First stop of the day: Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world! It was out in the suburbs of Dunedin, so it was first thing in the morning, before most had fully woken up or had breakfast. At the steepest point, the street is 19 degrees! Yes, I walked the entire 350 m to the top of the street - a surefire way to wake up hahaha. I must have not been fully awake yet during the walk, because I forgot to take photos of the houses along the street with their angled foundations to really show off the angle of the street.
Second stop of the day: the Moeraki Boulders. The near perfect spherical rocks were truly amazing works of nature, plus there were some other really interesting rock formations I'd never seen before (there were a few rocks that looked like they were once spherical rocks that had been smashed open!). Despite the really dark clouds (I've lightened up the photos a bit) and the sky threatening to pour down on us, it was still quite a sight. You'll notice I look like I'm shivering in one of the photos - because I was hahaha (I was packed for summer weather!). Yup, that's me leaping the boulders in the last few photos! And of course, there was a cafe next to the beach, where some people picked up breakfast (there was no way I was going to pay for pricey, small-portioned breakfasts haha).
Third stop: the old small stone town of Oamaru. We stopped off at the supermarket to pick up supplies since there wouldn't be anything nearby when we got into Lake Tekapo (like I said, it's a really small town). The 1st photo was taken with my phone's camera (not too shabby despite the very grey skies). I picked up some NZ-specific chips (they really seem to like ring-shaped chip snacks here; the burger flavour seemed pretty interesting, but it tasted more like barbeque flavour than anything) and some beer. But the most important reason for the stop was for Richie to pick up some meats and supplies for tonight's BBQ! I guess it's something they do every time they roll into Lake Tekapo so that the night wouldn't be so boring. Everyone who wanted to have a BBQ chipped in $10 NZD each, so we got plenty of food (though later on in the night, there were quite a few people who decided to partake without paying(!), though we had more than enough to spare).
One of the several lakes we passed by along the drive. The crisp blue water really is something else.
At our next stop: Benmore Dam, supposedly the largest earth dam in the Southern Hemisphere (according to the Magic Bus guidebook). Check out how blue that water is - supposedly the lakes in this region are that colour because of the sediment in the water (I think it was limestone?). Richie left us off so we could walk along the dam (despite it starting to drizzle), and tried to trick us into thinking that security was coming to tell us to get off the dam (or at least I think he was trying to trick us hahaha).
Another stop along the way, a salmon farm! We got to feed the salmon and watch them splash around the surface to be the first to grab the pellets. But the pain purpose of the stop: Richie picked up 2 whole fresh farmed salmon for the BBQ with the rest of the money...oh yeah!
One more stop before being dropped off at our hostels, located in the outskirts of town, at one of Lake Tekapo's famous landmarks: the small stone Church of the Good Shepherd and its accompanying sheep dog statue. The thing that really caught my eye was the pink and purple flowers growing on the rocky shore, next to the bright blue lake - quite the contrasts of colours. The interesting thing about the church is that it does not follow any one Christian denomination (the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Catholic settlers built in together).
One activity available in Lake Tekapo is stargazing, because the very low light pollution allows for a very clear view of the night sky. But it was so cloudy that it was called off, so it was a good thing there was the BBQ to look forward to. And of course, I helped out with the prep and cooking (though they weren't exactly the best maintained barbeques)!
One of the salmon - they were nice and big!
The chicken wings and fish on the grill (the older woman cooking them burnt all the wings!).
Working the steaks and sausages working on the other grill. They put the sausages on the flat top even though I tried to get them on the grill, which is why they turned out with so many burn marks! I had to slice them up the hot dog vendor way to help them cook faster (surprisingly something Richie had never seen before!). EVeryone kept coming up to ask for sausages before they were done, and after I finished cooking them (they took a long time because the heat was uneven over the entire grill), suddenly nobody wanted anymore! Me and Danny (another guy I met on the bus who was helping out with the grill) ended up having to eat a lot of sausages and steaks that night hahaha. Definitely the best $10 NZD meal I ever got!
All the salad, cheese, and crackers were already finished (luckily I grabbed some of each before cooking)! Like I said before, there were quite a few more people there than those who actually paid haha.
For dessert, I finally got to try some hokey pokey ice cream!
After the dishes were cleaned and everything put away, we all headed back inside the hostel since it was getting dark and cold. With nothing better to do, and plenty of beer and wine, a bunch of us played some drinking games! Well, mainly just Jenga (it was actually just a Jenga rip-off, which some previous backpackers had written things to do on the blocks hahaha) and Ring of Fire.
Danny was the first to draw the block that said you had to take a quick dip in the lake in your undies, poor guy! It was freezing cold - he came out shivering. He was a champ though, I can't believe he actually dunked his head in! Luckily I never drew that block the whole night hahaha.
Matteo and his newlywed wife Lisa (both who were on the bus) concentrating hard (clearly not real Jenga blocks).
"Goon" - an Australian term for cheap box wine. Sound disgusting? It is hahaha. It's only good for one thing: getting drunk. I didn't have any since I had bought my own beer, but I didn't want some anyway. They use fish eggs(!!!) as a preservative to keep the wine from going bad (obviously broken down, but still!) since the wine is stored in a plastic bag inside the box. The hilarious part is the description on the box, and in case you don't have time to get view the photo up close, it say: "Country (the name of the wine) is the ideal wine for entertaining. It's a big-hearted offering for people who enjoy sharing special occasions with friends and family." And of course, some of the bullet points: "quality," "convenient," "portable," and "perfect for entertaining" hahaha.
Richie - shirtless (I don't remember why it was off...) - kept making the stack fall, meaning he had to keep downing his drink. I think he lost almost every time hahaha.
Richie performing the instructions on the block he pulled: kiss someone in the room without any explanation. The look on the girl's face was hilarious hahaha. And the crazier thing, the guy beside her was her newlywed husband, and they were on their honeymoon! Later on, Richie drew the same block and kissed the husband to show it was all just fun and games haha.
Janelle performing another one of the instructions, smell the shoe of the person to your left (or right, I don't remember haha). Gross...I actually got that block too, but lucky the shoe was pleasantly quite clean and fresh hahaha.
Richie, now with his shirt back on, playing with his pierced nipple hahaha (he drew the block that said "play with yourself").
Richie pulling another stunt, adjusting the hostel's front desk clock by 5 hours...somehow he kept getting the crazy instructions hahaha. It was a mix between some really lame ones (like open all the windows, and turn off the TV, which some people were actually watching haha), and some crazier ones (as you've now seen).
Matteo drew the block to talk to someone in the room with a foreign accent, so he started seducing another girl in the room with his native Italian accent...what a player hahaha.
Another collapse (luckily I never lost a game!).
Now playing ring of fire, and Richie just broke the ring of cards (meaning he had to down his drink)! Without going into too much detail, he drew the last king too and had to down everything in the cup in the middle (a mixture of beer and goon...disgusting haha). He had terrible luck that night, and a lot to drink hahaha.
Some post-game antics: Richie hugging Matteo, Danny and Matteo shaking hands (while I stared off into space haha), and some of the girls (besides Lisa, I have no clue who the other girls were, they just joined us for the drinking games after dinner hahaha).
It was well past 1 am when we finished playing Ring of Fire, so we decided to call it a night. I actually wasn't staying at the hostel where the BBQ took place, but at the YHA Lake Tekapo down the road (there's pretty much only 2 backpacker hostels in town), so me and the 2 Swedish girls (Kristina and Louise, who just watched us make fools of ourselves all night; both also on the bus) made the cold walk back to the hostel (we were actually all in the same room haha). It was actually a decent hostel (though I noticed they had the worst selection of movies to watch), and our room was conveniently located next to the handicap washroom which had its own shower in it, which was great since I still needed to shower (so I'd get a private shower). But the lights didn't work, and I was way too tired and lazy at this point to walk through the hallway and through the kitchen to the men's bathroom in my boxers, so I showered in the handicap washroom anyway with the door slightly cracked open to let the light in from the hallway. I was pretty buzzed and tired, so at this point, I didn't really care if anyone walked by and saw me naked hahaha (and luckily no one did).
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