New Years Eve (NZ Stylee)

We started our New Years Eve with an afternoon trip to the a local gorge, aptly named Hokitika Gorge, an impressive little gorge about half an hour out of the town. What was great was the amazing colour of the river running through it. We were told to take our togs for a quick dip and we duly followed suit. However not thinking it all the way through, the water had come straight from the near by snow capped mountains; needless to say it was freezing !The dip was brief, but refreshing.

We headed back to the hostel and got ready for our NYE. A lovely proper dinner followed by a short drive down town to a local view point called Sunset point. We had been told that this was the place to see the best of the West coast's sunrises and sunsets. Also as this was New Zealand, this was of course one of the first places to see the sun setting on 2011. We were not disappointed and had the most awesome sunset and skies to say farewell to 2011.

So with the sun set on the year,we headed back to the hostel to gather supplies and make our way over the road to the desserted beach. Our plan....fire !

What better way to spend a NYE then to collect random bits of drift wood, create a fire pit in the sand, construct seats from old tree stumps and have a fire and drinks. We were joined by Joe (Scouse) and Emilie (Parisian) who we had met a few days before and joined us for NYE. A lovely couple who we would end up travelling with for the coming week together.

So the fire was lit, the beers were open and the stars were out - perfect !

A few others from the hostel joined us nearer to midnight (mainly German's). We talked about what each other's NYE traditions were. Somehow we managed to convince them that at midnight in England, we all did the hokey kokey. So at the stroke of midnight, we were on our feet doing the hokey kokey. Looking back now this is very random and they must have thought us strange, but hey ho, it is memorable to see a small group in the middle of an empty beach doing a random "English Tradition". At about 1am we doused the fire and headed back to the hostel to continue the merriment.

All in all a great NYE and one to remember. However the next morning, my slight over indulgence in more than "just the one beer" had kicked in. A hangover i can deal with; a hangover with a small reaction to the prescription drugs i was on for my shoulder...not adviseable. Ah well, it is not every year you get to see the NY in, with such style!