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Published: March 28th 2009
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2/3/09 = A quiet day in Hokitika
Woke up early today even though didn’t need to = v.annoying. Built log fire (love fires) then chilled out next to creation. V.nice. Made tasty porridge, ate next to lovely fire, showered, then packed up and off for 9:30 bus. Got wheels off in preparation this time…or at least tried to. Got Debs’ off o.k., but mine was totally stuck, bus driver had put it on really tight. Atomic bus came and man wasn’t at all happy that I couldn’t get wheel off…he just kind of stormed off while I was mid-sentence…really not nice these bus drivers! Had no other option then but to try and crane it off. Deb got out the good old multi-tool knife and we wrenched up the handle, leaving a nice big dent in the bike…really hope they don’t charge for damages! Bus driver threw bikes on and we got on bus to Hokitika with unpleasant bus driver number 2.
Was a long journey to Hokitika because had to drive up to Greymouth first, but the scenery was beautiful. Loads more hills, mountains, greenery, lakes…all the usual NZ stuff. By time arrived, we were shattered. Bus man
Good old fish 'n' chips
And they were really good too. dropped us off at i-site, we somehow managed to throw wheels back on, then pedaled back to hostel we had passed on way in = Mountain Jade. Already booked a bed just in case. Had wondered about name of hostel, but as pedaled back to it, it all became clear. Must have ridden by at least 20 Jade shops; Hokitika was obviously the place for Jade mining. Our hostel was above another Jade Factory. Chained up bikes, then checked out rooms. Noticed that there was no bedding. Asked lady about it, but apparently had to pay to rent bedding = another $3 - what a joke! Didn’t have a choice because we didn’t have anything else, so had to begrudgingly pay extra. Weird hostel anyway because there was no-one else around at all…v.odd.
Headed out straight away and noticed library straight across road. Score! And it had free internet. Booked in some time, then ventured off to i-site to book some accommodation for next few days. Sorted a place in tiny town of Hari Hari = next stop and also booked room and Glacier climb in Franz Josef. Really looking forward to climb and quite happy to pay $120
Me in sticks
Now wrote my name in sand, with stones, using sticks...maybe bricks next. Am the next little piggy! for it. All sorted then and trundled off to buy lunch had been dreaming of = fish and chips . Got the usual greedy order of fish, chips and bread; bit disappointed that had to pay for own vinegar. Not disappointed when it came though. Never seen a portion size like it! Fish was a normal size, but so many chips could have filled at least 3 of us! Got to say as well, chips out here = really tasty. Totally different to chips at home and am not saying they are better, but they are really good. Taste a lot like oven chips = really good for me because hate greasy chips. Fish on the other hand = v.poor. Covered in thick batter that was actually spongy like cake. Had to strip it off and just eat fish below. Not too bad though…and definitely not bad considering they only cost $6 = 2 pound 50…I’d like to see a chip shop as cheap as that at home!
Ate lovely lunch, then was time for library. Got really lucky here too because managed to stay on for 2 hours. Came out at 4pm with nothing else to really do
then. Hokitika = small town and all walks = a drive away = a shame because was sunny and really wanted to be outside. Checked to see if there was anything at cinema, but all could find was a Talking Cinema, showing only 3 movies, all of which had never heard of. What is a talking cinema anyway? Gave up on that and went to supermarket for dinner = beans and toast…a welcome change from rice and pasta. Went back to hostel, read book for a while, then got restless, so headed off to beach to maybe do a bit of drawing. Surprised at how cold it had got and the beach was really weird; full of sticks…and I mean full. Wood lined the beach as far as eye could see and it wasn’t the kind that had washed in. Don’t know why it was there or how it got there, but was v.odd. Had a flashback then of something had seen and decided to do a bit of an art attack, rather than draw. Collected some sticks - of v.particular lengths and assortments - and built name using them. Quite cool actually. Didn’t quite pass enough time though and
still another hour until sunset. Decided to head back to hostel for a bit in meantime because was too cold to sit for that long. Had some toast to warm me up, watched some TV, then we both set off for sunset at 7:50. Only a 2min walk to beach and sun had already lowered. Waited and watched as it slowly melted into sea and it was as beautiful as usual. Love the sunset and sunrise. It had fully finished at 8:30 and we set off back to hostel freezing - temperature drops on an evening here are crazy.
Made dinner number 2 (beans on toast) and nearly had a heart attack when walked into living room and new Desperate Housewives series was on. Been a long time since watched good T.V. Settled in with 2 guys already watching it and ate yummy food…what a perfect evening. Ended up having a good laugh altogether, drank lots of tea and stayed up watching loads of T.V. 2 guys were from Scotland, but felt just like talking to people from home, which was really nice for a change. Made myself leave for bed at 11pm - got to be up early
First part of sunset
Get ready, you know how I am with these. for biking tomorrow - and tucked up in the $3 duvet had to rent. Better be a good nights sleep!
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