After yet another early pick up in Nelson, we were on our way down the Wild West coast of NZ. We stopped at one of the most famous gold mining towns and a few people panned for gold. Becky and I? Well, we found a few plywood face cut-out paintings and took funny pictures. I look great in stockings. A few miles down the road and we were offered opossum pie (the real thing). Opossums were brought over from Austrailia and are eating the eggs of many native birds, including the endangered kiwi. So, people are killing them right and left and trying to make money on furs, pies, and God know what else. We did not indulge. The cafe that sold them was in a town called Puke (poo-kie). Too funny. We arrived in the town of Franz Josef. One of the top ten places to see in New Zealand, and the town was seriously 4 blocks (two by two).

After checking into our hostel, Chateau Franz, we decied to brave a hike in the hills known as the Tatare tunnels. We were told to bring Wellies and Torches (rubber boots and flashlights). Becky grabbed a pair of boots and flashlights, but the boots were too small for me. I was told I could go in flip flops, so I thought, why the hell not? When we arrived at the entrance to the tunnel, luckily we weren't the only one's doing the hike. We were the only ones, however, with flash lights. Bec went first in the tunnel and into the pitch black. We ventured into the cave, six inches of icy water on my toes, I was inspired by Bec's willingness to continue on after 20 mintues of walking in blackness. Turning off the lights, we could see the blue luminescence of the glow worms on the ceiling of the cave. After 30 minutes we saw the light and exited on the far side of the cave. <sigh> Bad news? Matt's toes are freezing, and there's no exit that way. We have to go all the way back. The German mother and son that were following us, were not pleased.

When we emerged from the cave back at the entrance, we were greeted with the brightest skies and warmest temperatures we'd seen on our trip in NZ. My toes were happy. We headed back to our room to meet our new roommates, Duncan and Kate. A couple from the UK that had been living on the North Island for 9 months. In need of some serious junk food, we had pizza and fried fish coverd in salt. Later, we headed to the Blue Ice cafe for a small pool tournament I organized at the last minute with people from our bus. Our friend Marty, from N. Ireland, proved to be a complete shark. Always look out for the only guy not drinking beer.