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We spent a couple more nights in Wellington- Basically had a bit of a lazy time, enjoying the luxury of not having to pack and leave early in the morning. We went to Te Papa museum, which was good, but I think we had all had enough after a couple of hours. Went out again in the evening- it turns out that whatever night that was, it was crazy people night in Wellington- we ended up in some gangster club somewhere feeling totally out of place and not drunk enough (despite being asked how much I'd have to drink twice by the bouncer... I think I had literally had 2 drinks- I'm not sure he remembered what sober people look like?!) We treated ourselves to Nandos (not the same as in England- the wings are much bigger and meatier but 'BBQ favour' was definately an overstatement) The next day it was time to get back on the bus and head down to the South Island again (goodbye sort of warm places!). The ferry ride was fairly unevetful and consisted mostly of napping. No coffins in NZ ferries! On the bus to Kaiteriteri we were told that the hostel they'd just made a contract with (having changed destinations for this stop from Nelson only a few days before) was full due to a booking by the 'Little People of New Zealand Convention' so we'd have to go and stay at a Christian camp down the road- The receptionist from the hostel we were meant to be at (I'd be amazed if her name was not actually Grumpy) reeled off about a hundred rules for when we got there and made it sound like the worst place for a bus load of Kiwi Experience people (backed up by the A4 page lists of rules in the actual camp, ranging from how to clean the sinks and toilets, to how we had to stand up and air our matresses), so noone seemed all that impressed, but it was fine. Theres not really much to do in Kaiteriteri and we werent allowed to drink or be loud at the camp, so it was a relatively early night all round. As we'd been told the stop had been changed from Nelson to be in the Abel Tasman National Park with lots of beautiful beaches and stunning walks etc, we sort of figured it would actually be in the Abel Tasman National Park and that we might be able to do some of these walks... It was really pretty, but we were a ferry (not free!) ride away from the actual park and any decent walks, and most of the ones worth doing took longer than the 2 hours we had before leaving, so we spent the morning sat on a very pretty beach, being thoroughly munched by sand flies (my new nemesis) and eating muffins in the coffee shop.
Quote of the day goes to Simon- 'you know the little people convention? I wander who won...' ooooooh dear.
Next was Westport (apparently known amongst New Zealanders who are not from the west coast as 'the land of the twisted faces' as there is famously a whole lot of incest and some scary results)- we got there in time to shop, eat, have a few mugs of wine and go to bed, so I can't say I experienced all the joys that the 'town' had to offer, but I was glad of a good nights sleep. It hailed on the way there, so as you can imagine, we're yet to find the sunny places! Sunday's stop was Lake Mahinapua- home of Les's famous 'Poo Pub' and a Kiwi Ex tradition on fancy dress party night- we stopped on the way at a 2 dollar shop and a big warehouse to stock up for our 'P party' themed costumes and went to the hostel (well, he claimed it was a hotel...), checked out the lake quickly (Nicole Duke did a bit of swan whispering) and started on our costumes. I managed to make a peacock tail from a kite, some straws and some feathers, Lydia wrapped herself in foil and went as a pea on a fork (not easy when were not allowed face paint)- if you don't get it, do this- go to a mirror, puff your cheeks out (feel free to paint your face green if it helps), bend your arms up towards the sky. Laura was a penguin (obviously!), Nicole F was a plastic bag, Mike a pensioner. Vicki a prisoner, Nicole D various forms of protection. Other costumes included princesses (obviously all boys), prostitutes (again, all boys), parties, pirates, a psychiatric patient, peek-a-boo (very good effort from Celine, our older bus member), Popeye, Pinochio, Pochohontis, pirates, a playboy bunny (hahaha Sam) etc etc. The rugby was on, so it was strange to start with as everyone was sat in fancy dress watching TV, but when it was over it was a very good laugh. A few too many shots later and a standard bit of being stalked by nutters, Lydia went to bed with the bin, I tried to sleep on the floor and a few chocolate bars were owed to the bus by various people. Pinochio won (canyon swing prize), Laura's penguin outfit and Simon's prostitute (probably mainly because it was his birthday) got runners up.
We left yesterday feeling all a little worse for wear and stopped at some crazy man's deer museum, where we were encouraged to pay to watch the most badly made film about deer hunting by jumping off helicopters, before finally getting some greasy food in the food of an expensive and barely edible fry up in the museum cafe. There were deer heads on the wall and the head of a 'difficult customer', which I think was nearly replaced by me when I asked the crazy man if it was possible to get another bit of bacon instead of an egg. Apparently it's his way or nothing. Nice! When we arrived in Franz Josef, a couple of photo stops later, we went to the glacier walk booking place, where I was talked into doing a heli hike instead of the day trek (you go higher up, get cleaner snow, walk less as you don't have to trek for 2 hours accorss gravel to get there, ride in a helicopter, and have less heights to deal with). The guy at the desk said if we were to book to go the next day (as we'd planned to) we would probably have our trip cancelled as they were expecting heavy rain all day on the glacier and the helicopter wouldn't go, so he managed to create a new trip leaving in half an hour for just 3 of us, which which a bit of a crazy rush of getting bags off the bus, digging out appropriate clothing on the side of the road and rushing around to buy some lunch. It turned out to be absolutely amazing, as it was just 3 of us (me, Lydia and a spanish girl called Mar) with 1 guide and a work experience guide, so we basically got to go and see what we wanted to, stop for photos wherever we wanted etc. Even though it rained at the end and we had to go back about 20 minutes early, the guide said we'd got further and seen more than any of the other groups that day as the usual group size is about 11 people to one guide. The helicopter ride was really cool, didnt scare me height-wise, somehow- it almost didnt seem real, like you were in a bubble, watching scenery on a tv screen. He did a few twists and turns and flew us over a higher bit of the glacier, which was just incredible- the photos do not do it justice at all! We got out and got our crampons on- it's hard to get used to accepting that you can pretty much run up and down ice hills without slipping, so I was being very over cautious to start with, until he grabbed my hand and basically dragged me along fast enough for me to realise it was almost impossible to slip. We walked through some massive ice pillars, crawled through a very blue ice cave, stepped over ridiculously deep canyons etc- I cannot even discribe it, it was so beautiful. Anyway, hopefully the photos will help, but like I said, they don't do it justice at all. Having done the hike on the day we arrived instead of our free day (today), we got to have a lie in while the others got up for their trek and have been just having a chilled out day. Such a luxury! I think the expensive heli hike means I will be eating nothing but instant noodles and road kill for a few weeks though...
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