Day 4 – We Still Don’t Know Her Name

Hey there,

In the last post, I started to go into Day 4 so I will just be continuing on from there!

After our nice morning hike, we got onto the bus and didn’t know that this was going to be a loooooong ride to Westport. Along the way, we stopped at a place called Nelson Lakes. That place is absolutely stunning! What made it even better was the fog. Nelson Lakes probably looks pretty different without the fog but I honestly love it with the fog. It makes it look so mysterious and serene. I felt so calm there. Oftentimes, (to break the calm) people will jump off of the deck and into the lake. With it being foggy and somewhat misty, most people weren’t down for that, but there were a few divers! I busted out my selfie stick and took some pictures with Diana and what’s-her-face (we STILL didn’t know her name!).

Gosh, how cute are these? Little did we know that we would be a tight trio and it was only Day 4 (I promise we find out her name hehe). Here’s one more of Nelson Lakes because it is just absolutely breathtaking:

After visiting Nelson Lakes, we carried on and stopped at some side-of-the-road peaks, lookouts, etc. One of the lookouts we saw was Kilkenny Lookout. I don’t really remember the significance here, but I do remember our bus driver telling a lame joke about the name where “Kill Kenny” was involved. Our bus driver had such a weird sense of humor. We didn’t like him and wanted off his bus. We missed Mangee but had to switch when going to Kaiteriteri. Sucked it up until we had a chance to escape. Anyways, the lookout was pretty. After a long day on the bus, we finally made it to Westport! But because we traveled for several hours, we didn’t arrive until around 4 or 5 pm. Our bus driver told us of a deal at a restaurant (can’t recall the name) where you could get a steak, salad, fries, and a glass of wine for $15. Fif. Teen. Dollars. That’s pretty dang cheap considering a class of wine in NZ costs about $7. So for an entire meal priced at $15? It was hard to pass up. Plus, Diana and I were surviving on tuna and crackers day in and day out. It was time for some real food! With the sign up sheet going around, we discovered that our nameless friend was named ANGELA. We finally figured it out and she had no idea we were struggling for this long. Too embarrassed to ask, we had to go the long way and find out through a sign up sheet. Looool.

Tomato sauce as they say in New Zealand. Ketchup as I say. 🙂 Interesting bottle dispenser!

After settling into our hostel, we sat out on a patio with a gentleman named Peter and our named friend, Angela! Peter is such an interesting fellow. His travel plans are so crazy-good with tons of New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, and Hawaii ahead of him. Not counting that, he also spent time in Australia and probably a ton of other places. Oh, Peter. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos with him on our travels, but we did all have a glass of wine (or beer) together.

Finally, it was steak time and much to my surprise, I was going to play chef tonight! The stone slab was very heated and all we had to do was cut it up into chunks if we wanted it to cook faster. Woo, my first steak made by me! 😀 What a great way to end the night with some good food, great company, and in a beautiful country. Tomorrow that all changes because we go to the most horrible place on our entire trip…More to come soon!

Cheers,

Jess

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