I almost got this blog posted last night, but ran out of battery just a few seconds prior to hitting the APPLY button. So now it is Saturday morning, John is making our sandwiches for the day (in the communal kitchen) and I am posting the blog that I thought I might have lost last night! We will be on our way to Fox Glacier this morning - and possibly heading straight on through to Queenstown as John may have to fly up to Whangarei early next week to address some boat/insurance issues. We will see how it goes after a few phone calls this morning.

So here be the blog I intended to post last night (pictures to follow hopefully tonight if we aren't to late in finding our next accommodations)...

We had a calm crossing from North (Wellington) to South Island (Picton) on Wednesday. We drove straight on through to Christchurch after getting off the ferry – only to find there was no room at the inn! Everything was booked for miles around due to a Flower show. What are the chances? First Hamilton, now Christchurch. We have perfect timing! So, on we drove way way south of town, and just before we were about to turn around and head towards Arthurs pass to try our luck in that direction – we found a little place – attached to a restaurant – attached to a bar – attached to a liquor store – with a grocery store half a block away. Perfect! And, the rooms had just been renovated in 2012 – they still smelled brand new! Nice!

Thursday we headed across Arthurs pass. It was a beautiful drive. Along the way, we did one of the shorter tramps called Devil’s Punch Bowl. The waterfalls at the end were beautiful, but the steps zig zagged continuously for most of the way up – almost like climbing “the tower”! But we made it, and the view of the waterfalls at the end was well worth it. From there we drove on into Greymouth, to venture into our very first hostel experience. (Note how similar the pronunciation is to the word hostile! Just kidding).

We are staying 2 nights at a hostel called Global Village. It’s a bit quirky – very colorful – and a bit like being taken back to the 60’s with a hippy village atmosphere (less the music). It scored 93% in the ratings guide – which is pretty darn good. But guess what? We are the oldest folks in the entire place! Rumor has it that adults our age also frequent these establishments on a regular basis while traveling here in NZ. This is our second night, and we have yet to run across anyone else (besides the hippy proprietor) over 25. We stick out like sore thumbs. Not that everyone isn’t nice enough – but we just feel a bit out of our element. And there is not en suite bathroom (no private bathroom attached to our room), only communal his and hers latrines. I was kind of hoping those days were done after making it through Officer Training School almost 30 years ago. Not so much that I mind schlepping my bathroom gear back and forth each morning, and evening. But – the midnight run (or 3 am potty run) can be a bit of an inconvenience. I think I held off almost 2 hours in the middle of the night hoping to make it til daylight, before finally giving up and making a break for it. John only made it an hour. So as interesting as this may be, and as “fun” as the ambiance looks, I think this may be our first and last hostel event for this trip (at least with communal bathrooms). But let it be known, the bathrooms are very clean – as stated in the brochure. So moving on…

Today we drove north and explored a place called Pancake Rocks (aka Punakaiki). The rock formations actually look like huge stacks of pancakes. Now that was cool! The trail through the shrubbery and rain forest was beautiful and well maintained. The views across the Tasman Sea were great – a very calm ocean out there today. Well worth the visit. We also ventured a bit further North to check out an old gold mine. We finally stumbled upon Mitchell’s Gold Mine another 45 minutes north. It had great potential as a tourist stop, but was not being well maintained – all we got for our 10 bucks was a quick 5 minute run-down of how gold was mined back in the day, then we were told to move along down an overgrown path that following some old railcar tracks with a smattering of shallow tunnels and rusty hardware along the way. This could really be a cool place if they put some thought and effort into explaining what you were looking at, and telling a more in depth story behind it all. The mine itself is actually still being mined – just not actively the last few months due to the draught along the coast.

So we are back at our Global Village for one more night, then onto Fox Glacier to check out the sites and activities there for a day or two. So far the scenery has been spectacular – and we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet! Can’t wait to see and share some more!

Lisa