West Coastin'

It's been a little while since I last updated this, and for that I apologize. With that said, let us enter the no-spin zone. The west coast of the South Island is hundreds of miles long but only has two towns of any significant size (both under 30,00 people), Westport and Greymouth. I'm in Dunollie, which is a village next to the town of
Runanga, which is a few Kms outside of Greymouth. I've decided to spend the winter here. Being a transient living out of a van is fun, but winter is coming, it's getting dark early, and it's getting cold at night. I think I should stay indoors for a little while. So I've made a little arrangement with the Dunollie Hotel. Basically I stay
here in exchange for three hours of work a day for five days a week. The work... bartending. I guess the Dunollie is what would be considered to be a "historic pub". Most of the clientelle are regulars, most of the regulars are coal miners, and most of the coal miners are on strike. So I'm the new guy serving people who have been
drinking at this bar since before I was born. Judging by the casualness that many of the regulars just walk behind the bar to get something (darts, ect) I think that most of them have worked behind this bar at one point, and a few of them have probably even owned the place at some point (pubs tend to change hands every few years).
Frankly, they're all a bunch of drunken smart asses, but down deep they're good, freindly people and it shines through.

In Asheville, if you got me started on the subject of tipping, you probably would have heard me say that I think the concept of tipping is silly; that I would rather my server get paid more by the hour and
I pay a little more instead of perform some strange ritual of calculating a percentage and and leaving it in some a pang of either guilt of pity. The response I usually got was that since I wasn't in a service position, I wouldn't understand. Well... I'm in a service position now, I don't get tipped, and I like it that way. It just seems more
normal like this, I think I understand.

They West Coast is a beautiful place, it's going to be a little while before I can add any more pictures, sorry.. Geographically, it reminds me a little bit of the Blue Ridge Mountains, except that it is near the sea, a little bit warmer, and the vegetation is sub-tropical, lots of ferns and whatnot. But there are plenty of waterfalls and
excellent hikes that I intend to explore over the winter. Speaking of vegetation, the use of cannabis seems to be the norm amongst all age groups I've encountered, while it is illegal, nobody seems worried about it and several are quite open about participating in the growing process. I think it's a "West Coast thing". Too bad for this East
Coast boy that he gave it up a while back...

PHOTO: Coal Creek Falls, Dunollie.

PHOTOS: Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki