Southern Exposure

To those of you who haven't given up (yet...), just a brief recap on a few of the events of the last week or so:
After crossing over to the South Island (the ferry was very nice - and I'm sure the other passengers was really excited to see me do Yoga; it just adds that much to the excitement of the ride), we drove west to Nelson. In itself, the city is nothing to write home about, and of course in the rain it is even less so, but I stuck around and finally managed to get a couple of days of sun in which I went for a couple of tours in Abel Tasman National Park. The first day was just an hour's cruise and a couple of hours walk, the second was a couple of hours kayaking (lots of fun) and a good 4 hour walk. The weather was really beautiful and the beaches were gorgeous. What can I say.

From Nelson we headed towards the west coast. The views along the way are stunning. We also stopped off in a couple of places for a few short walks. You always get the feeling that you're walking in the middle of a rain forest, and then, all of a sudden you're on a beach, and it's slightly gloomy and stormy and gray. But in a good way.

I've also run into several Israeli's since I've come down to the South Island. Mostly I don't look for them, but I'm (apparently) so readily identified, that people just come up and start talking Hebrew. For the most part I don't mind, although some of them still bring all the things I hate about Israeli travelers with them, which is REALLY annoying.

After Greymouth (which was mostly grey and not that interesting) we got to the Franz Joseph glacier. The hike up the glacier was a lot of fun - harder than it looks, but the views (on a good day) are really great. And I've also decided that Ice Talonz (the things you put on your boots to grip the ice) are the new Must Have Accessory for 2007.

After leaving Franz Joseph I stopped for a couple of nights in Wanaka, where I'd met the largest group of Israelis so far. I went with a couple of girls and a guy to the Cinema Paradiso - it's basically a cinema that sports lounge chairs, sofas, pillows and other unconventional seats instead of the regular cinema seats. In addition, they bake home-made cookies fresh from the oven, and make ice-cream. we just skipped the movie and went straight for the cookies and ice-cream. As we sat there, gradually more and more Israelis joined, until the whole place was speaking Hebrew. Which is funny, in a sad sort of way.

After a couple of days in Wanaka, I moved on to Queenstown. I'm really excited, since there are so many bungy sites I won't jump from here. I'm especially looking forward to not jumping from the Nevis.
I did meet up with a group of Irish guys and girls, who had been traveling with me on the Magic bus, and we went out for a few drinks and a bit of dancing. Queenstown, apparently, does indeed rock until the small hours of the night.

And with this I will leave you, till the next installment. Adios.