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Another blog entry so soon!....Well I thought Id round off New Zealand before I head out to LA tomorrow...all 16 hours flying ugh, what a tough life! Ok, so its not that bad, ill stop moaning. Anyhoo, We left Queenstown and headed for Mount Cook. It was a very pretty drive. We stopped enroute to buy some food before heading to Lake Tekapu for a picnic lunch. The lake was stunning and the water is the bluest I have ever seen. We then made a direct route to the hostel which was more of a converted 3* hotel than a purpose built hostel, either way it was quite comfortable and we had 4 bed dorms rather than the usual 6/8 so it was quite nice. The view from the window made it rather special too. In such stunning surrounding it would have been rude not to go for a walk so we set off after an hour or so of down time (the dreaded lurgy that had previously taken down a few of the other bus-mates finally caught up with me) so I needed a bit of a break. Despite this, I soldiered on for a 2 hour walk around the area. We went for the flat route to make it a bit less strenuous. There wasnt a lot to do at the hostel so that evening we had some dinner and collapsed in our room. We all has various electronic devices to charge/upload photos from/etc etc so we spent some time doing that before heading to bed. It was a 7.30 start so we were up and out quickly and on the road. We stopped at the Tekapu springs which was an outdoorsy activities centre with some hot pools to boot. It was next to a small mountain called Mount John. As i had done the hot pools in Franz, and was feeling a bit poo, I decided it would be a waste of money to do any activities, so headed off for a walk with Sean up Mount John. It was only about 30 minutes to the top but we both worked up a bit of a sweat. The views were worth it though, all mountainous on one side and then flat as a pancake on the other....I could have easily been convinced that side was africa if a few elephants or zebras had been around. The walk back down was easy and we rewarded ourselves with a drink in the cafe while we waited for the others to finish their activities. After a short bus journey we stopped at a lovely cafe that had recently won some awards within New Zealand for their amazing cakes and pies....well it would have been a crime not to have sampled the goods!
All feeling rather repleat we carried on our journey stopping at an ex-stray drivers little place. He has set up an animal sanctuary for abandoned or unwanted animals and has converted an old petrol station type building into an artists studio and gallery for local artists to use. Some of the paintings were amazingly good and very pricey. The animals were lovely and we all got a chance to feed and brush Molly the highland cow. The rest of the journey passed by quickly and we made it to Rangitata for the night. It was a lovely little rafting lodge that was in a very remote place. As with most remote places, there wasnt much to do, but Rob the bus driver cooked us all an amazing dinner of bangers, mash, peas and gravy and chocolate pudding and icecream for dessert. After that we settled down and watched films and some how managed to squeeze in some popcorn and mulled wine.
It was an early start this morning and we were off on the bus straight back to Christchurch. The journey only took about an hour and a half. I jumped off the bus and headed into the terminal to book myself a room for the night. The lovely lady recommended a B&B that was reasonably priced and included a free shuttle back to the airport in the morning so I settled on that. I arrived there, and was surprised to find it was more like a family home. The lady who runs it was lovely and made me a cuppa within 5 minutes of being in the door and offered to do a load of washing for me....bless her! I hung out there for an hour or so chatting with her before heading out to the shopping centre to kill some time. I had a nice lunch and a mooch around some shops, got a pedicure.....convinced myself it was a requirement given the state of my feet after 3 weeks in walking boots! I am now sat writing this post in a bank of all places as it has free internet. The plan for tomorrow is to be at the airport for 4 am, fly about 6am, leave Sydney at about 10am and after14 hours be in LA! Weirdly I will leave Christchurch at the same time as I will land in LA on the same day! The joys of crossing the date line! Will update soon when Im safely on the other side of the Pacific!
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Mumsy You do a write a brilliant blog Luce - I don't want it to end!! Looking forward to the next one. Loadsa love m xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx