This morning we finally had a chance to sleep in a little...although I still woke up at 630am cause I needed to wee. I didn't bother going back to sleep at that point but just rested in bed unil my alarm went off at 730. Bfast consisted of toast and peanut butter and a boiled egg again. Ive had no shortage of protein on this trip.
Today my whole body aches...it was mostly my arms/shoulders before but after yesterday's hiking my legs are now stiff too. I also further pulled something in my shoulder this morning playing luggage Tetris and trying to jam everything back in my pack...its getting harder by the day and I haven't even bought much of anything.
At 9am we were back on the bus on the way to Wellington. We stopped briefly on the side of the road in a town called Ohakune to take a photo of NZ largest carrot. We also could see Mt. R in all its snow-capped glory in the distance. At least the skies were somewhat clear today. We drove for about two hours and the views consisted of either rolling green farm hills speckled with sheep and cows or brown/yellow mountainous terrain that was covered in low lying bushes.
At about 11am we stopped in a small town for our first toilet break. We visited a little info centre in the local library.
Shortly after we were back on the road for about another hour before stopping for lunch in a unique little town called "Bull". Bull is known for its dairy production...the guide said that about 85% of NZ dairy comes from bull. He joked that it's the only milk-producing bull. This town had character in that most of the business names were a play on the town name. For example, there was a shop called "labulls" (aka labels), police are called "constabulls" and the garbages were labeled "Be Responsibull". We went into a Subway restaurant for lunch because there were no good grocery stores or bakeries nearby. It was my first time having fast food since I arrived here and it was actually my most expensive meal so far (even tho it was only $6.50). BTW I am loving the fact that the prices include tax here (either that or there is none). Whatever the case, the price is the price and it is always such a nice suprise when you get to the cash. Makes you feel like you are getting a deal. There is also no tipping here, which is even better. The Subway was good...pretty standard...and dining on the patio was nice except for the smell of manure wafting around town.
After my Subway lunch I went across the street to an ice cream shop (Franky's) and I had a taste of "Hokey Pokey" ice cream. This was actually recommended to me by my pilot friend that I met on my flight from TO to Vancouver. Its a vanilla ice cream with a honeycomb woven into it...it was described to me as being kind of like a Crunchie bar although it was lacking the chocolate. I'm pretty insistant on having chocolate in my ice cream but this was pretty good and hit the spot on this mild summer day.
After about a 45 min stop (at about 12:45) we were back on the road. Our guide described this part of the journey as long and straight with lots of cattle). He was right. I dozed on and off.
At about 3pm we arrived in Wellington. This is the capital of NZ and is definitely the biggest city/town I've been to so far. Its a coastal city and serves as the port for ferries travelling to the South Island. We checked in to our accomodations (Nomads hostel). I'm rooming with three other girls bit the room is a decent size and we have our own bathroom/shower.
After quickly settling in we took a walk to a cablecar and rode it to an elevated part of the town. There wasnt really a great view of town but from there we took a walking path back down which wove its way thru the botanical gardens. They were very pretty and had lots of interesting trees and flowers.
At about 5pm we headed to the museum. Its a huge, six story building. We didn't have a lot of time so we spent most of our visit checking out the displays on earthquakes. ..this area is known for them. They even had a little house you could go in where they simulated the feeling of an earthquake.
An hour later we left the museum and stopped at the grocery store to get food for the next day. We then returned to the hostel just in time to meet our entire group at the pub next door for a final dinner and soiree. The menu was very small...there were only five main dishes and i didnt like most of them. I wasn't impressed but ordered a margharita pizza thinking that was safe. I was wrong. It was so spicy that it made me cry. Nevertheless I powered thru most of it because I was hungry and I spent too much on it.
After dinner I returned to my room to shower and pack up for an early start tomorrow. At around 930, I returned to the pub to hang out with my group for one final night. Most are continuing on to tour the South Island but me and a few others are headed back to Aukland for other tours/trips. I didn't drink but I stayed out and socialized till about 1130.
Then it was back yo the room for blogging and for bed. Tomorrow we take a looong bus ride back to Auckland. We leave here at about 7am and get in around 6pm. I hope I get a window seat on the bus!
Another day, another adventure...
Trina
Wellington:
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