Well that was ridiculous. I got about half an hour of sleep after typing my last entry, then got up in a panic that I'd missed my taxi, ran downstairs and hopped in with a very chatty driver, with whom I discussed the Red Centre and all the other places I didn't manage to get to. Got the bus to the airport, sat on the internet at the airport while I waited for my plane, didn't manage to sleep at all on it but was given breakfast at 0645, and had a nice chat with the bloke next to me about various things - he had quit his job in banking, worked on a tree farm for 6 months, then got re-hired by the firm he had resigned from, and was now off to Sydney for a week on business. He seemed to know the air steward personally, as they were chatting about who had seen whom at what bar etc. As we flew over Sydney, we were treated to spectacular views - the tallest buildings were poking through a thick layer of fog, which gave an odd sense of scale, like I was looking at a model. The transfer at Sydney was pretty quick, and I was asleep before we took off - I kept waking to find I was slumped, slack-jawed and open-mouthed, against the window or the chap next to me. The 3 hour flight seemed to me to take no more than an hour or so, and on arrival in Christchurch I was subjected to the most thorough drug quizzing I have ever had - did I have any with me? Was I a habitual user? Which ones had I tried? If any, where did I get them and what were they? and so on and so on... After I had passed this grilling, I headed straight to my hostel, and went for a wander about the city - jesus it's cold here. I explored a bit, failed to get my phone to work, and came back to the hostel to sort out my next step - the Kiwi Experience bus trip. I'm leaving early Thursday morning, and should just make it to Auckland in time for my flight - assuming a day each on the Franz Josef Glacier, in Queenstown, Rotorua and Matamata. This is going to be a bit rushed, I feel... I was asleep by about 8 pm, and consequently woke up at 11, 2 and a few other times, before eventually getting up at about 8. When I did this, the first thing I saw was the scottish guy opposite me, John, holding up a bra with a baffled look on his face - apparently he had brought a Canadian girl back from the toga party in the hostel bar last night, and when she had wanted to, as he put it, "do more than was going to happen in a room with 7 other people in it", he had said no and she had fled, leaving this souvenir.
Day 240 (Wednesday 11th) - Exploring Christchurch
I had a rather restless night's sleep, as I mentioned. I left the hostel, having filled up on toast and promite, and walked to a gallery I had read about in The Press, which was showing a series of lithographs putting Herakles into contemporary New Zealand history. when I arrived there, it looked more like someone's front room than a gallery, so I didn't go in and headed to Hagley Park/the Botanic Gardens instead. These were quite nice, although it could have been any park in England really. I went to the Canterbury Museum afterwards, which was pretty informative - I learnt a lot about Moas, Maori culture and a bit of the history of NZ, as well as loads about the Antarctic too. I walked back via the arts precinct, and did a lot of faffing around with phones - blah blah blah, I ended up spending $80 or so sorting it all out. I ended up making a few good purchases today, including some Merino socks, fingerless gloves, a thermal vest and trousers too, all on sale on various ways. Back at the hostel I ended up talking to the aforementioned Canadian from last night and her friend, about various nonsense. The bar was pretty much empty by 11, so I ditched and wandered the city looking for dinner, before retiring around midnight. Very soon after I went to bed, Scottish john and Canadian Kara came back and were whispering something along the lines of "Is this fine? Yeah, everyone's asleep..." before hopping into bed for some shenanigans. I was so close to sleeping that I felt no need to alert them to my awakeness, so I rolled over to preserve some of their dignity. This was unnecessary as it turned out, as they were astonishingly silent in whatever they chose to do...
Day 241 (Thursday 12th) - Back On The Buses
I had one of those awkward and annoying nights where you wake up constantly thinking it's way later than it is, and that you've missed your bus, and all that. This began at 3 am when I awoke in a panic, and continued until 7 ish when I conceded that I wasn't going to sleep any more, so I got up and went down to meet the 0730 Kiwi bus - turns out I was on the 0815 one, but no matter. 7 of us were on a little shuttle van across to Murchison, via the St. James' Walkway (bizarre terrain & forests of moss) to meet the big bus for the trip down the west coast to Queenstown. There was some pretty incredible scenery on the way across the Southern Alps, proper LOTR type stuff. From Murchison we went on to the Jetboating place near Westport, which was pretty awesome - down the Bullen river in a Jetboat, speeding along and spinning incredibly fast, and generally getting soaked and having a cool time. We stopped off in our hostel in Westport, watched a video then headed to the Criterion Hotel for pizza and beers. I have ended up in a room with Ad and (bugger I have forgotten his name, he just told me three minutes ago - Chris, maybe? Ad just referred to him as Otto - baffling...) who both seem pretty sound, and with whom I shall be spending most of the next week, before we part ways in Queenstown - most people on the bus are heading back there for the England vs. All Blacks game on Saturday, whereas time dictates that I must leave on Friday, the day before it, Bugger. I am a little worried about tomorrow - the driver, Dylan, has organised a 'P' party at the Poo Pub at Lake Mahinapua tomorrow night, which is taking up most of my imaginative powers right now - Penguin? Pepe Le Pew? Postcard? Papers? There is a ban on cardboard and paint, so this is going to be tricky...
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