First day
So – the first day on tour went pretty well. The train ride through the Southern Alps was incredibly gorgeous. Lots of Alpine meadows and snow-capped peaks. Then there was a bit of waiting at the train station till the Stray bus showed up. Turns out that that was because a good number of the people on it were seriously hung over. I was talking to one other girl who joined at Greymouth, and as she said – there was a reason I didn’t join Kiwi Experience. Still, there are a lot of nice people on the bus and if I get too annoyed with them, I can try to jump forward a bus at Queenstown. And one nice thing about the bus, is we do get fabulous music. Yesterday we got Jet, Weezer, the Eagles, and Oasis, among others.
So – once we were on the bus, we drove down the West coast, stopping to get some groceries on the way (and stopping at a greenstone factory on the way – but since I already have one, I just stocked up on food). Then the bus stalled, but the boys pushed it so they were able to get it going again. We all stopped at a bushman’s museum thing, which had some Thars, deer (I got to touch its fuzzy antlers), and a chamois. Also possum pies, but I didn’t eat one of those.
The scenery coming down the coast was incredibly spectacular – maybe my favorite on the trip so far. There’s the Tasman sea on one side and temperate rainforest on the hills on the other. Where we’re (in Franz Josef) staying is surrounded by hills covered in rainforest. It looks like Hawaii but cooler. We saw the glacier as we drove into town. I’m not taking a hike on the glacier – saving up for other things later. And besides I was knackered from the last couple of weeks. So I slept in, now I’m charging my ipod and then I’m going to walk up to the glacier face in a bit.
Tags: Travel
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