A rainy day update

So, I've only been gone 3 weeks and already I'm slacking off in the blog department. Sorry about that... My days are usually pretty filled and although I do have time to check my emails, I haven't really had that much time to update the blog. But it's poring rain right now in Franz Josef and I've just bought a 2-hour Internet card, so here I go!

The past week has continued to be very busy and beautiful. I really have been lucky in the weather department, with little rain and when it has, it didn't really matter. I've also continued to be a wuss, spending a couple of hours last Friday watching people do bungy. In this case, I actually take back the wuss thing and just say that I've been really smart. Throwing yourself off a bridge with a rubber band tied around your ankle just seems silly to me :-) But watching other people do it sure is entertaining!

After Taupo, a nice little village somewhere in the middle of the North Island, the bus headed for Wellington. It was a long day's drive with lots of stops here and there. One stop will be interesting to Lord of the Ring fans: the drive goes through a desert road where you get this amazing view of 3 mountains, one of which being Mt. Doom in the Lord of The Rings movies. It was really cool, even though I have to admit to not being a real fan of the movies (blasphemy here in NZ). I hope to post a few nice pictures of it soon.

Speaking of The Lord of the Rings, guess what movie is played in almost every single hostel TV room here in NZ? You guessed it, LOTR. I guess people like to watch it again after seeing the locations "in real life".

A had a short stay in Wellington, only 2 nights - 1 day, as I was in a rush to get to the South Island. Wellington was OK, basically another big city but with a nice seaside location. In really lives up to its nickname of "Windy Wellington", or at least it did for the time I was there. Visited another museum (probably my last in NZ, since they are not my favorite places), walked around the city, took the Cable car up to the Botanical Gardens and walked back to the city center. I also caved in and went to my first movie of my trip. It had been at least 3 weeks after all since I'd been to the movies! I saw "Atonement", a British movie that may have played at home a few months back, but I'm not sure. All the other movies playing were at least 2-3 months behind what we get at home, so I'm assuming this was the same. It was a good movie, or at least a good way to spend 2 hours out of the wind and resting my feet!

I was up and early on Monday to take the ferry across the Cook Strait to the South Island. The ferry was huge, has a movie theater among other things to keep people quiet during the 2.5 hour journey. I was really surprised that the crossing is actually from west to east and not north to south as you would assume. It seems that Wellington on the North Island is actually lower south than Picton, the ferry terminal on the South Island. Who knew!

Next stop was Nelson, another very quaint village. I checked out the town for a couple of hours and got ready for the next day's "Seal safari". Nelson is close to Abel Tasman national park, an amazing area with lots of secluded bays, beaches and a really famous tramping (i.e. walking) path. I'd booked myself a "Seal safari", which was basically a combination of bus to get you to Abel Tasman, a boat to cruise along a few bays and visit the seal colony and a 1.5 hour walk back to a bay to finally be picked up by a water taxi to do the trip in reverse. It was a gorgeous day, with a beautiful blue sky, but still pretty damn cold. I had 4 layers up top and spent most of the day with all of them on. The only time I took my hoodie off was after huffing and puffing my way uphill for a while. But the kicker was the visit to the seal "colony". The boat stops for 5 minutes across from an island where I counted 5 seals. Supposedly they are all off somewhere busy mating or something. I saw another 3 more swimming in the sea, so grand total for the "Seal Safari" was 8! Still, I had a really good time. I walked back with 2 other girls, and even though I huffed and puffed uphill, it was a relatively easy walk. At the very end of the trail, we had to choose between the low tide trail and the high tide trail. When in doubt, you would think that we'd have chosen the high tide trail, but no, we went with the other obvious choice of following the group ahead of you and assuming they know what they are doing. Just as obviously, they didn't. We ended up having to roll up our pants, take our shoes and socks off to wade across a little stream or pond to get to the beach. Cold, but it was pretty funny, especially watching other more complainy type of people get all worried about getting their feet wet... Funnier still were the stories one of the girls shared with us about her time spent in Australia. Can't really repeat them here though ;-)

Next up was another looooong bus day to get from Nelson to Greymouth. The only claim to fame of Greymouth, besides being a mandatory overnight stop on the Magic bus, is the Monteiths brewery tour. For 25 NZD you get a tour of the brewery, a taste test of all 7 of their brews as well as an all-you-can-eat sausage diner with a free pint of your favorite brew. It's a good opportunity to meet more people (as if you don't meet enough already every day on the bus and sleeping in dorms all the time!). I spent awhile talking to a couple of American girls who had just come from India, Thailand and Australia. I left with a couple of notes on what to do and where to go, and I am already looking forward to the next destinations!

So it's still going really well, if a little rushed sometimes. I'm looking forward to sleeping somewhere more than 2 nights in a row. Like I said, I've been meeting a lot of people, mostly from the hostels and the bus. Have I mentioned though that it seems that mostly girls/women travel to NZ on their own? There have to be guys/men somewhere, but they certainly aren't on the Magic bus or in the hostels I've stayed in. On most days, our bus is filled with lets say 20 girls and 1 guy travelling with his girlfriend. And most of those 20 girls are English or Irish. Bizarre...

Off to do some camera shopping as mine bit the dust a couple of days ago. I hope to find one today since tomorrow is (hopefully) my helicopter tour of NZ's 2 glaciers and highest mountain! It's my birthday gift to myself! I say hopefully, because it is weather dependant. So please send good weather vibes down to NZ for me tomorrow!