I am in Picton and am very happy to be here. The sun is shining, the internet is working - there are BOOKS and FOOD and PEOPLE here. Hallelujah! I have had a great month out in the sounds. If you want to see where I was staying, you can visit it at www.nydiatrack.org.nz It is called Te Mahoerangi. It is a very special place, with lovely people.
I got the boat this morning at 9.30. The water was glassy and I have never seen the mountains looking prettier. I then got the bus to Picton (well, just - it went straight past the bus stop without stopping and the agent had to ring and shout a bit for it to come back). There was such a cute roly-poly pudding of a baby sitting next to me with huge brown eyes and a tattoed Maori guy ahead of me (full facial tattooes which denote who your father and mother was and how many people you have killed etc). When I got to Picton the bus didn't stop in the right place, so I was struggling up the hill with both my suitcase and wheelchair. A lovely couple in a car stopped and gave me a lift up the hill. They were pretty amazed with how much stuff I had and when the man said 'oh, come and stay with us for the night,' his wife went 'MAX, don't ask her that!!!' She later apologised and said they were about to leave and she had tidied everything, but I just thought it was funny. The man couldn't believe I would be travelling alone with a wheelchair, he kept staring at me and whispering 'amazing' as if I had two heads or something.
I had passionfruit cheesecake for lunch, yum. Tomorrow I pick up my hire car and will visit the aquarium. I will be relaxing other than that because my ribs flared up yesterday morning at 5am and I am in a lot of pain.
The radio is on in the kitchen and I hear Sir Edmund Hilary has just died.
A public GOOD LUCK to my lovely friend Sarah who has gone off to be brilliant at Columbia University. So proud. :-)
