Right, yesterday went from Nelson - paradise for kayaking - to some forgettable place called Westport. Nothing remarkable other than a jetboat ride on the Buller river - amazing things, they can move through 10cm deep water and do 360 degree turns at breakneck speeds (I think this may actually be the activity that inspired the phrase "breakneck"). Half of the "fun" was climbing down the side of the banks in flipflops to try to get onto the boat, and being driven back in the boat attached to a tractor at the end of the ride! I went to the local pub for dinner and ate a bonafide Italian Pizza at the bar made by an Australian in New Zealand!Next morning we headed onto Cape Foulwind - which has a BE-OOH-TEA-FOOL walk along the sea-cliffs to a seal colony and a wonderful open beach. Nothing foul about it, just wonderful scenery and lots of sun! And a little reminder that I am far from home!
Next stop was at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks... rocks that seem like they're made of stacks of... pancakes. Duh. Saw dolphins frolicking in the water and sun was shining brightly. Funny how all the weird and wonderful names are starting to sound normal and familiar to me?! Now I'm spewing them like a pro! Then we hit Greymouth...Nothing to do with Greymouth, but about 30 seconds after we jumped in the bus, a weird burning smell started to make itself known. The driver said: "guys, do you smell something funny?". He stopped, told us to stay on the bus, had a look and told us to "better get off the bus". Minor stampede ensued. Transmission was blown - apparently it had been in the garage for over a year awaiting a new transmission, was fixed, and had only been back in service for 2 months. Warranty anyone? Didn't help us at the time though, we just had to sit and wait for 3 hours for alternative transport as the bus got towed.
To top it off, our stop tonight was in Lake Mahinapua... affectionately known as the "poo pub". Its owned by an 81 year old guy called Les. The dorms are little more than portacabins with metal bunks... I call them bunks, but they really only deserve the rank of "hammock" on the international bedding scale. Luckily we had no aircon and plenty of sandflies, so the hammock really wasn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. 
Since I'm trying this new thing where I'm super positive about everything, I see it as an adventure. The beach was just a 10 minute walk accross open fields and massive. I almost wished I could have stayed longer just for that view. The evening concluded with a mass group barbeque and... the piece de resistance, my favourite thing so far... DRESS UP NIGHT! Yeah! (still trying the positive thing, is it working?)
The boys had to dress up as girls (not a lot of hesitation or grumbling on that one funnily enough... honestly, inside every man there's a slutty teenage girly waiting to get out!). And the girls? Well, we got a roll of black binbags and some tape. Since I'm more of a thinker than a doer (har har har) I decided to play seamstress to the two Danish girls in my dorm. I made them zig-zaggy armbands, tie-up laces, a whip, a mask etc etc. I got super creative and they were fine with almost anything I dreamed up. I had an AMAZING picture of them in their outfits, but the PC in Queenstown just ate it somehow... of all the images to corrupt! Darn.
Since the group consisted of a lot of English and Irish, late teen to early 20's, mostly sloshed beyond control - my whip and bondage mask were a winner and the Danish girl won the contest. Wehey! A good time was had by all - especially the seamstress who didn't have to get wrapped in black plastic and sweat through the evening! Oh.... POO. :)
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