June 20th On the Road Again

This morning we woke up at what seemed like the crack of dawn after last night's long talk. We drove an hour and a half to see the Pancake Rocks. 

   We were something like 70 kilometers away when the bus ran out of gas. Carl threw it in park but we all had to rush off because we were around a curve and oncoming cars wouldn't be able to see the bus. So the boys (minus Michael), Carl, Gemina and Peter stayed behind to push the bus into a safe spot while the rest of us walked the rest of the way. I was beginning to feel a little jipped after hearing all the crazy survival stories from Africa last year (they ate a wildabeast that they found on the side of the road. A lion had already eaten half). So I guess this counts as an adventure. The hike wasn't bad and we found a Maori hen. Which, I think, is about like a chicken. 

   Carl then hitched a ride about a half hour back to Greymouth to get petrol while the rest of us went exploring. 

   After we grabbed lunch Carl showed us the Truman Trail. It was about a 1 minute hike through the rainforest down to a bluff next to the ocean. I think it's my favorite place we've been so far. There wasn't really a beach and the tide was coming in so we climbed down to this rock and we felt like we were in the middle of the ocean in the midst of all these crashing waves and salt spray. 

   Then we headed back to our cabins and ordered pizza (from Fat Peepee's) before we set out to see the glow worms. 

   I didn't get any good photos--they were all just globs of light in the middle of a dark background but it was cool to be there and see. 

   G'day Kiwis!