Others on the bus seem to have a bit more time than me and hopped off at The Park. We passed through there to pick up some passengers and Mambo explained that the weather has improved and the chances of going on the walk the next day are high. A group had already left for the day to walk the trail which convinced a few people to hop off and stay. Ben decided to stay which was a shame as we really got on. I also found out that Jonny and a few others were hopping off in Wellington. It seems our little Stray family was splitting up and I’d have to find a new one in Picton! Hopefully I will see some of them in Queenstown.
Amongst the new passengers was Liz who decided to hop back on and travel to Abel Tasman. It was great to catch up with her.
Having set off at 7:30am, we weren’t due in Wellington until 3pm. What could have been a dull day actually turned into a weird and wonderful day thanks to Mambo. We made a series of stops at some of the most random places.
Snowman hug in Ohakune
Carrot munching in Ohakune
Giant gumboot in Taihape
Whilst in Taihape, we took part in a traditional pastime in New Zealand, gumboot throwing. Each of the girls had four throws. Both techniques I used were flawed so my final distance wasn't very good. It was the guys' turn next and everyone overtook the places where our gumboots landed. The annoying thing was, if one guy couldn't beat the longest distance thrown by a girl in the group, they'd have to remove one item of clothing. That would have been funny.
After everyone threw, I grabbed the gumboots one last time and asked someone to film me throw. I put a bit more effort into it as I was on film. Can anyone guess what happened? I managed to throw the boots a lot further than many of the guys. Damn.
Moving on, our next stop was in a town called Bulls where every building and business ended with the word bull.
What a wonder-bull sight!
Wait, there’s more. We visited an awesome playground. They had a zip wire, four seat swings, hamster wheels and other crazy stuff that us big kids can go on. We were the oldest ones there that weren’t parents but none of us cared! I fell off everything and generally made an arse of myself but that’s the whole point right? As a child you’re completely fearless and the thought of hurting yourself doesn’t enter your thoughts at all. As an adult, you know what can go wrong and that hurting yourself is inevitable. It’s just whether you have the confidence to throw yourself into things knowing what the outcome will be.
I started off well...
I didn't last long
Getting back up was a challenge!
It wasn't at the playground where I acquired my next bruise, but an army site with life size tanks to crawl onto. I climbed up ok, but getting down was a different story. I smacked and grazed my thigh on the way down. Damn.
To calm us down after the onslaught of craziness, Mambo devised a game to gauge how many of us have done awesome stuff on our travels. Not everyone played (boooo!) but those who did each wrote a top five list of adventurous things that we’ve done that might appear on a bucket list.
My mind went completely blank. All I could think of at first was my sky dive in Taupo and that’s because I only did it a couple of days ago. I couldn’t remember anything. It’s a good job I have my blog to read over at some point to remind myself!
In the end, I listed a few other things that were mainly Japan-orientated and reluctantly placed it in a hat. We then each took one of the slips out that wasn’t ours. It started with one person reading a point out from the list they had in front of them. Whoever wrote that list told their story and then read out a point from the list they had picked out of the hat and so on until everyone had told a couple of stories.
I was a bit nervous about my top five as I always find that people have better travel tales than me. It turned out that I had a couple of good stories to tell after all although I couldn’t top having sex in a cave made of hay!
The day had ticked by nicely but I was beat. I just wanted to dump my stuff and have a nap. Instead, I was allocated a room that wasn’t fully functional. The beds were overturned and there was rubbish everywhere. A definite de ja vu given the situation me, Mel and Steff had in 1770. It was soon straightened out and, rather than have a nap, Liz and I headed to Te Papa museum. Everyone goes on about how great it is so I thought I’d see for myself.
Unfortunately my brain was still in sleep mode and I needed a nap fast. The last thing my brain needed was an overload of information. So perhaps I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to fully enjoy Te Papa but I had an ok time. I saw the colossal squid and visited the earthquake simulator. I did breeze past a lot of the exhibitions but I only had an hour.
For those who like museums, I’ve heard that the one in Auckland is better but you have to pay an entry fee. Te Papa on the other hand is free.
I eventually got my nap and awoke for food. I saw that one girl in the room had been to McDonald’s, came back and put the food on her bed, then left. It was there all night. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, girls can be messier than guys.
Liz and I went to reception and met the others from the bus, including Mambo, for a meal and final goodbye. I wouldn’t be seeing Mambo again as he’s heading back up to Auckland to finish off his tour and pretty much everyone else is staying or going elsewhere.
Mambo took us to this great little eat hidden down a backstreet. It served Malaysian-style dishes quickly and cheaply. The portions were massive and very tasty. Everyone enjoyed their meal and it served as a nice round off to the evening.
After everyone had finished, we headed back to the hostel for a drink. I think the place was almost fully booked as there were people everywhere. They were hosting a toga party that night so the hostel was teeming with drunken youngsters hyped up on the overused novelty. I feel about 80 for thinking that. Nobody else seemed to feel regret for not wearing a toga so I don’t think I was alone with that thought.
Liz and I stayed for a while but were the first ones to call it a night as we had an early start the next day. We said our goodbyes and made loose promises to meet in Queenstown. It would be nice to see them again.
Even though it was sad saying goodbye to everyone, I was excited to meet a new group of people for the south island. It’s going to be another long day travelling from Wellington to Abel Tasman so I hope there are some good people to talk to!
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