Advertisement
Published: July 29th 2009
Edit Blog Post
So after spending a nice relaxing day in Queenstown it was time to head south. I almost missed the bus, not like me to be late! Got chatting to the bus driver Max, which helped the trip pass. At one point I was drifting off and realized that the scenery was far too beautiful to nod off next to. The beautiful lakes and mountains leaving Q'town are really fantastic!
Soon we were out on the plains and there were no more spikey mountains. The bus passed through some small town ships en route to Invercargill, not a lot to see. Arrived in Invercargill after a good chat with Max and jumped out to have a wander.
Invercargill was wet and grey, but I managed to amuse myself for the 4 hours I had to wait for my connecting bus. This city is home of Burt Reynolds, the fastest Indian. I had seen a film about him breaking the land speed record, so it was interesting to find out a little more about him and see his bikes which are kept in the local hardware store /museum!
I took a wander about the city, which actually has quite a
few quirky little shops and interesting things to see. I ended up in the post office, served by a lady from Tipp, who informed me that there were multiple Irish settlers in the city. For such a small country we really do get around! I wandered down to the I-site and museum to see some Tuatara, a prehistoric lizard which has remained unchanged for thousands, possibly millions of years and is native to NZ. They were in cages unfortunately, hence the close up shots!
After wandering about the museum, I took some time to take in Queens park, which reminded me of home. There were rose gardens, not in bloom and large deciduous beech trees lining walkways. I managed to find some splashes of color in the park (primroses) on this otherwise dull drey day.
Soon it was time to get the connecting bus out to Bluff where the ferry would leave for Stewart Island. I had heard that the ferry crossing could make even the most sea worthy people turn a shade of green, so I wasn't looking forward to the crossing. Thankfully it was a smooth crossing, according to the skipper. We were on a catamaran
Queens Park Invercargill
Reminded me of some of the parks in Belfast type ferry, sitting up next to the skipper and surrounded by the local school children (well about half of them, there's only a total of 14!). They were on a day trip to town. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I would be on an island for the next few days, with island folk!
Arrived safe and sound on the rain soaked island and eventually found a hostel in the dark. There were a few other backpackers who seemed to have wandered this way too. We got chatting in the hostel and decided to head to the local (only) pub to chill out and have a few drinks. I felt somewhat more normal after a shower and some food and was looking forward to a quiet few drinks. The pub, was part of the local hotel and seems to be the only watering hole on the island. I had followed the others (Johan - Sweden and Maria - England) down and found them in the lounge surrounded by gumboot (wellly) wearing locals, clad in green clothing, with quite a few drinks under they belts already - it was about 8pm! The first thing that I noticed
was that me and Maria (both obviously really foreign) were the only females in the bar! This did make me a little nervous!
We foreigners sat together and found out a little about each other before being approached by the more "social" local men. My first night time encounter with the local men was indeed an eye opener. I guess island life here is no different to any other small community. Everyone knows everyone else, and it's really obvious when you're not a local. There were a few younger lads who were over for 3 weeks to build a house on the island and we ended up chatting with them and finding out their stories of their island exposure. A couple of us were almost convinced to head to a party with the locals, but after a minor car incident we figured it was a better idea to head back to the hostel, our socializing done for the evening!
The stars were twinkling and the rain had eased off thankfully as we wandered in the dark back to the hostel to drink tea, eat chocolate and watch some dodgy films. If i was going to survive a few
nights on the island I figure it's a good idea to start slowly! There seems to be a particular culture on the island, one which i don't know if my body would survive for too many nights back to back!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.159s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0986s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb