feb 23

My New Zealand adventure has ended and my Australian one has just begun. I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday without inncodent. It did take 3 hours to get thru customs. There were 6 international flights that came in at the same time. It was bittersweet to leave New Zealand. I actually made a lot of friends on my contiki. Yeah I know amazing I didn't hate everyone after 14 days. I was glad the tour was over just so I could get some sleep. The days following the tour finishing were no better for getting sleep. The day before leaving New Zealand Kailey decided she needed to get a tattoo. The only time she could be fit in was 9pm on wednesday. That would have been fine except that our flight was at 7:30am the next morning. The tattoo took 4 hours to finish. We didn't get back to the hostel until 2am. we were up at just after 4am to get to the airport the recommended 2.5 hours before the flight. Check out kailey's blog to see photos of the tattoo. http://peckandfind.com . I didn't see much of Melbourne yesterday because I needed to catch up on my sleep. Last night I did attend my first Australian Rules Football game. It was good fun. I have no idea what was going on but it was entertaining. It was also cheap. $15.50. You can't even step foot in a farm baseball game for that in the states let alone a pro game.
There is so much to write about it is overwhelming. I am still trying to process all that happend on tour. It is amazing that I didn't know those people even existed 3 weeks ago. The group was really good. The 16 of us left in Auckland after the tour ended went out to dinner. That never would have happend after my russia trip ended. We all continued to get together until kailey and I left. The second night there were 9 of us. The nine of us ended up stumbling into trivia night at an irish pub. We ended up coming in second. But we think we were robbed because the Emcee was friends with the guys who won. In any case it was fun and we cleaned up in all catagories except for sport. What the hell do 3 canadians, an american, 3 Brits, a german and 1 aussie know about cricket, aussie rules football, squash, soccer and rugby? We got a respectable 4 out of 10. We said good bye to 3 more that night.
That is all for now. I am going to watch some penguins on a beach tonight. It is a long drive.
More babble soon. Keep reading.

Feb 14 buyers remorse

Hey loyal readers,

 I know I haven't written anything lately. Internet access has been hard to come by and unfortunatley blogging is not high on the list of things to do when I get access. 

So many things have happend that I should write about but I am just a tease and am writing now to apologize. I am tired. I will share the story of the hilarity that did ensue. Trust me hilarity did ensue. Wellington was an interesting place. More fun was had in Tapua. Today was Rotorua where fun was had to a lesser extent and on top of all that I didn't really write about Queenstown. Be patient my friends. All will become clear soon. Yeah right about as clear as mud. 

For now here are a list of songs that we have played influential roles in the soundtrack of the trip:

How far we've come by matchbox 20

Baby got back by Sir Mix-a-Lot

Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond (bum bum bum; So Good So Good)

Right About Now- Fat Boy Slim

Running Up That Hill- Placebo ft. Kate Bush

The way I are- timberland

Lover I don't have to love- Bright Eyes

Tiny Dancer- Elton John

Dani California- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Sweet Home Alabama- Lyndyrd Skynard

Throw Your Hands Up- some random aussie singer

Yeah well you get the idea.

thanks for reading.

more soon. really. 

Feb 7 Hugh Jackman

Kailey on the toilet at the bathroom cafe in Christchurch New Zealand. 

Saw Hugh Jackman running thru the woods today in full Wolverine costume. Apparently he is shooting a movie of the same name as the x-men character. New Zealand is doubling as canada. I went on a tour of the National Park where Lord of the Rings was filmed. Many films are made there. Wolverine is just the latest one. So that was the highlight of the day. 

I didn't sleep much last night. I was up playing pool all night with two boys. Age 19 and 21. We were having very inappropriate conversation for people who have just met. At 4am I realized these two boys might not know my name so I introduced myself. They didn't know my name. Not that should be a big surprise. So for hours of learning way too much about me they finally knew my name. So I had 45 minutes of sleep before my encounter with hugh jackman. I was not at my best. We were in a van it was much like being at a theme park seeing him. He was outside the window. It was like seeing a lion at the San Diego Zoo. Although Hugh Jackman is mch better looking. But I digress. 

I have to go to dinner and prepare for tonights activities. more babble soon.

Feb 6 6'8"

I did finally get my bag. It turned up at the hotel on Feb 3. The airline didn't know it was there but when I went to airport to see if I could just collect it myself the gate agent knew exactly where my bag was.  Sadly I could not check in to the hotel until 3 in the afteroon. Anyway. I have "clean" clothes. 

My New Zealand tour started in the rain. It is a large group 47 people. The tour manager is a 6'8" Aussie named Ollie. I am facinated by his size. I want to perch a top him like Marcia Warfield wanted to climb Magic Johnson. 

I went Bungee Jumping today. I am too old I decided. I am going to be sore for days from the 43 meter fall. I have never been so glad I didn't eat lunch in my life. 

This unfortunately going to be short. I am going to attach a photo. This is the Calise in Christchurch. Since I have internet here I will write more later. I know I keep writing that. Keep reading. I will keep writing. 

feb 2 marla Christchurch luggage Sydney

I arrived in Christchurch New Zealand at 10 pm on Feb 1. My luggage decided that it wanted to stay in Sydney. I am angry at my luggage. I know the airport was nice in Sydney but come on. So after filling out the paper work and sufficiantly making a scene I sans luggage went thru customs. I called the baggage claims number to see if they could give me any sort of compensation for their neglect. They said I would have to wait 24 hours. I responded "I have been wearing the same clothes for three days. I smell like Vietnam and Vietnam smells like shit" The poor customer service rep who was working friday night at 11:30pm said that the company could only authorize $40 australian after 24 hours. He was not really helpful. But really what could he do. So my first impressions of New Zealand are not good. Kailey thankfully was at the hostel to laugh at my dilema. At that point I could laugh at my dilema too. I was too tired to do much else. 

  So today Feb 2 Kailey and I went out on the town. Christchurch is a weird english like town that reminds me of the ski towns in northern Michigan. You know like those seasonal towns that are crowded in summer and school breaks where no one really lives. Being a Saturday in the Summer (yes souther hemisphere it is summer. It is past 9 and it is just getting dark now.) there were lots of street performers and random little art fairs around town. Just across from the hostel there was a man playing a fiddle with a puppet that also played the fiddle. The string was attached to the foot that he kept time with. Anyway.

We had coffee at a cafe called the Bathroom Cafe. We had coffee while sitting on a toilet. I am serious. there was a toilet paper roll for napkins. Granted we could have gone to Starbucks. there are a lot of Starbucks. But we had coffee on a toilet.

I have to leave the room now. I have to go out. I am still fuming about the bag situation. More soon. If you want to read about todays activities read Kailey's post at http://peckandfind.com/

I will update with photos later.