It was pretty obvious by the pale faces and groans that a fair few people stayed out late last night. As they struggled to get on the bus I smiled, happy to be feeling relatively fresh as they felt like death. I was not at all sympathetic especially not for Chris, the fat New Zealander, who has a good chance at taking top snoring position.
Chris’ snoring only stopped when he choked on himself, then he would grunt and snort and continue. His deep snoring sounded like a Harley Davidson motorbike was idling in the room, the sound vibrating through my bed and rendering my earplugs useless. I attempted to quell the sound by waking him. I pulled out one of the two pillows from under his head and hit him square in the face with it but nothing, I left the pillow on his face hoping he would suffocate but to no avail. I ended up pulling out his last pillow and wedged it under the mattress, hoping it would cause him to roll over. I had tried to roll him myself but it was like rolling a large square boulder, useless.
Anyhow.
We headed to a pub situated in the valley between two mountain ranges. The two ridges were quite different and were for some reason colour coded. The Red were on the left and more rounded in appearance. The Black to the right were much more jagged and steep. Doug told a story about the mythical formation of the black ridge where a giant fought a female mountain warrior that was undefeated. The battle lasted for weeks and in the end the two fell in love after eating a feast prepared by the warriors sister, some magical broth was used of course.
After an hour or so drive to a nearby town we stopped for an early lunch and a bit of a wander. My camera has stopped working and I'm not sure why, it just doesn’t want to turn on. The tiny town hadn’t much in the way of photo opportunities except for the bay area. I ended up sitting at the docks watching birds flutter about with an island in the distance and a few boats anchored in-between. I tried to sketch the scene in front of me but I'm not much of an artist so ended up plugged into my iPod dreaming about being in Costa Rica with Leire.
The next stop was meant to be a magical place inhabited by Scottish Faeries. Now these Faeries aren’t like the little fairies from child’s stories. Apparently Faeries can be summoned and used in rituals but most Faeries tend to have a cheeky side. They might help you but also curse you at the same time, or play some sort of trick on you. Doug told a story about a famous musician that was taken underground into the world of the Faeries for what seemed like a week, but when he left he found that each day in Faery land was actually 7 years in the real world. Bugger.
The place we stopped at was very peaceful and very pretty. It had a certain charm about it, and the stories about Faeries certainly helped to add to the atmosphere. There were scatterings of rocks all around and some had been made into shapes. There was a small spiral path made by the rocks. The idea was to walk the spiral thinking about all the things that are going wrong in your life and that you don’t like. When you reach the centre you make an offering to the Faeries, I poured in some vitamin water I bought at lunch, then you walk backwards out of the spiral thinking about everything that is going right and is good in your life. When you’re out of the spiral you’re meant to have a Zen like feeling. I just bowed to the invisible crowd of Faeries and kept on exploring.
Reaching the top of a steep hill I could see far out into the countryside and to the ridge on the opposite side of the valley where the bus was parked. The hill was covered in grass almost like a lawn, vibrant green and no weeds, just a few rocks here and there. Between where I was standing and down where the bus was parked was this tall rectangular pillar. It was unique here and seemed like it had been randomly pushed up from the side of the hill. Ill have to get the pictures from Megan because it was a great view and my camera was still dead, I did get a few snaps with my mobile but theyre not very good.
The next stop was the highlight of the tour. We arrived at the base of a mountain ridge. It was raining heavily so Doug pulled out the tea coffee and hot chocolate and we waited. After finishing our tea the rain had stopped and we began the trek. Initially we thought we were climbing the cliff off to the left but instead we headed to the unspectacular hill to the right. It didn’t seem that high up but I figured the view must be better from up there. We reached what we all thought was the top of the steep hill but it was far from the top. The steepness of the bottom obscured the view of the following hill that raised further up. Even reaching the top of that slope we were shocked to see there was still farther to go.
The view while walking along the edge of the slope was amazing. Looking over the edge down into the valley were three lakes that to me looked like a smiley face. It was relatively clear and I could see far into the distance. There were mountain views past the cliff we originally thought we were climbing near where we were parked, the bus looking tiny by now. Again I can’t find the words to describe the views and so am eagerly waiting to receive some proper photos.
Reaching the peak we were greeted with a literally breathtaking view, all I could say was oh man that’s awesome. Being on top of the world with a panoramic view of mountains hills and stretching valleys is a humbling experience. You can’t help but be awestruck into silence. To break that silence Doug came up with an idea. He walked about 50m back down the slope with his camera and started filming. The entire group then did a highland charge, running full speed, trying not to fall over, down the side of the mountain screaming and shouting with our arms waiving in the air. I'm sure our war cry’s could be heard back down at the bus.
Once back on the bus we headed to a waterfall said to have magic Faery luck and that if you dunk your head in the water you will have 7 years of good sex for every second you’re submerged. One of the Canadians took advantage of this situation and had his head under for as long as he could hold his breath or stand the cold, about a minute or less. One of the Yankees got into a push up position and lowered his head into the water but his hands slipped on the slimy rocks and he fell in. Not wanting to freeze I dunked my head for about two seconds, 14 years baby! J
After a quick stop at some tiny toilets we came to a phone booth and attempted to break a tour record by seeing how many people we could fit in at one time. We had one guy clinging to the ceiling with his legs wrapped up into a ball. One girl climbed onto the phone unit another under it. And the rest of us squeezed in as best we could. We managed to get 11 people in, what an effort!
The day came to an end back at the hostel after picking up supplies from the town we had stopped at for lunch. I bought as many vegies as I could and made a super tasty salad. After eating I sat in the lounge by the coal fire trying to warm up. I was joined by two of the Aussies who started reading from an Aussie quiz book. Out of the 4 or 5 rounds we played I answered maybe 4 questions right.
The night was starting and Doug had prepared a killer party punch with two bottles of vodka, Malibu, Peach Schnapps, Gin and some other spirits all mixed with lemonade and fruit juice. The concoction was mixed in a large round bin and everyone just dunked their glasses in.
We sat around in a tight circle and played Kings Cup, a dangerous drinking game to say the least. But soon into the game Doug suggested another. We each wrote our name on a piece of paper and a card, I chose the nine of spades.
Doug’s game was a race where the horses were replaced with each of the aces from the pack. A line of 10 cards marked the race track. The dealer would quickly flip cards over from the pack and every time the corresponding suits ace would move up the track. The ace to reach the end first was the winner. Then the bets would be paid out. So when spades one the race I gave out 9 drinks. The problem was that diamonds kept winning, which meant I had to drink my bets, yep, 9 sips!
The punch was almost finished within 2 hours and Lacy, one of the Yankees, took the honour of finishing the punch by tipping the bin up and drinking the last drop. Followed by skolling the rest of her pint glass of punch because spades had one and guess who I gave the 9 sips to. After finishing her drinks Lacy left the room. I said she was off to be sick but no one believed it. I asked Lacy when she returned and sure enough the last drinks had tipped her stomach over the edge. It was going to be a painful morning for everyone.
Following on from the drinking games we headed to the pub. I opted for water while everyone else got their drink on. I headed home early and cooked up some veggie soup. A ginger cat was roaming about so I fed it some of my bread dipped in soup which it seemed to really like, nice cat.
Far from tired I headed back to the lounge where two Polish girls were playing cards, War. I chilled with my soup plugged into my iPod and wrote down the day’s events in my notepad, and then... SLEEP!
