" But it's not even in the same direction?"
"No, sorry!"
I've said this before, but there is basically one road going through New Zealand, so they obviously were going in the same direction. Their eyes were so bloodshot though, I'm pretty sure they were high, so needless to say I didn't want to take that opportunity, anyway.
Not even five minutes later, three Irish girls picked me up, who were also heading to the same town (a three hour drive). After riding for ten minutes, two calfs ran out into the street in front of us and down the road, nearly causing an accident. We took it upon ourselves to use the car to guide them back up the road to the farm they left from. When we got to the top a big sign said “BUTCHER,” Oh God, we felt awful ☹
About two hours into the drive, I mentioned something about my blog when one of the girls, Fiona, turned to me saying, “Oh my God! Do you run marathons?” Then Aisling turned around, “ We ate dinner together in Ecuador!” Remember when I said my entire hostel when out to eat in Guayaquil, Ecuador? (You should, being that I’m sure everyone reads each and every word I write….). Well, these girls stayed in my hostel that night; Guayaquil is a pretty random place to be in Ecuador and the fact that we were there together is just crazy.
I stayed with them at a hostel in Westport. The woman gave us a six person suite (with our own bathroom, kitchen, tv and garden) for dorm room prices! We watched tv for a while, which I haven’t done in forever, and then went out to the only open bar which sold pizzas and pitchers of beer for $7.50! When we got there they had already finished serving food, but we were starving, so the bartender gave us leftover pizza and microwaved some single serve meals for us—he even gave us a free loaf of bread! There were only really old men drunk on scotch in the bar; when we were finished eating we left so they could no longer try and hang on us…akward
The next day I went with the girls to do some more underworld caving adventures! We went tubing through incredibly bright glow worm caves and then down some river rapids! The glow worms live on the ceilings of caves; you lay back in your tube and it's like staring at a brilliantly green starry sky.
After that, I left the Irish girls and our guide drove me back to town. I then got picked up two more times, bringing me to Militon. Rosemary, the woman that picked me up, brought me part of the way to Karamea and dropped me off in her town. She then came back about five minutes later and insisted that I stay with her since it was later in the eventing and it might be difficult to get to Karamea before dark. She showed me around the town (Population 27), telling me all about its history with coalmining and showing me waterfalls before cooking me dinner talking with her fiancé, John. They’re quite the cute hippie couple—they are fixing up a house to rent out but live in a a “house-truck” which has gnomes and mushrooms painted by Rose on the sides. The next morning, I was chatting with Rose and John when I started viciously scratching my sandfly bites (47 counted on my feet alone due to the 90 minute beach wait in Abel Tasman); she immediately went into mom-mode and busted out a hot water basin to soak my feet in, as well as disinfectant and anti itch cream. She gave me a travel bottle full, as well as cotton balls to wipe on the liquid. Afterward, she drove me back to the road to continue on my way to Karamea.
The first guy brought me maybe 30km on my way and then dropped me off after a bridge that would be the best spot to get me on the rest of the way. I waited about twenty minutes, playing with stray roosters and waiting for a a friendly motorist. There is very little traffic on this road because Karamea is the last stop. Luckily, a nice gentleman looking for some good fishing was on his way to the same town and brought me all the way to the Rongo Backpacker Hostel. I arrived too late in the day to start hiking, so I hung around the hostel reading for the day. I woke up early the next morning to do two days of hiking on the Heaphy Track. I met a guy, Aaron, from California who was doing a day hike and had a car to bring us to the start of the track (about 16 km from the hostel). I hiked with him and a man from France, Bruno, for a few hours until Aaron had to turn around. Aaron is really into rock climbing, so when he was examining a nice area to climb, I decided to look around and the grass and flowers around me. I bent over and found a four leaf clover! I've looked for one for as long as I can remember and this is the first time I've succeeded! I was really excited, to say the least.
I hiked a total of 35 km along the coastline, across beaches and many suspended bridges where only one person could cross at a time! The trail headed up 300 meters through the bush to the Mckay hut where I slept for the night. I got up early the next day and realized I had finished off my food (a concoction of Muesili, peanut butter, and jelly). Luckily, the other girl in the hut was trying to get rid of food, so she gave me a bag of trail mix for my 8 hour trek back—thank God! The first day was sunny and beautiful, however, my trip back was a consistent cold downpour, which I did without a rain jacket because I’ve been too frugal and stubborn to purchase a new coat after my North Face was stolen in Ecuador. Since I kept moving, it wasn’t too bad. Once I finally got to the end, I realized that I had to keep walking since the weather had refrained people from camping at the edge of the track. After walking about four km, two guys who were doing pest control in the area (possums are a real problem here) drove by and gave me a ride back to the hostel. Horray for a hot shower and warm soup, not to mention, warm clothes!!
That night they were showing a movie in the hostel “Hair” everyone had to dress up in hippie attire. I didn’t really have anything with me, but they supplied many options such as scarves and colorful jackets and flowers to put in our hair (love children ☺ ) . I hung out with four middle aged couples who reminisced about the 60’s and 70’s whicle I sat back and smiled, having nothing to contribute besides the fact that I recognized the songs and read about the scocial lissues of that time in my history books.
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