Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
On reflection, I may have been a little harsh on Blenheim. In daylight, it seemed to be an improvement on Stevenage. It can't help it that it's not California, or the Cook Islands - and most of all, it can't help it that it's winter.
Did I mention that it's cold? That's because it's winter. I think my brain just computed that fact this morning. What's going on? I never signed up for two winters in one year... well, technically I suppose I did, but I wasn't prepared for the reality. When I said I was going from Rarotonga to NZ's south island, lots of people said " You do know it'll be winter there....?" And like Andy from Little Britain, I've been saying "Yeah I know".
I was conceptually prepared - hell, I even bought some thermals in England in preparation. But physically and psychologically prepared? No way. My internal dialogue went something like "It's in the southern hemisphere - how cold can it be? [Ignore the antarctic, that's miles away]. And it's close to the Cook Islands - that's warm. And look at this picture of people hiking up a glacier in shorts - even their ice is warm!"
I feel like an old person who's been paing the window cleaner 500 quid a week for the last year. Deep down, I knew it was wrong - I just didn't want to admit it to myself. Or maybe like someone who is being gleefully told by his friends that he's just pretended to be a baby soiling itself at a stage hypnotist's show - yes, I went voluntarily, and yes I knew the risk, but I still feel humiliated, resentful, and duped. F*cking winter - gah.
Anyway, once I got out of bed and out of Bings Motel, the sun started to shine, and I cheered up a bit. If it has to be winter, then there can't be many better places to have it [until it properly snows that is]. I drove up to Nelson for lunch - what a fantastic place, and what a fantastic country to drive round. Pound-for-pound (or mile-for-mile), show me somewhere that is more jaw-droppingly gorgeous to drive around (and I now include Big Sur) than the northern part of the south island. There's hardly any let up - and I've done 400 miles of it now - the one advantage that Big Sur does have is lots of places to stop and take photos, so I'm afraid I'm still photo-deficient.
Nelson was great, I wish I'd had more time to spend there - it even has the jeweller which made THE ring ("precious").
I'm overnighting in Westport, and seriously doubting the judgement of the Rough Guide. For a start, the promised internet cafe isn't there - the further I searched for it though, the more this felt like a one-street wild west town, befitting of it's goldrush and coal history I guess. And the motel is described as having "modern kitchen units" - I'd be interested to know what era (or even century) they were modern in.
I have about 5 hours of driving tomorrow. I can't work this place out. You can drive half the country in three hours, but two towns a fingernail apart can take three hours as well. I need to rethink my itinerary - I sat down over dinner and worked out that my wishlist of places will require approximately 47 hours per day of driving. So, I may have to miss out the "authentic" Scottish town, Dunedin - you can't tell me that they haven't just taken half of Dundee and half of Edinburgh for that one.
There's a weird mix of place names actually - I regret not having visited Collingwood, which must be named after Admiral Lord, even though the Rough Guide doesn't seem to be interested in the derivation of some place names. Why am I so certain that it's named after the same Collingwood? Well, let's just say that I had a hunch as I was standing at the corner of Trafalgar and Hardy streets in Nelson....
Oh, I almost forgot - I got a free meal last night in Blenheim, whch will help towards my glacier heli-hiking fund. The catch was that I found a long, thick human hair in my main course. Can someone send me a few to use for the rest of the trip please?
Over and out - a couple more beers and some sleep required. Night all.
- comments