Party central in a town of 50...

Clouds over Barrytown shoreline at sunset
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The drive to Barrytown (a.k.a. Baz-Vegas to the locals) was not without excitement.  We made a grocery stop in a town about halfway there, and the departure turned into an adventure.  Our driver (Stretch) was on his 5th tour of NZ, though he had been a driver on many Aus tours before, so relatively experienced at driving buses.  But, when we were pulling out of the parking spot, he didn't notice how close his mirror was to a street sign.  He hit the ign with the mirror, causing the sign to be pushed over. As well, since the mirror was incorrectly fastened too closely to the passenger window on the side of the bus, it put pressure on the emergency glass, causing it to crack.  Since it was emergency glass and built to break in case of accident, the small crack slowly turned into a huge spiderweb.  For much of the next 5 minutes, all you could hear was cracking as the glass shattered into smaller and smaller pieces.  Quite a spectacle to watch!  It was also glass-plastic and tinted, so the glass was held in place in the window, and we decided to risk it and keep on driving.  A few minutes down the road, the entire window dropped out of the side of the bus.  Glass was everywhere...

Plane flying in Barrytown sunset
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It was Saturday afternoon, so pretty much every shop that would repair glass (not that there were many in the small towns we were in!) was closed, so we kept on trucking with a new form of air conditioning.  Normally not too much of an issue, but since we were in the middle of a very cold and rainy season, it made it much more interesting.

Look out for that signpost!

We got into Barrytown a little later than normal, but fortunately in time to see the "Super 14s" rugby final.  Super 14s is the league that spans Aus/NZ, so it was considered a very important match.  Only problem was that it was being played in Christchurch, which was buried under fog.  You couldn't see the length of the field, which made the match interesting, especially when kicks where made!  B-town was a great place to watch the game though, since it was a very small town of ~50 people, and everyone was out to the pub to watch the match.  Everyone there seemed to be very into their partying, and likely spent most nights less-than-sober.  From what I hear about B-town, Stray passengers either like it or don't.  I liked it, I think mostly because in some ways it reminded me of Morden (my home town).  Kinda like sitting in Rock's, but with fewer regulars.

Rainbow over Barrytown on morning of departure
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Ended up being a pretty big night of partying, since after the bar closed I ended up getting taken to a house party with some of the locals.  The party went all night long, and many of them were up until 5 am.  I decided to cut out "early" since I was already exhausted, and went home at 3 am.  Only problem was that it was very dark, and I had to find my way back to the hostel.  Given the state that everyone was in, I really didn't want a ride home, and it is not like there are taxis or buses there.  They told me to get back, all I had to do was walk straight down the highway towards the street light at the end.  I could see it quite clearly, but the highway itself was difficult to stay on in the darkness.  I ended up having to bend over with a lighter close to the ground many times, just so I could see the highway lines and find my way back...

Deer in park on road to Franz Josef
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The next day was a write-off, and I spent much of it either in bed or watching movies.  Several people went to do activities like knife-making or bone carving, but I was too tired to do either.  Went for a nice walk along the beach at sunset, which gave some really nice views, and then back to the pub for the evening.  Spent much of the early evening playing ping pong with some of the gang, and then decided to hit the sack at 10 pm or so.  Must have been out cold, since several of the knife-making crew had been boozing hard while making the knives (great idea, right?) and came back very keen to party.  I guess they kept almost everyone else up by playing rugby in their dorm room until the wee hours...  How did I miss that?

Mountain goat in park on road to Franz Josef
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The morning after we left B-town, the weather finally broke a little, giving excellent coastal views and numerous rainbows.  We must have seen 10 - 15 of them, many times very brilliant and often with a twin nearby!