Last night of free internet, better use it!
DAY SIX
wake up warm and toasty (no frozen zippers!). look outside. RAIN
drive 2 1/2 hrs to Rotorua (amazing hot water springs, gysers, etc) smells like fart. seriously, take all of my mankiest farts, roll them into one, and inhale. that's rotorua. felt liberated- could fart and no one noticed.
at fish and chips (3rd) and lamb burger. overpriced but tasty. at the pub asked how we felt about michael jackson. we respond "oh, the weird pedaophile?" and the bartender was like "oh- you didn't know- he died!"
for the next two days, ppl keep on asking us how we felt. we couldn't care less.
check into holiday park. splurge to have ensuite bathroom. nicest place we've been at so far. coz cabin with TV and FRIDGE and TOASTER!
go to grocery store, buy bread, butter, and yogurt YAY!
DAY SEVEN
wake up. go for jog around surrounding neighborhood. good hills, nice and brisk. yay laura!
go zorbing. AMAZING FUN. (me + david in bathingsuits + bucket of warm water + hamster ball + downhill track = great time)
decide to go to free hot springs park. turns out there is a farmers market. eat cheap lamb kabobs, samosas, dutch pancakes, and maori fried bread w/ honey. buy huge avocados. still not ripe yet. DAMN!
drive to blue lake (it is a lake that is blue!). walk around the lake. GORGEOUS. nice bush walk. see green lake (not that green. hmph).
go to grocery, buy lunchmeat. eat sandwiches for dinner.
DAY EIGHT
leave rotorua- driving to see mt.doom from LOTR. higly made sandwiches. we packed up everything, loaded up car, left with 30 minutes to spare. Make it to the park. still raining heavily. WINDY and COLD! decide to have picnic in car instead of tramping. got out sandwiches. Hey- where's the mayo? DAMN! left all chilled goods back in rotorua.
drive a few more hours. get to wanganeui. big river. check into lovely hostel. still raining. go to maori museum. really neat. eat at pub. fish and chips (4th)
DAY NINE
wake up early. go for 30 minute jog around the rive. still raining a bit, but not *as* bad.
drive to big wwi memorial tower. walk up. great view.
drive on to wellington. stop in lovely town (Levin) for lunch. eat a great pie (lamb, potato & rosemary) and an amazing dessert (cream filled donut thingie.. sort of like a non-chocolate eclaire). lady at cafe couldnt' tell where we were from. couldn't place our accent. slightly surprised to find out we were americans. i demonstrated to her a real southern accent. it was fun. go to yarn store. buy pretty yarn (to make yet another scarf).
get to wellington. drive to hostel. can't find hostel. pull over. have david drive. DRIVE LOST AND CONFUSED FOR 1 & 1/2 HOURS. find hostel. no parking. find another hostel. no parking. drive around longer. eventually find another hostel. not open for one more hour. decide to walk around. find a hostel with parking. decide to stay here.
this place was the "hostile hostel". we unload our car, walking towards the hostel. decide to go through an open door at the back. walk into a kitchen. weird older guy just stares at us. raises his hand and points at us. grumbles (through a downward slash of a mouth) PRIVATE. nice sign asshole.
hostel full of eurotrash. no one says hi in the halls, communal area, kitchen, etc.
DAY TEN
walk up mt.victoria (still raining). beautiful view of wellington. hatred starting to subside.
walk to city center. go down cuba street (shops, sort of like austin); stop at an eb games >.<
go to delightful fish market. 2 fish and chips and potato fritters(5th)
walk to cable car museum. only get slightly lost. ride cable car. great view of city. find out not featured on dead alive. it was just a normal trolley bus. damn. get rec. to go to weta cave.
walk around the top of the hill (botanical gardens). go back to city center. both of us really want ice cream. go into an indoor food court. cafe has milkshakes. i order orange (like a dreamsicle!); higley gets lime. find out that milkshake in NZ does not mean milkshake in the us. nz milkshake = flavored milk. i gulp mine down fast (too gross to savor, that's for sure). walk to the i-site (information center). look at souveniers (sp? i dont' really care). enjoy being in a non-rude environment.
starting to get dark (4:45)walk back to hostile hostel (last night here!)tummy not feeling too fresh. too much fried and milk. eat a few almonds. higley wants dinner (hot chocolate ovaltine + smore like cookie); not up to eating, but check email, etc. stomach really hurting. retreat to room. try to read. can't. curl up in ball, try to sleep, can't. rush to toilet. vomit orange milk + greasy potato. twice.
feel much better.
SLEEP
DAY ELEVEN
wake up early. pack up and get the hell out of the hostile hostel. drive to the wellington zoo. now we understand why in the opening scene of dead alive the zoologist says "this monkey is going to new town" ... new town is a suburb of wellington, and that's where the zoo is!!!
have fun at the zoo. they had exotic animals like the javelina! hahahahahahaha
after zoo check into really nice b&b ran by an historian (wrote books on wwi!!!).
hit the road to weta cave (special fx ppl who work with peter jackson). see the baby from dead alive, other neat things. get a hint as to where the house from dead alive might be. sadly never find out (or at least in time.. he'll prolly email us after we're out of wellington)
go out for dinner. NOT fish and chips (shock!) go to "Sweet Mother's Kitchen"... cajun and tex-mex ... with rasta music in the background. really tasty food though. best fries EVER
get back to b&b, spend evening chatting with jane (hostess)
find out some cultural difference. .. in the us, unless you are with close company, ppl you know, or in a very small, homogenious community, you tend to keep any prejudices, racist slantings to yourself. i.e. i wouldn't bring up in casual conversation that i think there are too many ____ ethnic group in one area, etc.
well, we're chatting with jane, and another guest comes in. a regular. she and jane chat a bit, and then they start talking about auckland, things to do, places to eat, etc... (now as a side note, we've been talking politics with jane and she's obviously more left than center...) and her guest says that we shouldn't bother going into central auckland because its full of chinese now. its like china.
... and jane agrees!
DAY TWELVE
wake up all toasty warm in snuggly bed. go downstairs for homemade museli, yogurt, blueberry compote, scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast with butter and honey!
go to karori cemetery (also featured in dead alive). really beautiful.
pick up snow chains for car in south island.
eat a pie for lunch. ok, not the best though.
still no email from wingnut guy, try calling around. find out that wingnut guy is still trying to get all the info for me. decide to try to find house on our own. drive to kilbirnie. walk around for 1 1/2 hours.. nothing. but still neat
get back to b&b. decide to go for run around mt. victoria (right behind the b&b). don't make it up, but jog around for a good 30 minutes. get back and soak in nice clean tub.
go back to sweet mothers. enjoy tasty dinner.
pack up and get ready for an early morning trip across the cook straight to south island!
wake up warm and toasty (no frozen zippers!). look outside. RAIN
drive 2 1/2 hrs to Rotorua (amazing hot water springs, gysers, etc) smells like fart. seriously, take all of my mankiest farts, roll them into one, and inhale. that's rotorua. felt liberated- could fart and no one noticed.
at fish and chips (3rd) and lamb burger. overpriced but tasty. at the pub asked how we felt about michael jackson. we respond "oh, the weird pedaophile?" and the bartender was like "oh- you didn't know- he died!"
for the next two days, ppl keep on asking us how we felt. we couldn't care less.
check into holiday park. splurge to have ensuite bathroom. nicest place we've been at so far. coz cabin with TV and FRIDGE and TOASTER!
go to grocery store, buy bread, butter, and yogurt YAY!
DAY SEVEN
wake up. go for jog around surrounding neighborhood. good hills, nice and brisk. yay laura!
go zorbing. AMAZING FUN. (me + david in bathingsuits + bucket of warm water + hamster ball + downhill track = great time)
decide to go to free hot springs park. turns out there is a farmers market. eat cheap lamb kabobs, samosas, dutch pancakes, and maori fried bread w/ honey. buy huge avocados. still not ripe yet. DAMN!
drive to blue lake (it is a lake that is blue!). walk around the lake. GORGEOUS. nice bush walk. see green lake (not that green. hmph).
go to grocery, buy lunchmeat. eat sandwiches for dinner.
DAY EIGHT
leave rotorua- driving to see mt.doom from LOTR. higly made sandwiches. we packed up everything, loaded up car, left with 30 minutes to spare. Make it to the park. still raining heavily. WINDY and COLD! decide to have picnic in car instead of tramping. got out sandwiches. Hey- where's the mayo? DAMN! left all chilled goods back in rotorua.
drive a few more hours. get to wanganeui. big river. check into lovely hostel. still raining. go to maori museum. really neat. eat at pub. fish and chips (4th)
DAY NINE
wake up early. go for 30 minute jog around the rive. still raining a bit, but not *as* bad.
drive to big wwi memorial tower. walk up. great view.
drive on to wellington. stop in lovely town (Levin) for lunch. eat a great pie (lamb, potato & rosemary) and an amazing dessert (cream filled donut thingie.. sort of like a non-chocolate eclaire). lady at cafe couldnt' tell where we were from. couldn't place our accent. slightly surprised to find out we were americans. i demonstrated to her a real southern accent. it was fun. go to yarn store. buy pretty yarn (to make yet another scarf).
get to wellington. drive to hostel. can't find hostel. pull over. have david drive. DRIVE LOST AND CONFUSED FOR 1 & 1/2 HOURS. find hostel. no parking. find another hostel. no parking. drive around longer. eventually find another hostel. not open for one more hour. decide to walk around. find a hostel with parking. decide to stay here.
this place was the "hostile hostel". we unload our car, walking towards the hostel. decide to go through an open door at the back. walk into a kitchen. weird older guy just stares at us. raises his hand and points at us. grumbles (through a downward slash of a mouth) PRIVATE. nice sign asshole.
hostel full of eurotrash. no one says hi in the halls, communal area, kitchen, etc.
DAY TEN
walk up mt.victoria (still raining). beautiful view of wellington. hatred starting to subside.
walk to city center. go down cuba street (shops, sort of like austin); stop at an eb games >.<
go to delightful fish market. 2 fish and chips and potato fritters(5th)
walk to cable car museum. only get slightly lost. ride cable car. great view of city. find out not featured on dead alive. it was just a normal trolley bus. damn. get rec. to go to weta cave.
walk around the top of the hill (botanical gardens). go back to city center. both of us really want ice cream. go into an indoor food court. cafe has milkshakes. i order orange (like a dreamsicle!); higley gets lime. find out that milkshake in NZ does not mean milkshake in the us. nz milkshake = flavored milk. i gulp mine down fast (too gross to savor, that's for sure). walk to the i-site (information center). look at souveniers (sp? i dont' really care). enjoy being in a non-rude environment.
starting to get dark (4:45)walk back to hostile hostel (last night here!)tummy not feeling too fresh. too much fried and milk. eat a few almonds. higley wants dinner (hot chocolate ovaltine + smore like cookie); not up to eating, but check email, etc. stomach really hurting. retreat to room. try to read. can't. curl up in ball, try to sleep, can't. rush to toilet. vomit orange milk + greasy potato. twice.
feel much better.
SLEEP
DAY ELEVEN
wake up early. pack up and get the hell out of the hostile hostel. drive to the wellington zoo. now we understand why in the opening scene of dead alive the zoologist says "this monkey is going to new town" ... new town is a suburb of wellington, and that's where the zoo is!!!
have fun at the zoo. they had exotic animals like the javelina! hahahahahahaha
after zoo check into really nice b&b ran by an historian (wrote books on wwi!!!).
hit the road to weta cave (special fx ppl who work with peter jackson). see the baby from dead alive, other neat things. get a hint as to where the house from dead alive might be. sadly never find out (or at least in time.. he'll prolly email us after we're out of wellington)
go out for dinner. NOT fish and chips (shock!) go to "Sweet Mother's Kitchen"... cajun and tex-mex ... with rasta music in the background. really tasty food though. best fries EVER
get back to b&b, spend evening chatting with jane (hostess)
find out some cultural difference. .. in the us, unless you are with close company, ppl you know, or in a very small, homogenious community, you tend to keep any prejudices, racist slantings to yourself. i.e. i wouldn't bring up in casual conversation that i think there are too many ____ ethnic group in one area, etc.
well, we're chatting with jane, and another guest comes in. a regular. she and jane chat a bit, and then they start talking about auckland, things to do, places to eat, etc... (now as a side note, we've been talking politics with jane and she's obviously more left than center...) and her guest says that we shouldn't bother going into central auckland because its full of chinese now. its like china.
... and jane agrees!
DAY TWELVE
wake up all toasty warm in snuggly bed. go downstairs for homemade museli, yogurt, blueberry compote, scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast with butter and honey!
go to karori cemetery (also featured in dead alive). really beautiful.
pick up snow chains for car in south island.
eat a pie for lunch. ok, not the best though.
still no email from wingnut guy, try calling around. find out that wingnut guy is still trying to get all the info for me. decide to try to find house on our own. drive to kilbirnie. walk around for 1 1/2 hours.. nothing. but still neat
get back to b&b. decide to go for run around mt. victoria (right behind the b&b). don't make it up, but jog around for a good 30 minutes. get back and soak in nice clean tub.
go back to sweet mothers. enjoy tasty dinner.
pack up and get ready for an early morning trip across the cook straight to south island!