you can't avoid needing to do so occasionally. I also did some laundry and cleaned up the sleepervan a bit on the 10th.
But that's not to say that I stayed in the campground the whole time. I'm about a 7-minute walk to town. It's a nice, easy walk past residential housing to get to Ta Anau, a small little town situation next to Lake Te Anau. Very small little town. Each night I would walk there to try a new restaurant. It feels like 78% of the restaurants in Te Anau are pizza places, and the rest are hamburger places. That's an exaggeration, but not by much : )
On the 9th I was really wanting ice cream for some reason. I never crave this (NZ and the U.S. compete for "country with the highest ice cream consumption, so I shouldn't be surprised I'd have these cravings). I found a place called the Te Anau Dairy that had ice cream. “No Credit Cards” said the sign inside the store. Ok, whatever. I couldn’t decide between two flavors so asked to try one of them. “We don’t do samples” the guy told me, but recommended one of the two flavors. “Really?” I thought. “Were profits plummeting with all the samples you were doling out? Let me just get my ice cream and get out of here” I told myself. Needless to say, I didn’t have high expectations. The "Maple Shortbread" ice cream turned out to be amazing! So creamy and the flavor rocked. $2 NZD a scoop ($1.50 USD). So I went back on the 10th and got the same. As I was walking out I heard someone ask to sample one of the flavors followed by her saying, “No samples?! How will I know which one to get?” I smiled to myself then laughed. As I walked around a nearby park eating the ice cream, what she’d said and how she'd said it kept repeating in my mind making me laugh all over again.
At $2 NZD a scoop, one has to go back and try other flavors. So I did. Yum.
But that's not to say that I stayed in the campground the whole time. I'm about a 7-minute walk to town. It's a nice, easy walk past residential housing to get to Ta Anau, a small little town situation next to Lake Te Anau. Very small little town. Each night I would walk there to try a new restaurant. It feels like 78% of the restaurants in Te Anau are pizza places, and the rest are hamburger places. That's an exaggeration, but not by much : )
On the 9th I was really wanting ice cream for some reason. I never crave this (NZ and the U.S. compete for "country with the highest ice cream consumption, so I shouldn't be surprised I'd have these cravings). I found a place called the Te Anau Dairy that had ice cream. “No Credit Cards” said the sign inside the store. Ok, whatever. I couldn’t decide between two flavors so asked to try one of them. “We don’t do samples” the guy told me, but recommended one of the two flavors. “Really?” I thought. “Were profits plummeting with all the samples you were doling out? Let me just get my ice cream and get out of here” I told myself. Needless to say, I didn’t have high expectations. The "Maple Shortbread" ice cream turned out to be amazing! So creamy and the flavor rocked. $2 NZD a scoop ($1.50 USD). So I went back on the 10th and got the same. As I was walking out I heard someone ask to sample one of the flavors followed by her saying, “No samples?! How will I know which one to get?” I smiled to myself then laughed. As I walked around a nearby park eating the ice cream, what she’d said and how she'd said it kept repeating in my mind making me laugh all over again.
At $2 NZD a scoop, one has to go back and try other flavors. So I did. Yum.