Bob & Buller

Hmm.

South Island is super sweet. I'm not really sure what the difference is exactly, but it's like, is both Islands were salsa, then North would be Mild and South would be one of thoes crazy kinds called something like "Uncle Tom's Ass-kicking Whoop-and-holler" that has warning labels all over it. That's as close as I can come to conveying how awesome South Island is. When we got to Lewis Pass today, we had to pull over so I could slam my head onto the hood of the car, repeatedly, as a form of self-inflicted punishment for wasting (and I do mean wasting) so much time up North. Oh well though.

After saying goodbye to everyone in the Bay (including a near-tearfull parting with Glen)...which ususally concluded with my being advised "don't freeze to death", I headed down to Wellington, where I spent one last weekend with Buzz. Good times. The next day it was pouring rain with gale-force winds as the ferry set sail out of Wellington Harbor. Woohoo. The skies cleared up once we got out into the Cook Strait, which was super. Coming into Queen Charlotte Sounds absolutely blew me away...green, rolling hills with fijords winding thier way around...sweet. I enjoyed the scenery until the wind picked up to a speed where babies were being swept up and flying overboard (almost) and then retreated inside.

Picton was boring, so I hit the road and stuck out my thumb. About half an hour later, I got a ride into Blenheim with a drug-dealer from Greymouth. He was really nice, showed me pictures of his home, family, and town (including a nive video of a rainbow) and left me with instructions to crash on his sofa when I'm over that way. Blenheim was, excuse me, a total shit hole. It may have been that everyone staying at the hostel was waiting for vine pruning to start up, which depressed me on thier behalfs.

The next day I broke down and bussed to Kaikoura, which was pretty nice. Good beaches, mountains, and thousands of seals. I beat the living jesus out of a Danish guy at pool and called it an early night.

The day after that (I would use the names of days if I knew what day it was, or is), I hitched to Hanmer Springs with a pair or French-come-New Caledonian nurses, who were lovely. Hanmer Springs is a really beautiful town up in the mountains, and the backpakers was amazing! Raw wood everywhere, clean, new pans (!!!) and a nice cat that made hilarious noises. Chatted to an Austrian couple and thier baby for a while (to be fair, the baby didn't contribute to the conversation too much), then went out an experienced the teeming Hanmer night-life with Jill and Niko (British and French couple)...where we met up with the French Nurses and an Indian chick who was living is Las Vegas...of all places. There were about 3 other people at the only open pub (at 9pm)...so entertainment consisted mostly of listening to Las Vegas, now on her 9th glass of wine, telling rambling stories. I laughed until I cried. Then we cruised back to the hostel, Niko, Jill and I watched some Weeds and crashed.

Today I hitched with Jill and Niko as far as Springs Junction, just across the amazing Lewis Pass (northernmost pass through the Southern Alps)...which was gorgeous and snowy. After farewelling them, I got a ride into Westport with Mick, an ex-gold mining consultant. After a mandatory stop for pies and tea, he put on some Bob Dylan, and we cruised through the Buller Gorge, with him pointing out plenty of history along the way. ("and just over there, my dad was working on the railroad and got sandwitched between two freight cars and was keps alive by the local farmers who brought out hot-water bottles in the snow until the ambulance arrived." or (while on the State Highway) "when I was learning to drive this was an unsealed road - one way. it took about 11 hours to get to Christchurch, when the river wasn't flooded"). He gave me his number, again with instructions to call if I ran into trouble.

So yup. Tomorrow I'm headed up to Little Wanganui, near Karamea to do some WWOOFin'...which should be pretty cool. After that it's down the west coast, then off home in what seems, increasingly, like not too long of a time away!

Until then!