Westport and the Poo bar

Lake Nelson
Lake Nelson
Lake Nelson Me all dressed up
The boat
On the boat headed to the river One of the many water falls that fed into the river Sit down fool...
On the river
ride back to the van
West coast
West coast
West coast

Road carved into the side of the mountain
West coast

West coast
West coast Cove
Blow hole
Punakaiki
west coast
Pancake rocks
Pancake rocks
Pancake rocks

My boobs
Me avec tarty dress

lame

Well today was an interesting day indeed....

We started off en-route to Westport. The drive was really scenic and the road we took took us through the mountains and around some of the Nelson Lakes. We stopped off to buy provisions for a picnic lunch. We stopped for the picnic by Lake Nelson. It was a beautifully sunny day and it was really good just sitting there absorbing the scenery!!! We then made our way straight through to Westport. Westport is a small town with a main street that has a few pubs, stores etc on it. I booked myself to have a go on the river boat the next day!!

The river boat is a speed boat that takes you cruising up the buller river. During floods the river's volume is second only (in the southern hemisphere) to the Amazon. As we are in Autumn here, the river wasn't too high which made for a really interesting boat trip. We got into our wetsuits and jumped on board. The boat was then towed by a tractor through a farm to the river. We must have looked a sight!!! The boast had heated handles that kept you warm, as even though it was sunny and warm the speed of the boat made it quite chilly. The boat isn't a conventional boat, but has two engines attached to pumps that suck water in and jet it back out again, thus pushing the boat along. This technique means that the boat can travel down parts of the river that are only 10 cms deep!!!!!

The boat was cruising at nearly 60 mph, and at some points it was difficult to breathe easily!!! The driver ripped up the river and was giving it some by basically driving into the sides of the valley and then turning away at the last minute. He also would apply the breaks. The breaks were basically two "buckets" that were lowered over the jets - this stopped the boat in its tracks!! When the breaks were applied the whole boat was showered in water!!!! The driver then started to spin the boat. He would apply the breaks and spin the boat 360 degrees in less than 2 seconds. It was pretty amazing. I didn't feel sick once!!! (major achievement). We finally got back to the spot we started from and had to climb out of the boat and over a huge mountain like pile of unstable rocks to get into the van that was waiting for us. Was is it with these activities - either getting from or to the activity is always worse than the activity itself!!! A girl smashed up her leg on the rocks....

We then headed towards Lake Manipuhua (i think that's how its spelt???). The drive took us through a simply breathtaking road that is rated among the top 10 drives in the world!!! We are driving along the coast part way up the mountains with beaches and crashing waves on one side and beautiful rain forest covered mountains on the other! Brilliant. The road was so narrow and windy that we were driving on the wrong side of the road for long parts of the drive!!! We stopped for a number of pictures and the weather outside was perfect. We were lucky really as the west coast is also known as the wet coast (as two in every three days it rains here apparently!!!)

We then stopped for lunch at a spot called pancake rocks (for obvious reasons). This was a lovely little spot and the waves and caves were amazing. There were also blow holes - which i tried to capture on film.

After a brilliant lunch we headed onto the Lake. We were staying at an 84 year old's lodgings that only the KIWI bus is allowed to stay at. Les (the 84 year old) is still very much the owner and manager. We heard stories from our bus driver about Les taking no crap so we just had to smile and laugh. It was difficult to understand him and he looked like a small elf. He cooked our stake dinner (for all 94 of us!!). He was also up and about at the bar at 2 in the morning - amazing. Not sure I'll be that active when I'm his age. Anyways getting back to earlier.... our next stop was in a small town so that we could buy some fancy dress for the party Les hosts every night. (KIWI buses run every day of the year!!!).

The theme was a choice of "bad taste" or "P". After much debate i was going to be a prostitute!!! Not sure why i chose this but all the other P's i could think of sounded pretty lame and there were prizes at stake here people (really good ones, e.g. bungee jumps, canyons swings, sky dive packages etc). We had just over an hour to buy our costume and we stopped off at the salvo second hand shop. I browsed the racks and found myself a black lacy bra, bright pink tight top, long black shirt (that i cut down to a suitable hooker length), and a matching handbag. The whole lot only cost 6 dollars - or 2 quid to us Brits!!!. I then practically ran (in a Challenge Anika fashion) to the kids store where I found a lovely Blonde Afro wig. That in the bag i headed to the ladies shop and bought some thigh length black tights! My last stop was at the 2 dollar shop to buy some make-up to finish off the outfit. Costume sorted i made my way to the stinking hot bus.

We arrived at Les' place and I settled my nerves with some beer. I had two jugs in the space of an hour and was already drunk before 6pm. We then had a steak dinner courtesy of Les and and headed off to get ready. At this point I was having second thoughts, but decided what the hell. I got dressed but needed to go to the loo, so I ran to the loo in my boxers and wig/make-up. Needless to say I encountered a number of people on route who had a good old laugh (more of this to come....)

I finally finished putting on my outfit and made my way into the bar. Pretty much everyone was looking and laughing and people were asking to take photo's right, left and centre!!! I had filled my bra with water balloons and got quite a few questions about them. Some people had a bit too long a feel for my liking!!! I continued to drink the night away. The only hick-up was that i dropped my camera and it now will not work!!! Absolutely gutted. Without sounding like a big head I was definitely one of the best dressed there. In their faces, fools.

I had a really good time and was in bed at 3.30 ready to get up at 6!!!! They didn't announce any winners that night nor the day after and I think the whole "prizes" thing was a big con. I'm gonna have to write a strongly worded letter of complaint.

Needless to say I had the hangover from hell the next day. Horrific hangover....