Aussie's and Kiwi's

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I know, I know. I said I was going to keep up with this and I haven’t posted in a few days. I blame that entirely on an Aussie named Kat and ridiculous drink specials everywhere we go, but we will get to that eventually. So let me catch you up. I think I last left off in Christchurch and headed on the transalpine train to Greymouth. Well, needless to say, after the rude awakening in the middle of the night and getting up at 630 to get on the train I fully expected to crash as soon as we left. If you don’t know by now, I must have been one of those babies that fell asleep in the car because any time I’m in a car, plane, bus, train whatever for longer than an hour I pass out like someone has slipped me an Ambian. And for about the first 30 minutes, I really did try. And then we hit the countryside and I found that I couldn’t tear away from the window long enough to sleep. I would try to shut my eyes and think “oh God, what am I missing?” I finally just took out my camera and headed out to the open air deck to take some pictures. An hour and a half later I couldn’t stand the cold anymore and headed back inside to settle in, or so I thought. I just couldn’t help it, 15 minutes in my sit and I was right back outside with the camera. It was just that beautiful! About halfway through the trip I realized that I didn’t care in the slightest that I was exhausted. I was so happy to be looking at the beautiful mountains that it just didn’t matter.
And then, we got to Greymouth. I figured since I was there, I should probably find a place to sleep for the night. I ended up in a former monastery turned hostel/B&B that was decorated as if it was a children’s nursery. Weird. Each room has an animal theme and I was lucky enough to be in the kiwi room. Complete with cartoon painting of kiwi birds doing such adventurous things as skydiving, skiing, and bungy jumping. Only in New Zealand. Like I said, weird. I chatted for a few minutes with the other girls in my dorm and then headed out to find the “beach”. Well the beach turned out to be a pile of rocks that wasn’t even worth taking pictures of but I had a nice walk all the same. I headed into a local information shop to see what there was to do in Greymouth as I was eager to start exploring. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to there. By much, I really mean, anything. She did tell me of a nice hike that was just at the end of the road that my hostel was on. She said it was a bit steep but had some beautiful views. Great, I was headed there first thing the next morning.
I set out bright and early for this nice hike. Up a freaking mountain!!! Damn, kiwis! I had forgotten that they are the masters of downplaying just about everything. A little steep?!? Seriously straight up a freaking mountain for an hour. However, she was right. The views were worth it and the weather was beautiful so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Plus, I’m in New Zealand!

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