I got up early today and went for another short run along the waterfront, which was good but slightly less picturesque than yesterday as it was a bit overcast, so the views across the bay were not as clear. Once back and showered, I packed my things up and checked out. When I was chatting to the guy, I mentioned not being able to find the wifi network and he told me that’s because it wasn’t switched on! Typical Kiwi logic – they have wifi but don’t leave it on; nonsensical. So, at this, he then turned it on and I sat in the 70s throwback lounge and got online for what felt like the first time in ages – I think that’s because it was!
Having mentioned that I was going to be going into the main town centre (where I had not been to yet) at some point, to catch my bus, the guy stuck his head around the lounge door and asked if I wanted a lift, which was great as it saved me a taxi fare. We hopped in the hostel’s ‘ute’ and headed off along the road I’d been running down, so I got to see what came after the point at which I’d stopped and turned around. He dropped me at the information centre, then I went and put my bag into a locker and went for a wander around town. The town itself seemed quite nice and there seemed to be quite a lot there. I killed time by going into some shops, then went to Starbucks and relaxed with a coffee on the sofa, before heading back to the information centre to wait for the bus,
When the bus pulled up, everyone hopped off to stretch their legs and I had a real surprise to see that the driver was none other than Daisy – the driver from my last Stray tour! We chatted about what had happened since we’d last seen one another, whilst everyone had their break, until it was time to get back on board.
The bus itself was surprisingly full and I sat next to a girl from Essex called Bobby! I chatted to her and another girl called Rebecca as we made our way to Marahau. Daisy stopped the bus in a town shortly before our destination and told us this was the last bit of civilisation for a couple of days, so we all went to the supermarket and collected some supplies. He also told us that the weather forecast for the Abel Tasman area was for 70mph winds and rain, which meant that all the regular activities would not be going ahead as the weather would be too bad. I was supposed to be going sailing, but clearly would now not be going; actually I was a bit relieved as I am beginning to dislike boats more and more. I decided a day of chilling out tomorrow sounded good enough to me! The last part of the drive to Marahau was relatively short, but by the time we arrived it was dark and raining profusely! I instantly noticed that there was not a bean of a phone signal – we were definitely in the middle of nowhere; well we were in a National Park in NZ, so I guess it shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise!
We checked in and were randomly allocated rooms, I was put with two other girls; Ro (Irish) and Nicola (Scottish). We dragged our gear over to our room and found it was a kind of wooden shed, like you might get in B&Q, with a corrugated metal roof, but it looked much nicer on the inside! We got our stuff sorted and had a chat, before heading back to the kind of open air kitchen and dining area (it had three walls and a corrugated metal roof) to help in the cooking of our ‘group meal’ – similar to that we had on our first night in Hahei
Most people were involved in preparing the meal and had different things to do - Daisy gave me the very important job of making the pasta salad (that’s a promotion from my job as table-layer and washer-upper from last time!). Next to me at the sink, Nic and Ro were cleaning mussels; they were massive (the mussels, not the girls!), apparently they were green mussels. Nic and I became rather freaked out that the mussels were still alive, she suddenly felt like she was grooming them before they were put to death! Daisy put all the mussel-related ingredients in the pot and then I got another promotion to mussel-watcher, stirring every now and then, whilst continuing with my pasta making.
When all the food was ready, we all grabbed some and enjoyed the feast from wherever we could find a spot to stand or sit, as we listened to the rain crashing down on the roof! I was pleased to have done enough food-prep to warrant not having to do washing up! We spent the rest of the night chatting and getting to know one another. One of the hot topics of debate was the possible theme for our fancy dress party in Barrytown but we did not reach a decision!
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