Even though Brazils was an excellent hostel on my rating with a very quiet night in a 3 bed room, yes I even had a proper bed, I still hardly slept. That witchy hour again!! I was just so excited about all I was doing and will be doing.
And I thought about another FIRST that happened late last night. I went out to the decking which you had to cross over to the reception area to buy some more Internet time and part of it was wet after the heavy rain. This very nice young man from reception noticed I didn’t have any shoes on and only whisked me over his shoulder. Who said chivalry was dead???? I felt like 17 again….. perhaps he thought I was until closer inspection haha, but maybe not as I got the same treatment for the return trip!
Anyway, I managed to catch up with my blog and emails.
Today is a beautiful sunny morning. It seems to do that here, a country of so many microclimates. I took the opportunity for a walk this morning as we would be back on the bus before long. Westport is a very nice town on the most westerly point of New Zealand.
It is pretty well one long straight street down to the fishing harbour with a good variety of shops. I had just 45 minutes before my toasted egg and bacon sandwich and Feijoa juice I’d ordered and managed to take a few photos before getting back on the bus.
Our first stop was at Te Papa Atawbai where there was a beautiful coastal walk and we had the best weather for this. It was about half an hour with the most stunning sea views ever. I should stop saying that as the scenery just gets better every day.
Here was an amazing example of the varying turquoise colours of the water and the surf crashing on the rocks far below. The path meandering in and out with Punga and cabbage trees on either side. Funny little birds kept walking out in front of us, some with a string of chicks. These were the flightless Weka, and looked like a cross between and Moorhen and a Kiwi.
Along this walk we could look down on a seal colony and delighted in watching them swimming in the surf and then throwing themselves up on the rocks.
The bus was waiting for us at the other side to take us on to the Puparua Range of mountains where we stopped briefly at an old disused bridge next to a beach to take more photos.
Pokita was to be our stopping place for lunch. Here were the Pancakes and Blowholes, although the blowholes were not working as the tide was low. However, the pancake rock formations were pretty impressive and again the most incredible turquoise sea.
Tonight we were staying at Lez’s Pub where we were having a 60s themed evening. Buzz dropped us off in the town of Greystones, pointing out a charity shop where we could be inventive over our 60s outfits. I was the only one who’d actually lived in the 60s and experienced flower power but this didn’t help me much as all my original gear was back home in England! Anyway everyone boarded the bus with little carrier bags. I managed to get some flowers and beads in a nice little craft shop.
We arrived at Mahinapua Hotel (Lez’s pub and hostel) in time for a swim. I must mention at this point that Lez was 87 years old and has been running his pub and hostel for many years, especially for the Kiwi Experience backpackers. Noone else stays there apart from the occasional friend and acquaintance. It was so good to get out of the bus on such a hot day. I made my way down to the beach while the others headed for the lake in the opposite direction. It was a beautiful long beach and looked good for swimming at first sight but when I got in, I found the currents to be very strong and the waves powerful so decided to join the others at the lake, as there was no one around to save me.
The lake was a deep navy blue colour and like glass below the ice-capped mountain range. Some of the others had already been in and were dangling their legs over the jetty. I slipped into the cold water and swam out a bit only to find I had company. There towering above me with its head arched was a black swan. I felt quite vulnerable in the water with this menacing looking bird towering over me and flicked water at it to make it go away. But this only seemed to encourage it.
The kids on the jetty seemed quite worried for me and encouraged me to swim back which I eventally managed to do whilst all the time trying to ward off this aggressive looking bird. Eventually one of the lads put an arm out to me to help me out quickly. Phew, that was scarey but hey, three more firsts at once: swimming in a lake under the glaciers being chased by a black swan!!!
Dinner this evening was delicious steak cooked by our driver served with boiled potatoes in their skins, corn on the cob and coleslaw. Also there was a pot of stewed venison. Deer is farmed widely in this area. It was so nice to sit down to this dinner as we were all ravenous and a bottle of Shiraz from the bar was good too.
After dinner, a group of us went down to the beach to watch the sun set over the sea. Just beautiful with the snowcapped mountain range behind us where the moon was rising.
We returned to the hostel to get ready for our 60s evening. Everybody made a great effort, even the boys and it was a very good way to socialise.
The whole evening was great fun and there were a few hangovers in the morning.
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