Not a particularly good day

Today I waited for the bus and waited and waited and waited. Nine of us waited in the toilet block in light rain for the bus that never came.

The bus was supposed to leave at 2:35. We were to be there at least 15 minutes early. When it hadn't arrived by 3:00 one of us went into the information center [where I bought my ticket] to find out what was going on. The answer -- there was a rock slide in the Glacier area and the bus would be held up for an hour and a half or two hours. Not to bore you with the play by play but the entire afternoon consisted of us going in and asking the information center to call the bus company and the bus company saying the bus was held up by the slide. After waiting three hours I wanted a refund but no such luck. The bus finally came four hours late. At which point I called the backpacker in Queenstown to let them know I would be late. They said that they closed at 8pm. The bus driver refused to drop us at the backpacker and we knew that we would be there after it closed.

I had words with the bus driver and he almost threw me off the bus. Basically I told him that was fine with me if he would give me a refund. In the end he relented and drove us to the backpacker. It seems as though some people had it even worse. They had a longer wait and it was raining more on them. We only had drizzle.

Anyway, we got to the backpacker which has a fantastic view of the surrounding lake and mountains. I will get some photos tomorrow. I arranged my transport to Dunedin for tomorrow at 3pm. I should arrive at 7pm. I am hoping to meet up with Emma there who has a car. I am also hoping to see some albatross and some penguins. Then Emma plans to go to Glenarchy and do some walking so I will probably tag along. Finally return to Queenstown.

Then I took myself out to dinner. I had a great veggie pizza and some fantastic gelato for dessert. To top it off we have free wireless here at this backpacker.

On the upside - I am glad that I didn't do the Welcome Flat hike. Weather was one of the primary reasons I didn't do it. It hadn't rained in that area in awhile and the locals said that when it did rain that it was likely to cause problems because the ground was so dry that all the rain was likely to run off causing flooding. The hike write up mention that streams would be come impassable with heavy rain.

I think I emailed you all to let you know that I have a mobile / cell phone here. If you didn't get the email let me know and I will email you the number.