all hail!
godsblood! i’m paying for the gamecube blast it all. you just have to purchase it for me.
well i’m still in westport. and am staying for one more night and heading of to greymouth tomarrow noon. the classy eco-lodge was booked up godrot it! the plan was to go there and do a bit of rock climbing nearby. now i shall go to the beach and fester around the town a bit. last night i met a realy cool canadian girl(there are so many canadians here!) called michelle at the hostel. niether of us had seen a tv for weeks. so we went to the supermarket got some beers-spieghts- and some icecream and watched two movies in quick succesion. some crappy sean connary film and good will hunting. gwh is quite good. just realised it is the 20th. most extrordinary. thanks for the happy birthday texts.

i’m travleing on my own ‘cos wenever i meet cool people they are always doing something different to me. this girl michelle is going in the opposite direction! i have the e-mails of people who are travleing down the west coust ahead or behind me so hopefully we will meet up.

you should probably clean the bagpuses leg before it goes gangrene!

when i go to franz josef depends on how long i spend in grey mouth. i’m thinking of doing a day trip though it won’t be cheap.

i don’ think i will be doing much birthday revelry here. this town is not somuch dead as rotten with maggots feasting on it. and i know the grand total of one person who is leaving for the heafy trek in half an hour.

its possible i might work at something other than fruit picking but unlikely i’m not so keen on working at all.. interestingly enough sarge turned out to be a traitor on the last day. i had to kill him.

see you soon!

julio

would someone explain to me what in the name of borc am i doing in westport, a scummy little town if ever i saw one. and to top it all i’m a festhole of a backpack hostel, how it got 80% bbh rating i will never know. well the bus ride was ok. nice views and stuff and the driver stopped regulaly so that we could stretch our legs and take pictures. played on the gameboy for the first time since i arrived. metroid is insanly hard. what is the point of a boss which kills you in three seconds eh eh? as i was packing my stuff yesterday i realised i hadnt seen my blue fleece around recently. after a frantic search i came to the conclusion that i must have left it at the last hut at abel tazman. hells biscu! i’m sure i had something in the pockets, but i cAN’T RECAL (woops) what it was. i liked that fleece. oh well. i had better start looking for a fleece or jacket. speaking of jackets, i went into a second hand store a momant ago to look for books(i have finnished three so far) bought shardik for about ten pence. in the corner was a couple of fine leather jackets, actually not so much fine as mangled. but they looked alright. looking at the price i was amazed to find that it was ten dollors! thats like three fiddy in pounds! i could purchase it, wair it around NZ, then chuck it away before going to tailand. an interesting thesis! i think i might see if i can get a room in this cool looking eco-lodge slightly out of town for tomorrow. 96% bbh! and it has activities and stuff wich i could do.
whak!! i just saw on eurogamer that the game cube is being sold at argos for 79 pounds!! can you get me one? i shall pay you back when i get home. don’t bother getting any games, unless liv wants to play on it, in which case he can by his own! if you see a better deal go for that. i cant really be bothered to do any activity today. i’ll probably not bother to do stuff in every town i stop at.

haha suckers!
thanks for the letter mama! i just got it from the post office. much apreciated. there are ofcourse better places to eat than mcdonii but they are quite expencive. i think it possibly that it was tahuna beach. there is a massive beach party going on there tonight. and a few of us are going.
i have na had the honey nor the drink! i think i might buy something nice for tonight, what dinna ken.

so i headed into town today to get my buspass thingy. i didn’t have any leaflets so i queued for like 10 minutes got some leaflets and went away to decide. called dod up, dicided on the “magic” buses route. went back to queue, this time for 15 minutes. arrived at the minions place ,started booking. i asked if i could pay with my card. in most shops here they have this device which reads your card, then you input you pin and it sucks the cash out. no signature require. but it seems you need a newzealand account. gack! the pamflet said the pass cost $359, so i leapt to a cahs point a ten minute walk, withdrew a massive fistfull of dollors, the cursed machine refused to give me anything higher than twenties. i could feel people looking at me as i forced the wad of notes into my wallet. i charged back and leapt back into the all too familier queue, frothing slightly at the mouth in annoyance. after a plesent 20 minutes we started to book again. i withdrew my stack of notes and splayed them on the counter with a flourish. “it acctouly costs $395” the man said. “wirbles?” i gibbered pointing at the leaflet. “err… thats wrong” the man said grinning slightly in amusement as he realised that i would have to go back to the cash point. godrotting pest merchants! i fumed as i strode back to the cash point, on the verge of buying the other bus pass (run by a diferent company) though it was more expencive. i decided to stick with magic. i eventualy got the pass, the man took pity on me and let me skip the queue, which was lucky as otherwise i would have been forced to kill someone.

hmm having trouble remembering the last day and a half of abel tazman. i’ll put down as much as i can.

right we got up ate some stuff at set off. this time it was me, eva, ally, franz. the plan was for me to go to the next hut. ally would get a water taxi back to the start from tonga, the first beach we would get to. and eva and franz would head on to the pick up point i would be getting tomorrow. we had a jolly walk nattering as we went. at one point we came to a rope bridge across a casm. classid indiana jones stuff. we exchaned cameras and took photos of each other going across. very cool! come to think of it this may have happened on the second day. getting confused. anyway we dropped ally of at tonga and went on. it seems that this franz guy was a semi famous base player in band called “journeys end” i’m preppared to swear that i’ve heard that name before somplace. but they just play in clubs at the momant, and there album isnt released yet. the hut (i foget its name) is near an area which can only be crossed at low tide. so eva and franz needed to get there at a specific time so they could cross and carry on to the pick up point in totanariu. we only just made it in time. they had to wade with the water reaching there knees. after saying my goodbyes i set of to look for the hut. i slipped back into “beach” mode, almost instantly i was alone and i got a bit lost. eventualy i descovered it (very close to were i had started) and settled in. i read on the beach for a while spraying citranella oil about at intervals of a few minutes. then i went for a swim, very cold and very shallow. at one point i think i saw a ray gliding through the water. i recalled with horror the ones we had seen in kew gardens with rows of spines ready for flesh jabbing. but after a bit of frantick leaping i put some distance between me and it. supper consisted once again of pasta, tuna and a stale bun. yummy! i played sh*thead with the duch couple untill late, much fun. the next morning i had a nutritous breakfast of chocolate and water. the tide would be low at midday so every body had to wait until then to cross. i did a bit more basking in the sun and reading. at around tenish a group of about twenty people could be seen in the distance trying to cross. the entire hut gathered to watch the “entertainment” people with zoom lenses or binoculars gave us running update on the water level. the quips and jokes came thick and fast! the water was still very deep and the fools were carrying massive packs. someone with a massive camera let out a woop. they were up to there necks! how we laughed! a few of us went down to the beach and took some pictures of the strange fenomenon. eventualy these people reached the other side and emidiatly started drying there stuff. this took hours, so they saved exactly no time by crossing early and got wet to boot. me and my fellow hutites left at the correct time, the water leached well bellow our knees. the last leg was fun and not too tireing. i arrived at the pick up beach early so i read for a bit. after a while the aquataxi arrive and we leapt into it. the ride back was pretty classy, we went quite fast, around 40miles an hour, and the driver took as to see a seal colony and some wierd rock formations. the journeys end was univentfull. if i remember more i’ll add it.

right i’m off to get some stuff from the super market, which incedently is called “big fresh” i swaer some of the stuff is totaly engrish. the motto of nelson is “live the day” completly random.

gahhh!
last night i was sitting minding my own business reading when a girl came up to me and this american dude and asked if we would like to go for a drink in town. we said ok. so we collected outside , practicaly everybody from the hostel was there. leading the horde was this cool isreali guy called oz. he was the spitting image of a tall slimmed down version of the comedian rory something from “they think its all over” met loads of cool peaple but i can’t be bothered to list them. diverse nationalities. anyways we migrated into the town like a horde of buffalo, and went unto a random club/bar place. it was a bit crap really-cowboy theme appaling dance music. we stayed there for many an hour. a canadian girl called danielle and i needed to get some cash so we left to go to an atm. on the way we decided that we should leave this hellhole and go someplace better. so we collected three, oz and an english girl called mur, and an american guy called travis and went to another place. this one was better and we stayed for quite some time. much jollity. entualy at two something in the morn we left and wended our way back wittled down to just travis and danny. on the way back we came to a bridge which had a central support thing which was curved like a bow. this travis and i decided to walk along. it was quite high of the ground at its central point, maybe 20 foot. it consisted of two bars as wide as your feet. and was remarkably easy to walk along it. we got back at around threeish and after consuming many pints of water we went to bed. noing at the 85 year old guy who was awake for some reason i went to sleep. next morn i made the cardinal error of catching his eye as i got up. an hour later he was still talking. it was impossible to slide away becourse there are no breaks in the the onslought. one story merges into another seemlesly and all you can do is edge to the door and hope he pouses for breath. as luck would have it the other guy staying in the dorm, an irishman, chose this momant to enter. bert the 85 year old transfered his attention to him and i sprang for the door and made good my escape.

day 2 of abel tazman.
woke up. nasty night. blasted hot and much noise from the other sleepers. got maybe ten minutes sleep. crawled out of bed and had a nutritous breakfast of muisli bars and meat sticks,yum! eva and i packed our stuff and set off. we had decided to check out a place called cleoptra;s pool as it was quite close to the trail. we walked for a while then met up with the american girl,ally. she had set off earlyer but had doubled back to meet us. cleopatra’s pool was quite plesant. a smalish water fall plunged into a rock pool surounded big boulders and tall ferns. to one side was a natural rock slide carved out of the rockface. non of us fancied going on it as it was very shaded at that point in the day and quite cold. after haveing a jolly chocolate break we set of again. the choclate here is odd, they have about fifty difernet variations. my faverate was the “decker” milk choc toped with a layer of white. most plessant. and so the long day wore on. my feet were slightly sore, but for some reason my ankles were quite painfull, unsed to the wieght i supposed. on the way we met a dutch couple who were very cool though i forget there names. the previous day eva and i had played cards for a while. the game we played is apparently the number one backpacker card game. we know it as “blackjack” i think geoff tought it to us. it has a different name here, sh*thead.th rules i’ll recount them tomorrow. when we had reached the hut and had our suppers most of us settled down for a round of ‘head. it turns out that i am pretty damn good at this game, i have played it loads and not once have i been the sh*thead. infact 90% of the time i get rid of my cards first. i was the undisputed master, the anti sh*thead! it was good fun. the canadian guy who i had disliked on sight turned out to be really nice and funny. and there was this old geezer there that looked land sounded like a greybearded captain haddock, he was nice and friendly also. a plesant time was had by all. we went to bed.

gah! the last bit i shal recount tomrrow as i am bored of typing and i have a mighty hunger. i’m not sure of what to do as yet. i guess i’ll go down the west coust. maybe i’ll wait and see if someone wants to go with me though.

hi!

i just had lunch with an 85 year old guy staying at the hostel. he is very nice, and a non stop story machine. remarkably he is 100% there.
whent to the selebrated nelson market earlier, quite nice. i nearly got some plums but i didn’t have time. i tried one at the stall and they were very tasty.

anyways i set sail for the abel tazman park on the morn of the 11th. there was a prevailing wind and the berometre read 28.6-fair. err…that is to say i got the bus. the trip was univentfull and long. some of the senary was quite nice. the only interesting bit was a stretch of road wich whent alongside a dry river bed. in the mud were literaly thousands of massive messages and slogans picked out in stones. the bus was going too fast for me to read most them, but they were not for the benerfit of moterists, but for when an arial photo is taken. quite clever.
the bus dropped me at the start point of the trail. i didn’t set of amiediatly as the drive had gone through some windey roads and i was feeling not a little queesy. sat down had a banana and contimplated stuff. contrary to what i had thought there were very few people at the starting place. i had there idea that a hord of people would be droped of and we would form into groups or something. it turned out that i was the only person on the bus! on reflection it was better this way. dropping my banana skin casualy in a bin provided i set off, little realizing i would not see another rubbish bin for some time. the rule is that anything yopu take into the park you have to take out again. this encludes biodegradable stuff such as apple cores and banana skins. which is fair enough. the first stretch was over a kind of swamp on wooden bridges and then into hilly jungle like forrests. very cool. the trail was on the coust so every now and again you would pop out of the forrest and find yourself on a thin track above a long steep drop to the sea. and you would have a beutifull view of a perfect golden cresent moon beach, complete with crisp, crystal clear waters. i took a few pictures of these beaches but i gave up after a while as there were loads of them, each more lovley than the last. i had taken my shoes which i had strapped to my pack, and i was waering my flipflops. after a bit of examening of the ground i decided to walk barefoot. i thought it would be quite neat to see if i could walk the entire length without foot protection. i would relish skipping past other trampers in there heavy walking boots. also i had spent so long in shouse the last few months that my feet were getting soft, they needed toughening up. well onwards i went, puffing slightly at the wieght of my bag. it didn’t contain much. the stove, foodstuffs, sleeping bag, spare clothes, and bits and pieces such as my minidisk and my gameboy, both of witch i did not use! it was suprisingly hard going at first were i thought i would be striding past others i was actualy just keeping up. there was quite a number of other users coming and going. and every time you met someone i had to go through the time honored ritual of iether saying a variation of hello or nodding or grinning or all of the above. to say this got tiresome to the point of madness would be an understatment. fortunatly people seemed to apear in waves so i had plenty of time by myself. possible too much. the forrests were like a jungle and i fully expected to see david attenbourough around the next corner talking to a gibbon or something. large palm/ferns trees blotted out the sun, water tinkled down streams and over waterfalls, many a wierd bird call did i here. i was on my own for a while now and it got to the point that i suspected some of the calls were people making poor immitations of a lesser screech owl as they closed in for the kill. but it was a very plesent walk never the less. about and hour away from ankorage bay my destination i ahve to admit that i went slightly “beach” i invented this scenario in my head that i was a leader of this small group of soldiers, treking through enemy terrertory. the trekers behind me became the enemy to be avoided at all cost. the people in front allys or traitor decided on a whim. my companions were biggs wedge and jesse. they roamed around and gave me intel on the enemy or covering fire. i was in constant contact with a mysterous chap called “sarge” he gave me orders and such and i relayed my position and curcumstances. weird i think you will agree. anyway it was good fun escaping from a perticulaly tenacous pair of walkers behind me. i would scurry ahead for a bit then stop and listen. i would hear there voice disturbingly close and i would charge away gibbering franticly into my radio headset for srage to send in air support. of course talking to sarge required me to place my index and second finger to my ear and talking in a half wisper. anyone seeing me would know doubt assume that i was insane as i was walking in a half crouch, clutching my ear and muttering to myself. after a bit i reached the hut. which was fortunate as any longer and i would have been hiding in the bushes squirting people with my water bottle. the hut was allright, there was a big kitchen and two big bedrooms. the beds consisted of seven matresses in a row on the floor and another seven on a platform above. a bit hellish really. i met an american guy who seemed nice called matt. after a bit i went to the beach which was right outside the hut. it was a boiling day, and with a merry cry i ran for the enviting waters. only to recoile in horror upon touching it, it was absolutly freezing. entualy i mustered the courage to submerge. and it was very refreshing, but i couldn’t stay in for to long. i stayed on the beach for a few hours basking in the sun and watching the kyakers paddle about. around sixish i went back to the hut to make my food. more people had arived by now and the hut was bustling. people of note on the first night were a dutch girl called eva who was very freindly. a dutch guy called franz who i didn’t speak to much in the first hut. an isreali gut called niel, an english girl called kelly, an american girl called ally and a canadian couple. i didn’t really speak to them all, but we got to know each other in the days to come. i prepeared my food with little dificulty: pasta,tuna and pesto. i would like to shake the hand of the guy thoiught up putting tuna into foil pouches like the catfood. it is so simple yet very clever. i sat out side and talked to eva whilst trying to ignore the know-it-all voice of the canadian guy gabbering in the background. “what an idiot” i thought to myself. eva and i decided to travle together for the next section, and as it was getting dark we all went to bed.

this ends day one of the tazman saga. itt will continue tomorrow.

well that was epic.

after much cogertating the plan was thus: go unto the abel tazman trek start point(mararou) via bus. treck to ancorage bay hut.(4 hours) sleep. next day treck to bark bay(4 hours). day after that treck to awarou hut (4 hours). then the next day treck to totanaroi (1.5 hours)get a aquataxi back to mararou. then bus back to nelson.

i shall recount my amazing adventure tomorrow as i am plenty tired tonight, savvy? still reading tai pan. one of the best books i have ever read, by god! i need vittles so i beed goin’ to an eatery quickwise.

ill text the tazman number later tonight.