No real desire to stay very long in St. Arnaud, we checked out of our hostel, walked to the lake, got attacked by bugs, visited the only little church in the area, and then found ourselves back down by the lake looking at the eels. Dozens of them, swimming around right around the dock, right below the ducks! It was fantastic. I hate snakes, and eels are like the snakes of the water, so not exactly friends of mine, but they were pretty cool to see in the lake. There was a man there on the dock looking at the eels, telling me about them, and how he used to catch them when he was a boy on the North Island. He kept calling them "gorgeous". Not the word I would use to describe them..
And then we drove, not sure where we were going.. Just kept passing vineyard, and orchard, and vineyard, the whole way..
Well, we ended up in Kiakoura- a smallish town on the east coast, a few hours north of Christchurch. We thought about heading to Picton, but mom wanted to see more of the South Island. We are staying at a nice hostel here called the Albatross Backpacker Inn. Young, funky, high-energy, juggling toys in the yard, good music playing (currently playing Mumford and Sons).. I like it. Like the other towns in New Zealand, the shops and things all close around five, so we got our browsing in before then. Cute shops right on the shore. Weird beach area here: all grey rocks - no pretty sand. Pretty water though. Took a long walk around the residential part of town, and came back to a bustling longe. I heard Flight of the Conchords for the first time since I've been in NZ tonight. "Business Time" - my personal favorite.
Mom and I shared some cookies and cream ice cream, played Yahtzee, and made arrangements in Picton for tomorrow. We are seeing it all!
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