This Week in New Zealand

It seems I have a few ammendments to make...
1. It is actually Springboks, not Springbox (though it pretty much sounds the same).
2. It's actually Bokke, not Boka. Bokke, meaning buck in Afrikans, is not surprisingly the mascot/emblem of the Springboks.
3. Staying in one place for 3 weeks may be cheaper, but the excitement factor of the new place goes down as time goes on...especially when the weather won't make up it's mind!

So the last time I left off, we had decided to chill and hang out in the hostel because the weather wasn't too good, but then (of course) the sun came out for a simply brilliant afternoon. We almost went sea kayaking with a few of our SA chums, but then we weren't allowed to wear pants of any sort (eventhough earlier the SA's had been told only no jeans), so we just ended up hanging about the waterfront. Ann had lent me her camera to play photographer for the kayaking (she's got a nice Nikon SLR) which I happly retained and took some photos, regardless of the group not getting in the water. We headed back to our hostel to make dinner, Macaroni a la Watties, which between Hilary and I, cost us $4ish for the food, and $9 for a bottle of vino (more my doing than hers). We ended up making too much for the both of us, so we invited one of our roomies, a nice German fellow by the name of Alex who was looking at the hostel menu, to eat with us. Afterwards, we we went out to Public, a restaurant/bar, to say good bye to our South African friends. This ended up being a longer than expected night because we went back to their hotel and ended up hanging out in the lobby with a bunch more South Africans, who, in their gentlemanly nature, just kept putting fresh glasses of beer in front of Ann and I. They were a funny bunch of old dudes, it was a bit sad to say good bye, but with another Springboks game coming up, we're sure to meet some more!

So that was Monday. Onto Tuesday. What happened Tuesday? I think this was a bad day weather wise and I may or may not have spent the majority of it in bed... Yeah it was. I woke up and went on the internet, then came back to the hostel at some point and fell asleep reading, and when I next awoke, I was greeted by HAIL and THUNDER and LIGHTNING. Eugh. Talk about roll over and go back to sleep! Nothing of significance happened.

Wednesday: GLORIOUS DAY! We went up the historic Wellington cable car. There was not a cloud, or if there were there very few, in the sky. It's this old tram that goes straight up hill ~800m, right from the city center (ah yes, the hills of Wellington!), with a final destination at the Wellington Botanical Gardens, which we of course walked around and appreciated- pictures are coming! I'm still trying to get my camera figured out, I'll admit I miss my Canon a bit for that fact. Also, my power adaptor is pretty frustrating; it's so big, and plugs don't fit securely into it, so they just fall out a lot of the time or it will just fall out of the wall. -_-. Good thing Ann and Hilary have ones that don't act like mine! After touring the Gardens, we went up to the Carter Observatory, but not wanting to pay anything more than free to go in, we said no thanks to the tour, and ate lunch on a hill that looked over the Gardens and city. Afterwards, we wandered back to the cable car and just took in some [more] good ol' vitamin D. We headed back down around 3pm to chill and get ready for the Canada vs Tonga game, which no I was not in the stands for; we painted our faces and wore red and waved our flags. We are, however, saving our total Canadianizing for the NZ vs Canada game on the 2nd, well 1st for most of you, so don't worry, you WILL see me on the jumbo tron :D. After we were all ready, we headed down to the Fanzone, pretty excited like, making people smile at our fanaticism. And, as I'm sure you all know back in Canada, WE WON! There was much boisterous cheering and hoo-haa ing both during and after the match, some might say patriotic anthem bellowing (out of tune?) on the walk to a Base Backpackers- oh yeah, we hooked up with another Canadian girl, from Kamloops, and her hostel bar had cheap drinks, so we went there to celebrate! It was pretty tame, Ann and I played some pool, Hilary played fooseball with our new Canadian friend and some other CADs that were there, then Ann and I had to do a Micky D's run- I had a Kiwi burger! It's like a regular hamburger, but with egg and a slice of pickled beet...a bit strange, but I do love beets! I think I lasted until 8:30 or 9, which was because I was laying on a couch watching the England vs Georgia game (I think that's who played?), and it was just too darn comfortable for my eyes not to start closing of their own accord. So that was Wednesday!

Onto Thursday then! The weather, not surprisingly, was windy- it's SO windy in Wellington, it's nickname is the Windy City I'm pretty sure- and cloudy, it started raining at one point, BLAHHHH. This was unfortunate, but ah well. We had wanted to go to Zealandia, a nature reserve in the city, but we decided it should wait for sunnier skies so we could get full enjoyment out of it. It was lucky, then, that we missed the hourly shuttle at 10:50! Ann was MIA, it's funny how we hit and miss that way because we're in different rooms. So yeah. We had half a mind to wait for the next one, but then the rain, previously mentioned, started, so Hilary decided to head back to the hostel, while Ann and I went to a portrait exhibit of rugby players that had just gotten off the pitch, I guess the artist was trying to capture the look of the game? It was a $5 mediocrely spent. After that we went back to the Te Papa museum, and me, not being a sick and tired zombie, took pictures! Among others things, there's a whole giant squid preserved in flemeldahyde (sp?), weird and creepy looking, but I guess it's the largest in tact specimen in the world. There's a lot to see, so I still might go back and catch what I missed! Afterwards, we came back to the hostel and made dinner; the previous day, we had bought ingredients to make a taco-sans-taco-mix-or-tacos salad, but got so caught up in the jubilance of winning that we didn't make it. So we made it! Fried ground beef, TORE, not ripped, lettuce, Dud :), chopped tomatoes, onions, carrots, then sprinkled some pumpkin and associated seeds on top. Could have used a dressing to bind it all together, but all in all, not bad. After that, we headed to the hostel bar to watch the USA vs Russia game. Oh boy! Something tells me they don't think the Cold War is over, the way they were crashing into eachother, even a small bit of violence erupting at one point! The US won, I think, which meh, I was just cheering for the team with the ball. We met this nice American fellow, Luke, and a Brazilian woman (forget her name!) who didn't understand the game, so HIlary and I explained it to her. It was kind of funny, she was remarking how "fat" some of the forwards were, which hell I wouldn't want to be skinny in that game! Or any mens rugby for that matter! She ended up going to bed after the game, but we stayed and chatted with Luke for another hour or so. We ended up inviting him to Zealandia with us, which leads me to....

FRIDAY, FRIDAY, GOING TO ZEALANDIA ON FRIDAY!
Oh man, what a day! The weather was perfect, I mean perfect! The wind wasn't too bad, the sun was showing it's beautiful, beautiful face! So we took the 9:50 shuttle- it's free!- up to the nature reserve. On the way, we saw the Scottish team bus at the top of the cable car (it's one of the stops on the shuttle route)! So Zealndia, what is it? Basically, they're trying to restore this small tract of land to the way things were prePakua, or before white man. Which isn't to say that the Maori didn't come here and screw with the ecology, but you know how it is- rats, possums, invasive plant species (some the Maori brought), goats, the list really does go on and on! Anywho, so they've fenced the area off, it might be 3km?, and have fencing running through it to keep certain animals on one side, hopefully keep mice out. We saw green geckos, tuatara, it's a lizard, and the oldest animal on earth!, kaka, or the native parrot of NZ, some other kinds of birds, and these flightless birds that were thought to be extinct less than 100 years ago! Super cool! If I've called something the wrong name, you'll have to forgive me, I can't remember if I've got it right or not. Also, there was an old gold mine shaft we were able to go in a bit, which was cool, though it would have been more awesome to have taken the tour of it. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't operating that day or something :(. Ah well, we went on a suspension bridge and a damn- I guess the small valley had been a water resevoir in the late 1800's, though now they've created a wetland for waterfowl habitat. It's pretty cool. They had some nice things in the gift shop too, but alas, I exercised restraint like the good lil' backpacking hobo that I am :). We finished our time off there lounging in the sun on the grass and enjoying a late lunch- SUCH A GREAT DAY! We- Ann, Luke, Hilary and I- returned back to the city, where we decided to all chip in and make another salad. Dietary fibre is a bit hard to come by as a backpacking hobo :(, so I didn't mind! We used chicken, fried with onions and garlic, such a heavenly combo, this time and added avacado and dried cranberries to the tomato/carrot/lettuce/seeds concoction. We also had gone on a mission to a liqour store- although you got to love the NZers for having vino and beer in their grocery stores, there's no hard bar, probably for good and obvious reason- which was a success in the likes of vodka. So we enjoyed dinner, imbibed a bit, watched NZ vs Japan (a slaughter), then went out dancing! We went back to The Establishment first, sadly we lost our American compatriot as he had to take the bus back to where he's staying, in suburb somewhere, then we hopped to another bar around the corner, don't know the name. It was alright, really quite less packed than The Establishment, but still fun. We met this Australian, Michael, and his friends, one from OZ as well, the other from Ireland, and their new Kiwi friend. He bought us a shot, then tried to kiss me, which was a surprise, but because I am a ninja, I avoided! We left there shortly afterwards and went to a club called Rain, which was SO much fun. The music was stellar, the vibe was great, there were a few gay dudes, nice change up. And they had a coat check! Another thing about NZ, or at least Wellington, the bar-pub-restaurants all turn into clubs at some point in the night, they all have DJ's and bouncers, few have a coat check, but get this, there's NO COVER! It's awesome! It's made up for in the price of drinks though; $10-12 for a vodka-red bull or Jagerbomb! Good thing I've got long eye lashes, heh. So after Rain, we were all pretty pooped and headed back to the hostel and bed at the respectable hour of 3ish.

Saturday. Well didn't get up until 11, which is the longest I've slept in thus far on the trip. It's a bit hard with 7 other people in the room to sleep past 9 or 10, but somehow I did it, possibly because I am a ninja? We had the South Africa vs Fiji game at 6, but wanted to get there early, so we just had a chill day- went on the internet, I reorganized my bag (it has the most uncanny ability to just regurgitate its contents all over my area of the room!). The sun was out in the afternoon, so we headed down to the waterfront for a nice stroll, and ended up getting gelato (ginger nut and caramel, yum!), people watching for a time, generaly just taking 'er easy. Our attention was drawn to the Fanzone because, as I mentioned before with the various performances they put on on the stage as well as showing the rugby on a big screen, an East Indian dance group was performing. It was pretty good, very Bollywood, enjoyable to watch. We watched the first bit of the Argentina-Romania game, but left before half time to get back to the hostel and get ready for the game! Plus Romania was getting their asses handed to them. On the way back, we saw the SA bus, and a few of the players board. It was hard to tell who was who, player or staff, but that was kind of neat to experience before we watched them play.

It was a decent game, Fiji played with heart, South Africa, well, they're South Africa. Fiji lost 47-3, which was too bad. I noticed a different feel to the crowd this time around; there was loads more cheering and that, but it seemed more tense in a way. I was a bit bored during the match, and cold, which I know I shouldn't be because I'm here, at RWC, but it wasn't that exciting of a game, and I wasn't worried over who was going to garner the win. At halftime, because we were in different seats, I walked around the stadium to where I thought Ann and Hilary were, managed to find Hilary, and snagged an empty seat below hers. I know I will be more into the next game though, because it's USA vs Australia, and you can bet I will be vocal in that match. The one plus of not following the game so closely was the fact that I took pictures!
Afterwards, we returned to our hostel. Ann and I enjoyed a glass of wine while Hilary made herself some grub, then I had to sew the handle of my party purse together since it ripped when I was out with Ty in Vancouver before we went out on the town. Ha you think My Drunk Kitchen is funny (youtube it if you're curious to know what it is), how about My Drunk Tailor Shop! It could have been the wine, but I'm willing to bet it was the dollar store sewing kit; my scissors bent as soon as I tried to use them, I poked myself with the needle, also bent, more than once, and I had a muck up with the thread. Of course, as you all know how domestically inclined I am not, it may have just been me. :P It probably would have helped my case if I had been paying attention to what I was doing at the time, but I was talking to a new roomie, Canadian.
We went back to The Establishment, ha the bouncer actually said "Again?!" and laughed, didn't even check our IDs, and let us in. It's just a good place, always have a good time there. We got on the dance floor, and had a small lost-passport-mistaken-pocket crisis with Ann, which was thankfully resolved in a few minutes- she'd just put it in a different pocket. We went upstairs, somewhere we'd failed to check out our previous two times there, which was just like the downstairs, but less crowded, more room for dancing. We started dancing with a group of people, met a group of Kiwis, who were having a good time. We bar hopped to a few different places, Lotus, a good dance club, tried to get into Rain but I was too tipsy apparently so the bouncer didn't let me in and told me to go eat something. Now I know I didn't look wasted, maybe I had the drunk eyes on a bit, but I thought I was fine and he was being silly. We went to a different bar and danced it up, had another drink, went to the convenience store so a Burmese-Kiwi guy we were with could get smokes, then back to Rain, and we got in! He made me touch my nose and stand on my left leg, but I was like "Sir, I had knee surgery on my left knee, my balance sucks on that side, can I stand on my right leg?" Ha, take that, bouncer man! Heh Em, you and I make a crack team :P. We danced some more, then I was done with the crazy music and flashing lights. The Burmese fellow, Lian, took me to Burger King, and oh man, it was delish! I had something like a McChicken, and fries, and Coke. Then it was back to find the rest of the group, and onto yet another club, briefly, before they got in their BMW and graciously gave me a ride to back to the hostel. Made it to bed by 3am again.

Today, Sunday, is gray and rainy, we are taking the time to just chill, repack, do laundry, watch Canada vs France at 8pm, get prepped for our 3 nights of camping on Matui Sommes Island, which is in the middle of the harbour. It will be really nice to be somewhere different, it's a bit boring here, but I'm not too pumped for the unpredictable weather...I wish I had brought long johns! Anywho, it's time for said preparations to be underway, I shall write again sooner than this post was in relation to the last one!