Day 32 Ferry & Regrouping

Today hasn’t been super interesting, we got up early, checked out. Or at least attempted to. Jacqui got the job she wanted up by Mt Cook and her boyfriend meaning she’s leaving Bunker’s for good tomorrow, and Albert and John are leaving on our ferry today so it was a weird sort of parting. Anyway John carried Albert’s bags for him down to the ferry and we all hugged and said our goodbyes – very strange to think we’ve only known each other a day or so! Bunker’s was the friendliest hostel by far where we all felt right at home, in part because of the amazing people but also the hostel itself which was relaxed and inviting.

  

The ferry was, once again, interesting. This time I just plugged my music in, sat outside and tried to not think about the great whites swimming beneath me, the salty spray drenching everyone on board and the feeling that the ship was hopelessly failing at it’s attempt to deliver us to dry land. A guy lost his hat, several people got completely and utterly drenched (Cara included), the luggage came loose from it’s ties as the sea was so rough we were all being thrown in the air, I nearly lost my backpack to the waves, George hit his head and looked green throughout the trip, Albert nearly fell over board... I think interesting is a good word to describe the trip.

An adorable little lamb at the farm

Once back in Bluff we had a minor problem getting the car, in that we lost the ticket we needed to pay and get the car out… After Cara had a few cross words with the woman we got it sorted though and headed back to Invercargill. We found Axel who had finally made it out of Queenstown (Queenstown in a black hole, you have to escape before it gets your claws into you! Half the people we met there had only planned to spend a night yet had been there for months) and he’d brought down three hitchhikers for good measure. We decided to go back to the farm we’d stayed at previously as a lot of the hostels were still booked up and we knew it was lovely there. After another BBQ we had a bit of an early night in our old 8bed room to ourselves and planned tomorrow’s adventure.

Tomorrow is another early start off to the Catlins!

Day 28 Travelling Southern Otago

Today was the day we finally waved goodbye to Queenstown, the week here has been crazy and we leave it dried up (our skin, hair and bank balances) but already wishing we could go back! It was somehow fitting that it was drizzly again, and probably the coldest day since we got here so we were all quietly glad that we were going to spending most of the day in a warm car looking out at the rain and the countryside!

As for the scenery on the way down to Invercargill it was the most similar to back home that I’ve seen so far in New Zealand, lots of pastoral and farming land with a select few gently sloping hills in the distance – I think the rain probably played a rather large part in reminding me of home! As usual the radio stations were appalling, I mean truly terrible – remind me to never complain about the radio back in England ever again. But since Cara was travelling with us (axel is staying another day in Queenstown) we had speakers cue a Taylor Swift marathon sing along.

I braved a few photos but it was just too rainy and the landscape was predominantly flat so there wasn’t a great deal to photograph! We got to Invercargill much quicker than expected but it’s probably a good thing we did as we kind of overlooked the fact that the biggest thing that happens in Invercargill was happening this weekend, meaning accommodation was practically none existent. The Burt Monro Race was on. Monro was a crazy Invercargill-ian who broke the land speed record and as such every year hundreds of motorcyclists gather to compete in this sort of race thing. I have never seen so many motorcycles in one place before.

We did eventually get accommodation, we ended up on a farm, half an hour from Invercargill centre but it was very cute and because it was so far out we got a 8 bed room to ourselves and the place was very quiet with just a few very cool American bikers who were celebrating thanks giving. The facilities were surprisingly good considering it was a farm and we spent the evening snuggled up in the ‘barn’ with our books and a roaring fire to keep us warm – it was the most wintery day to date.