Overnight bus rides, Ferries and our new friend Sunny

I don't remember what day it was when we left Aukland... Saturday perhaps? We waited around at the Kings Kids base in Auckland why everyone left for their flights. The first to leave were Matt and Brent, my Canadian buddies. We had to wake up at 5 am to say good bye to them. They were lucky that I managed to get myself out of bed... I almost talked myself out of getting up. So we said goodbye, Brent in his suit and Matt in his sweatpants. Somehow it was perfect.

Then the next day we just sat and waited while more people left... Tiff, Sarah and Leish later in the morning. Then Dan and Kyle. Then Van, Jacob and Anne. And finally at 6 ish, Elisa, Marit, Schnegg, Henk, Noemi and I had our turn. But instead of the airport we got dropped off at the bus station. Elisa, Marit, Schnegg and my bus was earlier than Henk and Noemi's and was also at a different station. We got dropped off first. As we drove up to the station, a bus pulled in in front of the building and it said 'Wellington' on it. And Noemi said "YES! Wellington! That's your bus! YES!" And she was so unbelievably excited. But no one else was excited to see the bus we were supposed to take at the bus station where it was supposed to be. Oh Nomes...

So we said goodbye to Nomes and Henk (and Johanna who dropped us off), and we were off. We officially started our travels. And we went to the bus and Schnegg carried our massive shared bag. And I got a coffee before the bus left at 7:50 PM. It was a double decker bus. I have never seen one of those, let alone been on one. It was intense. We sat on the top floor. So cool. And we drove off into the sunset. Literally. Awe. And proceeded to have a very restless night on the bus with stops every now and again for pee breaks. And finally we got off the bus in Wellington at 6:45 AM.

I wonder if that is actually what happens in the movies when the people walk off into the sunset. They would have to sleep sometime... why would you start a journey at sunset? Weird.

Anyways, then we went to McDonalds. Guess who met us there!!! Kiwi Hannah, Hannah D and Rebekah. Long time no see... like maybe two sleeps apart. One for us. And we had a coffee. And then guess who showed up... Henk and Noemi! Long time no see again! Like 12 hours maybe! Hahaha!

Eventually, though, we had to part ways again. And it was for real this time saying goodbye to Hannah D. It was sad, but I know that I will see all of the others again... so that made it not so bad! And Elisa, Schnegg, Marit and I got on the ferry to Picton. It was pretty awesome! The ride was about 3 hours long, and the view was pretty crazy beautiful! But we didn't see any dophins :(

Chillin on the Ferry. But no WiFi :(

When we got on the ferry and found our seats, I sat down and decided that I would relax and read my kobo (Canadian Kindle). I opened my backpack to get it out, and it wasn't there. Crap. The last place I had it was on the bus. I had put it in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me. Crap. I checked my bag again. And again. And again. And I checked my purse. But it wasn't there. I started to panic. My stomach did that weird dropping thing that you get on a roller coaster, or when you realize that you are doomed. I frantically ran around looking for a pay phone to call the bus company, but - just my luck... they weren't working. Awesome. So I went back to sit down and cry. And on the way I prayed to Jesus that I would find my kobo. And when I got back to my seat it was sitting in plain sight on my bag. Praise Jesus.

When we got off of the ferry, we waited in line for ages at the car rental place and eventually got our car. I think the guy thinks that I am an idiot blonde and that I will crash the car. Which could be right. But he doesn't know my secret... I have Jesus. So Ha!

Our car's name is Sunny. He is a Nissan. I don't know what kind of Nissan. I don't know what year. But he is gold and looks like a grandpa would drive him. Perfect. He will match my grandpa sweaters and granny skirts. He is a four door car with a trunk that is barely big enough to fit all of our stuff. It won't be fun when Rebekah comes. I hope she brings nothing. Because that is all that will fit in the car.

The first day we lounged in the sun in Picton, found a camp site, ate some subway and drank a beer on a 100 year old ship. What a life. We even got to shower. Awe yeah.

The next day, we got up and drove to Nelson. The drive was intense. The road was through the mountains and really really curvy. I almost felt car sick and I was driving. In Nelson, we found an information site and got a bunch of brochures. We asked where to cheapest campsite was and where the McDonalds was. The campsite was 6 dollars per person. Awesome! But we spent most of our day in McDonalds using the free wifi to plan out our trip, and in Warehouse and New World shopping for food and supplies. So we really didn't see much of Nelson, but I can say that the lady working at McDonalds was super nice.

In the morning we got up early for a long drive to Hokitika. We left at about 9:30 ish and finally arrived at Hokitika at around 8 PM haha! But man, the day was AWESOME! The drive from Nelson south along the West coast is AMAZING! We drove through the mountains for a while on more curvy roads until we finally reached the coast and then we drove along the curves of the mountains with the rainforest covered mountains to our left and the crashing ocean to our right. Every time we came around a bend we saw a more breathtaking landscape. The waves were huge crashing against rocky shores. And the shorelines were dotted with rock islands that have been carved out by the waves for the entirety of their existence. It was so beautiful. There were even signs marking out penguin crossings. I think every one of us was completely blown away by the beauty of God's creation! I think this is the perfect place to experience God's beauty.

We stopped in Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks and blow holes. It was beautiful. And the best part was that it was free!!! Just kidding. It was a short walk along the cliffs of the rocky coast. The rocks had horizontal lines covering their surfaces that made the cliffs look like stacks of pancakes, and there were blow holes in the rocks where the waves crashed. It was so cool.

We drove to Greymouth after that. Visited McDonalds for our daily fix on free WiFi, got some food and carried on our way to Hokitika. It was getting kind of late when we were in Greymouth, and we weren't sure if we should stay there or if we should go on to Hokitika. So we prayed to God, and Marit heard that it would be expensive if we stayed in Greymouth and that we would find cheap camping in Hokitika. So we carried on, and along the highway, just outside of Hokitika we saw a sign for camping, so we went to check it out. And we came to the awesome place that we are now. It is 10 dollars per person and you don't have to pay for showers and there is unlimited internet included. There is a little relaxation room with couches and a TV and a kitchen. And laundry. What more could we ask for? Praise Jesus.

So we stayed the night here. We put an extra cover on our tent because we heard that it might rain, and there are a few holes in the top of our tent. But Schnegg wanted to sleep outside for some reason. Men. But lucky for him it didn't rain until the early morning. The rest of us slept in. We decided to stay here one more night. So we explored a bit around Hokitika. We searched out things that are free.

By the way, there is SO MUCH stuff to do here... if you are rich. Holy. I am going to have to save up and come back to NZ someday. So much cool stuff everywhere. Including sky diving and bungee jumping. Teehee. We have booked ourselves to go sky diving on the Franz Joseph glacier on Friday... only two more sleeps! It should be amazing! We will be able to see the ocean, the rainforest, the mountains and the glacier as we fall. I am super excited! We also booked ourselves in for bungee jumping in Queenstown in a few days. So jacked! So needless to say, we don't have much more of a budget to do other things...

So we asked around about things we should do today. We ended up going out to Hokitika Gorge just out of town. It is BEAUTIFUL! It was about a 15 minute walk down to a rock gorge filled with turquoise water. And BONUS: there was a swing bridge. And we didn't have to pay. Awe yeah.

Then we went to check out a lake. Lake Kaniere. We drove towards it and found a sign that said "Lake Kaniere walk", we tried to drive further to find beach access, but we failed and decided to try the walk. The path entrance wasn't very far from the lake... One hour later (or more, I don't actually know), we had climbed quite far up the side of a mountain and were about to turn back when we found a lookout point. It was so beautiful. It literally took my breath away. We sat there for who knows how long. In silence. It was amazing. So serene. The lake was basically untouched. There were no cabins on it's edges and no beaches that we could see. No boats or anything around. That is how God created the world to be. Amazing. I think we all could feel God's presence there. And after a long time in silence, we reluctantly left, but only because we were getting really cold.

It's amazing. God has been blessing us so much on our trip already! I think it's because Elisa is on to it and has us doing worship and prayer every morning, and sometimes in the evening! It's pretty awesome!

And tonight we are planning on going to see some glow worms! Ooooooh. More free nature. Love it!

And I am so glad to be back with my European friends. Before we left, Miranda named our group "Steph and the Europeans" Hahah! And it's always entertaining. This morning as we ate our oatmeal for breakfast, I got quite the laugh. I was talking about the oatmeal, and Marit asked "What is this 'oatmeal'?" Elisa and I were confused because we have been eating oatmeal for every breakfast for the past 6 months. Oh Marit. I love her. Haha!