Been a bit of a whirlwind. 6:30am I taxied down to the Overlander and settled in for 11 hours of train transport. Kat and her Monkey screamed and gave me a stupendously warm welcome. Friday night we ate at a little cafe (the Lakota, of all things!) and then filled up our wine glasses and caught up on life.
Saturday we awoke to big rain. Fearing there would be even worse in Wellie we devised a clever plan: dress as faeries and cross our fingers that the weather would allow our attendance at the Cuba St. Carnival, if not however we realized that faeries taking in the Monet exhibition at Te Papa was a good alternative. Turned out that the sun was in fine spirits over the capitol city and we got to roam around the festivities. Of important note: 1) I bought my favourite sunscreen, Piz Buin, at first opportunity and my sunburn came from missing an area on my left shoulder rather than ignoring the no ozone warnings and heading out of doors without protection as so many Northern Hemisphere chickies like to do and 2) there were a paltry number of folks dressed up for the event; even with the main parade affair happening later on I expected a more festive crowd - instead, our trio of winged sprites was actually asked to pose with someone...
Saturday night we were, understandably, thrashed and stayed in, nice and quiet after calling in for pizza at a place Kat was wanting to lurk about due to a man.
Sunday we went up to Otaki (pronounced like you are saying 'oh-tacky') for some outlet shopping. Ripcurl tees which say NZ on them rather than AU; several woolly shirts for hiking to make up for the one I left at home because it had holes in it; and the Kathmandu shop where I snagged a wonderful down sleeping bag. Kat picked up a birthday gift, we popped into a food shop for picnicky goods, and off we went to a birthday party on the beach. I made my way happily through some Mac's Summer Ale and Monteith's Radler, had a much more positive experience with smoked goods, and naturally left my Simply Eco Logical Sigg behind. Made Kat pull into the pizzeria again and consumed a large vege pizza in the car as we two ladies cursed the retarded Aussie who didn't realize I had no interest in him and was merely really munchy and ignoring him to make open my friend. Twat.
Today, Monday - I BOUGHT A CAR!
Yup.
5 speed manual, thank you kindly. Blue, pretty much identical in shade to Flora. It's the Honda HR-V I've linked to before. Loves it already. Yes, I got insurance - and it's costing a fraction of what I used to pay stateside. $150 for the year, compared to $500. Seriously. Rock on NZ!
I followed Kat home and did fine. Plan to be our driver for excursions the rest of the week so that I can get more comfortable driving about. Booked myself and my new ride onto the Interislander for the 1st of March - 2:15pm or so. I'll be driving my own self to the ferry, which is a straight shot pretty much but none the less worrisome for it.
Am without wireless, but will sort getting photos up sometime soon. Unfortunately that means I have to sort the photos first - and there are a LOT. Ah well.
Meanwhile, am considering naming the new vehicle Fauna.