Annoying Commentaries, Tramping, and Coming of Age

Hey everyone! I guess I'll get right into things. I didn't write about this before, because it was not really significant, but it was brought back to my attention a few days ago. So... on our bus ride to Nelson, we had this really annoying bus driver. He had a running commentary on the whole trip about everything. When we first got on the bus, he was talking and someone said, "Can you turn your mike down?" To that he said, "Well, once the engine is on, you won't be able to hear me, so no, I cannot turn it down." I was thinking, "We don't want to hear you! Please turn it off, I just want to listen to my music." But oh well. He said a little speech to welcome us to the bus. I was hungry, so just as I'm taking out my sandwich, he says, "Also... not food is to be consumed on this coach." I ate it anyway, in spite of him (I know, I'm really a bad person). "Drinks are not permitted on the coach, unless of course it is bottled water, which can be closed. Or... even screw-topped cordial is fine." I was thinking, "What is cordial?" "And for health reasons, the chewing of bubble gum is discouraged on this coach. Although we do not completely ban it, when you finish with your gum you have two options. The first, of course is to swallow it. And the second is to put it in your own rubbish bag. You see, we do not have rubbish bags on this coach, as I would have to carry it off the coach myself, carrying your rubbish. For that reason, please put it in your own rubbish bag and carry it off yourself." Somehow all of this, plus a comentary about the landscape around us could cut through my sound-blocking headphones. You may wonder, "How do you remember this speech so well?" Two reasons: we heard him say it twice during the same bus ride, and two, we had him a bus driver again- to the Abel Tasman. As soon as I heard "cordial" I knew. I'm sure he's a really nice guy, and that some people appreciate learning about everything they're driving past. Such as, "We are turning off State Highway 6 onto SH60. SH6 takes you ...., and SH60 will take us...." I just don't feel like I need to know all of that. Sorry, there's my rant on that bus driver. It is my hope that I will never have to hear any of those speeches again. On another note, I'm glad to let you all know that Bretton and I are okay, we did not fall and die or drown or anything, we are completely okay. Aside from many many sandfly bites. I brought bug spray (30% deet), but then Bretton and I read the warning label. It said things like: do not use on children under 12, may wreck furniture finishes, and synthetic fabrics. So... we decided to tough it out. We are definitely feeling the effects, I will probably use my bug spray next time. The hike was beautiful, there were so many beaches and the ocean looked almost tropical in places, it was very blue. We saw a seal colony, which was very cool. We also saw a dead blue penguin. I thought that was pretty sad- the first penguin I've ever seen was dead. Since we weren't going to bring gas cookers, I ate pita bread and humus for supper everynight. But the humus was soooooo good! It was this garlic and lemon stuff. So I ate the 380g of it in two nights. Problem: we were hiking for four nights. So I ate just pita bread and cheese for the third night. For Christmas, I was going to eat baby corn and canned chicken cold. But a family offered me some noodles and their cooker, so I had warm chicken, corn, and noodles. It was good. Except... Bretton and I have been arguing about canned chicken and how gross it apparently is. I don't see the difference between canned chicken and canned tuna, they're both meat with added sodium to preserve them. But Bretton seemed to think tuna was better, she failed to point out that it looks like cat food when you eat it. The canned chicken was good... at least the cracked pepper and mayo one. The smoked chicken chunks tasted like they were smoked in a geyser. Very sulfury- very gross. But overall, supper was a success. We hiked out on the last day and caught a bus back to Nelson. There, we showered (finally!), set up our Christmas tree (brought from Canada from my Mom), phoned home, and made our big Christmas dinner. Roasted vegetables and breaded chicken. It was amazing- we made too much, but ate all of it. Then we tried a bottle of wine, it's called a Rose (white wine + red wine + bubbles). It was okay. Then I played the guitar (by play, I mean attempt some chords) and we sang along to some Beatles songs. It was nice. The next day was my birthday! At least in New Zealand. I was not technically eighteen until today. But it was nice. We went to a local market, which was amazingly large and had a lot of buskers (guitar player, bagpipes (ugghh), steel drummers, digeredoer (sp?), and a tap dancer. It was awesome. We wandered around town, eating crepes for lunch, then stocking up on candy for our movie. We went to see "Twilight", which only just came out here. It was pretty good, Bretton and I both think that Robert Pattinson was very handsome in it, but thanks to many enhancements- I think. But watching the movie in the theatre made me feel like I was at home. You just get so into the movie, you forget where you are, what's going on. It was awesome. Then we picked up groceries for supper. I also bought my first alcohol ever (technically as a minor, nonetheless). We bought the cheapest beer available, which should have been an indicator to how gross it would be. But oh well, I showed my ID and everything, it felt very official. Then we went back to the hostel, made chicken burgers and way too much kumara chips, and ate. We actually couldn't eat all of the chips, we had to give them away. That's not to say we didn't try, but we had to save room for dessert, I didn't want to get sick. Then we ate hot chocolate pudding with ice cream for dessert, that was very good. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and it was nice. A very low key birthday. Then Bretton taught me chess. This morning, I woke up at 7:15 (which is starting to be the usual time, I can't sleep in!) and ate. Then I learned some more guitar from this guy. Apparently I learned the pentatonic scale wrong. He taught me how to play it really, and how to make a sound without plucking the string, just by hitting it with your finger. It was very cool. Then Bretton and I went to church, where I got a free chocolate bar because it was my Birthday. Then we have just hung out. We went to this bookstore with a huge sale on. Since I'm thinking about going to University next year, I bought a theory book to practice. That will be great fun. Everyone will be partying it up at the hostel and I will be practicing writing out my scales and transposing melodies- oh yeah! But things are good. We pretty much just have a month left for the South Island, so we're going to start planning where we're going next soon. I've been trying to apply for an Australian Working Holiday Visa, but the site is down... so I guess I will just have to wait and hope for the best. I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We will be meeting up with Sydney again for the New Year, which will be very exciting. Maybe we'll watch another movie. Mostly, we're just going to relax, to settle. And eat chocolate pudding for six more nights (yes!). Anyways... Happy New Year everyone! I hope all is well in the land of snow and cold temperatures.