There’s so much to cover… good thing the Internet is limitless! Let’s see how long my motivation lasts, shall we?
We left the 10th of April for Wellington, twas Fahd, Leah and me where we stayed at the Nomads backpackers and met a Brit and a girl from North Carolina. Not saying stereotypes have any remote truth to them… but… oh what the heck – the Brit woke up super early and then was super loud and just rude about it, I mean its hard to be quiet in situations like that, but my gosh man!
Moving on.
We split a cab to the ferry terminal with our new found American friend fresh outta Fiji (yoga teacher over there). Took the ferry. Really cool experience. Three hours later we arrive in Picton, grab our luggage, and begin searching for “Pegasus” the place we rented the car from. We found it. The saddest little teal shack in the area. After some minor tribulations we begin what will be the most amazing, scary, beautiful, and somewhat stressful road trip of our lives, well at least it was for me, haha.
We get to Nelson, Leah was first on the chopping block for driving, she did really great considering the nasty drizzle and left side of the road mixed with some mountains, no biggie, but no she did really great and made me seriously doubt anything anyone has ever taught me about driving, I was shakin’ in mah sneakahs. Yes, I wore sneakers. Thank-you Gma Jackie for hiking shoes, as they were covered in adventure by the end of the second day of our trip!!
We then bought some much needed supplies from the Warehouse, things one could simply not partake on a journey of this magnitude without: Cranium, iPod tape hookup, and Coke. Yepp, this is going to be that kind of blog, where everything is a joke or an exaggeration.
Either buckle your seat belts or move along.
APRIL 11 – Picton to Nelson
Fern Lodge was beautiful and cozy and had everything you would need, along with delicious food. We got dinner in the pub/restaurant that was apart of the lodge, Leah and Fahd got the roast beef, mashed potato, with veggies medley (Fahd didn’t eat any of his veggies, maybe carrots, pitiful) and I got fish and chips which was served to me with tartar sauce in a purpley-pink sea shell! I swiped it. That’s just how I roll, as my family unfortunately knows… awkward. Later on, I attempted to watch the Fellowship of the Ring, but that lasted an hour before Fahd declared he was bored and the three of us decided to do something as a unit. We did a drawing game, duh – we’re art kids! I’ll add the photos or scans of them when I’m not feeling so lazy, they’re quite the illustrations. We then listened to Fahd tell stories that doubled as really drawn out jokes. He also ran into his bunk’s ladder at least 4 times < highlight.
APRIL 12 – Nelson to Greymouth
And then it was my turn to drive. I think I did okay? It was weird at first… but, then it was like the same thing as back home just… opposite? The drive there was deece and really picturesque, unfortunately I was driving so I got nothing to show of it, but I do recall being impressed.
We decided the night before to go to the Charleston Glow Worm Cave, its supposed to be less touristy than Waitomo and definitely cheaper, like half the cost, than Waitomo. It was really sweet! It was a workout. Lots of climbing on shifty rocks and crouching and trying not to touch anything because than nothing would grow and just… lots of climbing. There was a stream that went through the cave and a point where you had to cross it… Fahd got all sorts of wet shoes and socks at this point in our story. The glow worms were really pretty, like an indoor galaxy when all of the lights were turned off, so many green lights, I’ve never seen anything like it, and it was so quiet… so quiet. My breathing at times killed the mood. They should have just given me a time out and gone ahead so I didn’t ruin the ambiance, it was work out for all of us, not just me… awkward pause. The tour and hike through the caves lasted just over 3 hours, so we definitely got our moneys worth.
Afterwards we begin the journey to Greymouth. We get to the YHA in Greymouth, there was a small hiccup, our bookings weren’t entirely worked out right. However, the corridors – and I’m referring to them as corridors instead of hallways because hallways are cold and boring where these were warm and kind of regal with dark wood and little pods for doors that were grand and worthy of being within a corridor, and that made it all worth it. Leah liked the room and believed it made her feel like she was 5 again, in a good way, not bad. White bunk beds, colorful sheets and a very pleasant closet area. Fahd liked it because he could crawl out the window like a monkey and smoke his cigarettes, and I enjoyed it because of the previously mentioned corridors and my bed didn’t squeak. Unfortunately, the bugs devoured Leah, as she was on the top of our bunk and Fahd cursed her by saying the bugs would go for her, not us, and they did. Its his fault. I decided. We went to McDonalds and chat’d and then we had really fun laugh-filled conversations about various plants and herbs and childhood and life and religion and Fahd’s constant use of the phrase “I can’t be bothered to <insert something that would take the average human being little to no effort to do>” or his hair – I’m assuming, as we always make comments on it, its glorious.Oh yeah, he paid Leah to do his laundry, she folded it as well. Friends for life.
APRIL 13 – Greymouth to Fox Glacier
The next day we began the drive to Fox Glacier, it was drizzly again, Leah had to drive. She really got screwed the first couple times of driving. The drive there was decent enough minus the clouds and rain, from what I can remember. At least this time around we could listen to an iPod instead of silence because the radio stations are incredibly sparse and dismal at best down there. On the way there we stopped by this river area because, well, the water was insanely blue and how could you NOT stop for that?
We get to the Ivory towers, which, I don’t know I was expecting ivory or white or gray or a tower perhaps? It was like a multicolored cottage type thing? Kind of let down, I was in LOTR mode, sue me. Fahd got his own room with a TV and Leah and I were in a 4-person dorm with two girls (weren’t in the room yet) that had their sh*t everywhere, holy hoarders. After we got all of our luggage in our rooms, we went out for a late lunch. Bless Malaysia. Fahd’s mom told him he should buy us dinner or something because we were driving him everywhere (his license wasn’t translated into English so he couldn’t drive). He bought us Thai Chicken Salad and Coke, it was really good! After that we all went to Lake Matheson because… well… there’s absolutely NOTHING in Fox Glacier except well… a glacier. We hiked around it, it was super green and rainforesty. Also, I got really excited when I saw bridges. Leah and I play-ditched Fahd, and then we also did this thing with Fahd where he does the meditating pose everywhere, so you’ll be seeing that a lot throughout this insanely long post. Oh! Shoot, also, we explored a babbling brook after the hike because before the hike there were other people exploring… and I don’t share my brooks with just anyone.
After the Lake, Fahd was tired. To be fair, we all were. But he was very against walking anywhere and again we all were but I think he vocalized it the most. Which I’m glad he did all the work, as I didn’t feel like walking anymore either. So, instead, we drove to the opening of the Glacier area and where the tours and helicopters were and took a look around. It was gorgeous. The mountains, the water colors, and then there was the sun going down behind the mountains… man… so pretty. Still wouldn’t live there, but it was a good stop. By this time, my shoes were all sorts of covered in adventure. I told Leah and Fahd that and they laughed at me, I think it was an appreciative laugh rather than a mocking laugh… but we’re all jokesters so I ran with it.
lizzklein 