Botanical Hill

Today I kinda took the day off. I slept in until about 830. Eventually got out of bed and went downstairs to have breakfast. Afterwards I set out to the department of conservation. I had some questions regarding staying the night in Abel Tasman, more specifically Bark Bay because my friend Amy from last night had told me about the bioluminescence at high tide. The conservation officer told me high tide would be at three am and also that there was no guarantee that the bioluminescence would be visible (but Google it, they're so cool). After this discussion I decided I would just do a day trip to Abel Tasman tomorrow instead.

I came back to the hostel hoping to go to sleep but Amy Selina and Robin we're awake and making crepes and asked me join them. Free crepes!? Umm yes please! We AL chipped in what we had. I chipped in peanut butter, bananas and chocolate and the Robin pitched in jam. I had one chocolate and one pb&j and they were both delicious. After my second breakfast I wandered back to the room and fell back asleep.

When I awoke it was 115. I slowly got ready for the day. Before I left the hostel I sat down and read a book created by travellers coming through the hostel. Inside were entries from travellers from all corners of the world and each traveller wrote his or her favourite place back in their home country. The concept was so neat and I quite enjoyed the readings. There were a few from Canadians and even the people from BC had recommended the east including newfoundland and PEI. I found this quite nice to hear and now the east is definitely on my list of things to see 😊

Around 3 I rented a bike from the hostel and set out. I don't know the last time I was on a bike but wow it is a skill that stays with you for the rest of your life. I took a quick stroll down the river before attempting to climb to th centre biological centre of New Zealand. I say attempted because after about 10 minutes of panting and sweating I decided I was not in shape to do so and turned back. I justified my laziness by remembering that the reviews didn't say it was all that great of view anyways haha.

By the time I got down I was quite hungry again so I set out down Harvey street which is the main strip for food. Eventually I found an extreme pita and stopped there for a quick bite. The guy working was from golden bay and was moving to Wellington right away with his gf so she could pursue law. I told him he had clearly found a keeper haha. I then sat in the front window (which was open) and people watched as I had my lunch. I took to biking a bit more before finding a nice little stream part in the river. I even had some ducks come strolling through. I sat there writing this entry and listening to the water calmly flow along the rocks.

When I got back to the hostel I just plugged my tunes in and curled into the hammock just outside the entrance. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day despite having rain in the forecast yesterday.

Also today the guy at the front desk used the phrase "happy days" when I rented the bike from the front. I imagine it means the equivalent of no problem and I'm hoping to introduce the phrase into my vocabulary 😊

I went to the grocery store with Alyssa the Ontatip girl from last night. Learned she studied health science and actually has a masters in it. Later at cake time I met Matthew who was an American and was here with his wife and 16 year old daughter. He was actually living in Myanmar which is apparently like one of the craziest real Estate markets on the world right now. Like $3000 USD per month barely gets you a shitty little shack on the outskirts of town. Pretty crazy. Later I figured out I'm going to franz joseph on Thursday which is a quaint little town situated right beside a glacier so I'm excited for that. I'll try figure out my plans with queenstown and wanaka tomorrow. Now is time for sleep because I have an early morning and busy day tomorrow!

-Terrence outLäs mer