Here, there and everywhere

The Heaphy Track was a success! Four days of peace and solitude in the backcountry of South Island. I'm not gonna lie though, I should have had better hiking boots. To say I had blisters would be an understatement. Here's a nice grodey story for you. I had to pop my blisters, or hiking the next day would have been miserable. So I sanitized my pocket knife and got ready to operate. As soon as I stepped out of my tent I was swarmed by sand flies. Not exaggerating, swarmed. So I had to act fast. I quickly and carefully pulled off my shoe and sock, so basically my only exposed flesh was my swollen blistery foot. The flies were quick to act and covered my foot instantly. A quick slice in the back of my heal and between my big toe and second toe and let the puss flow! This of course brought more flies. So as soon as it was drained I quickly bandaged up the funk foot and slid it back into my sweaty old sock. It felt better already and I swan dived back into my tent. All was good until the itching started. New Zealand sandfly bites are similar to mosquito bites but come on more suddenly and intensely. Its about 5 days later and footsie is all better now!

This is from a music video I shot with Sting

Despite the foot drama the experience was very therapeutic and cleansing. It was refreshing to be completely unplugged for about 6 days in total. I've decided that this needs to be a regular routine. At least for one weekend per month.

The beach I had all to myself for an entire day!

So after getting off the trail I began my journey down the west coast of South Island. I spent the first night in Westport at a nice hostel called the Trip Inn. We hung out and watched Lord of the Rings, it was cool to actually see some places that looked familiar. The next morning I boarded the bus once again for a 6 hour ride down to Fox Glacier. There are two big glacier towns on the west coast, Franz Josef and Fox Glacier. I chose Fox, the less touristy of the two, although it was still quite touristy. The "town" is basically a strip about 200 meters long of glacier guides, helicopter tours, and skydiving companies. I have been on a pretty tight budget lately, so as much as I would have loved to go ice climbing on the glacier, I chose to do a self guided hike up to a view point of the glacier instead. I know, I know, woe is me! So after a quick night in Fox Glacier, and a stay at not my favorite hostel, it was back to the bus. Next stop Queenstown.

Queenstown is the birthplace of bungy jumping, or so they claim. It is a posh little town that caters to the extreme sports enthusiast and the young partiers who choose to both "grip it" and "rip it". I really didn't get much of a chance to explore this extreme village, because my bus got in around 8pm. But to my surprise, the town was still awake at such a late hour. Most everywhere else I have been in NZ seems to close down around 5pm and Queenstown was still alive and bumpin' at the wee hours of 8pm! No partying for me though, it was back to another hostel to chill out after a long bus ride. I shared a room with some cool British kids who have been traveling all over the place for the past 7 months. I picked up some good travel tips, and have an ever growing interest in going to England. Not one of the primary places on my list, but I have met several people now that go on and on about it.

Pancake Rocks 

My next destination was Lumsden, a small rural town in the middle of Southland, about an hours drive to several cool areas in the South. There's a little cafe there called the Route 6 Cafe where I arranged to do a help-x stay. So the only way to get to Lumsden from Queenstown via public transportation is a $20 bus ticket that goes through Dunedin and has a layover, all in all taking about 10 hours. This makes absolutely no sense because Lumsden is only one hour due South of Queenstown. So I did like so many other backpackers do in NZ and stood by the side of the road with my thumb out. Within about 45 mins a camper van with two very lovely ladies from Belgium and Israel pulled over and picked me up! Not only were they nice enough to give me a ride but they also offered me some breakfast. Their only request: pay it forward. Indeed I shall.

So I arrived at the cafe and was greeted with a hot cup of coffee and slice of delicious foccacia. My host here owns the cafe and runs a canvas photo print shop, as well as being the "mayor" and member of the fire brigade! Its a very small town and the people seem to be very warm hearted and down to earth. I really can't complain about being payed in espresso and pastries, looks like it will be a great couple of weeks. My plan is to chill out here for a few weeks to slow things down a bit and save some money and its looking like the perfect place to do that. I'll have some free time too, and plan on hitching some more rides to take some weekend adventures. Life is good.