KE Queenstown to Kaikoura, 29th, 10am. Luckily, there was no rain. I was suffering enough without it, and I worried the entire time that it was going to start. At one point, we bumped into an Aussie, who decided to stop and chat. He had a few jokes up his sleeve about us being English, and we talked about Australia in general, then we were back on our way. We arrived at the lighthouse, went past it, and walked to the most eastern point in Australia. There were some wonderful views of the coast, but we were disappointed that there were none of the promised dolphins.
We had lunch in the shadow of the lighthouse, and shared a slice of lemon tart from the café. Any surprise that there was a café? On the return journey, we were antisocial enough to listen to our separate ipods. We took the opportunity of going past Peterpans to use their internet, and got a free supplies from Woolworths (which is not known as Woolies). I spent some time reading, and Aiden was on the computer until he got bored enough to watch TV. We ate scrambled eggs, and that night Aiden went out to the club Cheeky Monkeys, with girls that I certainly didn’t recgonise, but who apparently we met further up the coast.
I stayed in the kitchen/lounge area blogging until 10 when I was kicked out. I don’t know what time Aiden got in. the morning was up, shower, pack, breakfast, checkout, and then wait a couple of hours for the bus. I got on with my scholarship application on the netbook, and was careful to leave my towel out in the sun so it dried properly before I stowed it.
We got the shuttle, and whilst we sat on the bus waiting for departure, we saw Kolja walk by, but he didn’t see us. Our Coach Captain was called Ray. We spent six hours on that bus (this fact is in capital letters in my diary, so you can see how hard going it was). We did get short breaks for snacks and loos but essentially it was just a bus to Port Macquarie. When we arrived, it was surprising to find it was so much colder. Byron had been sunny and pretty warm, but Port Macquarie had a nip in the air.
When I walked into the hostel, I said in my worst Italian accent “I like-a dis hostel!”. Though I had to put trousers since the last time I took them off in Singapore, our time in PM was enjoyable. The hostel was a pretty 19th century house, and that affected the feel of the place. It was just like sharing a house, rather than renting a bed. I even got an extra pillow, when I politely enquired about the possibility to the owner Tony. There were two computers, one with free internet. You couldn’t access Facebook on it, which was a good system, so the people who spent hours on FB didn’t hog the free internet for people who actually needed it.
We met Amy and Becky in our room, who I think were from Yorkshire (I didn’t note it down), and we chatted to them, and sat in the TV room with them. They were really nice; they gave me chocolate, milk for the free tea, and some juice. We ate pizza that night, because the backpackers had a deal with the Dominoes down the street. I was also overjoyed to find that the bookswap was not just a shelf, as in most hostels, but a whole bookcase. I finally got rid of About a Boy (the last page of which was missing) which I had picked up in 1770.
We were up in time for the free toast and jam, and I again put on trousers, such a strange thing after weeks of shorts. By the time I was up, Aiden had already been for a run, on which he got a little lost, so it was longer than expected. We went for a walk along a boardwalk in a park, then followed the river to the sea. Amy and Becky had recommend a shop for lunch, so we got pies there. First pie in Oz, I do believe. Very popular down here, the pie.
The afternoon was one long shopping trip. The walking got my feet really tired. I cooled down (to the point of freezing) in the pool, an activity suggested by Aiden, but once he was standing at the edge in his shorts, he refused to get in the chilly water. I did some more work on my application, then we had more pizza, early. As I sat reading on the veranda in an armchair (man, I loved this place), I found lots of new bites from the boardwalk. I had an early night.
We had to be up at 5am for the bus. And there was no shuttle (Tony refused to get up so early) so we had to walk about 15mins with our big packs. Coach Captain Allan that day. I was annoyed to have forgotten to get my travel pillow out for the trip. We had breakfast in Kuruah, and bought some muffins off a church stall, surrounded by a gang of old ladies.
We arrived in Sydney, and got a train from the bus station to be a little nearer to the hostel, but we still had a 10min walk. Doesn’t sound much, but you have a go with 20kg on your back and a history not exactly full of exercise. At reception, there was a problem with our Base Jumping Cards, but the lovely young woman said they would sort it out in the next few days. Because we were in Sydney for good long while, by our standards. What was useful in this hostel, was the large drawers under the bunkbeds, that could fit a large rucksack and still have room for other stuff.
We bought a lot of food to last us and had lunch. In our room, we met Ryan, from Essex, Frances from Germany, and Alex from Denmark. I spent the afternoon on my bed, surrounded by leaflets and guidebooks, making a list of all the things to do, primarily for free, in Sydney, then scheduling it into our time there. A short trip before dinner, to show Ryan where Woolworths was, buy an energy drink for Aiden, and I checked in a secondhand bookshop for the possibility of bookswap.
Dinner, TV, computer and more planning that evening, and that night we learnt the horror that is sharing a room with a snorer. In the morning I went to church, and met a great gal whose name slips my mind. Once I was back, and Aiden was up, we made sandwiches then waked to the Botanical Gardens. We went through the Domain, ate lunch, then headed for Mrs Macquarie’s Point. As we came out of the trees, we had reached the water front, a small bay off the harbour into the gardens, and low and behold, our first view of the Opera House. We went round the Point, then went the Quay.
We had a bit of time, so we grabbed a drink from Maccers (McDonalds) and went to the loo in Customs House. Outside, we met our guide for the afternoon, and some other people ready for the tour. This was a free walking tour of Sydney that I had seen in a guide. Our guy in the red t-shirt that day was Greg, and we had a really good time. It was 2hr15min walking, and normally I would have hated that, but the exertion went unnoticed, and I took loads of notes. He told us history, local knowledge, and gave us tips for our stay. We went through the main parts, and ended up at the Opera House for sunset, and a group jumping photo.
He showed us stuff we would never have found ourselves. There’s a little plaque on a flagpole that is now a bus stop that tells of how it is in fact the point where the First Fleet in 1788 established a flag for the first European settlement. And it’s a bus stop! I also learnt that the city is named after the viscount who funded the fleet; no sewage goes into the harbour; ‘Kylie’ is the name of a non-returning boomerang; and there are slang names for the notes - 100 Bradman (after a cricket player), 50 pineapple, 20 lobster. We also got a picture holding the penis of a pig sculpture, and I noticed as we went into the Botanical Gardens, there was the upside down tree symbol that my RS teacher adored as a metaphor for the Hindu concept of God.
We were walking in the same direction, so he gave us a few extra tips, until we parted ways. Sydney’s CBD is about a 45minute walk from top to bottom, and half an hour across, so we did a lot of walking getting to all the places we visited and things we did. I felt quite healthy.
We had some downtime then made our way to a bar called the Gaff, because we had meal vouchers. Once we got there, we were told that they weren’t doing that deal that night, so we walked all the way back to the Base hostel and made dinner ourselves. That night, I dressed up a bit, and we went next door to the Base bar, Scary Canary. Aiden says it was the closest we have got to clubbing on this trip. The place had the potential to be a good clubbing scene, but there wasn’t a lot of people, even though there was a free ‘BBQ’ (ie. A sausage in a slice of bread).
We sat with Frances, Ryan, and we met Hee Jeong (‘hee-tong’) a Korean girl also in our dorm, who was sweet, but could not understand Aiden at all. He kept forgetting she didn’t have the strongest English, so speaking at his normal sped was horribly fast for her. We bought a good few drinks over the course of the night; Aiden and I shared a few jugs of cider, of which I had about five glasses. We did dance at one point, and even got up on the a small platform. Whilst on the platform I turned around at one point to find that Aiden was snogging the face off an Irish girl he had met a minute ago when she had joined our group on the platform. Quite unexpected, and I didn’t pass up the opportunity to snap the incident.
When we were tired out, we got back down and sat at the table. Aiden sat with the Irish girl, but she kinda ignored him. I met a really nice French guy called Alexandre, and I finished the night chatting to him. As we were leaving the club, I learnt that I was not the only one to have seen that Aiden was in an affectionate move. In the five feet of pavement between the doors of Scary Canary and Base, Hee Jeong grabbed Aiden’s face and he got his second match of tonsil tennis that night.
The next morning we ate a lot for breakfast, to get over the night before. We bought a combo ticket at the Base travel agency, made sandwiches (we have eaten a lot of bread on this trip), and took the short walk to the aquarium. We saw fish, sharks, turtles, sting rays, a lot of interesting creatures, most of which we recognised from our excursion on the Reef. We bought the photo pack for that place, because it was quite a nice photo.
Nearby we saw signs to the IMAX, but when we checked it out, it was too expensive to be worth it. Our next stop was Wildlife World, and there’s not much to say about it really. We saw animals, stroked a lizard, bought some souvenirs from the giftshop; the place had nothing on Australia Zoo.
We next wanted to walk over the Harbour Bridge, but it wasn’t obvious on the map how you got onto it, and it seemed just heading in its direction didn’t get you anywhere. But after the false start, we did get on it, and over it. We were pooped by the end, so we got the train back. It’s so amazing that I’ve been to these magnificent places and done once-in-a-lifetime things, and there’s too many to count on this trip!
We stopped into Woolworths on the way back from the station, and I bought a cheap paperback, because I had finished the book from PM, but the Base bookswap was pretty dire. Once back, we had some downtime, and I had a nap before dinner. We were running a little late, so we rushed out to head for the Fringe Bar, a tip Aiden had noticed in the guidebook we got from Base at checkin. It was $10 on the door for the comedy evening, and we thought the comedy started at 7.30. So we rushed over there, through the pouring rain (I was slipping this way and that in my flipflops) and arrived panting and soaked at 7 to be told that the comedy started at 8.30. to be honest, it was better to have arrived early, because the bar was already nearly full when we arrived and we only got bar stools at the back, but we were disheartened to have to sit there for an hour and a half.
We had already eaten, but we got some pizza with our drinks, to pass the time, and eventually the room darkened the spotlight came on the small stage in the corner. The MC was very funny, some Aussie bloke, but the support act was only kinda funny. The main act was a total surprise – someone we actually knew, from British TV! It seemed that she was warming up for the comedy festival that started in Sydney the next week. We had a really good evening, she was hilarious, and I just could not get over the shock of finding out about the place almost by accident, and actually getting a famous face into the bargain.
The next morning, Tuesday 5th Apr, we were picked up from a hostel 20mins away, at 7.30am, a dreadful time. Our guide for the day was Rod, who took us to the Blue Mountains. After an hour’s drive, we stopped at a picnic area and found grey kangaroos! A whole bunch of them, plus one with a joey, and two boxing! It was a so cool to get to close to wild ones. Our next stop was a break that gave us the opportunity for a breakfast from a bakery, yum. Then we went to the Leura Cascades and Jamison Valley. Now, weather-wise it wasn’t the best of days; it was pretty cold (especially for Aiden in a tee and shorts, and I in a cardigan for pity’s sake) and on-off rain all day.
But it was nice to experience the forest, and see a waterfall. For lunch was an awesome beef pie, eaten looking out over a misty, mountainous landscape, at a place called Govett’s Leap, looking down at the Gorse River. We got a nice group picture. Then we went to the Mermaid’s Cave, which was a secluded, pretty place. I scrambled further up the rocks than everyone else, and made everyone nervous when I slipped and almost went crashing 10feet below. Our final stop in the mountains was the famous Three Sisters (you’d recognise the postcard picture). It was very misty, so the view wasn’t perfect, and you had to be lucky to a get a picture of more than three shadows in a cloud, but I also got some lovely doughnuts from the café.
On the way back, Rod stopped at Olympic Park, because one girl wanted to get off there, and it was a cool area to explore for ten minutes. All the names of the volunteers are engraved on about hundred columns in the square in front of the main entrance, in alphabetical order by surname. I found an Elsey – Melanie, whoever she is. There was only one. There were lots of Thompsons. When we got back to the hostel, I had finished both books, so I swapped one for a book I didn’t want from the shelf, hoping the one I put would be taken by someone who left something I did want. I talked to Alex about boks, then we walked to the Opera House to see it at night.
When we got back, the kitchen was full, so rather than wait around, we used up some of our milk and ate a packet of Oreos for dinner. We bought fruit for a fruit salad, but decided to have it for breakfast, to use up the orange juice. That night, the snorer was gone, so I got a proper night’s sleep.
I had a doughnut with my fruit salad in the morning. We packed, checked out, and made sandwiches. It was exhausting walk to our next accommodation; what took us half an hour in days past, took us almost an hour with our bags. I was sweating like a pig, and I had stubbed my toe, by the time we arrived at the Russell Hotel. It was so nice to be in a peaceful, well-decorated place without any backpackers. Being in a dorm is great for meeting people, but being in a sophisticated building with a private room was luxury. We had no air con, and we still used a shared bathroom, but it wasn’t that warm, and the bathroom had complimentary Molten Brown products. I was also excited to find that there was a birthday card waiting for me (as we were in the hotel for my birthday the next day).
We had some downtime in our room, and I found the lounge. It had an interview going on, but the receptionist said I could browse the bookcase anyway. I found some books I actually wanted to read. Aiden became impatient for food, so we got lunch at MacDonald’s (the sandwiches seemed inadequate away from the budget hostel). We went out to see Paddy’s Markets. We got lost on the way and they weren’t that interesting. Back in the room we had more downtime.
For dinner, we walked down George St (a street so long and central, it was about the tenth time we had done so) and had a pizza hut buffet, which perked Aiden right up. At 8.15pm we went to the Observatory and had an hour and a half tour. We had a really fun Italian guide called Carlos, who I really liked. In the first of two domes, we got three looks through the telescope, whilst Carlos explained how the thing worked and what we were looking at. I saw the nebula in the first spot, which was cool, but I didn’t see very clearly the second and third things we looked at. In the second dome we saw Saturn! That was awesome; you could see the rings and everything.
The last thing was a 3D film called ‘Bigger than Big’ that tried to put the size of the universe in perspective, in an informative and entertaining way. On our walk back, we chatted to some other people from the group, and passed Cambridge street.
April 7th, my birthday in Sydney, Australia. I got up early to Skype my friends, and that was really fun. They sang happy birthday, and I blew out my candle from Nimbin, and I opened my cards. I had five altogether – one my grandparents gave me before the trip that I had had in my bag all the that time, the one I’d picked up the day before, one I picked up in the morning that had been slipped under the door, and two that reception gave me. I cried a little at the sight of the familiar handwriting, and the fact that even my brother had written a brief note. It was heartening to see the display of cards on the table, because it felt a little like an normal birthday.
I had scheduled the things I most wanted to do in Sydney for this day, and in the evening I was highly excited about the surprised Aiden had arranged for me, at great expense. Breakfast was included at the hotel, so I had coffee and croissant, which was really good. When we set off, our destination was the Sydney Tower. It was like a smaller version of the one I went up in Toronto (damn, what is it called?), but still impressive. It was cool to trace all the streets before and relate it back to my understanding of it all from the map I had used religiously to get around.
Some spectacular views over the city, it was a shame that the Opera House was blocked from sight. We had lunch in the café – Aiden had a sausage roll that said on the packet contained mutton and carrot, which was worrying. Going down, we went into the 4D theatre and bumped into Alex. Oz Trek, as the show was called, was pretty cool, though being a room of kids enhanced it, because you could hear their excitement as the chairs bucked in time with the virtual tour of Australia on screen.
We said goodbye to Alex, but we were to see him later, as Aiden had said it would be a better experience if I invited some people. We then went to the New South Wales State Library. Aiden commented on how most people when confronted with the prospect of their 19th people are like “Let’s go get wasted!” whereas I was beyond the complete contrast of this by my enthusiasm of “Let’s rock the library people!” I didn’t care. We had visited the state library of Queensland and I wanted to see the one in NSW. I was able to convince him to go to many libraries over the trip because of the frequency of free internet and wifi.
The Reading Room was absolutely gorgeous, with stain-glass windows and curly staircases to the balcony along the edge. A lovely librarian answered my questions about the place. In the atrium was a map in the marble of the floor. On the way back from the library we popped into Dymocks, the Waterstones of Australia, because I enjoy a good browse of a bookshop, even when I don’t buy anything, and Aiden couldn’t complain about it because it was my birthday.
We had a bit of trouble booking our next Greyhound; we wanted to get a nightbus straight through to Melbourne, but it was fully booked, so we were now scheduled for a day in Canberra. This was a better move in retrospect; we had thought there was nothing worth bothering in Canberra, and lots to do in Melbourne. We actually had a good time in Canberra and there was a lot less to see in Melbourne than we thought.
We went to KFC for dinner. If this doesn’t sound like a special birthday dinner, think again. After the weeks of malnutrition we had had, it was a lovely dinner, almost banquet-level satisfying. On the way down George St, Aiden made me wear the party hat he had bought. I got a lot of looks. He also bought a ‘It’s My Birthday’ badge and made me wear that as well. It had flashing lights on it.
Once we got back, we relaxed, then got ready. Aiden had said I could dress up, so I tried to go a bit glamorous. Throughout the day, Aiden had been going in and out of the room, organising something extra with the hotel. Apparently, he had been around reception doing something interesting enough that people going past had asked, so now almost all the staff and guests knew about my birthday. Whilst I got ready, he was also popping out, sorting things.
It got to the appointed time, I was all ready, so I was allowed to go to the door, where Alex and Hee Jeong were waiting. Hee Jeong was in a lovely dress, and Alex was in a smart shirt. They gave me hugs, then they both gave me unexpected gifts. Alex had Lindor chocolates, which lasted me the rest of my time in Australia, and Hee Jeong gave me an actually wrapped package. I was so shocked when I opened it, I almost dropped it. She had bought me Ralph Lauren perfume! She said it was a tradition in Korea that the present for a 19th birthday is a rose, or perfume. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and affection. I hadn’t anticipated any presents at all. Ryan arrived, and he was as anticipated – presentless, which was fine.
We sat in the bar, and were asked for ID. Hee Jeong had left hers at the hostel, so we weren’t allowed to stay. On hearing this, Aiden was a bit put out, because he had arranged something in the bar for after the surprise, but he said not to worry, he’d talk to the manager. It seemed they had become best buddies whilst concocting my birthday.
He then blindfolded me, and led me out of the hotel, with Alex on my other arm. It was so thrilling, I had never had a surprise before. He stopped me not far from the door, and took off the blindfold. It opened my eyes to find a white limo standing, waiting for me. Oh boy was I excited! I couldn’t believe I had a limo for the night, in Sydney, with friends around me, Aiden being the best friend of all. We had unlimited champagne (and some lemonade as Aiden had known I wouldn’t drink a lot of booze), and our first stop was for pictures with the lit up Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background.
We had a great time that night. We got out as couple of times, including Bondi Beach and a sweetshop, but the best part was just driving around the city in a limo. I felt so special, and so happy. The funniest moment was Alex trying to do an English accent. Aiden laughed so hard at his efforts.
However many miles, 2 hours, and five bottles of fizz later, we arrived back at the hotel. We said goodbye to the driver, and made our way inside. Because we couldn’t be in the bar, we had been relocated to the lounge. When I went through the door, I saw that the table had been carefully laid out with five party hats, and five champagne glasses, each with a chocolate in it, and a cold bucket and another bottle of fizz in it. Aiden was surprised by the alcohol as well; apparently it was an apology for the relocation.
It was lovely. We put on the party hats and Aiden coached me through opening the champagne (on the balcony, just in case), and once we were back inside, I started pouring it. But Aiden told me to stop and turn around. I put the bottle on the table and as I turned round, everyone started to sing as behind me, a member of the hotel staff came in carrying a birthday cake with 19 lit candles! At the end of the song, I blew them out, and saw that Aiden had painstakingly iced ‘Happy Birthday Georgina’ and a picture of a book and a musical note on the top of the chocolate sponge.
It was literally the icing on the cake. We demolished the champers and sponge, and had a few more hour’s fun. Aiden still had full tubes of icing that he had no use for, so we coloured in the rest of the top of the cake, and I’m sure someone tubed it straight into their mouth. All in all, it was a fantastic birthday, and I will be forever grateful to Aiden for the amount of effort he put in. I went to bed a very happy birthday girl.
The next day I got up for another Skype call, this time with my parents. That was the only time I talked to my brother, who only wanted to know how drunk I got. I’ll have everyone know I only got a tad tipsy, which is as far as I ever go, if I drink at all. As Aiden had a lie in, I sat and used the internet. After breakfast, we sadly packed and checked out of the Russell. We bought a bus ticket from the convenience store down the street, then hopped on a bus to Coogee Beach. The plan was to walk to Bondi Beach before getting back in time for the bus to Canberra. It was a beautiful coastal walk, and a lovely day for it. It took an hour to get to Tamarama, where we stopped for a fish and chips lunch, and watched the surfers. It was here we discovered the weird type of sauce packets that fold over to squeeze it out. It then took an hour to get to Bondi. I was very pleased to use the birthday money I had been sent for a coffee, because it was a waste of money to buy any coffees in normal circumstances.
We got the return bus, picked up our luggage, got the train to the bus stop, then waited around in the Greyhound office. We got print outs of our tickets, with all our trips on them, Cairns to Melbourne, which was fun to read through. It seemed like such a short while since we had had our first print outs in Cairns with just one trip on it. We got some food, another meat pie for me, and ran into a girl we met on the Blue Mountains trip, which was nice (once we had wracked our brains for where we knew her from). Aiden also saw a friend from home he had randomly run into earlier into the week.
We ate Oreos, and then we were on the bus to Canberra. I finished my book and we got in at half 9. The very kind driver gave us a lift to the YHA in his own minivan. We checked in, I went to Superbarn, and exchanged a book.
We woke up and checked out, probably our shortest stay in a hostel, put our luggage in lockers, and had breakfast. Aiden tried out the spa, but it was actually cold, and apparently wasn’t going to get hotter, which was disappointing for him. We went out to the War Memorial, which turned out to be a very comprehensive museum, and we spent a good deal more time there than we had previously thought we would. We saw an audio-visual show then tagged onto a tour that had just begun. It was so interesting; the guide, a senior gentleman called Chris, was very good, and told us about the big stuff, but mostly the small stories of individuals throughout all the wars Australia had been involved in.
That finished about half 1, when we left, and bought food at Aldi, then had lunch in the hostel kitchen. I was freaked out by a sudden, extremely painful tooth ache, that made me cry with shock and fear. But it subsided. We walked to the National Library, and went on the computers. We left when it closed, and walked back during sunset, along the lakeside. We sat in the hostel’s TV room for a bit, then sat in the bus station long enough to watch half a film, then watch the rest outside once the station closed. We got on the bus at midnight and went to sleep.
We got into Melbourne at 8 in the morning. We had to get a tram to the Base, which was complicated by a street closure, but we managed it, and arrived in St Kilda. We got breakfast, then walked down the street to the local library, where we used the wifi. Then we got a tram to Flinders St, in the centre of Melbourne, and swapped to the free tram, which was an old, wooden lined one, with a commentary for tourists of all the sights along the way.
I had hoped to see Cook’s Cottage, but when we got there, we saw it was paid entry, and not worth the money. Aiden was keen on seeing the Cricket ground so we walked there. Then we got back on the tram, and got off early, when the commentary mentioned a cathedral. It was Catholic, but we drudged through the drizzle to see it (St Patrick’s). Next stop was the Koorie Heritage Trust Centre, with displays about Aboriginal culture and history around the area. From there we walked to Bourke St mall, where we go a little lost looking for a phantom IGA Aiden thought he saw, until we gave in to a Foodworks that we found. Here we bought snacks for the next few days.
We then got the tram back to Base, where we had a free dinner. Their basement had flooded, which had taken their kitchen and laundry out of action, so they provided free dinner and breakfast. It basic fare of overcooked pasta with chicken and veg. In the room, we chatted to two girls, both on a long weekend from Brisbane Uni, but one from the US and one from Perth. We had to pack for the next day, and so were they. It was a long conversation, about the English language and its history, as well as British politics, as much as I know about it anyway.
We had an early pickup the next morning, after checking out at 7 and dumping our bags in lockers. Jude was our guide for the next two days on the Great Ocean Road, in a 10-seat bus. She was complaining about the fact that her normal, big bus was broken. We picked up a German girl, and it was a bit of a drama. She ran out with her little bag, then a guy came rushing out behind her, stopped her, fed her toast, and gave her orange juice. This was, we learnt, her French boyfriend, and Jude and I were overwhelmed by how romantic it was.
There was another German girl to pick up, then a Chinese couple. We drove for two hours, where the only thing out the window was sheep. We had a tea break in Lismore, which was a lot of fun. Jude went over to see a friend at the garage, and came back with his 6 week old still-nameless Alsatian puppy. Aiden, Jude and I had grand old time playing with him, scampering about the grass and giving Jude a heart attack whenever it went near the road. Getting back on the bus, Jude, the Germans and I gossiped about men, then Jude switched to guide mode when we came near Mount Elephant, which was part of the volcanic plain.
We stopped for lunch, and Jude bought the supplies for the night’s BBQ. We stopped at place called Tower Hill, which was an extinct volcano in a National Park. We saw wild koalas in the trees above the picnic area, then we did our first walk. It took us to the top of the hill, with a view over a lake. After climbing down, we went on a second walk, where we got lost. Once we realised how far away we were using the map, we hurried along, hoping not to be too late. At one point, we burst in on two startled kangaroos, standing 6 feet from the path, which was cool, though we didn’t take the time to admire.
Luckily we weren’t too late, and we got under way. At a petrol stop, there was a free cheese tasting, but the best part was the scones we found in the café. They were huge with wonderfully thick cream and fruity jam. Aiden was in heaven. Our second sighseeing stop was the Bay of Martyrs, where Aiden played the fool by going behind the wall he was supposed to stay in front of. We raced to the 12 Apostles to see them at sunset, which was beautiful. It got cold, but we waited into the dark to see the penguins arrive back from the sea. They were only little dots on the sand below, but it was cute.
Dinner was a big meal of BBQ meat and salad. I swapped a book on the bookcase, and Aiden stayed up really late doing a jigsaw puzzle with one of the Germans. It was a fairly new hostel, which was quite nice. It was a 6.30 continental breakfast, then we went to London Bridge, which had a cool little story about an affair that Jude told us. It was a windy and rainy day. Another story awaited us at Loch Ard Gorge, about a shipwreck and its few survivors. Then we drove to and walked down Gibson’s Steps (which had a dead fish on them). I wandered up the sand to get better pictures of a rock stack, and happily sang some songs, something forbidden in Aiden’s presence.
The next activity was Mait’s Rest Rainforest Walk. Aiden made the point that we were a tad bored of rainforests, as it was at least the third we had walked through. We had lunch at Apollo Bay, a café called Nawtygirls, then we walked along the street and I got some ice cream from Dootey’s with my birthday money. After that we stopped at Kennett River, which was cool because Jude had birdseed, and a parrot came and fed from our hands. There was also a koala in a tree.
We stopped at Lorne for a tea break, and Jude had bought a cake too. We fed the macaws from afar. Along the road, which at this point was actually coastal road, which was magnificent scenery, we stopped at a WWI memorial for another story. Split Point boasted a lighthouse used in a crazy TV show called ‘Round the Twist’. We stopped at Bell’s Beach, but it was a bit damp, and the RipCurl Pro was being set up, so we left in a hurry. Then it was the final hour and half drive back to Melbourne. I slept. There were some emotional farewells, Jude assuring us that she would get a post on the company website that she had been right and we would get together.
We got our bags, checked back into Base, had dinner, got into bed, and went to sleep. It had been a long two days, with a lot to do. But it had been fun. We had got to know Jude and the other 4, see lots of call things and hear about them, as well as drive down some awesome road.
We had a great lie in. I woke Aiden at 10, so we could have breakfast. We stopped into the local library to catch up on the net, then took a tram to Federation Square, then to the Melbourne Museum, which we got into for free. It was really interesting, with some unusual displays, like one about how the mind works. We had lunch at Macdonalds’s, then spent a few hours in the Victoria State Library. That was essentially the end of the day. We went back to Base, then had an argument about the time of the shuttle to the airport – I wanted to get the one that got in way too early, because the next one only got in an hour and a half before the flight.
There was pasta for dinner, but also a free BBQ, so we had a few burgers. We took a night walk down the beach, then along the pier. At the end of the pier, we stood watching some cute little penguins in floodlights on the rocks. Not something I had expected in Australia.
KE Kaikoura to ferry terminal Picton, 30th, 9am. The morning of the 14th we only did a rough pack before checking out, because once the bags were in lockers we went to the laundry. Only when it was dry did we put a real effort into packing for our flight that evening. It figured that once it was properly packed, my bag didn’t fit in one locker with Aiden’s anymore, so we had to use two lockers. Then we went to the little library down to road, such a lucky resource. On our way back, we got a burger at a diner, then the shuttle picked us up. This was a fun moment; after the big argument the night before about going on the shuttle, when I had given in and agreed to the later one, that morning when we actually booked it, I was on the point of saying the later time when Aiden piped up and booked the earlier one. I didn’t say a word.
We tried to use the automatic check in pod-things, but we had a problem printing bag tags, so we had to queue for the check-in desk. We eventually went through security, and I spent more birthday money on coffee and a snack, and we sat watching the netbook until we went through to the sat. I read whilst Aiden was on the computer, and he said that as he sat at the laptop desk, there were some really annoying girls next to him.
We picked up a free headset on the way onto plane and I was astonished at the size of the vehicle; it was only a domestic flight to Sydney but it was a fully size, two aisle plane. It had in-flight entertainment, which was great, and we got dinner. It wasn’t that long until we were retrieving our baggage at Sydney airport, and setting up camp in the waiting area. We had to spend the night in the international terminal. Luckily, there was free wifi, and we had the TV shows to watch in the netbook, plus there were toilets and a fountain. Aiden attempted to sleep but gave up. We just powered through. We were joined in the area by cleaners and an electrician.
We got access to customs at 4am, and got through security at 5am. We got pastries for breakfast and were disappointed to find we couldn’t access the wifi from the gate. On the plane, Aiden watched a film, but I just went straight to sleep even before all the people were loaded, and slept for the entire two hours.
And then we were in New Zealand, Land of the Long White Cloud.
We had booked a central hostel, which had survived the September earthquake, but either the Boxing Day or February one knocked it down, so we had to rebook for a hostel in New Brighton on the coast northeast of Christchurch city centre. We got a shuttle from the airport to Point Break backpackers, and the place was a ghost town. We saw glimpses of the CBD, which was mostly cordoned off, and chatted to two Irish girls on the bus.
We checked in with a trainee, and got settled into our private room. The kitchen actually had an oven, so we factored that into our shopping at ‘Countdown’ (the Kiwi version of Woolworths), and ate some lunch. I made use of the book exchange, then we went to the local library, which was really nice. When we got back we asked the owner on reception, Penny, about buses, then had an unplanned nap. We woke up at about 8pm, and ate pizza. While Aiden was watching TV in the room, I watched the end of the first LOTR film with a group of guys (English, German and Kiwi) in the TV room, telling myself I had to overcome the jetlag.
We attempted to do something the next day. Christchurch wasn’t in tourist mode, and so the only thing to do was go round the Botanic Gardens in the drizzle. This was only after a lie in until 1pm though. We had a fried lunch, then got a bus. We walked the wrong way away from the bus stop at first, but eventually found the entrance to the gardens. It was quite nice just to gently wander, chatting, and get a hot chocolate at the café at the centre. We managed to get a free ride on the bus back.
Now, this would have been it for the day, and our time in Christchurch would have been relatively boring, had it not been for what happened that evening. As we sat in the room, we were struck by what we later learnt was a 5.3 aftershock. A deep rumble and the entire building shaking for 10 seconds set the place into panic. We grabbed various things from the room and ran out into the corridor, where there were girls crying and screaming. We all stood around Penny at the top of the stairs, then congregated outside the building. It was an incredible experience. The worst part was not knowing what to do. We had no briefing to tell us the protocol, like we have for other things like a fire alarm going off. It felt unlike anything else; you could feel through your feet the entire building being rocked, and there was an instinct that went off in the gut that knew without doubt “This is wrong” as it would if something that dropped defied the laws of gravity; a constant in life is that the ground is solid and doesn’t move.
We chatted to Nick, the Kiwi I had met the night before, then we all made our way back into the building. Whilst Aiden talked to his mother, Nick and I set about righting a stand of leaflets that had fallen over, then I rang my parents, who weren’t pleased to be woken, but I felt I should be the one to tell them, rather than let them worry when they found out later on. We eventually got over the novelty, boasted about it on Facebook, watched TV, had a shower, and went to bed.
What’s weird is that I’m now going to recount a day two weeks ago that I repeated yesterday, as our route round the South Island has led us in a loop and we’re now doubling back on ourselves. One thing is that the weather got worse as we went round to the west coast, then cleared up at the bottom and on our way back up the east coast. But I’m jumping ahead.
We checked out, went to the library for one last internet session, then I spent a couple of hours at church. The actual church building had been damaged by the tectonic activity, so the service was held in the small lounge of the next door community hall. It was Palm Sunday. I sat next to a lovely woman called Katrina, met the baby Charlotte, who distracted almost everyone, and listened to the preaching of Maggie, who I learnt over tea and biscuits was a visiting priest while the regular one was on holiday.
I went back to the library, and when Aiden was finished, we made bacon and eggs for lunch. We got a bus into the city, then waited on the bus to the airport for the driver, who was late. We got dropped at the Antarctic Centre in the rain, but Aiden suspected that we had to go down the road to be picked up. So we trudged 10 minutes to a tourist-looking building, where Aiden rang Kiwi Experience, our bus company for the NZ trip, to be told to go back to the AC. I was not a happy bunny, but luckily the tourist place had a free shuttle, so a lovely old guy drove back to the Centre.
We sat in the foyer until the KE driver, Poncy, came in and called everyone out to the big green bus. Now, I have since learnt that Poncy was the worst of the drivers we have experienced. At the time I was horribly disheartened, confused and anxious by the brief and incomprehensible explanation of the set up of KE and how it worked that he gave us. We got to Kaikoura at 7pm and, luckily for us, decided to stay two nights, rather than the designated 2.
So this is how the KE works. It’s essentially a travel agency that provides the transport. You forward plan all the buses in each sector of your route when you start that sector. Your route is designed by your chosen pass. The buses run on the assumption that everyone will spend the recommended time in each place, which is generally one night (except the bigger places, where the assumption is two) because the morning you set out for somewhere, the driver books activities you ask for, and then you do them that afternoon when you arrive, and then sleep in the accommodation that the driver also books for you, then get back on the bus the next morning. The whole thing is operated by forms on clipboards that are sent around the bus, the info on which is then called through by the driver.
Plus you can always change your buses that you’ve booked by ringing up. However, priority always goes to people booking from a bus, so if the bus is full that you want to change to when you ring up, you go on a waiting list, but if someone cancels, people who book after you for the first time from a bus get the place, not you. You have to hope there are enough cancellations and maybe some no shows so that you can turn up and get a seat. But you don’t know until that morning.
The whole system is more understandable in practice than in theory. The drivers are the key. They explain the timetable for the day, and all the activities available, and the various options, over the PA system in the bus in the morning. They also give a commentary for places of interest that we stop and drive through, which is an interesting collection of history, geography, anecdotes and just weird facts.
The thing with Kaikoura is that it’s after Christchurch, and rather than arrive in Chch in the afternoon, and leave in the morning, there isn’t anything to do there. So they power through to get to Kaikoura through Chch the same day, which means arriving in the evening, which means you can’t do anything or see the place unless you stay two nights.
So it wasn’t fun to start with the most messed up part of the route, because we thought that was what it was going to be like for the duration of the trip. Thank goodness we were wrong. We met two girls, Fiona and Ellie from Bradford, and a guy, David (a Scottish medical student from Falkirk in his 5th year at Aberdeen, having finished his placement in the North Island early, so taking the time to see the rest of NZ, and spending some time in Sydney) in the queue for check into the Lazy Shag (it’s a type of bird people). We were shocked to find we had to pay for duvets, so we opted to use our sleeping bags.
We were in a room with David and the girls, which was fun. We all went down to the fish and chips shop, and left only when they closed. Once we got back, we chatted for hours, until 11pm. I just loved David. He also gave me a Terry Pratchett book that he wanted to get rid of. He got on like a house on fire, and he got just as annoyed at Aiden as I did, the first person on this whole trip who didn’t quite like Aiden! It was just wonderful.
We woke to find Daivd gone on the morning bus, and our dolphin activity, which was the reason we stopped two nights, was cancelled. As we dejectedly made cheese on toast for breakfast, and some sandwiches for lunch, we found that the girls were planning the same as our backup plan – a 4hr walk round the peninsula. So we decided to go together.
We walked through the town, up a steep hill, across the top, down the other side, past some sheep, then round the edge, past a seal colony, stopped for some lunch, then had a really windy second half round the rest of the peninsula. We went through several terrains, including fields, roads, cliff tops, cliff edges, woodland, and meadows. We had a good time. It only started to rain right at the end. As we headed back to the hostel, Aiden got some hankering for hot chocolate, so we separated to go for a search. There wasn’t any in the small supermarket, because we were looking for water based not milk based, so we headed past the hostel towards the bigger supermarket. We were sure we were lost so I asked a Kiwi where it was, and it was just further than we had anticipated. We were unsuccessful there too, but Aiden bought some strawberry milkshake in cartons.
By the time we got back, my feet were aching, but what was worse was that my knee was just killing me. We had pasta, and chatted to the girls. Back in the room, I was only a small part of the conversation, because I was starting on a new plan. The KE seemed too disorganised for my liking, so I set about going through the entire guide (a comprehensive booklet that has been thoroughly used) and making up my own summary of all the places and things to do, and an outline for a schedule.
When I woke the next morning, my knee was still very painful. We waited outside for the bus that was half an hour late, then sat behind Fiona and Ellie. Our driver was Josh, but when we got to Picton, half the bus got off to go on the ferry, and Josh went with them. They were replaced with the people who got off the ferry, and a new driver. Oh, if only I had known how much I would love Bods. Josh said he was gruff, and he certainly was. He reminded me of theatre technicians; rough, rude, straight talking, but soft underneath.
We arrived in the afternoon to Nelson, where we were given a comprehensive welcome brief by the English owner of our accommodation, the Fern Lodge. We got a room with the girls, then set out to walk up the hill to the Centre of New Zealand (the South Island being longer than the North). It took about 20minutes, and I was puffed when we got to the top. We looked out over the wonderful views, and when we had our breath back, we headed home the long way round. Our whole trip took 2hrs. We went over the hills and saw the sunset over the lake, the walked through the town to the river, which we followed in the dark along to the Lodge.
We got back just in time for the end of the free beer tasting, but we weren’t sad to have missed it. We had treated ourselves to a roast dinner, and it was amazing. You could tell it was an Englishman in charge. We then went to the TV room, where someone put on Austin Powers. I sat next to a guy, complaining bitterly about my aching knee, and he asked me about it in all seriousness. Fiona overheard him and told him to stop playing doctor, he wasn’t qualified yet , and I realised he was a medical student. When I said I’d met another one recently, we found that David had started his trip with these guys, but gone ahead. They were Cameron, Adam, Matt, and James.
We got up early, and I was praying very hard whilst I packed, as we were on standby for that morning’s bus. We said goodbye to the girls, who were staying two nights, and were overjoyed to find that we could board with Bods. My knee was still painful. We stopped at Lake Rotorti, and did a walk through some woodland called the Honeydew Walk. I chatted to a guy called Chris from Windemere, and a little to Bods, who was the first person to sound impressed when I mentioned my theatre tour. He stopped us at one point to tell us about the birds.
Once we were back on the lakeside, we ate lunch, borrowing a knife of a fellow traveller to make sandwiches. And Aiden fed the ducks, who were quite aggressive about getting food off picnickers. Next stop off the bus was Murchison, where we saw the Buller River, but it was only ten minutes for loos and snacks. We were dropped off at Buller Adventures, where Aiden and I were booked into quad biking.
We were given helmet, jacket, overtrousers, and boots, then we were off. It was brilliant, once we got the hang of it. We got absolutely covered in mud, and I screeched over some of the more violent bumps. We went through dirt tracks, woodland, rocky areas, and waterlogged areas. I got stuck a few times, and we passed some people enjoying a horse ride. We did it for hours, and it was a lot of fun, especially once I was more confident, and tried a few more adventurous moves.
We got picked up and taken to the hostel in Westport, Bazil’s. We were in a huge room, with its own loo, kitchen, and TV. We ate dinner at a pizza place, and watched two guys we had met waiting for the shuttle (who had gone jetboating while we were biking) an English guy going to be a vet called Jamie, and his pal Marvin, from Luxemburg, as they played pool. We then watched TV in the room until everyone decided to go to bed.
Ferry from Picton South Island to Welling North Island, 30th, 1pm. The next morning I got to talk to my aunt and nana on Skype, which was nice, apart from doing it in a hallway. It was unfortunate that the internet failed early so I only got a few words with mum, and I didn’t have time to connect back before the bus. We left late because some bozos had to get back off the bus to wash their dishes from breakfast. We were almost last onto the bus, so we had to sit at the back, but it wasn’t too bad, because it was raised, so we had a better panoramic view of the landscape in front and around the bus.
One of the best parts of being in NZ is the landscape. It’s just breath-taking almost everywhere you go. It’s easy to pass a bus journey just looking out the window, listening when the driver occasionally gives a commentary.
It was short drive from Westport to the coast. We walked over the cliffs for half an hour to a seal colony at the end, and the bus waiting for us. Aiden had a hot dog for breakfast and I had a coffee. I said to the woman in the kiosk “Oh, it’s been a while since I had coffee from a cafetière.” She asked me to repeat myself, then she asked what a cafetière was. I pointed, and she “Oh, you mean a plunger.” Apparently what they are called down here.
We then drove down a scenic highway, and did some form-filling. I had to remind Bods about the horse riding, because he concentrated on the hikes in the next day’s stop. Some people did paintballing and kayaking the enxt day, but I wanted go see NZ from horse back. We stopped the see the Pancake Rocks (rock stacks that look like, you guessed, stacks of pancakes) and the blowholes. We got lunch and I had an ice cream.
We also stopped at Greymouth. Bods said that there was going to be a costume party that evening, and there were prizes to win. The theme was ‘Bad Taste’ and Greymouth was the place to buy stuff from the Salvo shop and the $2 store. We talked to Tony, who was also the back row. He seemed like quite a quiet guy, from Louisiana, spending a semester at a college on the North Island, but travelling with friends for a couple of weeks in the Easter holidays.
We arrived at the hotel Lake Mahinapua, a pub in the middle of nowhere with a few shed out back for accommodation. The oldest publican in NZ, Les, 86, gave us a welcome brief. We got a 4 bed room with Tony and a guy called Michael (no idea where he was from). A big group then went down to the lake. Aiden and I changed into swimming gear, but only I got in. Me and a Swedish girl called Em went actually swimming while some of the British guys from the bus jumped in off the pier to get straight out again.
It was absolutely freezing. I did go numb in several places, and when I got out, I have a thin layer of dirt on my skin. But it was fun. There was a football game during the last hour of sunlight, that I watched, shivering in my thin travel towel. Once we were back, I spent 45minutes standing by the fire. If I left its side, I started shivering again. I got to look at the beautiful display of greenstone jewellery that was for sale.
Dinner was cooked by Les and Bods. We piled our plates really high with steak, stew, potatoes, peas, corn on the cob, and a few other delights. I sat next to Tony and he introduced me to his friends – Caitlin, Nora (who for days I thought was Laura), Kristin, Kaleb from Minnesota, and Travis from Texas. They were nice, and I enjoyed their company.
So when we had gone back to our rooms, and changed into our costumes, I joined them in the bar. I was wearing a short denim skirt, and a denim waistcoat meant for an 11yrold, so I could only do the two bottom buttons up. It showed my navel, and a lot of boob. After about ten minutes I decided it was too tight to be able to breathe properly so I popped one button, and essentially had an open waistcoat for the rest of the evening. I had done my hair and makeup to match, and I think I achieved my goal, which was to look like trailer trash. The Americans were wearing lots of mismatched fashion disasters, and Aiden was wearing a white t-shirt that he invited people to draw on with Sharpie throughout the evening. Travis had a fun time in character as essentially my husband, because his outfit was the male counterpart to mine, by sheer accident.
There was drinking, dancing, lots of outrageous outfits, with a good few attempts at transvestism, and I had a grand old time planting big red kisses on as many cheeks as possible, using the $2 fire truck red lipstick I had bought that day. I actually got complimented on how I looked a couple of times, which in some ways was nice and some ways was worrying. I had a great time with Americans, apart from Tony who was in our room, and it was a great evening.
We finished it off by going down to the lake in the dark. The other girls enjoyed some conversation with a few guys from the camp ground down there, and on the way back we saw the glow worms.
The next morning (22nd) we got a farewell from Les, and then it was a short drive to the Bushman Centre. This place was a bit weird; it was devoted to the hunting practices of the area, and there was fur everywhere. We watched a film about how they caught deer with helicopters, and I got a nasty surprise when a button marked ‘Push Here’ made water squirt directly into my face. But the café did good pancakes.
In the carpark after going round the centre, everyone had sat down, and Bods announced the finalists for the ‘Bad Taste’ competition, who had been selected by the barman the night before. I was shocked to find that ‘Slut with An Open Top’ was one of them! So I made my way down to the front with the other three, and Bods organised a complex set of Rock-Paper-Scissors matches to determine 1st-2nd-3rd places. And I won first! I got first pick of the prizes, so I chose the free canyon swing in Queenstown. I was so elated to have not only been short listed after quite a bit of effort on my costume, but to win such a big prize.
At our next stop on the shore of a lake, one of the girls who had woken up still drunk and spent the morning moving into hung over and complaining loudly down the bus about turning corners, was sick in the toilet.
When we arrived at Franz Josef, we tried to check into a room with the Americans, but we were last in the queue so we didn’t get the choice. We ended up in a room with Daft Chris from Nottingham, Yorkshire Chris, and Connor the Irish aka Rory. At this point, almost the entire bus had been together for a week or so with good old Bods at the wheel, so we knew each other relatively well, though there were of course cliques.
I dumped my stuff, said hi to the US across the hall (Aiden had already gone for his kayaking) then met my horse trekking guy Baz in the carpark. He drove us to his stable, as it was only me on the trek that afternoon, and gave me a hat and some overtrousers, because there were dark clouds looming. I was introduced to Murphy my horse, then I got up onto my Wild West style saddle, which was so cool to ride in, with its pommel and engraving. It was hard going at first, as I tried to remember all I’d been taught. My muscles were slower to remember than I was, but I had got the hang of it again by the third time we cantered.
We went over rocks, and fields, and streams, and we chatted amiably about family mostly, as he had two brothers and a sister. We saw a few cows, and before I knew it hours had passed and we had a last canter on the road back to the stable. I helped Baz put the horses out to pasture, and he drove me back to the Rainforest Retreat.
When I arrived back, Aiden seemed to be still kayaking, but I learnt later that he arrived soon after me, and went straight in the hot tub. Very happy boy. In the kitchen, I met Dennis, a big black guy stirring a pot of Bolognese, who asked me if I wanted some. Apparently he was cooking for a group who were on their last night so they needed to get rid of most of their food. So my dinner than night was three bowls of free Bolognese, followed by free ice cream. It was great, and Dennis was a cool guy.
“Hello again,” said a voice.
I looked up from my bowl to see a familiar face waving at me from the other side of the table. It took me a moment, but I soon realised it was David!
“You don’t know who I am, do you?” he said in his thick Scottish accent.
“No, of course I do David!” I said quickly. “Don’t worry, you definitely stuck out.”
He needed butter to cook sausages, so I got him some from Dennis. I chatted to him whilst he cooked, then we sat in the lounge next to Em whilst he ate, and fed sausage to the hostel cat. He went to the hostel pub, but I only popped in for 5 minutes, before going back to the room. The guys in our room didn’t go out drinking that night, and so for hours the five of us sat up talking, about some pretty hot topics. It was fun.
The next day was our glacier hike, up the Franz Josef glacier. We bought breakfast, then arrived at the glacier centre. We filled out forms, and got some cards on a clip round our necks, then we listened to a welcome brief. We could use their equipment, and I borrowed the boots and gloves, but I used my own travel trousers and awesome coat, that I was so glad I had brought with me.
We got a bus to the carpark at the base of the glacier, then had to walk through rainforest and across a rocky terrain to get to the true base. We split into six groups, in order of fitness and ability. Aiden went in group one, Kaleb, Tony, Nora and I went in group four. I had hoped to walk with Aiden, so he had all our supplies in his bag, so I had to grab my sandwiches and inhaler off him. Group four was eleven strong, and we had Troy for a guide.
We put on crampons for grip on the ice, then made our way onto the ice. It was cold, and rain came on and off, but we went through crevasses and caves and it was awesome to realise what we were walking on. Lunch was sitting on a relatively flat shelf then we made it as high as we were going to get. The views were incredible, and we got pictures holding Troy’s massive pickaxe.
Going down the glacier was quicker. We had to concentrate on how to walk on the way up to get used to it (so much so that when we stopped so Troy could hack at the path, we remembered where we were, because it was easy to forget when looking only at your boots) but we had the hang of it on the way down. I chatted to Kaleb about Cambridge and the royals and British politics, and his home in Minnesota.
We got the bus back, and returned the equipment. Aiden was already in the hot tub. I heard about group one’s adventures, drinking the ice water and playing with their own small pickaxes. But his bag was wet through, so my notebook was beyond repair, and Aiden’s phone and ipod were dead.
I joined the Americans in their room, and until then I felt fine. Once I sat down for five minutes, I was taken over by a wave of tiredness, and I feel sideways on the bed, right on Travis, and fell asleep. Aiden came to get me for dinner, and I had to apologise to Travis for my impromptu nap. We put clothes from the day in the dryer whilst we cooked dinner (pasta) then I went back and hung out with the US until I had to pack before bed.
The 24th was a horribly early start for a 7.30 bus. We were ten minutes away when I realise with piercing horror that I had left my coat hanging on the bed! The shock and despair made me cry. I was so pissed off. I rang the hostel to hope it had been found but no luck. It was lost of me. Man, then pissed me off.
We had two photo stops on that journey before stopping at a bridge over white water. We went down to the edge of the river and got photos of the bus going over the bridge, where it waited for us to walk over and get back on. We were going to stop at a picnic area for lunch, but Bods said he would cancel it, because it was raining. He said just to eat on the bus when we wanted. We stopped to get pictures of Lake Wanaka, and Lake Hawea, and then we arrived in Wanaka.
We checked into Base (sort of – their computers were down) and dumped our stuff in 6bed rooms with individual lights over each bed and views of the mountains out the window. We had been following the length of the Southern Alps down the west coast. We then got back on the bus with 6 other guys and went to a firing range called Have A Shot. I spent 20mins shooting arrows, whilst the boys had a go at clay pigeon shooting, and Bods had a round on a .22; then Bods and I watched the boys on the battlefield, firing small balls from air canons.
Once back, we went shopping in the supermarket next door to Base, and went for a walk by the lake. Aiden enjoyed feeding the ducks. Then we watched TV, had dinner, watched two films and went to bed.
In the morning we spent an hour and a half at Puzzling World. I followed Aiden round the maze for a bit, but got bored and took an emergency exit. There were three rooms of illusions, which were quite impressive, and in the café there were lots of puzzles on the tables. We then drove almost all the way to Queenstown. Just outside it, we stopped at the AJHackett Bungy Bridge, where we watched a short film about the company, and a few brave souls bungy jumped the 43m high bridge. Watching made me a tad nervous about my own bungy jump the next day. The first thing we did when we rolled into Queenstown was get a group picture. We were like a family at this point, under our patriarch Bods, and it was Queenstown that we would break up and go on at different times. So getting the picture was to preserve the dynamic we had had. We checked into Base, and were given real keys, rather than cardkeys.
We found the library but the wifi was not free, so we wrote it off and went to get food from the supermarket. On our way down the street we passed the Americans, who were going off in a campervan for a few days. We bought 3 days wifi at the hostel and that was a good idea. We just had downtime for a while, and then we had to get ready for the bus party that night. I got all dolled up, not like the trailer trash, but just a nice dress and some makeup. I even borrowed some hairspray from a girl in our room.
Aiden was worried about being late, but we were the second people to get to the World Bar. We went down stairs to order pizza, and a big gang of people from the bus, mostly guys, came in behind us. When I turned round to greet them, it was obvious they hadn’t known who I was from the back. The whole group of them whooped in appreciation of how good I looked, which was nice.
We sat with Lisa, Em, and an older woman from the bus, and then the pizzas came. We got garlic bread to start, then lots of huge pizzas to share between us. When Bods arrived, already drunk as a skunk, he got a huge cheer. Aiden and I shared a teapot, literally a teapot, of cocktail, with shot glasses. When I was at the bar, I ran into David again, which was a nice surprise, but I didn’t get to talk long, because he was with his own group from his bus. Aiden went to bed at about 9.30, and eventually our whole table went to bed or somewhere else, until it was me and Em left. We decided to go to Altitude, the bar at Base.
Em and I sat with two other Swedes from the bus, and the three of them convinced me to put in a song to sing on the karaoke. They were anxious to hear me sing, and it would have been fun, but they didn’t call my name (probably because of my song choice) and I was kind of glad because my throat was really hurting, and it was getting worse because I had to shout over the music to be heard.
I ran into David yet again, and when the other Swedes left, he stayed with me and Em for the rest of the evening. We found out that we were in dorm rooms 213 and 214. We had a great time, dancing, singing along to the other karaoke people, and chatting. I might not have sung on stage, but David did, and he rocked! He had a great voice (I found out that he, like me, had had training) but he was also a great performer, and the entire bar loved him. I had to call it a night at 1am.
I woke up with my throat still hurting. I left Aiden still sleeping and went down the street to the Shotover Canyon Swing office to claim my prize. There were 6 other people doing a swing with me, all of whom I had never met before. We were weighed by the receptionist, and she drew pictures on our hands with felt tip pen. I don’t know why. Mine was a snail. Our driver was Rob, and he was pretty cool. I talked to an American guy who was nice on the drive over. We quickly got harnesses on, and one of the girls went first. The canyon swing was an activity that you could choose to do in different styles. This girl jumped off backwards.
I went next. I asked to do the least scary one, when you get hung in a sitting position and let loose to drop and swing down. But Rob told me I could do better than that, I just let him convince me to do it forward. So I stepped up to the edge of the ledge, Rob put his foot in between mine (in case I collapsed, whatever that meant), I smiled nervously at the camera, and then he said I just had to take a step. At one point I said the words ‘I can’t do this’ but I wasn’t really thinking about what I was saying. After telling myself just to take one step a few times, I eventually did.
It was thrilling. One moment of “Oh hell, what have I done?!” then I was falling and it was terrifying and I couldn’t think, and then I was swinging and I realised I was screaming and then I was laughing and thought returned and I whooped with glee at what I had accomplished. It was an incredible feeling. I had to calm my breathing down, but when they brought me back up, I had a great big smile on my face, and actually tears in my eyes. Rob commented on how much a screamer I was. Once I was unhooked, I couldn’t stop smiling, but I was also shaking quite hard.
I stayed for a couple of the other jumps, but then I retreated to the warm room overlooking the canyon to watch the rest. I bought a hoody and the photo pack, and once everyone was done, we drove back. As I left the office, David was coming in for his swing, and I wished him luck.
I spent a few hours in Base, on the computer and eating lunch until I went out again to face my next adventure. Aiden had gone up the hill for the day with Lisa and Em to go luging. I met other jumpers from my bus at ‘The Station’, got weighed (I’m 65kg – it was written on top of my snail) then got on a bus. It was about 45min to the bungy spot. We got into harnesses, put our stuff in lockers, then went over to the hire wire suspended platform via a cable car in small groups.
I had a long wait on the platform, because we were going in weight order, and there were a lot of tall guys in the group. Aaron, Chris, Jamie, and others whose names I never caught. There were a few other girls. Two of them cried as they edged towards the platform, and they needed the whole group’s encouragement to do the jump at all. After watching about 20 people jump, it was my turn. I was strapped to the rope, told about the foot release (all in a chair suspiciously like a dentist chair), and then the technician helped me out of the chair, to shuffle of to the ledge. I was watching my feet, and suddenly lifted my head as the 134m drop came into view. It was really quick. Once in position, the guy counted down, and I threw myself off Superman-style.
I screamed even louder than the canyon swing. It was all free fall, so rather than the swing where I didn’t have time to think, I got over the shock and was still falling, so it was with conscious thought that I experienced dropping through thin air. I was laughing and screaming and whooping, I had a great time. At the top of the bounce there was moment of weightlessness which was disorientating, and on the second bounce I managed to undo my feet to sit my harness the right way up.
Back in the relative safety of the platform, my hands were shaking violently again, but I was elated. I watched the video one of the lads had taken on my camera, and I couldn’t believe it was me, even though I’d just done it. After we were all done, we got the cable car back in groups, got out of the harnesses, and I bought the video. We got a bus back into town, and I had a nap, as Aiden wasn’t back.
When he did arrive, I told all about my day, and he described how much fun he’s had luging. We discussed doing a LOTR tour, but we didn’t think it was worth the money, because we weren’t massive fans of the films, so we decided to go luging again. That night we had dinner, watched Dr Who and then went to bed. With all the screaming, my throat was wrecked.
The 27th was an early start. I was so tired, and my throat was still sore. I had the suspicion that I was coming down with something. We got on a bus for a day trip to the Milford Sound. Our Driver Guide was Jamie, and nice enough fellow, and he gave us commentary about the places we went through on the very long drive to the Sound. We were glad to find that Lisa was on the same trip, with another guy off the bus who I only knew as Mr Photo. I did sleep some on the bus.
After a quick café stop, our first stop in the National Park, which was stunning the entire day, especially with blue skies, was the Mirror Lakes. After that we stopped at a creek, where I had a few gulps of the pure mountain water. Then we went through a tunnel. Aiden enjoyed taking the facts Jamie gave us and working out how many tons of dynamite in total it took to build the tunnel. We then got on a boat, the Pride of Milford. The first half hour, the beautiful scene was lost on us as we tucked into huge plates off the hot buffet. We paid attention when we were full.
We saw seals. We saw the Tasman Sea. We saw the wonderful mountains. And we felt the strong winds off the sea. I bumped into the American from my canyon swing, which was nice. Then we were dropped at the underwater observatory, which was quite cool. Ricardo told us all about black coral and the like.
It was a long bus home. I slept, and then Jamie put on the film Dodgeball, which had the bus giggling all the way home. We had pies for dinner, and we were soon in bed.
It would have been nice to lie in, but I had a Skype call. I started it in the TV room, but a group of people wanted to use the TV (who watches TV at 9am?) so I sat in the corridor outside my room. What I didn’t realise, until Aiden told me after, was the whole room could hear me, as the door presented no barrier to the sound of my voice. Once that was finished I had a nap. Both Aiden and I had full blown colds, so it was a good day to not do anything too exciting. We got tickets for the luging, walked the gondola up the hill, and admired the views of the lake and Queenstown on the way up. We grabbed helmets from the bins, and first did the easier, scenic route. We then spent the next 3 runs on the advanced track trying to get a good photo together on the finish line. The last run was just a suicidal need for speed. It was a lot of fun, and we got two good photos, one on the chairlift.
Base Wellington, room 405, 30th, 6.15pm. We relaxed in the café and had a hot drink and pastry each. Mine was a really nice ‘doughnut’ (it was shaped like a squashed banana) filled with apple and covered in cinnamon. We got back down the hill in the gondola, and headed for the post office, where I got my last set of postcards and stamps. I had a peek into the cute church down the road (St Peter’s) then we saw a big sign outside the shop ‘Cookie Time’ that said “Hot Cookie and Milk” and we were straight in there. The milk was on tap!
We went around some tourist shops, then Aiden showed me the ‘Remarkable Sweet Shop’ where we tried lots of free samples of fudge, and I eventually decided on small portions of apple pie fudge and passionfruit fudge. On the way back, we bumped into Kaleb and Caitlin. I tried to find cotton socks, but the only place in town that had them was a souvenir shop. Then we had dinner, watch TV on the netbook, and went to bed.
Friday dawned and we were leaving Queenstown. We met Fiona and Ellie in the lift! And Bods was driving the first leg up to Christchurch. So lots of friends on the bus, including the Americans; we sat at the front with them. I had a big forward planning session, which Bods helped with a lot actually, giving tips on where to spend more days or less. We stopped for a pastry breakfast (Kaleb and I both had apple danishs that we both loved) and then the next stop was a place called Twizel.
We picked up lunch, and some drugs. Aiden was over his cold, but I still felt terrible. We then crossed some canals into McKenzie country, which had a wonderful story about a cattle rustler and his dog, that Bods told us. We stopped at a lovely spot to get a picture of Mount Cook, the country’s tallest mountain, on a really good day weather-wise. We drove on through expansive landscape with mountains on the horizons, a cloudless blue sky above us.
We stopped one last time for loos, and I was last on because I got distracted by a little shop that sold condiments, with lots of free samples. We then swapped at Christchurch, which was déjà vu. We had to say goodbye to Bods, which was sad. I gave him a big hug. Our next driver was called Andy, who was much better than Poncy had been. Wish we’d had him pick us up at Chch the first time.
I had started blogging that morning, and I carried on, determined to catch up. But I did have a nap when my illness and tiredness overwhelmed my willpower. I woke up in time to talk to the Americans a bit, then argue about the saying ‘Red sky at night’ which I always thought referred to shepherds, but apparently both Andy the driver and Caitlin were adamant it was sailors.
When we arrived at Top Spot, we were astonished to find the same woman who had checked us into the Lazy Shag two weeks before. We got a room with the Americans, then we all went out the same fish and chip shop in Kaikoura that we had been to before. We then popped into the bar to see the others from the bus, and I shared my bitterness that I would miss the wedding of William and Kate. But I did get a nice cup of tea.
Back in the room, there was a lot of conversation, including an incident between Kaleb and Nora’s stuffed toy monkey Monkey, that proved humorous right into the next morning.
And so, I am sooo happy to say, we come to today. We woke up on the South Island, and now I am on the North Island. In Kaikoura, Andy had problems starting the bus, so he had to get a mechanic out. We dumped our bags and went to a café, to get breakfast and be picked up once he had it running. I asked for sugar in my coffee and boy, I really shouldn’t have; it was disgustingly sweet. I mean, I drank it, but it was far from ideal. And I had a banana, a piece of fruit, which is a rarity for us on this trip.
When we got to Lazy Shag, we saw Em! Which was a nice surprise. I then spent the journey blogging. We had a stop to see cute baby seals, then I just typed and typed until we got the ferry terminal. We checked in our luggage, boarded, sat in the bar, ate lunch, then I spent the next three hours typing. I also broke my pencil, so I need a new one of those. Most of the Americans ended up napping, and Aiden chatted to Fiona and Ellie.
Once we landed, we got our luggage, and said an emotional farewell to our US buddies, who were being picked up by a friend and being taken back to their campus. They start college again on Monday. We hopped on the bus and five minutes down the road, we got off here, at the Base Wellington. We’re in a 6share with Ellie and Fiona, and an Indian guy. Aiden is currently out getting pizza from Dominoes.
I cannot believe I’m caught up. WAHOO!! I’m now past 35000 words.
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