It was an early start the next morning, as I had a plane to catch. My day started off not too bad, apart from the minor inconvenience of a broken lift. I made it downstairs and decided to complain to the receptionist about the broken bed. The receptionist seemed annoyingly un-apologetic. In fact, I think his exact words were "Oh, yeah, that one." I decided not to push the issue, as it would be as successful a dentistry for a rooster. I took a bus out to the airport for the first stage of the day's travel, a flight in a small plane across the Marlborough sounds. And when I say small, I mean small. There were only 9 seats, and one of those was next to the pilot. There was also turbulence on the 20 min flight. This was the type of turbulence that wouldn't even bother a normal sized plane, but in something so small it made things quite interesting. I wasn't overly concerned though, as I was too busy taking photos of the astonishing scenery unfolding below me. We arrived at the airport shaken, but not stirred (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist), and on our final approach we had to abort landing and go-around for another shot. Why, I hear you ask?. Engine trouble, ATC problem, another aircraft on the runway? No, the guy in the tractor cutting the grass was a bit too close to the runway. That wouldn't happen at Heathrow, would it? We pulled up at the terminal (a house), and the minibus arrived to take me to the ferry terminal, so I could get the Magic bus. To give you an idea of just how small the plane was, the minibus was probably slightly bigger. I arrived at the ferry terminal and found that I had a slight wait for the Magic bus, so I got a comfy spot and read some of my book. The bus to Nelson was uneventful, and we didn't stop anywhere on what was a short trip. I got dropped off at the YHA, only to find that by some mistake (I don't know whose), they had me booked for a different date. They also had no vacancies. Thankfully, another backpacker's, Paradiso, did and so I caught a cab over there. They also had a swimming pool and a hot spa, and they were cheaper than YHA. Result. I took a swim and then decided that I couldn't be bothered cooking, and I went out to find some food. I eventually stumbled upon a bar with a fish and hip shop next door. I ordered my food and headed to the bar, to find that they did big bottles of take-away beer. I got myself a bottle of cider and took my fish and chips back to the hostel with me. Now that was a good feed. After my feed I settled down for the night, went on the internet, watched some TV and got lightly sozzled on the cider before I went to bed for the night.
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