Over 3 months... wth?

Oooo time for a quick update before I start trying to hitch all the way up the North Island in three days. I guess I left off after chasing the bulls around, and the rest of that day was quite mellow.
The next day (Jan 24) I left Lester and Caroline’s and hitched to Mount Cook. After waiting for like an hour in Faerlie for a ride, a nice Englishman picked me and we stopped at multiple destinations to take pics and see the sights. There is this really cool church on an alpine lake, and it’s like one of the most photographed things in New Zealand. He dropped me off, and I got picked up by a Mount Cook local, who at one time would have been a pretty cool guy, but now acted like he was a big deal, as he had a couple of businesses up in the area. Typical ski bum sell-out :p. Mount Cook is really stunning; it just rises out of the ground in front of you and you can see why the Maoris worship it. I probably took way too many pictures of it, but the entire area was beautiful. Supposedly it is always covered in cloud, so I really lucked out in getting a clear shot of it. That night though, because of the clear skies, was really really cold, and the wind would come flying down the valley in gusts that felt like they would blow the tent over. At one point, the fly was half blown off, and so I had to randomly get up to re-clip it. It was totally worth it though, as the sky was lit up with stars that you don’t see in the Northern Hemisphere.
The next day I just did some short hikes around the area. The weather had turned sour though, so I had to cut that short, though the views in the entire area were fantastic.
On the 26th I had to hitch out of Mount Cook, but my luck at first was pretty horrendous. I waited two hours at what I thought was a pretty good spot, then got frustrated, and as soon as I started walking, was picked up by an American guy who was marketing for one of the skydive companies. He gets a pretty sweet deal, and gets to fly all over the country and go skydiving for free and gets a company car thrown in. After he dropped me off at the airport (he was going to go do a dive) I got picked up by two skydiving instructors, and as their plane had broken down, they were going all the way down to Te Anau to work there. They were pretty carefree guys, drinking a couple beers while driving and filming like everything… kinda like what you see in skateboarding vids. They dropped me off in Cromwell though, as they wanted to go visit a friend and have some beers, so I was picked up immediately by some nice old lady who got me into Queenstown. I met up with Andy before he had to go to work, but then he quit his job because his manager didn’t like the look of his “English backpacker friends” (me) as the place was giving away free drinks and supposedly anyone was allowed to show up. So yah, Andy got pissed and just walked out. That night we went to about 5 different bars, and got to bed about 3 (that’s early for Queenstown). So all in all, a pretty full day.
The next couple of days I hung out with Andy, and got my hair cut and generally just lazed around and played video games and watched movies. After realizing I was wasting time though, I hitched down to Te Anau on the 30th, and drove most of the way with a nice Italian guy, who owned a restaurant in Te Anau. No matter where you go, there is always one thing everyone has in common. An opinion on American politics.
On the 31st, I caught a bus up to Milford Sound at 7 in the morning, and it was absolutely brilliant scenery. It rained the entire time, and so there were waterfalls pretty much everywhere, running down the cliff faces. Supposedly Milford has hardly any soil, just rocks, so the water just races down the cliffs, and isn’t muddy at all. But anyways, I took way too many pictures again, and hung out with some Germans (what else) when we went on a 3 hour cruise in the sound. The sea was pretty rough too, so it was a pretty fun day. That night, Michael (one of the Germans) and I hung out and drank some wine with a friend of his Sarah, who ended up giving me a ride back to Queenstown the next day. That day was pretty uneventful, and the next was too, though I did hitch to Glenorchy and do some walks around there.
Saturday, TJ and Andy had a big party for a couple of the guys at TJ’s work who were leaving town (and for me). We got a bunch (about 200) of free beer from the supermarket (it has just expired) and had a grand old time. While Andy and I were setting up, some random guy showed up at 6 and just sat around. Rick the random, who didn’t talk and was pretty friggen awkward. It was a pretty good party, although Andy almost smacked some French Canadian guy who was totally trashed out of his mind. I hung out with Tyler much of the night, a White Rock (South Surrey) native who I think is going back to Canada in a month or so. I ended up going to bed at 5, just after the party ended.
The next day, after cleaning up, I bid farewell to the English guys, and Carla (Andy’s girlfriend) drove me through Arrowtown and about half the way to Wanaka. Then an Israeli guy picked me up, and I tried getting in touch with Lea ( a girl I had met while I was up in the Bay of Islands and was now working in Wanaka) but to no avail, so checked out the town. It was really nice, and I wish I had been able to stay there longer.
Okay, this post is already way too long, and I have to go make some lunch before I set off trying to hitch to the ferry. So I’ll try and continue the update in a couple days. I am trying to get to Wellington tonight, and then hitch up to Alyth’s and get there on Monday, before going into Auckland the next day. So yah, wish me luck!