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Greymouth! What. a. gem. It's a shame this hidden treasure was unearthed really. Anyhow, we docked in Picton after our scenic ferry crossing. Absolutely stunning. Tom still wouldn't believe me that dolphins followed the ship for about an hour. The joys of being a smoker hey. So we set off with no real final destination in mind. It was just a case of drive until we can drive no more...
After another heavy stint behind the wheel we decided we should stop at the little coastal town of Greymouth. It was weekend by this point so what a great excuse to park up in the familiar environment of the Top 10, quick shower / change and pre drink - and head out to tear up the town. As it turned out, the kind lady who saved me from obliterating my t-shirt with an iron lives just down the road from my folk's house in Perth. Small world hey. That's by the by. The girls behind reception mapped out a little pub crawl for us, called us a taxi and sent us on our way. Let's not forget the fact that our bible can be quoted as saying that 'Greymouth is the big smoke of the west lands...'
We both anticipated the place to be rocking. It was Friday night! The painful reality was; toms' bed had probably seen more rocking. It was dyer. The 'club', and I'll use that word loosely, resembled the met bar at Leeds or Manchester. Don't get me wrong, we made a fair effort on the drinking side of things, but the place was completely deserted. Back to the van it was. Actually really enjoyed myself on the bouncy castle at the campsite when we returned...highlight of the night. Even though it was deflated.
The next day, we'd caught wind of a motor racing derby thingy going down on the other side of town. The annual meet of some sort. Hardly the grand prix spectacle but still worth an hour or so watching the locals smash the life out of each other's rides. Sounds like a wife beating contest. We mulled over attempting another night out whilst watching the race, before tom came up with this stunning idea of a brewery tour. Monteiths' was about to save my weekend. I hadn't been on a brewery tour since Dublin for my 23rd, which was superb. A couple of cheeky drinks to warm the pallet and off we went for the 6pm tour. Which by the way, you need closed footwear to take part in. As if you didn't know this tom. $20 or so and you got the tour and the 'meal deal' afterwards back in town. Other young naive backpackers made up the group and the tour began...20 minutes later we were done and sat in the bar. No word of a lie. It was a poor attempt to pass it off as a tour but in fairness to them, they made up for it with the free bar at the brewery bar. Tom was driving was possibly going to be my downfall in the end. I was left stacking drinks and not really sure how I perched for so long on the bar stool. Anyway, I'll give you a clue into the rest of the night because frankly, greymouth bored me and it bores me to even contemplate reminiscing any further. More drinks, equally as busy as the previous night. I even chundered a little in the morning. It resembled a pint from the brewery, the autumn special. Maybe thats why it hadn't gone on sale yet...
The next leg is an absolute mammoth. An 8 hour drive to Queenstown, via two of the most notorious glaciers in the southern hemisphere. We made it as far as the car parks. No glacier trekking for us two. It was cold...
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