Day 24: Makarora - weather too bad to go

So today was a frustrating day in that I knew that not going today was going to cause me difficulties along the way and relied on tomorrow to get me to Queenstown which turned out to be impossible in the end again because of the weather.

In my dorm which was really a four bedded chalet that I shared with a lovely woman from Holland and we got on really well and spent the evening before chatting and going for a drink at the bar in the lodge and meeting many of the locals there who are also really fab.

The day until midday was spent continuing our chats and showing my roommate what I was up to and talking about the process of how I was writing these songs. Was great to share the whole experience with someone whoo was so interested in the whole thing.
At midday she had to catch her magic bus and head on to Wanaka. We worked out that we would meet in Queenstown the following evening - which unfortunately wasn't going to happen being hampered by the rain. I spent the rest of the day writing up some of the blogs ready to post when I could get cellphone coverage whic wouldn't be until close to Wanaka.

Fell asleep in the room which I now had to myself for a few hours and then popped back to the bar to read a book and catch up with the locals more. Its a really interesting place - only really a handful of people all mainly from different countries but all who once arrived couldn't move on anywhere else - it is a stunning place.

The Pipson family seem to be the earliest family around the area in the 1890s from what I could gather. The fat of making that pass through the Hasst reminds me of all the incredibly hard working people who made the infrastrucutre that we enjoy today - the roads, the train tracks....you can't even begin to imagine what the conditions would have been like and knowing how the weather kicks in at a drop of a hat over here and the extreme conditions you get I am sure there were many casualties along the way.

It was going to be an early start if I was to get to Queenstown the next day. I was relieved not to have tried to go out in today's weather - worst I had seen it since I started...howling winds and rain like the end of the earth had come! Glad I was in my cabin and not my tent...but I was going to have to pay for this luxury in making up the miles lost over my last couple of days.