Freejan

Arrived in Westport this afternoon in the rain. It is still 20 degrees but is marginally better than the 30s! I am getting into this backpacker lark! When I’ve travelled before i have never shopped and cooked for myself in the kitchen of where i was staying. I would have bread etc but would get breakfast with the place i was staying or go out. Similarly the evening meal would be somewhere cheap and out. You not only carry your case, backpack etc but bags of food. Like little donkeys we are arriving at hostels! We have to label the bags with room, name and date leaving. Then we put them in the fridge. So far the hostels have varied considerably in cleanliness and organisation. Tonight we are in the Tipin hostel in Westport – absolutely amazing! SO clean and the toilets, showers and kitchen are well resourced. You have to take the rough with the smooth! We stopped at a lookout point for seals at Cape Foulwind, named as such by Cpt Cook who thought the smell from the seals was dire! It was beautiful there though and the rain had stopped so we didn’t get wet walking up to the viewpoint. On the way over from Abel Tasman we drove alongside the Buller river and gorge, a beautiful muted green and very wide. We had passed the Kauharangi national park, heavily forested and hilly where the rangers were trying to kill off the possums because they are eating all the leaves on the trees and killing them. They even fly over dropping poison pellets to kill the possums. Not good in my book as what else will they kill? Anyway i doubt if my opinion will hold much sway here!
Did i tell you about the Pukeko bird? Well Caroline will laugh at this if she reads it. I saw this bird about the size of a skinny chicken with long legs, red on head and midnight blue feathers. Wow! I say. Oh that’s a Pukeko – very common round here! There’s me with mouth wide open only to be told no big issue here! What’s more i was in the Pukeko dorm in Abel Tasman! Serendipity!
I am the oldest on the bus by about 45 years which i find quite interesting to have an insight into how these young people think. It’s not nice really – egos inflated to enth degree, more money th

an me and so widely travelled! Where does the money come from? They wont pay $20 for a meal but will pay $319 for a glacier trip!!
Ok, it’s £160. But – every stop has activities. The hostels are cheap. They have paid for the bus – about £700, but then they have to do these activities. I’m glad I’m a cripple!

Onwards and upwards. As you may have noticed I have not succeeded in getting pictures on here but as i have a reasonable connection tonight i will try to download an app called WordPress which apparently helps with these things on android phones.
Other thing I’ve learned IT wise or phone wise is i can move my
photos to Dropbox to save them. Clever stuff.
Ok I’ll try to do that now. Just got back from a group meal at the local hostelry which was a new experience for me. I had chicken and they bring it uncooked on a hot stone and you turn it and cut it up until cooked. This comes with salad, chips, garlic mustard mayo and a beer for $15- £7.50. Quite good really! Off to Franz Joseph in the morning.

Well has life been one mind blowing whirl for a couple of days. I was not sure where I was or where I was going. T’wd seem i was going to Kaikoura from Christchurch. The driver (Mossie, as in mosquito!), said i was going up to Auckland from there etc etc. I don’t want to go there i say. Anyway we checked in at The Lazy Shag – me! Soon realised it was the bird! Very expensive at $26(£13) for the night. I had decided to do the fishing in the afternoon so paid my $94 – £46 and off we ( Christian, a Danish young man) were taken to see fur seals and then to Gerry’s, the fisherman. He took us to the boat where we fished with Dean and Craig. It was exhilerating! First we saw lots and lots of dusty dolphins who swam alongside us jumping and twisting in the air. Magical! Then we did the fishing after splashing at great speed out to sea. I had my line, felt a tug and gave 2 sharp pulls with the rod. Then came the hard bit, reeling it in! It took ages and i nearly gave up. But then, hey presto! My fish, yes my fish appeared!! It was an orange sea perch. There were 6 of us and we all caught fish – very hard not to apparently! We then went to pull up the crayfish boxes. Our crayfish were too small so we had to throw them back. No worries though as they had caught plenty in the morning. We went back to Gerry’s and were given copious amounts of the most amazing sauvignon blanc, shown how to drown the crayfish, cook it and chop it up. All very fascinating and very tasty! Much more wine later we were given our filleted fish and advised to go to the fish and chip shop and they would batter and fry our fish for a small fee. SO we had some amazing fish and chips! Being rather worse for wear i went to bed and slept in my clothes(shorts and tee) until 7 am when i got up and had a shower. I couldn’t find the tea bags i had brought with me so a girl there took pity on me and gave me one. I had some gingernut biscuits so that was my breakfast! We left at 9am and travelled to Picton where i joined a bus for Abel Tasman. We arrived about 6pm after stop to visit a winery and a supermarket shop. I am now at The Barn and i must say it is lovely here. No bunk beds, we are all on divans- 6 in a room. Apart from the 32degrees all went well apart from the bus having no air con. I was exhausted but enjoyed the barbeque we all cooked with our driver Happy! I had a shower and went to bed. No wifi as office closed. Today I have slept late, phoned Stray travel who continue to mess up my itinery, done my washing, caught up on emails/facebook and here, had a walk to beach and now going for a cuppa. It is very civilised here as I can make a pot of tea! Off in the morning to Westport. Might read up on that as i drink my tea if i don’t fall asleep -it is at least the same as yesterday, in the 30s. Pppffff!

I slept well in my bed and was awake by 8.30. After tea drinking and checking emails etc I dashed out around 10am. I had decided to walk to the nearest tram stop from my 'motel'(really do feel like I'm ... [Continue reading this entry]

First shock was the temperature! 23! Just right. I found a taxi from airport $55! - much more expensive than Singapore when it was $20. Apparently taxis are expensive here - still only £26 so not too bad. I got ... [Continue reading this entry]

Strange day today, knowing it's my last here but yet in denial. It's been a lazy Sunday of sorts.Caroline not working but Julee doing 10-4 in the restaurant. Who'd be a chef in this weather?! Mind you down to 30 ... [Continue reading this entry]

Another lazy day with girding my loins for the flying solo bit of my trip to come on Mon. I keep going ppff! with my lips as heat influences my pace. I have washed up and put 3 loads of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Had a quiet day as Caroline and Julee are both working today. Been in touch with Stray travel - the bus that takes me round New Zealand, to check about my route as i was worried I couldn't do the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Slow start due to a bad night. Can only put it down to the two small bottles of beer i had last night. Despite drinking gallons of water at 35 degrees alchohol does not go down well. I got up ... [Continue reading this entry]

Now in touch with blog people as having problems uploading photos. I can upload from Caroline's tablet - hence picture of her and Julee, but not from my phone. Got up 9.15 with tea from C as Julee goes ... [Continue reading this entry]

[caption id="attachment_363" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="The mad pair"][/caption]