Two posts in one day? I'm spoiling you! This one promises to be more informative and less tired-rambling style. (Okay, it was going to be two in one day, but then I went and got drunk instead, so you're now back to your not-so-spoilt selves - congratulations!)
**This is a long post and pictures will be added when I get them from various people, since my camera is well and truly dead***
After I had written last time, I was invited by Björn (who I knew from Picton) for a rain spa. A rain spa sounds posher than it is, it's sitting in the hot tub in the rain. Nonetheless, it was nice. There was Björn and Max from Germany, Steve from Canada, a girl from Germany, Kez, George and some other guy who were Kiwis and Dave joined later. And me of course. Now whilst it's perfectly acceptable to get into the hot tub via the steps, it became apparent that the only legitimate way out was to jump off the edge into the pool. Which was fine, albeit it a little cold, until I briefly lost control of my bikini top. Luckily, I am an expert actress and nobody noticed. Until now when they'll all know. It was not built for jumping from hot tubs into pools! Anyhow, after that I decided it was time to do the much less strenuous task of laying in the sauna. So Canada Steve (which is his full name, by the way) and George and I went to the sauna and spoke about various things. I actually had quite an early night that night, I was tired from travelling and moreover, I wanted to watch How I Met Your Mother, so bed and earphones in by 10pm. So that was the Tuesday, when Matt was supposed to be arriving, but unfortunately he got a job in Blenheim so stayed there. (Wait, what's a job?)
The next day, the girls were due to arrive, which I was unbelievably excited about, so excited in fact that I asked reception to make sure they were in my dorm, but reluctantly refrained from picking out their beds for them. Their bus got in at 2ish so I had the morning to myself and I didn't do too much. Slept in, wandered into town in the pouring rain, and sat in a coffee house reading Lady Chatterley's Lover. It was all very movie-esque with the rain pouring down and the smell of coffee and the book choice. I had a little lunch, in the form of a Mediterranean vegetable toastie, and braved the rain to meet the girls. Luckily, it had died down a bit and by the time I got to the bus terminal it had completely stopped. The girls arrived and a couple of hugs later, we were wondering how to get back with all their bags. Now, I knew the hostel had a shuttle van, but we couldn't see it anywhere, so we called the hostel and they said there was no shuttle. Great. So I grabbed a couple of bags and Hayley and Cheryl had their packs and we set off for the walk to the hostel. 5 minutes in, the Paradiso van drives past us... what a joke! "At least it isn't raining.." I said, sod's law dictates that it then started to rain. 20 minutes later we arrived bedraggled and tired, but we arrived. That night there were reunions, wine, music and laughing, as always, but also a bit of banter that went too far! We also met Dan from Zimbabwe who was younger than me! A big achievement since I'm 99% of the time the youngest one about. Anyhow, he turned out to be so full of bullshit it was unbelievable - "Oh yeah, acid's my favourite but I like a bit of coke, I'm not addicted though. It's been two years since I've done acid." - so you were 16? It's not big or clever, piss off.
On Thursday, we walked into town to do various jobs, but ended up taking poor Hayley to the after hours doctor for her poorly toe. Antibiotics and food shopping later, we had a brief stop at Burger King before walking back to Paradiso. The night again passed without much incident, back to the wine and the party bus, the bus being an old bus in the Paradiso garden, decorated with graffiti and generally where everyone seems to go after 10pm. I had a relatively good night, which ended in us sitting in Paul's van with Dave and Dan for a bit of a smoke. Then 4am came and woke us all up with a shock, the fire alarm. At first I thought it was my phone alarm, then someone else's but when it didn't stop and I'd woken to find it was very loud, I thought I'd better get up. I've never been in a real fire alarm situation, but I guess all those years of school fire drills made it a reflex to go and assemble outside. I even did the old check the temperature door so that the fire's not behind it trick! Turns out, there was no fire, someone had sparked up a joint in one of the tipis outside. So we traipsed back to bed. I was freezing, since of course in a fire you grab nothing (an idea wasted on the boy we saw with his full backpack, and also his bed sheets and duvet with him) and couldn't get warm again for the rest of the night.
Friday, a decision was made. Well the decision was actually made on Thursday night that if Hayley was in the same amount of pain in the morning, we'd take her to the hospital. Friday, she was again in a lot of pain and hardly able to walk, so after Cheryl and I had been to the library in the morning, I tracked down Canada Steve and asked if he'd drive us to the hospital. He was very kind, and did. Unfortunately, the A&E women were not so kind, almost distrusting in the severity of Hayley's pain and were less than helpful. They were impressed however by Hayley's 'team' (IE. Cheryl and I) since we'd bought every possible document, medication and information needed, so every time the nurse asked for something, it was right there. So there's Cheryl sifting through insurance documents and presenting medication whilst I'm asking important questions like "So if it's going to cost Hayley $420 to see a doctor here, but only $110 at the after hours doctor, what care will you provide that's different to them?" (The answer was none.) We really were very organised, but Hayley was in a lot of pain and couldn't really say too much. Off we hobbled to the after hours doctor, but the next appointment wasn't for two hours, so we hobbled back to the hospital cafe for a fish sandwich. Two and a bit hours later, Hayley was dosed up on tramadol with (hopefully) the right diagnosis at last! That night Hayley spent in bed, understandably, whilst Cheryl and I made some fajitas for dinner. I also met a bus driver I'd had from the North Island, Soap!
Saturday being our last day, we'd thought about going to the beach. It was also Guy Fawkes so we hoped to find a fireworks display somewhere, but no. Instead, in the morning, George took me to the Nelson market, which I didn't even know existed. It was really lovely, the weather was nice(ish) and the things for sale were amazing. Not to mention the gorgeous smelling caramelised cashews and almonds that George bought me three bags of! These were quickly finished off by Cheryl and I whilst watching the Rocky Horror Show later on with Hayley, delicious. In the afternoon (after the RHS), George gave Cheryl and I a lift into town to buy some fireworks, which we didn't end up getting. I wanted to go see how much it would cost to get my hip pierced but the lady said she probably wouldn't do it because it will grow out and leave a scar. I understood, but, this is a lady whose whole face was covered in piercings and whole body was covered in tattoos, not so sure she can judge. So no hip piercing, yet. We ate some nachos for dinner and pretty much spent the last night as the others had been spent, only we took a walk and saw some fireworks too...
Getting up in the morning was less than fun and saying bye to the girls was horrible, but only temporarily since I'll see them in Melbourne if all goes to plan. Found out the bus had a puncture ten minutes into the journey and having to sit in Zumos for around two hours whilst it was fixed. Back on the bus, with Soap driving, we were headed for Greymouth. We journeyed over the Hope Saddle and through the Buller Gorge. We stopped at Cape Foulwind, named by Captain Cook because it is where his ship was blown off course, when in fact there is not much wind there and there has only ever been one wreckage there! I was hanging out with Max, and we saw a seal colony with some babies! So cute! Moving on, we drove down the coast road right next to the sea on a road cut into the mountains, the road got very thin at times, often to just one lane. We arrived in Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks, a big formation that's arranged in layers and looks like stacked pancakes. Apparently they are still unexplainable as to why they are formed like that. The sea in full swing around them shows the power of water, truly amazing. The last stretch of drive was made better by the coconut chocolate ice cream that Max bought me, and the fact that the sun was shining! I booked myself onto the brewery tour with the majority of the bus that night.
I arrived at Noah's Ark, my hostel for last night, and it was lovely and cosy. But I didn't have much time to relax. Instead I had a quick shower then was picked up and taken to Monteiths Brewery to sample some beers! Various samples drunk in quick succession later, we were all rather merry and I was showing the German guys how to pull a pint properly, amateurs. (Joe, if you're reading, you would have been proud!) We then all went to the Railway Hotel Bar and Restaurant since there was meal included in our tour ticket. I had the Kiwi Grill which was a burger, a lamb chop and some salad and potatoes, and very nice it was too. More beer (thanks old Australian man, whoever you were) and we all headed for the dance floor. Now, Rhea, when you read this you will be very proud to know that last night, I showed New Zealand how to dance GY style. I can't say it was good, but I can say it happened. Had quite an early night, navigated my way back to the hostel for around 11.30pm. Actually, I'm proud of this fact since I had no idea where I was and used my sense of direction. I then had a little bit of a drunken conversation with Mum on Facebook, and slept unbelievably well.
Another early morning for my trip to Franz Josef today, luckily not such a long journey though. We first stopped in Hokitika, famous for it's greenstone, then went through the town of Ross, where time seems to stand still. Ross is situated right on top of a massive goldmine, and mining companies keep offering the people millions of dollars to move their town 2km to the left, but they dislike change so much in Ross that they refuse, every year. We then stopped at Bushman Pete's, a funny little museum dedicated to deer hunting it seems, slightly strange.
So now I'm in Franz Josef, and Montrose Backpackers seems very nice, with free internet which is very nice. There's another cheap meal with the bus people tonight, but not sure if I'll go since I've half-arranged to meet Rob when he gets into town, but who knows where the night might take me. Bye for now!
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