Long drive to Lake Tekapo

Monday, December 8th
I forgot to mention a conversation we had last night.  Steph said her least favorite animals are monkeys because they are mean and ugly.  Steph has also been unlucky with monkeys.  She had a tug-of-war with one in Livingston and a hissing fight with one on safari.  Yea, perfectly understandable why she may not like them.  This conversation was going on while we were all laying in our respective beds with the lights off.  Alfio already fell asleep by then, and he woke up briefly and said helper monkey.  How could you not like helper monkeys?  They're for disabled people.  We thought it was a joke.  We had a whole discussion about it.  I was like, no way, so I googled it on my trusty blackberry.  Apparently helper monkeys do exist and they give a helping hand for disabled people (www.monkeyhelpers.org).  There's a simpson episode with a helper monkey too.
Alfio, Steph, and Bernice headed out at 7:40am to go do bungy jump and canyon swing.  I woke up at 7:40am to do laundry for the crew and went for a run by the lake again when it was drying.  It was drizzling, but I was determined to run anyway.  Afterwards Nilesh and I checked out and drove to town.  I went to get our refund for the Franz Josef glacier hike and Nilesh went to get gas.  We met up at base backpackers to go for lunch at bob weigh.  It was delicious.  I had a chicken tortilla with avocado, spinach, onions, and cheese.  Very satisfying.
Bernice, Steph, and Alfio met us there and they also got lunch there.  I think everyone was pretty happy with their food.  They had a blast at bungy and canyon swing.  Bernice did a graceful jump.  Alfio needed to count.  Steph and Bernice did the swing together because they weren't heavy enough alone.
While they were all still eating, I walked around shopping for a bit.  I ended up not buying anything, but saw a cute sweatshirt that I will buy in Wellington.  It's a kiwi bird in yellow on a navy blue sweatshirt.  It take an hour to print it, so I need to get it at our next destination.
At 1:30pm, we got on the road to head to Lake Tekapo or maybe Mt Cook if the weather cleared up.  The rain is a bummer.  It even made the sheep grey, no longer cute and fluffy white.  Boo hoo.  The lumin wildflowers were still beautiful.  They're pretty purple and pink and grow in bunches in large grass fields.
A rest stop eventually becomes necessary, so we went for a pee and some tea...or something to eat.  As I was about to pay for my chicken soup, I realized I didn't have my wallet. F!  I went to the car to search for it.  Then I realized I must of left it at the custom printing store, where I was about to buy the sweatshirt.  I called the YHA hostel for the name of the shop.  And after some searching, they located it for me and I called.  The girl actually had it and was willing to ship it to the store in Wellington for me.  Thank goodness.  What a relief.  I've had a run of bad luck losing things on this trip.  My ipod and now my wallet.  Ugh!
We got to Lake Tekapo at around 6pm, and the weather wasn't great so we skipped our Mt Cook hike.  So what to do...hot springs!  It was drizzling a bit but we still went to the hot springs because it was partially covered.  There were three pools with different temperatures.  It felt nice to be in a hot pool while the air was cold.  We chatted while our skin turned pruned.
At around 7:30pm, Bernice, Alfio and I started getting hungry so we showered and headed out.  Bernice, Steph and I booked 30mins deep tissue massages for the next day.  We went for Japanese.  We were so hungry we ordered so many dishes.  Eventually we all just shared it and slowly but surely finished it up.  So full afterwards.
Back at the hostel we had to walk through the kitchen to get to our room.  The lingering smell of some Cantonese food stunk up the kitchen.  Alfio and Nilesh were more sensitive to the smell than the Asians - Bernice, Steph and I.  It was pretty funny.  Alfio and Nilesh didn't want our door to be opened for more than a few seconds.
The reception was closed already, so the option of renting one of their bad movies to watch was out.  We ended up chatting in our room in a normal voice.  As we were having our fun, we heard bang bang bang on our wall.  The person next to us trying to shhh us.  Whatever, we proceeded with our conversation.  20mins later she banged and screamed I want to sleep now.  It was around 11:30pm, and this German lady was so rude we didn't care.  The hostel rooms were separated by a door and if she wanted complete tranquility, she should of stayed at a hotel, not a hostel.  Being rude also doesn't get you anywhere.  So forget her, we kept on chatting and if she banged again I planned to bang back because I was next to her wall.  There were also Chinese people speaking loudly outside.  Oh wells.  We didn't care.  In fact, we ended up speaking about her in the room, and we are sure she could hear us.  At around 12:30pm, we said it was bedtime.  Finally that German girl can have her peace.