After getting back from work – Glynn and I headed off to the West Coast.. to Greymouth – the weather was supposed to be pretty nasty for the weekend, but still wanted to head out of town.
The drive up through Arthurs pass was pretty spectacular – the bit that freaked us out (besides Glynns’ first Road Kill – Possum we reckon) was the Train-Bridge..
We crossed this at about 11pm – pretty dark, and it was just a little worrying.. as the trains are kinda big (but I guess they move pretty slowly) – just had visions of being 1/2 way across and having to get speedily into reverse :)
The hostel we were staying in I would be glad to recommend – twas the ‘Global Village BBH’ … the place was covered in souvenirs from different trips the owner had taken – mostly through Africa and Asia. Really nicely done though.
Pretty funny coincidence – was sitting down playing scrabble with Glynn (by the way Qi is a bloody useful little word.. meaning ‘An Individuals life force’ ) – but heard a laugh I recognised.. it was Jorg – who we had met in Waitomo just after Christmas.. his Bike needed repairs (a new chain) so he was working in the hostel.
How he came to be working in the hostel is an even better story.. Jorg has been motorbiking all around the world – well some of it anyway. Well Australia at least ;) and while he was there chilling out by a beach or something, the owner of the hostel was passing – saw the bike – thought ‘here’s a pretty interesting traveller’ – and left his hostel/business card on the bike – saying ‘do drop in’. A year? later – Jorg arrives in the hostel. Pretty cool. (esp. when you need to get your bike fixed up and to earn a little cash when you don’t have the working visa….)
So yeah – next day it was off to the pancake rocks .. they were pretty cool, the only thing was that it wasn’t high tide and stormy, so the blow holes that are here weren’t visible.
After that it was off to ‘The Longest Swing Bridge in New Zealand’
There’s actually someone taking an Arial Runway back across – $25.. for 30 secs.
This was the complete and utter non-highlight of the weekend. I would not suggest going, it was set at the site of the 19somethingorother earthquake.. and there was supposed to be a walk around pointing out various sites.. but it was very badly laid out. Most unimpressed.
We saw this sign:
So decided to head and see it. We think we did.. there certainly was a big tree (or two) but again, it wasn’t obvious.. Ahh well, the drive to and from the gorge was excellent – very scenic altogether – te be sure te be sure.
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Then today – Sunday – headed home early ish as it was raining kinda hard….
Not really looking forward to this week (in work) have Dire Forebodings about looming unemployment.. the Director is coming down on Friday – and she would only do that to interview the new consultant. And new consultant != Patrick :) hehee, ahh well… am 1/2 thinking of heading off hitching to Queenstown or something, esp if no other work comes through.. could be an adventure.
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