Had a lovely morning and afternoon in Picton (though it's getting more difficult to remember where I am now, let alone what day it is!! The amount of times I've started typing the wrong place....). I had a nice walk through the town centre to the harbour (and bought some New Zealand greenstone souvenirs, though it is actually jade).
Also had an interesting phone call with my mum, groan, and now I'm stressing about what on earth I'm doing on the other side of the world, without a job to go back to, nor any idea of what job I want to do, rapidly spending my savings, and more and more companies are making people redundant. Harumph. I'll get over it eventually, but it didn't half put a dampner on my day!
I know that I would have regretted not coming here, and I think I would have gone completely bonkers if I stayed at the University!! So I should just instead feel extraordinarily priviledged that I am able to stick myself on a plane and come to the other side of the world, yes? Good :)

Last night, two of the girls in the dorm were snoring away, bless them. They had had a late afternoon nap when I arrived too, and were snoring away then! However, one also mumbles in her sleep! It wasn't very loud, or anything coherant, but it was a bit of a shock to hear as well as it being quite funny.

So, my walk took me to the top of a very large hill with lots of cicada's around me, chirruping away quite loudly. It was an amazing view - you could see all the ships, the InterIslander ferry, the harbour, and whatever large hills and dales there are around Picton. I'll have a look at a map at some point and find out what they are....though don't expect me to do it anytime soon! In fact, there was probably a map back at the hostel, so I should have looked there, doh! I'm sure my guidebook will tell me somewhere as well....I just need the inclination to look! Ok, they are the Marlborough Sounds as I just looked it up rather than saying I would and then never getting around to it :D
I think that I would have gone out to them if I was staying here longer, so that's something to do if I ever get back here. I think my list of things to do for another time are almost longer than the list of stuff I've already done!

It's all too easy to just sit back and relax around here, that I do have to remind myself that I need to get my bum in gear and go to another place otherwise I'll not be able to climb a glacier (or skydive over one, as I picked up a leaflet today. Wouldn't that be cool and also very different from my Taupo one?)
I also sat out by the harbour, even though it was flipping windy out there and a seagull was trying to stare me down for any of my lunch that I might leave behind. Damn seagulls, they're almost worse than pigeons!! Luckily, the seagull got the message that it wasn't getting any baked potato or salad, and flew off. Probably to harang someone else!

Not much exciting happened to me in Picton, though it is a beautiful little town so I'm glad I stopped here for the night. The hostel is in a really lovely little nook off the main town centre, so it really quiet and peaceful. Surrounded by gorgeous green tre lined hills too, it was so lovely.
I did want to have a sit on the beach, but after all my walking, I just decided to chill out at the hostel for a little bit before having to sit on a bus for a couple of hours.

Got dropped off where I needed to catch my bus, though I was there super early, so I booked myself some journeys and some accommodation for the next but one town I'm going to - Greymouth. The hostel is called Noah's Ark, and has animal themed rooms, which I thought would be hilarious. From their flyer, it does look really quite tacky, so you can expect me to be giggling quite a lot! I wonder which animal room I'll be in?

I was hoping the bus driver would be able to drop me off at Shortbread Cottage tonight, as when I spoke to the guy at Shortbread Cottage, he said if I get a nice bus driver then they might go past the place. I seem to have had pretty good bus drivers, so I crossed my fingers. However, the lady driver that I had today seems really quite fierce and when she asked me where I was staying, she said that she doesn't go past there, but it wasn't far from the bus station. Dang. However, she must have had a turn of heart as she did drop my off by Shortbread - yay! I had fallen asleep and just woken up about 10 minutes before she dropped me off, so I hope I didn't leave anything on the bus! I doubt it, as most of my belongings were together.
Also, there isn't meant to be any food on the bus but all the bus drivers I've had so far have turned a blind eye. They tell you no food, but say that as long as you don't have hot or smelly food, then it's ok. However, Mrs bus driver today has made me put my little food bag with my suitcase in the hold!! I hope the food I do have in there doesn't get completely mushed. My poor organic courgettes that I bought will be courgette mash I think!
Also had to put up with some school boys and a couple of girls on the bus to Nelson. Gees. Boarding school boys, and some of the older ones with their girlfriends. It's quite entertaining listening to teenage chatter (for about 5 minutes), though it also made me roll my eyes several times. I'm surprised they didn't roll right out of my head! :D

Shortbread Cottage is lovely. It's a cute little cottage on the corner of a street, and only has 3 or 4 rooms so not that many people. The manager / owner / whatever, wasn't there to greet me, but there was a note on the door saying welcome and letting me know which room I was in. I hadn't a clue where I was going, but one of my room mates was there and showed me. No outdoor shoes allowed inside either, which is nice as the cottage has hardwood flooring. Nice. Also got a shortbread biscuit on my pillow as a welcome - cute!
On the top bunk bed again, and it's a bit rickety, so I hope I don't topple over!
Booked a day trip to Abel Tasman National Park tomorrow morning, and it's picking me up from the cottage at 7:20am!! Urgh. I think I get up early more times on holiday than I do at home, what's that about? I guess it's more enjoyable because I am on holiday, but still. I also don't get a lie in on Tuesday morning as I've got to get the bus to Greymouth at 7:20am and that's the only bus!!
I think I will have to do more research into other bus networks when I've used up all the hours on my flexipass for InterCity!!

The girl who showed me the room is really sweet - German - and has been in New Zealand for several months. She wanted to go to Abel Tasman and stay there overnight, but had booked two nights at Shortbread so would have to go after.
The other two girls in the room are nowhere to be found, so they must have gone out for the evening. I haven't a clue what time they'll be back, but I'm so tired that I don't think I'll wake up if they make a lot of noise when they come in!