WARNING: This blog will be much less exciting than the last one ...

HELLO from the South Island of New Zealand!! :D After three glorious days at Pip's farm, it was sadly time to say goodbye. If I had more time in NZ, I would have stayed there for much longer. Everything was so wonderful. The people were sooo nice, the scenery was beautiful, the food was amazing and super healthy, the dogs were adorable, the horses were friendly ... I could go on and on about how great it was. Anyone who goes to New Zealand to WWOOF, you MUST stay with Pip. :) I worked hard but I also had a lot of time to relax and enjoy the farm and the surrounding area. I went to an awesome beach on my last full day there -- Waikawa Beach. Pip suggested I take one of their bikes and ride "30 minutes to the beach." It sounded like a good idea because I momentarily forgot how much I dislike biking, and 30 minutes was a pretty quick trip anyway. Except that it ended up taking me over 90 minutes. This was partly because I'm a slow biker, partly because I stopped several times to pet the horses on the side of the road, and partly because (I later found out) the person who told Pip it was a 30 minute ride was a guy who had spent the past several months biking all around New Zealand. :/ Oh well. It was a beautiful (though painful) ride, and when I got to the gorgeous beach (accessed by a short walk through a forest and then a hike up some massive sand dunes like another place I know), it was totally worth it. On the way back, I hitchhiked! The first car that drove past me stopped and they were able to fit both me and the bike in their van. :D In the morning, Pip drove me into the nearby town of Otaki, where I debated taking a bus (to Wellington, where I was going to get on the ferry to the South Island), but it was going to be $23 so I held off. The bus didn't leave for almost two hours and I'd been having such good luck hitchhiking, I decided to at least try to hitch first. I walked down to the end of the road where cars were heading out of town towards Wellington and stuck my thumb out. About ten cars passed me without stopping, which really isn't much, but I saw a cafe across the road and thought I should stop in there to get a piece of cardboard to write "WELLINGTON" on. I went to the cafe and scored a piece of cardboard -- and a giant chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk. :) I sat there for about 20 minutes, eating and drinking and making my sign. When I finally walked back out to the road, I held up my sign, and after about a minute, a woman walked up behind me and said "Hey! We're going to Wellington. Do you want a ride?" She (Bev) and her husband (Manu) had a sweet motor home that they've been living in for the last six years, driving all over New Zealand. She told me they had actually seen me when I first walked out to the road but before they had a chance to walk over and ask me where I was headed, I disappeared (into the cafe. oops). I'm so glad they waited! Who knows how long I would have been out on the road if I would have missed out on Bev and Manu. It was really fun driving down with them, and they dropped me right at the ferry terminal! :D 

I took the ferry from Wellington to Picton and stayed one night there, in a hostel called Atlantis that advertised a heated swimming pool and free breakfast. Sweet!! But the pool wasn't heated and the free breakfast was only tea, toast and oatmeal. But hey, it was still free food, and I swam in the pool for almost two hours last night. Since the water wasn't warm, it was mostly empty; in fact the only people who came to the pool that whole time were three Swedes -- who I happened to run into today at the hostel I'm at now in Nelson! Oh, and last night at the Atlantis I slept in a dorm room with 28 beds! I was only able to get a top bunk and there was nowhere to put my stuff so I slept with both of my backpacks and my purse on the bed with me. Ugh. Bad times. But it was a lot warmer than a barn, none of my 27 roommates stole anything from me, and I didn't fall off the bunk (no guard rail), so I consider the night a success. This morning after breakfast, I checked out of the hostel and walked around Picton for a couple hours with all my bags. It wasn't that bad. Surprisingly, my bags are seeming lighter and lighter the more I get used to carrying them. I look back on that first day walking around Melbourne with my packs and I can't believe how painful it was -- I was dying under the weight of all my belongings. Then again I think I had about 10 more books with me then (which I promptly gave away to a used bookstore). But still. I walked around Picton looking for something to do for the day, such as walking the Queen Charlotte Track (ended up being $100 and a multi-day trek so I passed) or kayaking (was $90 for half a day -- 4 hours -- and apparently the law here is that kayakers have to be in pairs, for safety reasons. Hmmm ... I guess I won't be doing much kayaking while I'm here. Bummer!) and finally decided walking around Picton was enough for me and it was time to move on to Nelson. It took me about two minutes of hitchhiking to find an awesome ride -- a sweet 19 year old couple (Ric and Natalia) on their way back to Nelson after buying a car in Picton. Ric was so polite. He asked my permission before smoking a cigarette in his own car, and when I offered him gas money he declined, saying "It doesn't cost me anything to have you here." How nice! I had a lot of fun talking with both of them during the drive and we stopped for lunch about halfway there (along with their two friends who were driving back the other car that they had driven to Picton). When I got to Nelson, I walked from hostel to hostel, looking for a good place to spend the night. Most of the places were full and I thought I wasn't going to have a place to stay (I had already sent out a request on couchsurfing and hadn't heard back) but I finally found a bed available at a place called The Customhouse. There's free internet, free tea, and even free laundry! They also have bikes that you can use for free, but I have to keep reminding myself that I hate biking. After I checked in here (for one night, which I quickly extended to two nights after I saw how nice the place was and found out everything was free), I walked about 25 minutes to the beach, went for a swim, and read my book. A lovely afternoon. Side note: I picked up a silly Sue Grafton book at the hostel in Picton. It's called "'F' is for Fugitive" and it takes place in AVILA!!! (In the book it's called "Floral Beach" haha)

Tomorrow I think I'm going for a long hike in the Abel Tasman National Park. I might go with my Swedish friends from Picton if they decide to hike, too. The next day I'll probably leave my things here at the hostel and go back to the beach, then head to Kaikoura for one night, or maybe just go straight to Christchurch. Sorry if this blog is lame. I'm writing under pressure because there are three people waiting to use the (free) internet. In fact, I should probably sign off now. 

p.s. I hate to mention this guy again but I want to let you all know that I just sent an e-mail to WWOOF about Mr. Rivers. I happened to look for the contact info today and saw that WWOOF New Zealand is actually based in Nelson! I didn't write much in the e-mail, just that his ad was false and there are no horses and no farm, but I gave them my phone number here and asked them to call me tomorrow so I can tell the whole story to someone over the phone, or in person if it's possible. I'll keep ya posted :)