The No-Good Very Bad Day

I woke up early the next morning to the sound of pouring rain and knew the sailing trip was out. After an outing to the bathroom in the other building, I decided to go back to bed. After all, there are few things nicer than sleeping to the sound of raindrops on a tin roof. However, I slept too late and woke up cranky and disoriented. I got all my clothes together for a shower, only to discover that everyone on our bus had decided to leave a day early... and our bus driver had neglected to wake me.

One bus had already left and the other was waiting for me to get dressed and shove all my stuff in bags. I had not seen anything of Abel Tasman park, but couldn't stay because the next bus wasn't coming for another three days. Most of the people I had really connected with were staying, and I was really bummed because I couldn't.

Anyway, I wound up on a bus with only 6 other people, and 5 of them were a clique of Irish and British girls, plus one couple. I felt like I was on a bus with people I didn't really like going to a place I didn't really want to go. It seemed as though I was always at odds with the majority, such as wanting to listen to Christmas music in April. Who wants to listen to x-mas music in April? Anyway, we arrived in the metropolis of Barrytown, population 12, and I was looking forward to this day being over. Little did I know.

We were staying at the pub, which also doubles as a hotel, on a Saturday night. Happy hour was from 8-9. If you want cheap drinks after that, you have to get dressed up in one of the many garments they've collected from patrons and the thrift store over the years. All of the men were cross-dressing, and it was a bit frightening how into it they were. Gollum, one of the bus drivers, wore a red negligee and tights. I found a bright pink dressing gown and decided what the hell. It turned into a really fun night. Go figure.

The next morning we were up for a bone carving workshop. This is a form of traditional Maori art that has become ubiquitous in NZ, but it was really fun learning the process. Transforming a piece of cow tibia into a beautiful object in only a few hours does prove oddly satisfying. It also involves multiple power tools, a dremel, 4 grades of sandpaper, and buffer. While we were at the studio, a woman with the most incredible jade pendant I've ever seen came over to visit. Of course it turned out she was a jade (NZ greenstone) carver and I asked if we could visit her studio.

We didn't visit the studio, but she did bring some pieces to show us. I'm not a huge fan of greenstone, but she did have some nice pieces in her limited supply. By far the best was a large piece she had made for an exposition... and it was a good deal. I settled on a smaller piece, and wound up having to finish the stringing myself since everyone on the bus was waiting. I wound up being glad I hadn't waited to buy something until we reached Hokitika since most of the nice smaller greenstone places were closed on Sundays.

I'm writing this from the Franz Josef glacier, a 12 km long icefield on the southwest coast of the South Island. We're going on a glacier trek tomorrow, which should be a great experience (I get to wear crampons :) However, the hostel is a bit of backpacker hell and I won't be sorry to leave it behind.