I was ready to get a move on from Greymouth. For my travel on the South Island, I chose to buy a flexi-pass on the Intercity Bus Line. The one unfortunate thing about their bus system is that the bus times can be a bit limited. So, for example, I was ready to leave Greymouth bright and early in the morning, the bus, however would not be there to pick me up until 1:00 p.m. - time to hurry up and wait!
The bus finally came and I was off on a continued journey down the West Coast and had a 4 hour bus ride to see the Franz Josef Glacier! By now, I have seen quite a bit of the landscape on the South Island - besides a beautiful ocean, there are heaps and heaps of farms, orchards and vineyards. YES, I have seen sheep, cows, red deer, llamas and elk - all being farmed. The deer and elk surprised me - coming from a family where hunting is a sport, it was odd to see a huge herd of male deer with a very large set of antlers corralled on an acre of land. I asked about the deer and the bus driver said that they are farmed for their meat, primarily sold to Germany and the antlers are primarily sold to China for Chinese medicine. There are also certain farms that raise huge stags and some rich guy will pay to come to New Zealand and shoot him - what a fake, that is not hunting at all - not cool! These deer are not even afraid of people. I am still working on getting a good picture of the deer - it's not so easy on a moving bus.
I arrived at the Glow Worms Cottages, checked in and Anja was there after her long day trek. We met up with Karoline and headed to the glacier hot pool. Three invigorating pools, one warmer than the next. It was very relaxing! We headed back to the Hostel and made dinner. I went to bed fairly early, because...we haven't seen the last of nature girl!!!
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