Happy New Year 2006!
On Boxing Day we mostly sat along the road side in St. Arnaud… untill we finally got picked up. Our second lift (by an expat German guy) to0k us to Nelson, where we stayed for 2 days. Apart from shopping, movies, and lazing I arranged a get-together with Matt’s (he stayed at my house during his exchange year in Germany ca. 5 years ago) parents. They told me about the newest adventures of Matt in Canada and we chatted over lunch at a beautiful harbour-side cafe; it was really good to catch up after such a long time!
That same afternoon we got a bus out to Richmond (furthest Western suburb) and hitched past Abel Tasman National Park to Takaka in Golden Bay. Golden Bay seems to be THE place for New Years: Giant rave parties, Concerts, and lots more is happening in between the years! Unfortunately we had a flight to catch… so 2 short days later we had to start our journey back down to Christchurch, where we celebrated New Year in town. First on Cathedral Square with a ruther boring but free concert (with the “Beat Girls” from Wellington and some other minor acts), even the view of the fireworks at midnight were blocked by the big trees on the square, and getting out of the crowd wasn’t an option…
Even though I couldn’t quite enjoy that part of the evening a bottle of Vodka did miracles to keep me in party mood for the real fun. Together with German Nina and partner (in case you don’t know her: I met her first in Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands, then we both worked at Mt Ruapehu [Whakapapa Skifield], arrived the same day in Wellington, Amanda ran into her in a supermarket in Blenheim, and on the 31st she happened to stop at the exact same beach where we had camped on our way to ChCh; she gave us a lift into town and we met up with her and her Irish flame later on), English Jaybird from our hostel and Jamaican Jamal (whom Amanda & Nina somehow chatted up on the square) we hit a bit of the club scene till the early morning hours.
With a proper hang-over the next day we sorted “customs-aware” through our stuff, packed and went to the airport to catch our flight to Melbourne, Australia.