Day 82: Franz Josef to Queenstown (March 30, 2011)

 Yesterday ended on a good note. I had a really nice soak in the Hot Pools in Franz Josef, and chatted for a while with a fellow traveler from Canada. She lives on Prince Edward Island, which I'll have to think about visiting later this year. It's not quite as far away as some places I'd like to see, but it's pretty far from home.

After the pools, I went to dinner at a restaurant on the main strip -- one that I'd looked at earlier and seemed to have a nice menu. It was late and the only other customers were this one couple. After I'd been there a few minutes, reading, the lady asked if I'd like to join them. The couple was on their honeymoon and the woman was a stewardess and said she recognized travellers who'd been alone too long. I must have looked quite lonely and woebegone, although I didn't feel like it. lol.

So I joined the couple, Jude and (I hope this is right; forgive me if not!) Elena while they finished their meal and I started mine. They live in Christchurch and were very sweet to welcome me like that. I can't say all the New Zealanders have been quite as kind as they were, but everyone's been pretty friendly. They remind me of midwesterners, sort of. Anyway, I wound up having a really nice meal and chat, when I'd just expected it would be me and my book. :) PS: If either Jude or his wife is reading, please send me an email to say hi and let me know if I got everyone's name right!

Today was a bus trip from Franz Josef to Queensland, which is one of the tourism and exploration centers in the South Island. Lots of hotels and restaurants here, but I'll only be here overnight, as my tour (real tour, not just a bus ride) leaves early tomorrow morning. It'll be 12 hours to Christchurch, and will have some stops along the way.

Even the bus trip today made several stops (a few more than were really necessary) but some of them were quite beautiful. I'm not getting to see a whole lot of the South Island's beauty up close (no glacier hikes, for examples) but I'll seeing quite a bit of it from the road or occassional rest points.

Early this morning, I started chatting with another solo traveller on my bus -- Jim from Chicago. We wound up having a pretty good rapport, and are on similar trips -- his trip is shorter but fancier -- so we compared our travel experiences so far, which is a common conversation topic among travellers. But we talked some about work and home, etc. We had dinner together at a tasty seafood place here in Queenstown, then parted ways so we could both write in our blogs. As always, it feels good to make friends on the road. I forgot to take a photo of Jim, though, or anyone I met last night. :(

The skies over Queenstown.

Tonight is another night I really didn't want to write. I'm sleepy and had a drink with dinner, which always makes me sleepier, and an early start tomorrow. Ugh! But I won't regret later that I stayed up to type this.

Bah... crappy internet connection means no photos tonight!  Will upload when I can.  [Next night:  Done!]