Gpy-glowworm: Hokitika, New Zealand

Daren was doing his pharmacy placement in Hokitika, west coast New Zealand last week. We drove there. The journey from our place, Dunedin to Hokitika needs around 8 hours. Luckily his flatmate, Victor, decided to go visit his sister in Christchurch (there was an earthquake with magnitude of 7.1 in Christchurch one day before we left) therefore both of them can take turn driving. Christchurch is the biggest city in South Island and is located in between Dunedin and Hokitika.

After 5 hours of driving, we finally reached Christchurch. We went to the famous Chinese restaurant, Ancestral (老地方) to have our lunch.

I ordered pork mince rice (鲁肉饭) because Daren told me that pork mince rice there is very x10000000000000 delicious!!

er not bad...

After finish eating, Daren sent Victor to his sister's house. After dropping him, we continued our journey to Hokitika. The drive there had such an amazing view. We could see mountains and hills full of snow far away, and the sun was shining so brightly with light breeze.

We thought that it was gonna be an awesome journey there but it turned out to be a nightmare soon. After about 30 minutes of driving, we came to Arthur pass, which is few kilometers of mountain pass to get to the Arthur town township. It is 740m above sea levels and therefore we had to drive through winding and narrow road up the mountain. It started pouring heavily once we started our journey up Arthur pass and we could see snow around the pathway as it was snowing there just a few nights ago. The rain did not stop but continued to pour even harder. The road was so narrow, and we could hardly see anything in front. On top of that, small rocks from the mountain started rumbling down on to the path and we had to drive so slowly avoiding them. It was such a frightening moment and I was really scared. But Daren told me not to be scared and to trust him. After 2 hours of driving, the rain was starting to clear and we were out of Arthur pass on to the main highway and I was relieved by then. Another 30 minutes of so, we finally reached our destination, Hokitika.

There were quite a few backpackers, bar and cafe. One of them was Stumpers Bar and Cafe. It offers budget accommodation in the centre of Hokitika. Furthermore, it is just next to the Westland Pharmacy ( Daren's pharmacy placement ). Therefore we decided to stay there. We stayed at the ensuite room which costs $60 per night for 5 nights.