You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true
Richard Bach
We have made it down to Nz's capital....and its blowing us away....no, literally. Its the windiest place in...you guessed it...the Southern Hemisphere and puts Chicago to shame...the city, not the movie.
Its a pretty cool place aside from me not being able to wear a hat anywhere....and thankfully Best has no hair, otherwise he'd be upset about the wind too.
We were starting to have some bad luck along the way to Wellington, thinking we could swing things by ourselves, we ended up getting ripped off a couple of times on fees and we were taking a kick to the nuts with everything...but then things changed.
They have the most amazing museum here. They pumped more than 1 billion dollars into it over the past 10 years, so its very up to date and has cool things like time zone warps...where they can put you back in time, or to the future...A la Michael J Fox....best part about it, it was free....however, they did ask for a donation...I declined and said the $4.50 coffee I bought was donation enough. Following that we checked into our hostel, which they somehow messed up on our 2nd night and gave it to us for free. We decided we would go out for a romantic dinner for 2 to this restaurant/bar down the street. I really wanted to try the NZ lamb and Matty B got the steak....The lamb was nothing to write home about...but I guess I am doing exactly that right now??? ANyways...following dinnner....we indulged in a quiz show....(which is essentially just a live themed game of trivial pursuit). These quiz shows are a HUUUUGe thing over here and there is one everynight at a different bar in town. THEy pay out cash and people actually go around from bar to bar and hustle others...We obviously got hustled. THere were 16 teams and 3 payouts. 1st got $200, 2nd got $100 and then the last payout got a $50 bar tab...we just assumed it was for third place so when we finished in 16th we just assumed we'd settle our (larger than $50) bar tab and be on our way....but they said that we had the funniest answers and our inability to get simple questions right was entertaining enough....not to mention we were the ones drinking the most, while the other eggheads (think tables of 6 Ken Jennings) stressed about each answer.
Here are a couple of the questions that we were asked...try em out.
What are the 2 chemical components of table salt?
What Canadian Star born on Oct 31st was the star of Cool Runnings?
Which actor died on Oct 31st outside a club in 1993?
Needless to say, we made the most of this $50 and injected it directly into our livers....(mom, i mean wallet). So, I have nothing but nice things to say about the windiest place in the Southern Hemisphere.
I have a tonne of great pics of the museum and other cool things like Rotorua where there is crazy geothermal activity going on beneath the ground in the town and outside. ( Just 2 weeks ago a ladys Vegetable garden literally EXPLODED as there was a geothermal eruption...its weird just walking down the street and seeing all this smoke below out of the ground..its like a creepy hallowe'en movie). UNfortunately, my camera is now pooched..its somehow stopped working and keeps saying change batteries...after spending more than $30 on brand new batteries, i realized that it wasnt the batteries that needed to be changed..if anyone knows anything about cameras...please let me know....oh what am I saying, I dont even think anyone reads this.
The next morning we took a ferry across to the South Island....highlight of the ride was no doubt, watching MOnday night football (LIVE) on a Tuesday morning and playing Crazy Eights with Matty B and this German girl we met....go on....the coolest part about her was that during some highlights she broke out 3 Becks out of her bag...it was 9:25AM at this point.
Answers:
Sodium Chlorine...Not Chloride
John Candy
River Phoenix
Things I miss most....
-not having 7 poeople snoring at different noice levels all throughout the night in my room
-good quality Peanut Butter, the stuff here has little flavor.
-sports highlights...I got my yellow Fever shots, but there is no cure for Purple Fever...266 Broadway boys, gimme some Raps updates.....get Chuck Swirsky to give NZ a shoutout.
-Islington golf course food....beans and weiners...not all they're cracked up to be.
-shoulders on highways that are overhanging 2000 foot cliffs.
-hugs from mommy.
Anyways..I'm still a week behind here...but jump ahead a week ....and Best and I are going on a 3 day hike...then I am continuing on for another 3...100km over 6 days over mountains and stuff...should be interesting.
And I'm gone......
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Amy
non-member comment
Howdy stranger...
Jer, it's Amy... long lost stepsister Amy. How are you?!? Your dad passed along your blog to my mom... so you know, I am not a stalker. Sounds like you are having a wicked trip down under so far. And apparently you have become quite witty since I last saw you! Hmmm... I wonder who you got that from. *grin* How long are you travelling for? When you get back, you'll have to catch up with Loni and I for a beer in T.dot... cider for Loni because she is allergic to beer (so sad!). Anyways, I wanted you to know that I actually do read your postings (work gets a bit a bit boring from time to time), so I expect you to keep the entertainment flowing. No pressure! Cheers, Amy