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Franz Josef Glacier
On our way to the glacier village we passed by giant wountains covered in ferns and greenery, giant gorges and glacial rivers, and the longest road bridge in nz. The landscape was beautiful, and it always surprises me how much is can change. The west coast is mostly made up of rainforest and the 2 biggest glaciers- fox and franz-josef. It also had the disadvantage of a truckload of sandflies which itch like hell when they bite you.
Glow Worm Cottages
When i arrived at my hostel it turned out to be lovely. There were small and cosy dorm rooms, a lovely sitting room, free soup at tea time and a hot tub. I went to reception to pay up but my card was refused. the lady suggested that there was prob a glitch with the card machine so i went to try it in the atm at the shops.
OH sam
As it turned out i had no money left. ha ha. this trip just got better and better with each day. i mean how many things can go wrong for one person?... numerous as i am now well aware. I had just about had it. I was soooo tired and still not feeling right. What the hell was i to do???!! I went back to the hosel and explained the situation.. i said i would work for my accomodation and they seemed cool with it. I then got in the hot tub and tryed not to fall asleep. I read my book and tryed to relax. An hour and a shriveled prune later a girl came in a joined me. Her name was emily and she was from the states. We had a good old chin wag and i ahd a good old moan and all was well. By this point it was time for tea, i was on the verge of panicking, but the soup and emilys company held it togeather for me. We also met a guy from england whose name i cant remember. But he was hilarous and also a bit of a prat. I laughed a lot and then decide it was time to get hold of the rents...emergency measures. i did eventually after worrying about having no money left to phone, and no one knowing where i was and not being able to get hold of me as i have an english sim card, no one can get me on it and i cant get credit !!!! and then i tryed to sleep and worried some more so didnt.
The next morn i was woken by the rents ringing the hostel ( only way to contact me). i should have money in two days. arrhhhh. At 930 i went up the road and worked for the sister hostel to the one i was staying at called Chateau Franz. There the magic bus was parked and i dreaded bumping into the colin bus driver and having to explain my mess of the past few days. Work was fine and quite relaxing and it was good to know i was doing summat to help myself. Eveyone seemed nice and two girl recognised me from months earlier in Napier!! CRAZY!!
I finished work at 2 and headed back for lunch. I was gutted i wouldnt get to see the glaciers, as that and going on the tranzalpine train where the two things i really wanted to do in the south Island. As i had already booked hostels and transport, not only would it be costly to change it , but i would get chared for the pleasure, and i didnt have the money.Oh well there will be other times, and as i had no money to catch the shuttle and it was too late to walk the 3 1/2 hour to see it i would go on a free walk instead.
Tartare Tunnels
I headed up throught the rainforest where everthing was green and mossy and wet. I actually didnt think i would get to see the good ones down here but i was glad i did get too and it was free. There were so many plants and the trees madea tunnel over the foot path. The walk passed a deep gorge with an icy bubbling river witha steep drop. From there the path wound back and forth up the hill side to an open in the rock. This was the entrance to the Tartare Tunnels. They were long tunnels built into the hillside which would transport water to the town. Now they were dissused and dark. And i had no torch. I went in a fair way and decided there was no chance i would go any further without a torch. There was young couple just behind me on the path and i thought they would be more fun and brave, so i waited for them to go in. The guy went about four inches and went back again. So much for fun and adventure hols in nz... these peiple should bve holled up in a beauty spa. They went and idecied to go in abit more and i took a tunnel on the right which lead to some light. I got my feet soaked after crouching through a 7 meter tunnel, but by then it was too late. I got out the othre side and it felt good. there was sheer drop and i wondered how many people went throught it. One the way back down i felt good. I didn care that i didnt have any money. A tame fantail (bird) flew up to me real close and did lots of gymnastic on the plants over the path. That was cool. Then i took a detour at some old path. You could tell it hadnt been used for ages as there was rotten logs blocing it and marsh. I followed that for a while then decided to head back as it was getting on. In the puddles there were leaf skeletons and lots of stuff you dont really bother to notice. That was a good walk i thought to myself.
Back at the hostel it was soup again and i sat and played chess with Emily and the english lad. Me and emily decided to head out on the glowworm walk. Its ment to be a half hour walk, but when there are two girls, out in the forest with one head lamp, 30 mins can feel like a long time. We kept turning the headlamp on and off to see if there were any but to no avail. In true sam and em style we kept going even tho we were both a bit dubious. Eventually we bumped into a couple who told us to head straight on. It was amazing. We stopped at the end of this track where we sat on rocks. Glowowrms were all around casting thier bright blueish glow over the forest. You could hear the sound of the stream and when i looked at the worms they looked like stars. Close up you can just see thes sticky, dewy, threads leading to this minute larva witha glowing tail. This brings food to the larva, small insects stick to the threads and the larva feds of these. We sat there for a while and just enjoyed it.
Possum
On the walk back i saw this silouette run down the street. I said to emily that i thought it was a possum even tho i had never seen one before. She said it was a cat. It did look a boit like acat but it wasnt elegant like a cat, it kind of bounded wiht its arse in the air. We went to find it this thing ran up the tree. Up at the top, just about a metre ubove our heads was a possum. It was black and had a pinky small piggy nose. It looked so odd. I cant wait till i get the pics. In nz they are a nussance, but i hadnt seen one till now. Apparenlty they can be quite violent and they have claws that dont retact. Anyway we left it in peace to kill off all the native trees.
When i got back to the hostel i gave emily a book that i had finished reading. The english guy had been taking the piss out of it the night before and it was an on going joke that i was reading crap. It was so funny tho, but i gave the book to her, for her 'to enjoy'. It amazing some for the crap you will read on these trips. actually all the time with me!!
I then chilled in my dorn as it was so tired and chatted to a girl who is a nanny from germany and works in auckland, and a lady from england but now lives in south africa. It was really nice and relaxed and we chatted about travels and stuff. It was what you would call a girly dorm untill the boys came in, smelled and made much noise. We promptly ignored them, rolled over and went to sleep.
At last
The next morn i got outside and the SAfrica lady tole me that you could see the top of the glacier from outside the hostel as it was a clear day. She got a pic of me ( will put on later) as i had run out of battery for am camera and couldnt buy any beacuse of the money. HA HA. She was very nice and previously said she would lend me the money for the shuttle, but i refused...well you just cant take peoples money that you dont know!!
I then caught the bus with her up the coast to Punakaiki. On the way i was again do tired. We stopped at this cafe and i sat outside with what little food i had left. I found myself with a wedge a wedge of the most bizzare bread that i have ever seen ( taken from the free box at the hostel, made with nuts and sawdust). well you do have to take what you can when you are in my sitaution... i kind iof like this tramp lifestyle. Anyway so i had this bread, and some solid butter and begain to spread it with the only thing i had - a tea spoon. At this point things were getting rediculas. I was tired and possibly going insane and burst out laughing. I was hysterica at the stupidity of it all. I wish you could have seen me. But i suppose if you could have i wouldnt have been like that. I then had to compose myself and step back on the bus for my trip north to Punakaiki.
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