Hostels have greatly improved! Clean, quiet, and smaller. I even have an en suite kitchenette for the next couple nights for my $18(US) room. Working backwards, I enjoyed the trip through the high country today with its lakes of glacial milk, especially with our amusing driver -- a young trekking guide on a rampage about copycat cairn building in national parks.
Staying with Peter and Mary in Christchurch (Thurs-Sat) was a treat -- I need to get back and see the Banks Peninsula (learned much about native plants and geology from Peter). I was wowed by Christchurch's art centre and the canterbury museum (complete with King Island kayak among the local water craft . . .), and the depth of the antarctic exhibits and conservation themes.
The coastal train (Thursday trip) had an open-air viewing car where I enjoyed a good hour of high winds without losing any appendages to surprise tunnels and happily returned unscathed to my Scottish seat mates. I had 90 min between ferry and train in Picton, so took a nice hike to a lunch spot along Queen Charlotte Sound.
Wellington you heard about in my last post (just did Te Papa since I'll be back). The bus trips, both north and south islands, have been surprising -- I'm really seeing the dry climates of New Zealand this time 'round (though it has been a dry summer). Brief stop in Rotorua at lunch, so I walked down to the lake to visit the black swans. And last but not least, the metal buildings in the form of a sheep and a sheep dog in Tirau were a major highlight. :)
Beh-eh-eh-eh-eh-ggs
I don't think my life will be complete until I see the sheep building in person.
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