Haere Mai... Tana

Well I am now the proud owner of a 1990 Honda Civic. Her name.. Tana (named by the previous owners, the French couple, Anne and Julien). I did, however, have to make my way up to Picton (top of the South Island) to buy the car as the guys work up that way in a place called Punga Cove Resort on the Marlborough Sound. More about that later...
After I left you last, I spent another couple of days in Qtown mainly looking for cars, trying to sell my Magic Bus ticket, and hanging out with Andrea and Claire (Andrea's pal from back home). Tuesday was, as everyone knows, Halloween. I thought I'd get into the spirit by dressing up as... you guessed it... a cripple. A skydiving accident from a couple of weeks back.. Damn parachutes! It was great fun and made all that more believable by the fact that the three girls I was out with were dressed normally. But there were some great costumes out and about, some people had put a lot of thought and effort into it which was great to see, and what a laugh it was to watch the Siamese twin freaks with a total of 3 legs try rip it up on the dancefloor! Oh, and I had to have one last Fergburger aswell.
Wednesday I was up early to hitchhike as far as I could towards Picton, and worked my way up to Hokitika (on the West Coast), meeting some great people along the way. Don't freak out ma, the West Coast is a very friendly place (if I haven't said already), a very small country town oriented region, making it very safe for hitchhikers.. The next day the same again, with one guy named Kevin actually taking me about 170km (or 2 1/2 hours) out of his way to drop me at a busy intersection, one of the main routes for traffic travelling from Christchurch to Nelson/Picton, so I would have a better chance of being picked up. What a nice guy!
Well, I eventually made it to Picton Thursday night to meet Julien and Anne and look at the car. After having looked at quite a few (cheap) duds in Qtown, this one just felt right, so it wasn't too long before they were handing over the keys. They had no transport back to their work in Punga Cove, so I agreed to take them there, not realising it would take over 2 hours to get 65km (a very winding road up very hilly terrain)! But it was worth it.. This place was truly a paradise. Amazing views over the Marlborough Sound, and very, very secluded. I was able to score free accomodation in the staff quarters, spent some time in the spa, sat out on the beach for a night watching the clouds eclipse the moon, and even helped them out by working a shift in the restaurant's kitchen on Friday night! I used the extreme relaxedness of the place to focus almost entirely on my journal on Saturday, finally getting it up to date after so many weeks.. Phew! It's amazing what a load off my mind that was.
After this, I said goodbye to the guys and drove Tana down to Nelson yesterday. I found this great little backpackers called Trampers Rest: a very warm and welcoming host, Alan, has set his own house up with 9 beds in a few rooms, makes a cup of tea for each new guest as they arrive, lets them borrow his bikes, everyone watches movies together, etc. Sort of like one big family.. What a nice change from some of the military-style dormitory establishments that you can come across.
I gave Tana a good wash yesterday (she needed it after being driven on dirt roads for the past 4 weeks). Today, I made the journey to the exact geographic centre of NZ.. Funny how it seems to coincide exactly with the summit of a hill. Later, I made my way to the World of WearableArt Museum which showcases the wonderful, and often amusing world of art that can be worn as a garment. Everything from bras with former US Presidents' faces moulded on them, to dresses made entirely of golf tees. Very interesting..
Tomorrow, I'll be doing a bit of tramping in the Abel Tasman National Park. Hopefully the weather holds out..

Photos:
1. This is Tana (a little dirty)
2. Ouch.. Andrea and I @ Altitude Bar on Halloween
3. During one of my long walks between rides on Wednesday I came across this fantastic view
4. At Punga Cove Resort
5. View of the islands north of the South Island. Titirangi Bay
6. Getting ready for a hard-day's work
7. Julien and I
8. The helicopter that decided to land on the main lawns of the Resort
9. Good to see someone's thinking of the environment!
10. Strange forces are afoot at the Centre of NZ...
11. I suppose one more photo of sheep couldn't hurt. On the way to Picton