The flight was uneventful and involved very interrupted
sleep. When I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand it was 5a, dark, and cold. I
made it off my plane, through customs, bought fruit and water, and made it
outside all in under 30 minutes, which if you don’t know was quite the feat for
an international flight. I read the signs saying bus picks up and shuttles were
outside to the left so that’s the way I went… but it was deserted… I wandered
around the area a bit in the dark with all of my luggage trying to find
something to tell me where to go. I tried calling the shuttle company, but my
phone wouldn't work. My immediate response was to freak out a bit since it was
now 35 minutes after my flight landed I was afraid the shuttle had left me. I didn't let that sink all the way in though. I decided to go inside, find a
store/kiosk, explain the situation, and ask to use their phone. Luckily, on my
way back towards the building I saw the shuttle pull up in a different location
than stated by the signs, but I didn't care at this point. The shuttle took me
to my meeting place to get on another shuttle to begin my tour. I arrived at
the meeting place right around 6a.
It was still dark and the temperature was 6C (about 42F). My
next shuttle wasn’t to arrive until 7:10a. At the last minute I decided to pack
a thicker jacket and boy was I thankful for that!! My fingers were freezing,
but at least most of the rest of me was warm. My phone popped up saying there
was open wireless connection (my data plan doesn’t work over here) to the YHA
across the street from where I was sitting. I pulled it up and it said I had
$12.00 credit… I don’t know how or where that came from, but I was certainly
thankful for it!! I got to text my dad to update him and a couple other people,
facebook, check weather, etc. Also to pass the time I decided to start counting
the ridiculous number of being biking/walking/running at this hour in the
morning in this temperature – 64 in 35 minutes… I seriously couldn’t believe
it. And it wasn’t a marathon or anything. Everyone was going different ways,
doing different things, etc. I saw a big bus pull up and it was Atomic Shuttles
(the company I would be traveling with to Greymouth). This bus had roomy,
reclining seats and plenty of space. Well it turned out that bus was actually
headed up north, which made sense since it was really early, and mine would be
along in another 30 minutes.
My shuttle finally arrived (on time, but it felt like
forever) and needless to say… It wasn’t a nice, big, roomy, comfy, reclining
bus… It was like a van shuttle thing… Creaky, small, cramped, cold. It smelled
like a school bus and felt like a field trip but without the friends. There were only 5 of us plus the
driver, so at least I had the seat next to me free. I managed to fall asleep
for a bit and when I woke there was warm air blasting on my feet and I could
feel my toes again!! I was in and out of shallow sleep. When the van shuttle
thing stopped it felt like I was sitting on top of an unbalanced washer –
extremely shaky and loud. When I was awake I was delighted with the scenery –
huge mountains against a blue blue sky. Oh… And I don’t know what all New
Zealand has at this point… but I do know they have sheep! And lots of them!!
Seriously, I have never seen so many sheep in my life! For about 35 minutes I
really really had to pee and the pressure was serious and I seriously
questioned what was going to happen if I didn’t go soon. Miraculously the
driver pulled over at a store/café/bakery thing and told us we had a 15 minute
break here. And the best part… they had toilets! I saw two New Zealand army
guys in their tank, which seemed random. I bought a hot chocolate and
blueberry muffin to take back on the van shuttle thing – both of which were
uber yum and just hit the
spot!
After 4 hours we finally arrived in Greymouth where I would
officially begin my tour with Stray (the hop on hop off bus company I have a
pass with). I arrived at 11:30a and Stray wasn’t set to arrive until 1p so I
had a bit of time to kill. I wandered around aimlessly for a bit and then found
a Subway to get lunch. Then I wandered aimlessly a bit more and found free
wifi, which I used to update people and facebook, since I figured I wouldn’t be
on facebook for the next couple of days. After I was done there I went to see
if the Stray bus had arrived and it had. I chatted with the driver, Motors, and
she was really really nice. Once everyone started arriving (they had gone to
the bathrooms, to get food, etc) it was really intimidating because all of
these people have been traveling together for a few days days by now and knew
each other. Two Canadian guys returned to the bus with hockey sticks and the
driver was talking to them about it and I somehow got joined in on the
conversation, which led to me and the Canadian guys introducing ourselves and
chatting for just a moment. Once everyone was back on the bus I went looking
for an empty seat, there were only 4 or 5. The Canadian guys pointed out one near them towards the back so that’s where I headed. Around me
were 2 Canadian guys, 2 girls from London, 2 girls from Denmark, a girl from
Germany, a girl from Holland, and a guy from France. I am the only American on the bus. They were
all really nice, welcomed me to Stray, asked me questions, etc. It was really
cool to be with people from all over. We all chatted and took part in some
antics (the Canadians bought a box of calendars for $2 and were handing them
out and someone bought balloons and was making animals and popping them) for
the 2 hour drive to Hokitika to go to the supermarket since there wasn't one at our destination. The second 2 hours of
the trip were pretty quiet as most people had a short sleep. I managed to get a
bit of interrupted napping done before arriving in Franz Josef.
We arrived in Franz Josef and went to the glacier walk to register. I didn’t get with the group I wanted, but I know a couple of the girls (the ones from Germany and Holland) in the group I did get with. Afterwards we headed to Rainforest Retreat Backpackers for our accommodation. I got in a room with the girls from the glacier walk group I wanted to be in (the 2 from London and the 2 from Denmark), so that’s good. They are a bit messy, but that's the life of a backpacker. They are really friendly and accepting which is what is really important. We are in a room with 5 – 2 bunks beds and a single bed – so I have the single bed : ) and the only outlets are right by my bed : ) . Our room is right above the kitchen, right across from reception, and right across from the bathrooms/showers… These are the important things when staying in hostels. Once everyone was settled we all headed to the kitchen to make our dinners. To all of our surprise there is a resident cat here named Bully. You can tell all the backpackers miss their animals back home because they all (me included) went crazy over the cat. My hostel mates have all gone to the on-site bar, but considering I’ve been awake for 36 hours now… I think I’m going to turn in early for the night. A big day tomorrow of glacier walking and hot pools swimming. =] Hoping for good weather!!! =]
We arrived in Franz Josef and went to the glacier walk to register. I didn’t get with the group I wanted, but I know a couple of the girls (the ones from Germany and Holland) in the group I did get with. Afterwards we headed to Rainforest Retreat Backpackers for our accommodation. I got in a room with the girls from the glacier walk group I wanted to be in (the 2 from London and the 2 from Denmark), so that’s good. They are a bit messy, but that's the life of a backpacker. They are really friendly and accepting which is what is really important. We are in a room with 5 – 2 bunks beds and a single bed – so I have the single bed : ) and the only outlets are right by my bed : ) . Our room is right above the kitchen, right across from reception, and right across from the bathrooms/showers… These are the important things when staying in hostels. Once everyone was settled we all headed to the kitchen to make our dinners. To all of our surprise there is a resident cat here named Bully. You can tell all the backpackers miss their animals back home because they all (me included) went crazy over the cat. My hostel mates have all gone to the on-site bar, but considering I’ve been awake for 36 hours now… I think I’m going to turn in early for the night. A big day tomorrow of glacier walking and hot pools swimming. =] Hoping for good weather!!! =]
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