Day 25: 25/1/13
The hostel we were in last night had cereal left for us for breakfast so that was very exciting! It's the only place we've been given any!
We headed to Christchurch today. We were on a tight schedule as there were some people getting flights today from Christchurch airport. The 6 Taiwanese people had been put up in a different hostel and the driver was told they would be brought back by 9am so we could leave. But there was no sign of them, so we had to drive around and look for them! The driver hadnt been told where they were staying so we had to do a good few turnabouts! In the middle of it all we got caught behind a load of cows! Then we finally saw the Taiwanese standing on the side of the road looking lost! They are actually about 70 which is amazing!
We stopped off in a little town for a toilet break. The town was famous for salmon fishing so of course there was a big statue of a salmon. They love their statues over here! I don't know the names of most of the places we stop as the drivers either don't bother saying them or just say them really quickly!
We went on to Christchurch then. Lots of people were getting off there. They can't drive into the city as it is still all in bits after the earthquake two years ago. It seems the centre is still blocked off and there are pot holes in the road. It's mad that its not rebuilt yet.
We were supposed to pick up a load of people at the airport but only a few turned up, so we've less than 20 people now on a big bus! We got another Irish girl called Roisin- the pronunciation was a problem for the driver! She and most of the people that got on were only staying tonight and then heading back around the South Island while we are going back up north.
We got to Kaikoura around 2. It's a seaside town and there's a lot of wildlife around- seals, dolphins, whales, penguins, albatross, etc. There were different activities available but we picked to do a fishing trip as we had a possibility of seeing all these creatures and eating the fish we caught. Hazel didnt want to do it but we convinced her to do it as it was Jennys last night. She agreed but later on she was saying 'I dont know why I'm going, I don't even like fish!' She has an accent like Peter Kay and Paddy McGuinness sp it just sounded hilarious!
The water was choppy though and they couldn't take us out fishing properly. They brought us out in a small boat to catch some crayfish. We had to wait until the second trip as there were wasn't enough room for all of us! The first trip saw dolphins so we were hoping for some. It was a lot rougher for our trip and we had to hold on tight or we literally would have been flung out of the boat. I was flung around at one stage and whacked my knee off the side! We got soaked wet too with waves splashing in over the side! We saw one penguin swimming in the water, that's all. We got to a buoy in the water and the guy pulled it up and there was a cage to catch crayfish underneath but this one had only caught one crayfish! We went back in then as it was way too choppy for the boat! I don't know how we survived- it seemed worse than any whitewater rafting!!
They used a tractor to pull the boat out of the water and then decided to drive us back in the boat, on the road. We were like people on a float in a parade or something!!
They brought us to the owners house where they gave us tea and coffee and then opened bottles of wine. They boiled all the crayfish in a big pot and then showed us how to cut them open. There was a female one which was way bigger and she had eggs inside. They all had a yellowy mustard looking liquid inside which tasted fishy but not bad. They didn't really say what it was though, which was quite worrying! It wasn't poo because they showed us where that was! There was a lot of 'meat' inside. The texture wasn't great though. It was quite chewy. I had a bit of it, but not too much!
We all sat in the garden then for a few hours and they kept filling up the wine! It was a good way to get to know the new people though. All the girls were younger than me again, but mostly over 25. I think a lot of them seem way older than I am though whatever that says about me!
Our driver is actually Welsh, not English and he is called Spoon. They all have nicknames. He got his as he spooned someone on his training trip. Some people wanted to know if he could play the spoons. I was beside him and the girls said I was musical so I said I could play the spoons. So this German girl appeared with 4 spoons so shd could say how to play them. We had a bit of a spoon-off! He won as he introduced his feet! The girls made me play a bit more though which was just ridiculous as there was no music or anything! They enjoyed it though and I kept it short and sweet!
We went back into town then and went to an Irish pub for dinner and a few drinks. There was nothing too Irish about the pub, except that they sold Guinness! We were there for a while as the barmaid missed one of the meals we ordered and we had to reorder it! One of the girls was drinking a half pint of Guinness and the barwoman couldn't pull it right at all. She let it settle but never put in a second bit!
We went back to the pub attached to the hostel then and some of the bus people were there. We all had a few drinks and a bit of a chat and some dancing! It was good craic! Some of the girls were going dolphin swimming at 5am do they went to bed around 12. We stayed up a bit later but decided to go to bed when these weird local guys went talking to us! We woke up poor Hazel then who was trying to sleep before her dolphin swim! I'd say she wanted to kill us!!