Arthur's Pass Village

Within hours I've traveled from an area with some of the best weather in New Zealand to the highest town in the country. It's quite cold here, but the scenery is spectacular. The bus ride this morning took me down the West coast, where -- and it's no surprise -- it was raining. Still, the road followed the coast for most of the way, and the views were incredible; the Tasman Sea is a very angry, powerful thing. From Greymouth, I caught the TranzAlpine train, which was a much nicer ride than the passenger train in the North Island. The carriages were more roomy and the track seemed to be smoother. It was cloudy most of the way until we traveled through a very long tunnel through the mountains (probably about 3-5 miles) that took us to Arthur's Pass Village. Miraculously, as soon as we emerged the sun was shining, and the weather has improved here since my arrival.

I checked in with the DOC people (department of conservation, like our national park service) and they said the weather was forecasted to stay pleasant for the next few days, so the tramping should be good. Tomorrow I will climb Avalanche Peak, and there are plenty of other trails for the next two days. This is an extremely small village, but it's really calm and relaxing here -- although the wind is far from calm! I'm staying in one of the DOC campsites for just $6 NZ (~$3 US), so it's very cheap here. I am a little worried about the Cheeky Keas, alpine parrots which are known to poke through tents and bags for food, and for stealing shoes! I might take my tent down tomorrow and store it somewhere for the day. I'll definitely be wearing lots of clothes tonight.

After spending the last four days having someone to talk to all the time, it was a bit of a shock to go back to not knowing anyone again. I went most of the day without speaking to anyone, which is really nice after being around the same people for a while. There are a lot of people at the campsite traveling by themselves, but in general people are not so outgoing. This is especially the case when they're not native English speakers. That said, they're usually extremely happy to talk if I strike up a conversation, and it seems like I'm often the one that has to start it. I talked to a Swiss guy for an hour or so tonight - he's going to climb Avalanche Peak tomorrow as well, so I might see him there.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday - I saw someone from the first bus tour that I took 3 weeks ago yesterday on the water taxi that took us back from the beach at Abel Tasman. It's really a small world here - but it was still a very big coincidence! Same park, same beach, same taxi - what are the chances?

I can't upload pictures today, but the internet is free here! It's a public internet room in town - what a great luxury.

-Brian