Monday 20th April
Today I left Dunedin, at last! I spent far too long in Dunedin, but it was for the best, I was able to get over the worst of my flu and I also managed to catch up with some people from my West Coast bus! I met up with Mairead, Mike, an Irish guy called Shane, who I originally met in the Bay of Islands and a couple from England, Tiggs and Gemma. We all left Dunedin for Invercargill together, which was really nice. The drive from Dunedin to Invercargill is lovely! Our first stop was a place called the Point Cafe or the Point Bar, or something like that, the motto was “We’re Glad You Got to the Point”, which I think was very smart. We had toasties here, which were $6.50, a total rip off, and they weren’t Baylands Coffee Co toasties, they weren’t even toasties that you make at home. They were average. Meh. After that stop we drove round to the actual point, where we got out and walked to a lighthouse. Kiwi Experience are fond of their random walks, which is actually really good, you get to see places in New Zealand that most people miss, but when you’re sick, walking is the last thing you want to do. And when you’re me, walking really is the last thing you want to do. Well, maybe it’s second to running or Barr History. Actually, there are a lot of things worse than walking, but walking is still really crappy.
After our walk to the lighthouse we drove to a different beach – Surat Bay Scenic Reserve where we saw Sea Lions! It was actually really amazing – as soon as we got onto the beach we saw a lady sea lion, I say lady because she was classy. She was hanging out on the beach, having a sleep and when she saw us she just started rolling around and looking cute! She even sat up for a few pictures! After seeing her we walked the rest of the beach, looking for some Mr Sea Lions, but we ended up walking the length of the beach before we saw any – we saw a young male and he was also really cute, he was darker than the female and he was a bit fatter, he had like, neck fat! I loved it! Then we came across a male and a female and they were really cute too! The beach was fairly flat, but it had big sand dunes and there at least 6 feet high – well we saw a MASSIVE and I mean, a fully grown male Sea Lion and they are BIG! He had climbed up this massive sand dune and he was just hanging out, having a sleep! Sea Lions are so big and it was really cool to be able to see them in the wild. There were these two really annoying boys, they kept on annoying the Sea Lions, like a Sea Lion would be asleep and then they would like run up to it and like wake it up and they were trying to poke them and they were getting far too close, which actually really annoyed me. I get really funny about this sort of stuff. There was absolutely no need to be acting the way they were – it was so disruptive and mean and it really annoyed me – and everyone else actually. Everyone was so fed up with them being stupid! I really wanted them to get bit by a Sea Lion, but it didn’t happen, sadly. There were a few close calls though, which I loved, because for a second you could see them getting really worried as they ran away from the Sea Lions!
After the Sea Lion beach we went to a waterfall – I have seen so many waterfalls on this trip, but this one was so beautiful! If you have ever played any of the Tomb Raider games, probably the first one (because that’s probably the only one I’ve ever seen – there were Tigers in this game) then that’s what the waterfall reminded me of! It was so beautiful, it just looked so ancient and it was huge! I would have loved to have gone swimming there, but there wasn’t any time! Most of our time was spent trying to get a good picture, the annoying boys that were being mean to the Sea Lions just stood at the top of the waterfall for a good 20 minutes – right in the way of everyone’s pictures! We actually had to ask them to move because they were in everyone’s way! Idiots!
After the waterfall we went to another beach place – it was called Curio Bay and it was so lovely! There were these amazing cliffs and the waves were huge! It was just so nice to see the cliffs and the sea and it was so green – it was just B-E-A-UTIFUL! We also saw a Sea Lion and she was so cute and so happy when we walked past (I’m presuming she was happy – I’m also presuming that she was a Sea Lion, she could have been a Fur Seal, but I’m pretty sure she was a Sea Lion) but then those horrible boys came along and one of them like slapped her, or poked her or did something disruptive and then she got really mad and she would let anyone walk past her and she chased anyone that did. Me and Mrs Seal were tight, I got some really good pictures of here, my favourite one was here reading the “No Dogs Allowed” sign! Genius – she was probably smarter than those boys. Actually I’m sure she was, because she chased one of them and he thought he was obviously so cool, but when she came at him he panicked and he was like stumbling/running backwards and then he fell into the massive mud pit! It was so funny! If Instant Karma exists then he was the perfect example! It was just beautiful! He fell into this big muddy pit and wrecked his white trainers and his trackies haha! It was also nice to see him looking worried as he tried to get out of the mud pit as this Sea Lion came charging at him!
We left the pretty beach and went a few seconds down the road to a spot where you can see the little hoiho Penguins – there the rarest Penguins in the world and there here in New Zealand! The beach where they live was full of tourists, so they wouldn’t leave the water so we didn’t get to see any, which was really crappy, because I’m all about cute little penguins! After that we just went straight to our Hostel in Invercargill – we checked in and then we all went out for dinner. We had spent the entire day eating food so I wasn’t too hungry so I just got some sweet potato chips and then we had some desert – chocolate fudge cake! Oh my gosh, it was sooo yummy, but it was HUGE! They gave you two slices and I could only eat one!
Well, I could have pushed myself to eat two, but that would have been painful, so I just enjoyed one slice! After that we all went back to our room – I repacked my huge bag and then packed a little bag to take to Stewart Island – tomorrows destination
and then I slept!
Xx
Showing posts with label Walking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walking. Show all posts
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Farewell Queenstown!
Wednesday 15th April
This morning I used the remained of my internet time and then I went for a wee walk. Actually it was an epic walk. A friend of mine was looking at a house in Queenstown online and it was fairly close to where I was staying, so I went for a walk to have a nosey at the house. It took me about an hour to walk there and then I walked right past it! When I eventually found the house it was getting quite late, so I couldn’t hang around for too long. It’s a nice house and it’s right by the lake, but you probably won’t be interested in that! Once I had taken a few pictures of the house – I probably looked like the biggest stalker ever. Once I had taken a few sneaky pictures I headed back to town, met my friend Richard and got a Fergburger. Todays conquest was a Mr Big Stuff, yup, Fergburger likes to name inanimate objects Mr, just like me! We were obviously meant to be together! The Mr Big Stuff is “1/2lb of prime New Zealand beed topped with melted Edam cheese, American streaky bacon and BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion and aioli.” I don’t even need to say it – I didn’t have the tomato or red onion! The burger was HUGE, even by Ferg standards! It was also really tasty, they have the nicest BBQ sauce, I was very impressed with Fergburger! If you are ever in Queenie then you should definitely hit it up!
Once I had destroyed that burger, I said goodbye to Richard, finished packing my stuff, went to bed and had another lovely sleep. Great success.
Xx
This morning I used the remained of my internet time and then I went for a wee walk. Actually it was an epic walk. A friend of mine was looking at a house in Queenstown online and it was fairly close to where I was staying, so I went for a walk to have a nosey at the house. It took me about an hour to walk there and then I walked right past it! When I eventually found the house it was getting quite late, so I couldn’t hang around for too long. It’s a nice house and it’s right by the lake, but you probably won’t be interested in that! Once I had taken a few pictures of the house – I probably looked like the biggest stalker ever. Once I had taken a few sneaky pictures I headed back to town, met my friend Richard and got a Fergburger. Todays conquest was a Mr Big Stuff, yup, Fergburger likes to name inanimate objects Mr, just like me! We were obviously meant to be together! The Mr Big Stuff is “1/2lb of prime New Zealand beed topped with melted Edam cheese, American streaky bacon and BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion and aioli.” I don’t even need to say it – I didn’t have the tomato or red onion! The burger was HUGE, even by Ferg standards! It was also really tasty, they have the nicest BBQ sauce, I was very impressed with Fergburger! If you are ever in Queenie then you should definitely hit it up!
Once I had destroyed that burger, I said goodbye to Richard, finished packing my stuff, went to bed and had another lovely sleep. Great success.
Xx
And Then There Were Two.
Monday 13th April
Today all the Irish left – they went back to Franz Josef to hike the Glacier, those crazy Irish! So that just left Pete and me! Because we had already done a lot of what Queenstown has to offer we decided to go play Frisbee Golf. It sounded so cool and the girl at the travel desk recommended it, so we set off to find the course – we walked around for a while and we couldn’t see the start anywhere, so we decided to give that a miss. It sounded really good, but like most things, it was a big let down! We then decided to walk up Queenstown Hill, when I say “we” decided, I really mean, “Pete” decided... I just agreed, reluctantly. In fairness I did say that I wanted to do the walk, so it was really my fault. Don’t worry, nothing bad happened, I just realised how unbelievably unfit I am, again. This seems to be happening quite a lot. I lure myself into a false sense of security, I think that I’m super fit and then I do something strenuous and realise that I fail at life. Well maybe not life, I just won’t be in the Olympics any time soon. So yeah, we walked for ages and ages and ages and ages and then arrived at the start of the walk. Yeah, the start. I was not best pleased, if you can imagine that. I didn’t want to have a heart attack, so I sat and listened to music while Pete ran around the walk – he only took 28 minutes to complete the track and the Lonely Planet say that it’s a 2 hour walk! He’s clearly a machine, or a freak of nature, or maybe he’s just fit. I’m going with freak of nature :)
After our lovely walk we headed back into town and then we walked around the lake and Pete went swimming, again. Seriously, that man and water. I went for a paddle. Dream big. When Pete was dried off we used the free internet – this needs a moment – free internet is amazing. I love free internet. If you are ever in Queenstown you should go to the Station Building, it’s on the corner and it’s where you book the Nevis Bungy – they have loads of Mac computers that you can use for free and there isn’t a time limit, so you can be really selfish like me and use the internet for like 3 hours at a time. It’s called the iJump kiosk and it’s great! Anyway, once we had used the awesome free internet we went and got an awesome Fergburger. Today I got myself a Cockadoodle Doo, so this one is just chicken, “Grilled chiken tenderloin with sundried tomato tapenade, lettuce, tomato, red onion and aioli.” Again, no red onion or tomato for me, but the sundried tomato tapenade was awesome, it was pretty spicy, which I wasn’t expecting, but still, another great success from Mr Ferg!
After our Ferg I started to get ready... Fast forward a few hours and I met up with Pete, the Canadian guys and one of the Bouncers from Altitude Bar. We had a wee chat and then Pete and I went down to Altitude for a bit of Karaoke. That’s another thing that men secretly love, Karaoke! We met up with a few people that had been on our bus on the West Coast, so that was really nice! When we were all sung out, we went to bed! Tonight was Pete’s last night, I actually felt bad that he didn’t get a bigger send off, everyone had already left so it was just us and I probably wasn’t as fun as a big group of drunken people! But I tried... I sang “Love Shack” on stage and that’s the greatest send off anyone could ever hope for! It will be sad to say goodbye to my Bangor Buddy, it’s nice when someone knows the same places and people as you – but that’s the good thing about living in Bangor – it’s so small we will run into each other again, whether he likes it or not!
Xx
Today all the Irish left – they went back to Franz Josef to hike the Glacier, those crazy Irish! So that just left Pete and me! Because we had already done a lot of what Queenstown has to offer we decided to go play Frisbee Golf. It sounded so cool and the girl at the travel desk recommended it, so we set off to find the course – we walked around for a while and we couldn’t see the start anywhere, so we decided to give that a miss. It sounded really good, but like most things, it was a big let down! We then decided to walk up Queenstown Hill, when I say “we” decided, I really mean, “Pete” decided... I just agreed, reluctantly. In fairness I did say that I wanted to do the walk, so it was really my fault. Don’t worry, nothing bad happened, I just realised how unbelievably unfit I am, again. This seems to be happening quite a lot. I lure myself into a false sense of security, I think that I’m super fit and then I do something strenuous and realise that I fail at life. Well maybe not life, I just won’t be in the Olympics any time soon. So yeah, we walked for ages and ages and ages and ages and then arrived at the start of the walk. Yeah, the start. I was not best pleased, if you can imagine that. I didn’t want to have a heart attack, so I sat and listened to music while Pete ran around the walk – he only took 28 minutes to complete the track and the Lonely Planet say that it’s a 2 hour walk! He’s clearly a machine, or a freak of nature, or maybe he’s just fit. I’m going with freak of nature :)
After our lovely walk we headed back into town and then we walked around the lake and Pete went swimming, again. Seriously, that man and water. I went for a paddle. Dream big. When Pete was dried off we used the free internet – this needs a moment – free internet is amazing. I love free internet. If you are ever in Queenstown you should go to the Station Building, it’s on the corner and it’s where you book the Nevis Bungy – they have loads of Mac computers that you can use for free and there isn’t a time limit, so you can be really selfish like me and use the internet for like 3 hours at a time. It’s called the iJump kiosk and it’s great! Anyway, once we had used the awesome free internet we went and got an awesome Fergburger. Today I got myself a Cockadoodle Doo, so this one is just chicken, “Grilled chiken tenderloin with sundried tomato tapenade, lettuce, tomato, red onion and aioli.” Again, no red onion or tomato for me, but the sundried tomato tapenade was awesome, it was pretty spicy, which I wasn’t expecting, but still, another great success from Mr Ferg!
After our Ferg I started to get ready... Fast forward a few hours and I met up with Pete, the Canadian guys and one of the Bouncers from Altitude Bar. We had a wee chat and then Pete and I went down to Altitude for a bit of Karaoke. That’s another thing that men secretly love, Karaoke! We met up with a few people that had been on our bus on the West Coast, so that was really nice! When we were all sung out, we went to bed! Tonight was Pete’s last night, I actually felt bad that he didn’t get a bigger send off, everyone had already left so it was just us and I probably wasn’t as fun as a big group of drunken people! But I tried... I sang “Love Shack” on stage and that’s the greatest send off anyone could ever hope for! It will be sad to say goodbye to my Bangor Buddy, it’s nice when someone knows the same places and people as you – but that’s the good thing about living in Bangor – it’s so small we will run into each other again, whether he likes it or not!
Xx
Sunday, 5 April 2009
You Are Here.
I thought I would take this opportunity to write a Blog - but this isn’t an ordinary Blog. It wasn’t written in a Hostel Dorm Room. It wasn’t even written in a Coffee Shop. This Blog was written from the Geographical Centre of New Zealand. Yup, that’s right. I’m sitting on top of a mountain (well, maybe it’s technically a hill, but you try climbing it – when you do, you will realise that it is actually a mountain). So how did I get here? Well, this morning I checked out of my room at the ridiculously early time of 9.00am! I then made myself some toast and... a packed lunch. Don’t laugh. I know how sad that sounds, me making myself peanut butter sandwiches, but I was feeling very, productive this morning. I’ve decided to stop wasting money on food! I suppose if I can make it myself, then I should! Anyway, I packed my sandwhiches, apple and water into my rucksack and after selecting some tunes – today it’s Maroon 5, I set off on my epic adventure. Basically the walk starts in a public park, so I headed there and started my “20 minute” walk. Which so doesn’t take 20 minutes. it didn’t take me that long, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t 20 minutes. It was really just an uphill walk, with twists and turns and a few breaks because my legs were really quite sore... People who say, “pain is just weakness leaving the body” have it wrong. Pain is pain. Pain hurts. Why hurt yourself? Self-harm isn’t the answer.
I was glad I did the walk though, for what it was, the end result was definitely worth it. Right now I’m sitting on the viewing deck, the view is amazing. To my left there are mountains. To my right there are mountains. In fact, there are mountains all around. If I look directly ahead I can see all of Nelson. I see churches and houses, businesses and rugby pitches, I can see huge houses that probably belong to the richies in Nelson. To my right I can see water, the sea actually. Vast amount of water, with mountains as a backdrop. I think you get the picture – Nelson is beautiful and being at the geographical centre of New Zealand really is as cool as it sounds.
That’s pretty much all I have to say – it’s only 10.54am, how much can a girl do before lunch? I’ll write more, probably from a less beautiful setting, when I actually do something of interest!
Update: After my walk I went back to Fern Lodge and collected my stuff, then I started walking to “The Green Monkey”. I walked here last night and it took 15 minutes. Today it took at least 30 minutes. Probably more. My bag is so huge and so heavy. It’s horrible! As if the massive bag wasn’t bad enough, the stupid wheel broke! So I was basically dragging the beast of a bag across the pavement, making so much noise! It was horrible, plus I had my food bag and my rucksack, both are ridiculously heavy. Not fun. Not fun at all!
The Hostel is actually really nice. It’s small, but nice. They have real carpet too and you have to take your shoes off, just like at home! The rooms are nicely decorated and colourful, which I never realised was so important, but it really is! It’s really nice to have a bit of colour around you –the while walls in Base are nice, but they are kind of, sterile, now that I think about it! The room is really nice and each person has their own p`ersonal light, which I’m really excited about. I wish I could have stayed for longer, but I can’t because the only bus out of Nelson is on Friday, the next available one is on the 8th of April, which wouldn’t been too bad, but at the same time I want to see the rest of South Island! I’ve only been here for a few days and I still have so much to see!
The Wireless internet is free here, which is amazing, so I started uploading my pictures and videos. Turns out Videos really slow down your upload time. Really. So now I’m only uploading pictures and I’m nowhere near done! I think I’m just going to leave my laptop on all night, that way they will all hopefully be done – I hope the Hostel man doesn’t turn off the internet at night! That would ruin my awesome plan! I took a break from picture uploading and Blog writing for dinner, which was a microwave meal and it was really quite gross. I’m regretting eating it, not fun! But what was fun was that the guy made a cake – and was giving it away for free! So I had myself a nice bit of cake after dinner and it was actually really, really nice! I was very surprised! Normally cake that someone makes themselves is gross, especially if it’s free, but this was beaut! Now that I’m fed and watered I’m going to upload some more pictures and post a few Blogs and then I’m going to sleep, which sounds really amazing right now!
Xx
I was glad I did the walk though, for what it was, the end result was definitely worth it. Right now I’m sitting on the viewing deck, the view is amazing. To my left there are mountains. To my right there are mountains. In fact, there are mountains all around. If I look directly ahead I can see all of Nelson. I see churches and houses, businesses and rugby pitches, I can see huge houses that probably belong to the richies in Nelson. To my right I can see water, the sea actually. Vast amount of water, with mountains as a backdrop. I think you get the picture – Nelson is beautiful and being at the geographical centre of New Zealand really is as cool as it sounds.
That’s pretty much all I have to say – it’s only 10.54am, how much can a girl do before lunch? I’ll write more, probably from a less beautiful setting, when I actually do something of interest!
Update: After my walk I went back to Fern Lodge and collected my stuff, then I started walking to “The Green Monkey”. I walked here last night and it took 15 minutes. Today it took at least 30 minutes. Probably more. My bag is so huge and so heavy. It’s horrible! As if the massive bag wasn’t bad enough, the stupid wheel broke! So I was basically dragging the beast of a bag across the pavement, making so much noise! It was horrible, plus I had my food bag and my rucksack, both are ridiculously heavy. Not fun. Not fun at all!
The Hostel is actually really nice. It’s small, but nice. They have real carpet too and you have to take your shoes off, just like at home! The rooms are nicely decorated and colourful, which I never realised was so important, but it really is! It’s really nice to have a bit of colour around you –the while walls in Base are nice, but they are kind of, sterile, now that I think about it! The room is really nice and each person has their own p`ersonal light, which I’m really excited about. I wish I could have stayed for longer, but I can’t because the only bus out of Nelson is on Friday, the next available one is on the 8th of April, which wouldn’t been too bad, but at the same time I want to see the rest of South Island! I’ve only been here for a few days and I still have so much to see!
The Wireless internet is free here, which is amazing, so I started uploading my pictures and videos. Turns out Videos really slow down your upload time. Really. So now I’m only uploading pictures and I’m nowhere near done! I think I’m just going to leave my laptop on all night, that way they will all hopefully be done – I hope the Hostel man doesn’t turn off the internet at night! That would ruin my awesome plan! I took a break from picture uploading and Blog writing for dinner, which was a microwave meal and it was really quite gross. I’m regretting eating it, not fun! But what was fun was that the guy made a cake – and was giving it away for free! So I had myself a nice bit of cake after dinner and it was actually really, really nice! I was very surprised! Normally cake that someone makes themselves is gross, especially if it’s free, but this was beaut! Now that I’m fed and watered I’m going to upload some more pictures and post a few Blogs and then I’m going to sleep, which sounds really amazing right now!
Xx
Thursday, 2 April 2009
What Flavour Are You?
Today I left Taupo – I think our bus left at 9.15am, but I’m not too sure, all I know is that I saw a Kiwi Experience bus pull up outside the Hostel 30 minutes before my bus was supposed to arrive, so I shoved everything into my bag and legged it to the bus stop. Turns out it wasn’t actually my bus. My bus was going South and this bus was going North. So I had to sit at the bus until our bus came and it was late, so that was a nice start to the day – I could have had an extra 30 minutes in bed. Which doesn’t seem like a huge amount of time, but here, it really is.
We eventually got on the bus and I sat next to some Canadian guy, who was nice. But let’s just say I wasn’t in the sociable mood. I just wanted to listen to my amazing music, without any distractions. Our first stop was a food stop, so we could get some groceries before we went to River Valley. I purchased pretty much everything that you can microwave or add hot water to. Ready meals are the meals of Kings. Fact. After buying every Pot Noodleish thing I could find I went back to the bus – They don’t actually have Pot Noodles here, but I’ve recently discovered “Saucy Noodles” which are pretty fantastic. Dinner for a Dollar - life is good. Anyway, two boys were late – their punishment for being late was to walk around the bus with their trousers down, but they wouldn’t do it – in fairness, neither would I! Our next stop was a nice, scenic walk. From Hell. Well, it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t that good either! It was basically a two hour long walk, which would have been fine, but my feet were still messed up after my walk to Huka Falls, so I wasn’t really enjoying myself that much. Also, the entire place smelt funny. I think it was the trees, but they were really quite disgusting! The “highlight” of this walk was the waterfall where we had lunch. Basically it was a waterfall. We were told we could swim here, but we so couldn’t, the deepest part of the “pool” was below chest level. I gave it a go anyway. The water was freezing and I was the first girl in and the only girl that got properly soaked. I walked right under the waterfall and stood there, with the water hammering on my head. Any brain cells I did have are now, officially, dead. After the “swim” we walked back to the bus, but the walk back was even longer than the walk to the waterfall. There were about a million steps. Well maybe not a million, but there were some serious steps. I do not like steps. I do not like stairs. I like elevators and escalators. I talked to some nice people on this epic walk, so that was nice and I lived to tell the tale, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. All I know is that when we pulled up to the second waterfall that was a “20 minute walk” I sat on the bus, totally content and listened to some lovely music. It would have been nice to see another water fall, but really, I can Google it.
We drove for a good long while, then made a stop to get some “amazing” ice cream. Our driver went on and on about how the “hokey pokey” ice cream is really famous in New Zealand and how it is so yummy. So naturally I got some. It was Pooh Bear. I’ve been eating that since I was a wee nipper and it’s nice, but it’s not exactly mans greatest invention. I also made another discovery. Nobody knows what Pooh Bear ice cream is! Even the English! They don’t have Pooh Bear or Mauds in England! The Irish chap I befriended told me that they don’t even have it down South! Whaaaaaaat? I didn’t know that Pooh Bear was our thing (it’s now Poor Bear, because of copyright apparently, but still)! Yes, the English have heard of Honeycomb Ice Cream, but not Pooh Bear. I don’t think I’ll take Mauds for granted ever again! Another thing that the New Zealanders need to get sorted is their lack of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. They don’t have it here! They have something called “Goodie Gum Drop Ice Cream” which I think is mint ice cream, but with gummy sweets in it instead of chocolate chips. They do have “Orange Chocolate Chip Ice Cream”, which I haven’t tried yet. I will try it, but there is nothing like a good old Mint Choc Chip! Ice cream flavours always remind me of men. You know how people say “you don’t know which flavour is your favourite until you’ve tried them all, well it’s the same with men”. I suppose it makes sense – having a favourite ice cream and a specific type of person you are attracted to. I like Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream. I like ice cream in general and I will give anything a go. I appreciate all flavours, but I always choose Mint, because it’s my favourite. I could spend my life trying all the flavours. But at the end of the day, Mint Choc Chip will always be my favourite and I’m happy with that. I suppose the whole Ice Cream and Men thing does make sense. I’ll try any, but I will always have my favourite and I will always go back to that one. How do you feel about that? Do you agree with the idea of a favourite man and a favourite Ice Cream? Do you like all kinds of Ice Cream or none at all? Do you think I’m bored and typing this to give me something to do?
After our Ice Cream stop, we drove to River Valley Lodge. Basically it’s a Lodge, in a River Valley, hence the name. It was actually really nice! It was all very, cabin in the woods, outdoorsy. Which I really liked! The main part of the Lodge, the dining and living area was really rustic and nice, lots of wood and a big place for a fire in the winter! That night we had a Sunday Dinner, which I was very happy about. It wasn’t as good as my mummy’s, but it did the job. We even had Yorkshire Puds, which were like the Aunt Bessie 3 minute bad boys, so not perfection, but they were very much appreciated. After dinner I did some laundry, had a wee cup of Peppermint tea, read my book and once my clothes were washed and dried, I went to bed! I was in a six bed dorm – there was the choice to sleep in the bunk room, where there is a massive bunk bed, where everyone sleeps, together. Someone I don’t know invading my personal space. No thank you. The people in my room were actually really nice. There was a wee couple from the Isle of White and they were really nice – I didn’t get their names, which I really regret, because they would have been nice people to keep in touch with! There were two Danish girls, twins, they were really nice too and a German guy, who was really attractive and the reason why I chose to sleep in this particular dorm! Sadly he didn’t have much chat. But like I said, I went to bed, which I was slightly nervous about, I was in a bunk bed, but it didn’t have any rails around the side, so I could have rolled right off the bed! I am an active sleeper, but I don’t think I fell out of bed. Falling 6 feet is something I think I would remember.
River Valley has been really nice thus far! Totally isolated, it really is in the middle of nowhere, but I liked it!
xx
We eventually got on the bus and I sat next to some Canadian guy, who was nice. But let’s just say I wasn’t in the sociable mood. I just wanted to listen to my amazing music, without any distractions. Our first stop was a food stop, so we could get some groceries before we went to River Valley. I purchased pretty much everything that you can microwave or add hot water to. Ready meals are the meals of Kings. Fact. After buying every Pot Noodleish thing I could find I went back to the bus – They don’t actually have Pot Noodles here, but I’ve recently discovered “Saucy Noodles” which are pretty fantastic. Dinner for a Dollar - life is good. Anyway, two boys were late – their punishment for being late was to walk around the bus with their trousers down, but they wouldn’t do it – in fairness, neither would I! Our next stop was a nice, scenic walk. From Hell. Well, it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t that good either! It was basically a two hour long walk, which would have been fine, but my feet were still messed up after my walk to Huka Falls, so I wasn’t really enjoying myself that much. Also, the entire place smelt funny. I think it was the trees, but they were really quite disgusting! The “highlight” of this walk was the waterfall where we had lunch. Basically it was a waterfall. We were told we could swim here, but we so couldn’t, the deepest part of the “pool” was below chest level. I gave it a go anyway. The water was freezing and I was the first girl in and the only girl that got properly soaked. I walked right under the waterfall and stood there, with the water hammering on my head. Any brain cells I did have are now, officially, dead. After the “swim” we walked back to the bus, but the walk back was even longer than the walk to the waterfall. There were about a million steps. Well maybe not a million, but there were some serious steps. I do not like steps. I do not like stairs. I like elevators and escalators. I talked to some nice people on this epic walk, so that was nice and I lived to tell the tale, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. All I know is that when we pulled up to the second waterfall that was a “20 minute walk” I sat on the bus, totally content and listened to some lovely music. It would have been nice to see another water fall, but really, I can Google it.
We drove for a good long while, then made a stop to get some “amazing” ice cream. Our driver went on and on about how the “hokey pokey” ice cream is really famous in New Zealand and how it is so yummy. So naturally I got some. It was Pooh Bear. I’ve been eating that since I was a wee nipper and it’s nice, but it’s not exactly mans greatest invention. I also made another discovery. Nobody knows what Pooh Bear ice cream is! Even the English! They don’t have Pooh Bear or Mauds in England! The Irish chap I befriended told me that they don’t even have it down South! Whaaaaaaat? I didn’t know that Pooh Bear was our thing (it’s now Poor Bear, because of copyright apparently, but still)! Yes, the English have heard of Honeycomb Ice Cream, but not Pooh Bear. I don’t think I’ll take Mauds for granted ever again! Another thing that the New Zealanders need to get sorted is their lack of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. They don’t have it here! They have something called “Goodie Gum Drop Ice Cream” which I think is mint ice cream, but with gummy sweets in it instead of chocolate chips. They do have “Orange Chocolate Chip Ice Cream”, which I haven’t tried yet. I will try it, but there is nothing like a good old Mint Choc Chip! Ice cream flavours always remind me of men. You know how people say “you don’t know which flavour is your favourite until you’ve tried them all, well it’s the same with men”. I suppose it makes sense – having a favourite ice cream and a specific type of person you are attracted to. I like Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream. I like ice cream in general and I will give anything a go. I appreciate all flavours, but I always choose Mint, because it’s my favourite. I could spend my life trying all the flavours. But at the end of the day, Mint Choc Chip will always be my favourite and I’m happy with that. I suppose the whole Ice Cream and Men thing does make sense. I’ll try any, but I will always have my favourite and I will always go back to that one. How do you feel about that? Do you agree with the idea of a favourite man and a favourite Ice Cream? Do you like all kinds of Ice Cream or none at all? Do you think I’m bored and typing this to give me something to do?
After our Ice Cream stop, we drove to River Valley Lodge. Basically it’s a Lodge, in a River Valley, hence the name. It was actually really nice! It was all very, cabin in the woods, outdoorsy. Which I really liked! The main part of the Lodge, the dining and living area was really rustic and nice, lots of wood and a big place for a fire in the winter! That night we had a Sunday Dinner, which I was very happy about. It wasn’t as good as my mummy’s, but it did the job. We even had Yorkshire Puds, which were like the Aunt Bessie 3 minute bad boys, so not perfection, but they were very much appreciated. After dinner I did some laundry, had a wee cup of Peppermint tea, read my book and once my clothes were washed and dried, I went to bed! I was in a six bed dorm – there was the choice to sleep in the bunk room, where there is a massive bunk bed, where everyone sleeps, together. Someone I don’t know invading my personal space. No thank you. The people in my room were actually really nice. There was a wee couple from the Isle of White and they were really nice – I didn’t get their names, which I really regret, because they would have been nice people to keep in touch with! There were two Danish girls, twins, they were really nice too and a German guy, who was really attractive and the reason why I chose to sleep in this particular dorm! Sadly he didn’t have much chat. But like I said, I went to bed, which I was slightly nervous about, I was in a bunk bed, but it didn’t have any rails around the side, so I could have rolled right off the bed! I am an active sleeper, but I don’t think I fell out of bed. Falling 6 feet is something I think I would remember.
River Valley has been really nice thus far! Totally isolated, it really is in the middle of nowhere, but I liked it!
xx
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