The Transalpine, Greymouth, Nelson and that hairy ferry
Dear Al and Debbie.... er I mean dear allSo then after leaving Wanaka I eventually made it to Christchurch after a frustrating coach trip with people puking and several unplanned stops (the coach kept breaking down). After a very quiet night in CC I got up at crazy O'Clock to get on the Transalpine train to Greymouth. As my previous description states this is supposed to be one of the best train journeys in the world... I was not disappointed, it was sweet as bro. But let me enlighten you. Trains in New Zealand are a big deal, they really are, it's basically the same procedure as getting a flight, namely that: the stations are usually out of town, when you get there you have to check your bags in to be put on the luggage carriage at the back of the train, you get a boarding pass after you check in... In short it's a bloody hassle and most unneccessary, but hey it was worth it.
I got to Greymouth a town that by the description of its name doesn't really conjure up anything too exciting but I was nicely surprised by this small town with plenty of character and a huge whitebait fishing industry, oh yeah and a shit hot brewery. I arrived at my immaculate backpackers and offloaded my gear to be then recommended the Monteith's Brewery tour by my hosts Cat and Craig. Good call. The tour started at 2pm and it was your bog standard brewery tour until... Our guide announced that as it was the last tour of the week and the staff party would be kicking off shortly we could not just have the standard tasting session of Monteith's 6 prize winning ales but she would allow us to pour our own beer at will for the next 30 mins. Not one to hold back on such occasions myself and a kiwi guy whose name unsurprisingly escapes me for the moment went medieval on said prizewinning ales. We were turfed out approximately 7 pints later, a commendable effort for 30 mins bartime I am sure you will agree. On the way home I headed to the pie shop for some stodge and was not disappointed as they gave me 3, yes 3 steak and cheese pies for the price of 1 as they were about to close... result. That night I went to see 'The Station Agent', for those of you that haven't see this film, SEE IT! It's a masterpiece.
Saturday lunchtime I left Greymouth for Nelson, or 'Swindon-on-Sea' as I like to call it.
Nelson was an interesting 3 nights. Saturday night I set off to check out the local beers and to catch England v West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy final. My bar of choice was The Grumpy Mole which did have it's plus points... It was not only home to the only attractive barmaid that I have seen so far in New Zealand, they were all stunning... But why here in Nelson I ask myself.. that question remains unanswered I am afraid. Anyway here I met Red and Chris who were to be my drinking buddies for the night and my tour guides of the nightlife of Nelson. Nice blokes but I struggled to keep up with them and had to head home at 4am in a terrible state. Sunday in Nelson is something that I would not recommend. Everything closes, even most of the restaurants and cafes, so it was another cinema trip for me to see 'Dodgeball', again SEE THIS FILM! Pant shittingly funny..
Here I have to describe to you my first and hopefully last extraordinarily uncomfortable situation in NZ. On returning from the film I headed back to my backpackers to have some nosh and chill out only to be greeted by a very strange dude in the kitchen, lips caked in red wine brandishing a large cooking knife, the conversation went exactly like this: "Hey you are you English?"... "Yes mate"... "Well you remind me of that fucker Princess Diana! hahahhaha!"
So what do you think to that folks? Personally I was lost for words, totally lost for words. I returned to my room and conjured up plans of revenge for this freaks behaviour, finally opting for letting it lie.
Monday I headed out to the Abel Tasman National Park, one of the true gems of New Zealand, a fantastic day cruising around the coast mesmerised by the stunning beaches and fauna that would look most at home on the Big Sur or Thailand, I only wish that I had more time to explore and I only wish that my knee wasn't totalled from snowboarding so that I could have actually done some tramping for a few days, but hey. Nelson all in all was a good experience, met some dudes, namely Pierre from Cape Town and Sally and Alice from Chester who all kept me entertained.
Tuesday however was not a good day, it even ranks as my top trouser browning moments of all time. I got the bus from Nelson to Picton to get the Interislander ferry service to Wellington, the capital and focal point of North Island. For those of you that have travelled on a large car ferry you will know that they are rather large vessels... Well, as we left harbour the captain announced that not only were the weather conditions despicable but he fully expected most of us to need the sick bags and sickness pills on offer in the shop!!! I soon realised that this was not just his edgy scouse sense of humour shining through but this was reality. I can safely and unashamedly say that this was my most terrifying experience to date. The vessel was getting HUGE air on waves reaching the top deck! I am not a religious man at all, but I did choose to have a few quiet words with our creator. The aforementioned 'quiet words' did have an effect as 3 hours later we did reach Wellington, but I have never, ever seen so many people vomiting freely in daylight in my entire life, in fact one whole day later I can still smell puke...
So then Wellington.. Wellington is a city in the true sense of the word, plastered in american fast food chains and other such delicacies. Once the rain stops and you're able to walk the streets of this city rather than swim them, it all becomes clear, Wellington is beautiful. Today I made it up the Cable Car and walked back down through the botanical gardens to the port, then back along the waterfront to the mighty Te Papa museum, which was stunning. To top it off I managed to get some Grade A sushi in place just around the corner from where I am staying. It is a replica of Yo Sushi! in everything but the price, in fact it was over a third of the price. Things are looking good here on North Island and there's plenty more to come before I head to the land down under on October 17th... I will keep you posted, but in the meantime eat plenty of vegetables, have a few early nights and Al please look after the baby.
Big love Chopper
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