Older and Wiser

There has been a relative lack of updating on the New Zealand adventures as late, and this is for good reason. We haven't done much. To help build our case of inaction, I note today's news which pointed out this was the coldest May since 1947 and we had more than twice as much rain as average. So this update will not have many pictures.


Our front yard full of leaves

Since the last update the Katie dropped her 20's like a fat kid drops a carrot stick. For her birthday, she was treated to around a dozen 18-20 year old transvestites in a beauty pageant consisting of swimwear, formalwear, and a talent portion. Before, you start to question such a celebration, it should be noted this was a work event that just happened to be on her birthday. Each year the 2nd and 3rd year male students have a contest called "Miss Physiotherapy" where all male students are able to participate in the cross dressing competition. This qualifies as a work event because faculty are called upon to act as judges. Besides the he-she shenanigans, we were also treated to drinking contests and cucumber eating contests (no further descriptions to be provided). Needless to say, we saw more of our students than educationally necessary and had many a good laugh as the intoxicated students had their fun.

The male cross dressing/nudity appears to be a kiwi thing. There is a comedy show coming to Dunedin called Puppetry of the Penis where two guys do tricks with their man bits. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have the news story reviewing the show. Please note, this story has full video detail of man parts and some of the tricks which can be done with them. As a reminder, THIS WAS ON THE LOCAL NEWS!!

As Katie did not even have a decent meal on her birthday, she was treated to post birthday breakfast at the Dunedin famous breakfast place, Capers. We enjoyed fruit stuffed pancakes and french toast. Katie could hardly finish her half serving and I couldn't help as I was stuffed after my full serving.

Last weekend was Queen's Birthday weekend and we got an extra day to celebrate the allegiance to Great Britain and Queen Elizabeth. We took advantage by road tripping to Christchurch and taking in the sights and sounds of a "big" city. Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island and is about a 4 hour drive due north along the coast. There are just less than 400,000 people that live there and the visit was a good time. We took advantage of the sunny day and wandered around an artists market, the city botanical gardens, and the museum. We also spent some time exploring the city centre and wandering the streets in the tourist areas. We happened to stop into a bottle shop that had some wine tasting. It was our lucky taste as we found a wine from the Craggy Range winery that we visited on our North Island trip and had been unable to track down. A sample and a bottle later we were off to dinner.


Watching rugby from a wall in the botanics


Katie the Giant Tree Hugger


Craig in Fred and Myrtle's Paua Shell House

Sunday were checked out the "best" breakfast place in Christchurch, Drexel's. This again did not disappoint and we left stuffed and glad to have hit the big city. That afternoon we toured the Antarctic Centre. This was a museum which was solely dedicated to Antarctica. There was a blizzard room which was basically a huge freezer that had some fans set up so people could experience what a blizzard was like. The whole experience was essentially a 5 minute visit to Buffalo in February. Another section was a rescue centre for injured blue penguins. There was nearly 20 little blue penguins in an outdoor habitat and pool. They were playful but many had injuries or disabilities that would not allow them to survive outside the centre. Our adventure for the weekend occurred on a hagglund ride. This is a truck like vehicle which has treads to move on ice and snow. On the sample ride we were jerked up and down hills, rode over 5 foot gaps, and floated across a small pond. Overall, it was an interesting museum.


Katie in the Igloo


Little Blues


Craig survived the Hagglan Ride

We then decided our big city fun was over and headed back to Dunedin. The ride home we made a quick stop at Cookie Time, a NZ famous cookie company. A couple road trip munchies purchased later, we completed the 4 hour ride home.


Yummy!

This week has been a short one due to the long weekend. We should have some fun adventures upcoming, along with some video of this past weekend, starring the disabled little blue penguins.

More exciting photos!!