Well, it's officially been 3 months on the road for me as of October 1st! Aaaagghhh!!! I can't believe it! Thought I would let you know how my adventures down the Wild West Coast were coming.
I left Nelson on Monday, back on the Kiwi Experience, and you will be glad to know that I have not fallen in love with my bus driver this time, probably due to the fact that she's a woman, but have still managed to have a wicked time in spite of it! :)
Once you leave Nelson, you don't see another stop-light until Queenstown. As I am not yet in Queenstown, I've yet to see a stop-light or much of anything else for that matter. This is a wild and rugged stretch of land. I have a hard time imagining how anyone ever got here in the first place. Anyway, we headed for Westport the first night and spent the evening getting to know my fellow bus-mates; a few American student-teachers, some Canadian student-teachers and, yes, some high school kids. Apparently there's a school holiday right now and they've all decided to go travelling. Thought I'd escaped you guys!
Next day we headed down the coast stopping at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and the Blowholes.
We head to Mahanapua for the night, a little pub/hotel in the middle of nowhere (the wops) and we basically take over the place. Les is the owner, a wild-looking old guy with a long grey beard who will tell you exactly what he thinks - he's frank and he's brutally honest. Quite a character. Les's place is famous for the Kiwi Experience Tramps and Tarts party where the girls are tramps and the guys are tarts. Hence, my first experience at cross-dressing. It was really hilarious and quite good fun. After a night of sheer debauchery, we slept in until 10:00 before heading down to Franz Josef.
On the way, we stop at the Bushman's Lodge, also in the middle of nowhere, where I try my hand at axe and knife throwing, get to hold a metre and 1/2 long freshwater eel and pet a 300lb pig! Pretty cool!
