Te Anau
Trip Start
Unknown
1
65
149
Trip End
Ongoing
Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Spent a couple of days in Te Anau, just taking it easy while half the group hiked the Roteburn Track. The Roteburn is an intense three-day hike full of beautiful scenery. Hikers sleep in mountain huts at night, which could've been kind of fun, but I wasn’t up for that much walking while carrying my gear. Plus, a section of the trail was closed due to rockslides, so the hikers had to take a pricey helicopter ride over that portion and pick up the trail again.
Te Anau is said to be the country’s capital of "bogans," the NZ version of England’s “chavs.” Vinny said he’d award a prize to anyone who got a picture with some bogans. This was a challenge because clearly you can’t call anyone a bogan and therefore can’t explain to a random bogan why you want a picture with him.
The two Sarahs solved this problem by marching up to the first group of bogans they saw and asking: “Excuse me,” they said, “Are you guys bogans?”
The guys looked at each other and said, “What? Oh yeah! Yeah, we are!”
Pictures were taken; friends were made, and a contest was won, fair and square. The bogans cruised past the group a couple of times in their big, old car, beating the doors and ceiling with their fists.
We spent the rest of our time in Te Anau hanging out at the big lake the town is famous for, getting some Christmas shopping done, and hanging out at a bar that served feijoa cider.
