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Date: May 30, 2004
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington is much akin to San Francisco, and they are in fact
sister-cities.
The town is quite hilly, and all the buildings are built on steep
inclines - to
top it off, it's one of the windiest locations on the North Island, and
feels
about 4 minor earthquakes daily - although the tremors are so slight, I
never
felt them. Because it sits on such a hotbed of tectonic activity, the
buildings
are some of best 'quake-proofed' in the world. It's also where much of the
footage for the Lord of the Rings was filmed, and is the director's
hometown.
Smelly-Welly was a pretty quiet stop on the tour for me, relatively
speaking.
After another big night out, starting at "The Quarter", a New Orleans
themed
eatery and bar, and ending in The Sports
Bar, along Wellington's main
drag,
Courtenay Place - despite drinking plenty, I never caught a buzz but
instead
ended up babysitting some of the hard-partying girls from Oz, sheparding
them
back to the hotel around 3 in the morning with a taxi driver who spoke no
English and had no idea where our hotel, a few blocks away on a main
street,
was located.
Up around 9'ish to wander out in search of breakfast, which ultimately
consisted of a tuna sandwich, a Coke, a rasher of bacon, and some sauted mushrooms, the off to jot a short e-mail and shop for 70's attire. Yes,
70's
attire - our send-off party is to be 70's themed, so Mark, Ryan and I
found a
little thrift store where we picked up some hideous shirts, pants, and wigs.
Pictures will probably do better in describing those than I could now, so,
later... Did a little shopping, picked up hiking shoes, and a small
backpack, a
book of poetry, and ended up working out, and soaking in the sauna - where
poetic inspiration seized me and I was obliged to run down the hall in a
towel
to borrow a couple of pieces of paper and a pen from the spa manager,
retreat
to the hot, cedar-lined room, and scribble the beginnings of 4 or 5 poems
down.
Might actually end up with a small book of poems/pictures from this trip,
but...
Second night in Wellington was a bit crazier than the first - the group
met in
the hotel bar at 7 pm, and as there was no arranged dinner, we set out in
a mob
to find sustenance and spirits. Ended up splitting up into smaller groups,
as
we couldn't find one establishment to host us all, with the plan being to
meet
at 10 pm at The Sports Bar. Dined on a lovely sirloin glazed with spicy
red-
currant sauce, plenty of chips (fries) and a salad. Washed down with 1/3
of a
bottle of chardonnay which, as soon as we reached The Sports Bar, was
presently
followed by: 1/2 bottle chardonnay,
shot of tequila,
shot of Jack Daniels,
Irish Car Bomb (Guinness and Baileys),
rum and coke,
another 1/2 bottle of chardonnay,
Red Bull and Jaegermeister,
a few more shots...
...suffice to say, a long night, lots of dancing, some more poetic
scribbles,
culminating with a fuzzy cab ride back to the hotel and a little friendly
frolic with a cute Aussie.
...in the morning, it was up early to catch the ferry to Picton, on the
South
Island, and from there head here, to Christchurch, and then south to
Fox
Glacier and Queenstown. Booked the latest optional adventures, including a
hike
on the glacier, white-water rafting, bungee-jumping, jet boat rides, and
the
canyon swing...
...bored yet? I suppose I could wrap this up now...
- Edward
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