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Published: February 6th 2006
Quick, make a stupid face!
Us outside our first winery in Napier.Well we made it to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand and our last stop before we go to the South Island. I just left the bar where we watched the Super Bowl and it was surprisingly good. There were lots of people that came out. For some reason, most were Steelers fans. Which was fine, because East Coast unity takes precedence. We happened to run into our friend Randy who we met in Auckland. He managed to reserve a table at the sports bar featuring our own beer tap. Literally, there was a personal tap at our table and we just filled our glasses at will. So there was lots of cheering and side betting going on, and we had lots of fun. Today is also Waitangi day. It is a holiday in Wellington so everyone is off of work, and it celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. I just did a Google search on it, and all it says is that it is "New Zealand's founding document." Ok great. The good part is there are fireworks today by the water so we're going to check that out later.
You know, I've found that
PWC in Napier
Richard, you should look into getting transferred to New Zealand. lots of travellers refer to every single city they go to as "just another city". As if it's a matter of principle or something and they have to prove how anti-city they are. Although occasionally I agree, most of those people are retarded elitist-hippie idiots. Wellington is awesome. It has a great vibe and an energy to it which most cities don't have, and in my opinion that is what makes a city stand out as great instead of just another city. You walk around downtown and people are out and about, eating at cafes, walking around, hanging in the bars, and enjoying themselves. And it's truly a late night city - most bars are open until at least 5am. It is a really good size too. Plenty of cool streets to get lost in, without being too big. I generally don't like the cities with just one main drag and nothing else. I like cities that are fun to explore. Wellington is probably the first place I've been on my trip that I'd be able to spend an extended period of time in.
Also, we happened to show up on a good weekend. The biggest rugby tournament in
Wine tasting in Napier
The first winery. I asked the girl who worked there to take a picture and she had to be retarded and take it on that weird angle. New Zealand, the Wellington Sevens, happened to be starting a couple days after we arrived. At first we weren't too happy about it - it seemed that every hostel was fully booked or had doubled their prices - but as usual, everything worked out great. Better than great. We found a totally chill hostel about 10 mins walk from downtown that has a tent site and you can camp for $12.50 per night. Sweet. I decided I definitely prefer sleeping in my tent. You don't have to deal with any of the annoyances of the dorms. For example, creeping into a room after 10 people are already sleeping, and trying to get ready for bed without turning on a light or waking anyone up. Oh and don't forget about the snoring. I think people who snore should be severely beaten and have to go into a special snoring-dorm.
Anyway. The city erupted for this rugby tournament which lasts for 2 days. People go to the stadium and to the bars in squads all dressed up, as if it's Halloween. Apparently a lot of Kiwi men really like to dress as women, or any other scantily-clad outfit. We saw men
You gotta laugh
Me and Dani. They poured us way too much wine. in Hooters costumes, Marilyn Monroe costumes, wedding dresses, diapers & bibs, and anything you can imagine that involvs spandex or speedos. Everyone gets absolutely shitfaced. The joke about the Sevens is that nobody actually cares about the rugby, and it's definitely partially true. We spent the first day of the tournament downtown, running between the sports bars and the bookie. Oh by the way, the U.S. absolutely SUCKS at rugby. They were a freakin complete disaster. At the bookie, the odds of them winning the tournament was 1,000 to 1. And it showed.
So like I said before, we met up with Randy. He somehow got a job bartending at the stadium and told us we should really try to scalp tickets. So the next day we went to the stadium and after about 30 minutes of searching found our 3 tickets. We went straight to Randy's bar and he hooked it up big time. We'd go up and he'd give us 4 beers apiece, we'd hand him some money, and he'd give us the same amount back in change. So I wanna throw out a big thanks to him. Seriously.
I never knew a single thing about
Which do you recommend?
Umm.. this one is good. rugby but we picked up on it fairly quickly. Most people don't realize, but we have a game just like it in the U.S. Except it's usually played by 12 year olds and it's called Kill the Carrier. They just beat the shit out of each other. It's simple - whoever has the ball, kill them. Then someone else picks up the ball and runs for their life. You can pass it, but only backwards. There are zero pads. And also unlike American football, play doesn't stop after a tackle. It's called the Sevens because there are only 7 people on each team instead of the usual 15. And each half is only 7 minutes long, instead of the usual game time of about an hour and a half. This results in much more frequent scoring. To make a video game analogy, it's kind of like the NBA Jam version of rugby.
On the way to Wellington, we backtracked a bit so we could drive on the very scenic Whanganui River road. It consisted of lots of gravel and twisty turns and great views. But the best part about it was the place we found to stay. We were
The fancy winery
This was at the Mission winery. It was very fancy with nice landscaping and a wedding going on. Then there was us. looking for somewhere to stop for the day and saw a sign for a place called the Flying Fox and pulled off. We were like, where is this place? Then we looked across the river and saw these crazy looking buildings. From that distance it looked like Willy Wonka land, but we had no idea how to get across. Then we saw the cable car spanning the river. Bryan walked down a path and found there was a walkie talkie and a set of instructions that said to radio them and they'd send the cable car over. How cool is that?? So we grabbed our bags and food and went across. It took a couple trips because only 2 people could go at a time.
It's hard to explain what this place was like on the other side. The owner built everything himself - this includes the cable car, his house, 2 cottages, toilets, plumbing, and a dam at the top of the ridge for the water supply in addition to the rainwater he collects for drinking. He and his wife grow all kinds of herbs and fruits and vegetables. We made fresh lemonade every day. As he was
showing us around we couldn't stop smiling, we couldn't believe a place like this existed. The layout was crazy and there was so much to explore. Then he showed us to the campsite and it was so hooked up. It had its own shower, toilet (with toilet paper!), kitchen (with dishes!), and fire pit. Also we met Billy the dog who was our best buddy. He pretty much hung out with us all day and night. What a cool dog.
However, there were some bugs there at night. I got some itchy bites. But not too bad. Especially compared to the place we were coming from called River Valley Lodge, which is where we went after Napier. Again, we took the scenic route. Good choice. We are now going to take the most squiggly roads on the map whenever possible. Napier was fun, we spent 3 days there and met up with Dani who we knew from the Beachouse in Fiji. Napier was destroyed in an earthquake and was rebuilt as a cool little art deco town. It was cool to walk around there for a few days. There are also lots of wineries in that region so we
Just stop
Take a look around took a day and went wine tasting. It was fun but they didn't really take us too seriously. Wine tasting is funny. We go to each winery obviously not planning on buying anything and just wanting to drink a little. But you don't want to walk in and act like a moron, so you pretend to care about the wine. They tell you how this wine was aged in an oak casket, how it has a delicate taste with notes of plum and vanilla, and how 2004 was an excellent vintage for red wines. Eventually you say, "Hmmmyess I think I'll try the Cabernet then". So they pour you about a thimble full of the wine into a glass which you stare at disappointedly for a minute and then finish in one sip. Then you stand around and think to yourself, "Ok, what is the appropriate amount of time I need to wait before I ask to taste another one?" Don't they get it? Yes, I will eventually ask to taste every stinkin wine you have. Just line them up already!
Ok back to the River Valley Lodge. This was recommended to us by some random dude we met
Pretty cool bridge
On our way to River Valley Lodge and it sounded incredible, which it was. The place is aptly named - there was a river and a valley and a lodge. But for the name to be even more appropriate, it should be called the River Valley and Bugs From Hell Lodge. Still, it was amazing. We camped right next to the river by a big waterfall. Our friend Natalie who we met in Auckland and the Bay of Islands was working there so that was cool to see her. They had a 9 hole pitch & putt golf course and that was a lot of fun. But as we were leaving, the Goonebago had a little trouble making it up the steep gravel hill. We got it up a bit but then it just wouldn't go anywhere. So Bryan backed it down the hill and got the biggest running start he could, then he gunned it and flew up the hill in first gear with several amused spectators watching us.
Tomorrow we leave Wellington and take the 3 hour ferry ride to the South Island. I'll be sad to go. It's hard to believe, but every single person tells you that the South Island blows away
the North, at least as far as scenery goes. We'll see.
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Will Hung
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Great Stuff
This is great stuff.