One last Catlins post...

February 12, 2005

After I finished the Catlins Top Track, I hiked back to Papatowai and checked into the Hilltop Backpackers, which somehow managed to surpass The Falls as the best hostel I have patronized in New Zealand. It was quite a bit nicer than either of the apartments I lived in in KC, which I know doesn't say all that much. The fact that my bed cost me only $22 NZ is almost a crime. All I can say is that it really felt like a home.
I was lucky enough to be staying with a great group of guests that night. John and Jackie from England, Steve and Amanda from England, and Eileen from Ireland. We all had dinner together and talked late into the night. Steve and Amanda had recently gone on a cross-country RV tour through the USA, so we had a great time sharing our impressions of America. It was really interesting to hear their take on my home country, especially the midwest. Most overseas travellers never stop in "fly-over land," but Steve and Amanda had gone straight through and said it made up the best part of their trip. They both had love affairs with Krispy Kreme and, strangely, Wal-Mart.
Here's a picture of the group. From the left: me, Jackie, Rodney (owner of the Hilltop), Steve and Amanda, John, and Eileen:

The next day I drove South along the Southern Scenic route to check out Curio Bay, where I was to spend the night. Along the way I saw the following sights:
The Cathedral Caves, a series of cavernous coastal caves eroded by the sea. They are only accessible for a period of two hours before and one hour after low tide. I ran into Steve and Amanda here, so they took the picture of me at the mouth of the cave:

McLean Falls, which I think are the most impressive falls I have seen yet:

Unfortunately, once I got to Curio Bay I found out that the hostel I was supposed to stay at had lost my booking. I know for a fact that I had made the reservation on Monday, so I can only assume that signals got crossed somewhere along the way. It was no big deal, though. I just called the Hilltop back up and booked another luxurious night there.
There was a new group of people staying there and the atmosphere had totally changed. Everyone was more quiet in general, mainly because everyone spoke English as a second language. I did meet a pair of friendly Swedes who wrote a list of cool things to see in Sweden, for when I travel there this summer. I also had an interesting conversation with a guy from "the Basque nation." I originally misheard this as "the best nation" and thought that he was simply proud of his country. When I realized that he had said "Basque" and not "best," I almost said, "oh, you mean Spain?" but caught myself. For those of you not in the know, the Basque region is the part of Spain near the border with France. For many years some of the residents of the region have been fighting for recognition as an independent state. Some have even resorted to terrorism, as evidenced by the acts of ETA, the main Basque separatist movement. When the Madrid train bombings occurred last year, ETA was initially blamed. Anyways, I didn't know if this guy was really into separatist ideology, so I decided to play along and accept that he was indded a citizen of The Basque Nation.
Today I drove to Invercargill, known sarcastically by locals as "Invervegas." It's really not much more than a farming town. I'm only using it as a jumping-off point for Stewart Island, which I should be visiting on Monday. Interestingly enough, I just ran into someone I recognized from Wash U! We really weren't much more than acquaintances while we were actually in college, but we both recognized each other and decided to meet for beers later on tonight. It's a small world!
I'll try to post once more before I head off to Stewart Island. At that point, I would expect silence for at least a week. Don't give up on me, though...I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures and stories when I get back.