18 04 2010

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18 04 2010

We got on the roads by 0900 hours which was pretty good. The route to Franz Joseph takes you up the west coast of New Zealnd.Very pretty with fjords and tropical forests.

We picked up a 25 year old German girl who was hitching to the same place and wanted to check out the glacier. Her name was Rika.We stopped off at Bruces Bay where people record messages on stones so we added our details as well. The journey was a long one from 0900 - 1540 hours with stops along the way which were needed; about 360 km so was tired when we arrived. Took a few photos of fantail waterfalls en route.

After plugging in to the mains it was a case of relax, o clock and food. Trouble is we were down to rations and hadn’t stocked up on the way. As a result we had a Spanish omelette with every piece of spare food we could find. I got chatting to an Aussie adventurer who introduced me to his homebrew which is made from local mountain spring water and barley wine. Tasted pretty good and encouraged me to ask him if I could also grow decent dreadlocks like him. He said “You’ve got to persevere”.

I thought with all the perseverance in the world it won’t happen for me but we had a laugh.

Off to bed now but planned for a shorter journey to Greymouth tomorrow.

Nighty all.

Phil and Wendy

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