My last full week in New Zealand kept me entertained but lashed by rain as the South Island suffered the worst storms in many years.
On Monday I was off to Dunedin from Queenstown on yet another early bus. I soon realised that after all the aches and pains from snowboarding had subsided that I had pulled a muscle in my thigh and so I went up one of the many hills in Duedin in search of the swimming pool. After that I hit the Speights brewery tour and failed in getting the lads from the school rubgy tour to come with me to sample more Speights delights.
Tuesday was action packed as far as a day goes in the World of backpacking: swimming, Elm Wildlife Tour and the cinema. The wildlife tour to the Otago Peninsula was fantastic and one of the highlights of my time in New Zealand. I saw a Royal Albatross chick waiting for a parent to return with food, a flying Bullers Albatross, a jumping for joy dolphin, New Zealand fur seals, huge scary Hooker Sealions and yellow eyed penguins returning from their days fishing and trying not to get eaten by the sealions. Dunedin being the pleasant university town that it is boats two art house cinemas and so I went to see an English comedy called "Grow Your Own" about an allotment bringing together a Northern community and made me miss plot 87.5 in Wanstead.
Wednesday was my final Inter City bus journey of six hours to Christchuch. I bumped into Gary at Base now that the Airlie Beach boys have departed to Fiji and met friendly roomies: Jack, Nelly and Chris. I found the local pool for another enjoyeable swim trying to sort out the peg leg and shift the pounds I have put on in comfort eating in freezing New Zealand. I went out with the roomies and had a good late night out.
Thursday turned out to be pretty much the same as Wednesday: swimming and partying. I met a Maori called Lance at Base Backpackers bar and hit the town with him and an Irish lad. Once again it was tipping it down and so it was not suprising Kaikora was cut off and Scotty couldn't get his Magic bus nor his passengers to their destination.
I did very little on Friday and didn't even manage a swim. I bumped into Aby and Noel from the Kiwi Experience bus who were my roomies in Queenstown and discovered that Aby used to work with Christian Letteriello from my university days. I also met Hernan a rubgy aficionado from Buenos Aires and practised my ailing Spanish.
On Saturday I flew with Carys and Sophie to Auckland for the game. I traded my spare rugby tickets with Rob who I met in the sauna at Franz Josef. He and Dan were overjoyed at being able to go to the game. Helen drove up from National Park to join me and we headed to the game in the lashing rain and so invested in heavy duty ponchos. We were sat outside on the West Stand expecting hypothermia but it didn't rain and it wasn't that cold so we thoroughly enjoyed Richie and his gorgeous men beat the Wallabies 39-10. Helen and I returned to the bar at Base backpackers and had fun watching the drunken youths get up to their usual antics as we sat there in our layers of rubgy gear.
Sunday was a very quiet day waving off Helen and usual backpacker chores. My month in New Zealand has been the coldest month I can remember for a very long time and lacking a winter wardrobe made it even harder to endure. I over ate to keep warm, read books out of boredom and watched more films than I have seen in the last five years. Having said that Kiwis are lovely amiable people who have more style, class and culture than their closest neighbours and have a country full of breathtaking scenery. The highlights of my time in New Zealand include visiting the Svenssons in the amazing volcanic National Park, flying from wet and windy Wellinton to Picton on the bumpiest flight ever, getting blasted with Ralph in Queenstown, bumping into loads of Kiwi Experience and Magic bus types all along the way, hurtling down hills on a snowboard, going on the Elm Wildlife Tour and the HIGHLIGHT of New Zealand being able to see Richie lead his boys in Black to victory at Eden Park.
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