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Sisters all rapped up
It was so cold, that we had to run for coverIn the little town of Picton which is on the top of the South Island of New Zealand, i set out in the Bright Yellow 1977 Rauxhall 3 door car to collect my sister Sarah who was flying into Christchurch on the 1st of May. The morning started off in a state and proceeded to become a mess, what with my sporadic packing and attempt of cleaning, and then trying to find a map of New Zealand's roads, it turns out the only map i could find was one from 1999 and was a German map of the Islands in which they called New Zealand "Nueseeland".
A disastrous trip to the hair dressers, which left me with a style which reminded me of a 12 year old boy with a 1970's bowl haircut, needless to say i cried in the hairdressers and told them i was amazed to be paying someone to make me feel this bad about my-self.
So i feared the days couldn't get any worse, at least Sarah would be in Nz that evening and we could start our adventure together. So i set out in the afternoon light with a car full of clothes i
a theif in the night
shocking behavior not becoming a police officer wasn't even sure were actually mine and other artifacts of contra ban from an unknown origin, waved a goodbye to The Villa the home i had had for the last 3 months!!! I backed out of the drive way and prompted turned the wrong way and drove off in the direction of the North Island, and not Christchurch ( Bloody German Maps!!! ).
The drive down was filled with the sounds of the Killers in my ears telling me of their crimes of passion, and David Bowie was trying his hand at convincing me to be a Hero ( if only for one day) at which i was totally convinced of. It was going well i was driving along the coast seeing Wild Seals and the surf crashing, all very Nz and dramatic, then it started to get dark, and i realised that Nz doesn't have lights on it's roads, even though i was on the main rd in Nz (route 1) they still have no streetlights. I became over come with thoughts of driving off the rd and careering into sheep and being left for dead and found by farmers who drive tractors and main forms of
love the hats
all the kids are wearing them these days transport, and so driving in the dark on country rds proved a problem when you can't see where the rd is going and you are trying to get to CHC to meet your sister's plane...i was a tres bit scared of the country rds, with all these thoughts of peril and the CHC's one way system making me mental, the car on nearly no petrol, time was ticking away and Sarah was arriving all the sooner, i was stuck in one-way hell couldn't find the hostel and wanted out right then. After having a mini heart attack and some very illegal driving, i found the hostel, which was hidden around the back out of sight, i got there checked in and got them to see if Sarah's plane was on time...only to be told it was canncelled...What!!! I was in a bit of a panic, thinking she might still be in Sydney, or Auckland, being put up a hotel somewhere? Or maybe on a later flight? No-one seemed able to to able to tell me because of security reasons where she was!!!! Finally a nice woman at QF told me that she could not confirm or deny which flight Sarah
was on, but she HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that i go and see if she was on the 10.30pm flight. I took these word to heed and set off in the dark and rain, which an unclear map and got to the airport using the force mainly. She was there on the later flight, tired, a bit teary and badly needing the loo. Having collected her cow bag and drive back to town, she crashed out i think from sheer exaution and relief to be here finally.
The next day was like a Skiing holiday day. Not in the fact that there was snow all around and we got panda eyes, but that it was bright blue sky's, not a cloud in the sky and cold as anything. I was up early and got my walking bearings in town, came back to wake Sarah, had brekkie out, jumped on the tram that takes you around the center of Christchurch, jumped off and looked around the modern art museum, of which Sarah proceeded to Tut her way around the artworks, and loudly announce that it was all rubbish. I liked the red interactive room and managed to entertain her in there for
Hukka Boys
what were they doing there? a wee while. There was a huge sculpture of an English bull dog made from playing cards having a wee, we both liked that one. We pottered around Cathredal square, which i was quick to point out is no Westminster Abby, they had a little market on, where Sarah brought a bracelet made from a folk, and i got the best wool hat. The stall owner recognised i was a poor traveler and gave me a discount, it must really be that obvious...
We braved it outside for as long as we could, but even the CHC winds got the better of us and we had to head back from reinforcements and a few more layers of clothing. That evening we ate out and had a great pizza with Kumura ( Nz sweet potato ) on it, and first for Sarah, we ended the day seeing a Film called " Larrs and the real girl " lovely, sweet and very gentle.
The next day it rained, and just didn't stop all day and into the night, so we planned a sort of route. Stayed in and watch Lord of the Rings, all 3 movies ( which are on
in every hostel in Nz, it feels!!! ) In the evening we met up with Claire and Rob 2 friends of mine from the Villa in Picton, we braved the rain and went for a drink in a great bar called the Bicycle thief which was all very film noir, com pleat with vaninshen blinds, me as the fem fatal and a lamp made from a plastic hula dancing doll; thoughts of talking this lamp crossed my mind, but as Sarah was now traveling with me now and i didn't think she wanted to experience Jails in other countries, i decided against the lamp stealing.
The next day Sarah and i headed down south to Dunedin or Dun-e-dun as she calls it, and now i call it for some horrible reason which i can not understand, can be embrasing in front of locals. We stopped at road side picnic spots next to rivers and forests and ate cream cheese and French bread, while Sarah tried in vane to get some colour from the Nz winter sun. At one photo stop we were approached by the guys from the other parked car and asked where we were from,? we were
then asked if we smoked Pot? Sarah told them no, and that we were both Police officers, they left soon after.
We arrived in Dunedin on their big hills with no petrol but with a sense of chocolate in the air, i was concerned that Isadora wouldn't make it up the steep Dunedin hills but she got us to the hostel and delighted the people working there, as she does most places. Everyone seems to love her. Once at the hostel we were taken to out twin attic room by a young American girl, who proceed to again and again tell us that she was pregnant...she told us that she wouldn't be able to take us up to our room as the stair were to steep and narrow...i was thinking that not only were they too narrow for her, but that we would also have i issues with the stairs, getting up and down was like a scene from the comedy of errors...only without the cross dressing.
Dunedin proved to be yes hilly and much like it's Scottish namesake, rainy and cold. We did go to the Chocolate factory and have a wee tour around, we donned a
rather fetching hair net and managed to make off with a considerable chocolate. I did have concerns of one or both of falling into a Diabetic coma or at least loosing a leg as we proceed to eat our body weight in chocolate, no such drama just lots of rolling around on beds and rubbing of belly's.
We took a drive out to one of there beaches at sunset, where Sarah complained it was too cold and we couldn't see any Penguins...on the way back we stopped in town for a drink, as we were leaving the bar we hear a huge shout and wondered over to the main square grass area. What we found was 80 ish young Kiwi men dressed only in their skimpy shorts no tops bare footed in the freezing cold being lead in the Huka. Sara and i stood transfixed, not sure what would posses them to be doing this, took some photos. They finished with a defiant shout put their tops and shoes on and walked off. Crazy Kiwi boys, ay bro.
We were cold in out attic room and Sarah was thankful for the sleeping bag i had managed to pilfull for her from the Villa lost property. The next day we drove to Baldwin street, the steepest street in the world!!! We saw the grandfather who runs up and down the st every day, took some very leany photos and then the car broke down. I managed to push it around and then down the steepest st in the world!!! It started just as Sarah got it to the bottom, i run up and got in and away we drove in the direction of our next destination which was to be Queenstown.
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