Greymouth and other stuff

Aight guys, its been a while since I've been in touch and I apologise. I've been busy but also trying to be outside my room as much as possible. Last Friday I went with a whole bunch of other exchange students to see Greymouth, the largest "city" on the West coast of the South Island. All 11 of us took the Tranzscenic over the Southern Alps on the trip over. Unfortunately the weather sucked but it was still really beautiful. On the train ride over I had my first meatpie in a long time and it was really good. The train had viewing platforms so we would occasionally go out and try and take pictures outside. When we arrived we were met by 3 other exchange students who had arrived the day before. It was pouring rain and windy but that didn't deter us. We dropped our stuff at the hostel (Globel Village is probably the nicest hostel in the world, they have really nice beds, free bikes and kayaks, huge kichen, living room, video room, amazing bathrooms and really nicely decorated from all over the world.) and went for a 1 hour hike up a hill. The vegetation was so tropical and thick that the rain hardly or didnt even get through, after we went on another hike nearby before heading down to the Tasman Sea where the smooth black pebble beach was being attacked by huge waves. Of course we all waded in and were chased up and down by the waves. We returned to the hostel and feasted on peanut and apricot & Ginger jam sandwiches as well as tuna. The next morning we planned on taking the kayaks out for the morning but the river was too flooded so we took the bikes and went 6 km out of the town to a 3 hr hike. The hike was along the cliffs and was absolutely amazing. From thick tropical forest to fields of some big fern thing (maybe cabbage tree) to the beach where we found a small pub so we all got drinks and chilled watching the waves and water and thinking deep thoughts. There were wild blue berries on the way to the hike too. We then returned to the town and made the tasting session, missed the tour, at the local brewary that we had booked earlier. Later that night we ate a real meal of rice, brocceli, tuna, icecream and watched Oceans 11 before going to a well deserved sleep. The bus ride back to Christchurch was also really picturesque although the weather still had not let up. It is really hard to describe how beautiful New Zealand is, everywhere you look could be a postcard picture. We saw four amazing rainbows on the way back too, big ones where you could see all the colours as well. I'm going to post a lot or as many pictures as I can. My camara ran out of battery but Nathan let me get the pictures off his camara, however hundreds of pictures were taken and I plan to collect all of them so you will all be able to see them soon enough.
Other stuff: Rugby is looking alright, I'm getting the rugby program from the strength and conditioning coach and have my last practice before the trials tomorrow. The trials are just matches, so I will have to bring my A game. All through this week they have been having Orientation week, last week was freshie week, and have famous Kiwi comedians or bands every night. They have been a lot of fun and really good so far. Yesterday was a Kiwi Reggae group called Katchafire who were impressive and tomorrow there is a toga party. People drink a lot here, I'm not sure if it is just because it is Uni or if it is culture but every night people get pretty wasted by 7 pm. Also everyone is allowed to drink from 5:30pm -10pm in the dorms, maybe it is just me but I personally think that is really weird, however no glass bottles or hard alcohol since bottles can be used as weapons. I haven't been going to the gym as much as I've wanted but hopefully once I get a little more settled I will get more structure. If I make the team here though that will be amazing. This is the school that trained Richie McCaw, the All-Black captain, and are known for having one of the best sport preperation programs in the country.
Alright I'm going to sign off here and get another post with pictures since they say more then I can describe. Miss you all, and don't be afraid to write, text, or call.