windy welly

so we finally made it to the north island. i really wasn't convinced we would, but things are at least working out as well as they could have.

woke up about 2am in picton to quite possibly the loudest snoring i've ever heard. it was literally almost shaking my bed, and i wasn't even in the same bunk as the perpetrator. couldn't fall back asleep after that, so didn't get much shut eye since we had to be at the ferry to the north island at 530am. the ferry was freezing! (tho not quite as cold as refrigerator bus). theresa bought us tea, so that helped to keep us warm. the ride was long, but just glad to finally see wellington.

disembarked with our rental car, and after a few mishaps of trying to find our way, eventually made it up to victoria peak to get an overview of the city. must note the looming storm clouds in the distance, but at least they were held at bay for most of the day. oh - also need to mention the ride up.. so the roads were extremely narrow, and keep in mind you are also going around hairpin turns up the mountain. plus they had completely unnecessary street parking, leaving barely enough room for 1 car to squeeze through. and it was a 2 way road. ah, new zealand traffic patterns. we were nervous only b/c we so did not want to imagine ourselves getting into another accident (luckily that didn't happen). also need to mention the construction site where we witnessed the workers lifting a very large mystery metal box with a crane, and proceeded to almost drop it at one point, and almost hit a runner with it at another. it was fascinating to watch, like when you can't take your eyes off a train wreck. and after that incident i'm not too sure of my confidence in nz construction crews, haha.

back into the city to find our hostel (worldwide backpackers), find parking (always a chore in cities), and check in. turns out you can buy a parking ticket for $5/day, and usually the hostel sells them, but the owner was out - so he sent theresa & i to go buy them for him. he handed us $100 and asked for 3 booklets of tickets. unfortunately the booklets cost $50 a piece - so we could only buy 2. i was really nervous that he would think we stole $50 from him, and felt guilty for no reason when he questioned "are you sure i didn't give you another $50". but when he was taking our money for the accommodation and couldn't make change without our assistance, he commented "no wonder i thought i gave you another $50, i can't even count correctly

now." so that made me feel better. imagine - allison the thief. seriously? the girl with the guiltiest conscience in the world stealing. now that would be funny.

walked down to the city center to see what we could of wellington, including te papa - the national museum of new zealand. the displays were quite impressive and the museum was very well done. unfortunately it was so massive that we got museum-ed out by the 3rd floor. funniest part? they had a "junk shop" that came alive. it was called a "must see" in the brochure, so we checked it out. it showed the most random videos that really cannot be described (people pushing baby carriages, the atomic bomb, old photographs - i mean random!). during video segments (many of which related to NZ history) animated contraptions in the room would move to supplement the video. the one i can't forget - a video of a cow being slaughtered. seriously - so did not need to ever see that. what did it have to do with anything? nothing. however, this is the funny part, i was so delirious from fatigue that when that video was shown and an animated cow head mounted on a wall came "alive" and moooo'd at us - i could not stop laughing. tears were streaming down my face.

needing food, found a bakery, then made our way to parliament, which is a very pretty building. saw the famous beehive as well. then made our way to the waterfront and walked along there for a while. saw some b-boys breakdancing. some were actually pretty talented. got a picnic lunch and ate while watching the dancers. theresa accidentally dropped a pea on the ground and within 2 seconds we were engulfed by pigeons. it was hilarious. where did they come from?! what was even funnier was that each pigeon would try the pea and spit it out, then the next would try. come on guys - don't you know if the 1st 50 birds hate it you probably will too? one bird did eventually get the pea down. we can only guess what his fate will be..

back to the hostel to bring in the rest of the stuff from our car, and book the remaining nights we had on the north island. no sky diving for us :( then back into the city later at night, where we were once again lured into mcdonalds (the worst place on earth) by very tempting $1 ice cream sundaes. mmmmm.