Get your ow
n diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries newest entry

9:04 p.m. - 2003-04-25
My day out in Wellington/ South Island: Kaikura
2003-04-25 - 9:04 p.m.

Arrived in Wellington yesterday and had a little prang in the car on the way into the city. Claire hit a taxi and then nearly caused a few more accidents whilst in a panic stricken state.

It was just a scratch luckily. We are insured but we lost the cabbie trying to find a place to park up and get his details. I think the cab company will be fully insured anyway.

We are staying at one of the original hostels of New Zealand, Beethoven's House. This eccentric Chinese guy called Alan runs it. It's just a big house really with loads of crazy Ludvig memorabilia and proverbs and crap everywhere. Every morning you get woken up by classical music and Alan serves breakfast to all the backpackers and gives a speech about expecting shit to happen to you so you are always prepared for the worst. It was a bloody good breakfast as well - porridge, pizza slices, hot cross buns and toasted sandwiches, with heart shapes cut out of the bread (dunno what he does with the hearts). Shame we will miss breakfast tomorrow - we have to catch an 8 o'clock ferry to Picton.

I'm not at all prepared for the South Island temperatures. It's going to be so cold.

I quite like Wellington, it is the Capital though. I did a lot today, I went off on my own to the cinema to see the Noam Chomsky documentary 'Power and Terror in our Times'. That was good, had a positive stance at the end too, which cheered me up a bit. I was feeling a bit lonely today. I think it's getting to me being with the same people day after day. I'm sure they feel the same about me however! Then I went to Te Papa, the city's biggest museum. I wasted a few hours in there finding out about Maori culture.

Then I stumbled upon a market with a really good food hall. I had Nepalese fish curry and mountain chai. Really tasty, it's supposed to give you energy and make you feel good and able to focus on what you need, not what you want (?). Then I found a wicked second hand bookstore called Nathaniel's. It was mostly new-age, self-growth stuff but some of the books were so old and quirky and cheap that I couldn't resist. I bought 'Ways of Growth - Approaches to Expanding Awareness' written in 1968 and Saul Bellow's 'Dangling Man' his first novel written in 1944. I only spent about �2.50. Both have great covers. I'm glad I bought something to read, all I have is Tony Parson's 'Man and Wife' that I picked up from a hostel. I don't think much of his writing style. He's not very imaginative, I think he's trying to be like Nick Hornby. I have only read 50 pages or so, maybe I should give him a chance.

Then I went to another cinema (perfect places for a lone budget traveller, when you want to keep out of the cold) and saw The Pianist. Bleak, but Adrien Brody was really good in it. So here I am in the Internet cafe again just passing some more time. It's so cold outside, it doesn't feel right. I don't feel like I'm away from home! I keep forgetting where I am. New Zealand does that to me.

2003-04-27

I'm in Kaikura on the South Island. It's a beautiful seaside town set against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. It's famous for the population of dolphins and whales. There are also many Crayfish restaurants that I can't afford to eat in. The day we arrived was stunning weather, really sunny. Stupidly I didn't take a photo of the mountains, expecting it to hold. The next day was dismal. So foggy you couldn't even see them. I had booked to go swimming with dolphins too, but the weather was so bad it was cancelled.

Went on a star gazing night too, which was amazing. The highlight of my trip so far. We were instructed to wait at the Tourist Information centre an 10pm, where we would be picked up by our guide. the three of us were hanging around stoned and uncertain anything was going to happen and noticed a few others milling about. Then a Danish sounding fellow picked us up in his minibus and drove us deep into the moumtains where there were 7 seats set out for us and a huge telescope. It was so interesting. I saw the three moons of Jupiter, amazing constellations in the shape of a butterfly, the magellanic galaxies, which are 128 million light years away!!! It was really mind blowing actually.

 

 

previous - next

about me - read my profile! read other Diar
yLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get
 your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!