South Island - Ferry and Kaikoura

You know you are an idiot when....you know you get seasick, but check your luggage containing the dramamine. Yes. The Ferry from Wellington to Picton was the worst sea crossing of my life, which I know isn't saying much, but damn it was rough. Sarah, who never gets seasick, got queasy on this one.

At first we we standing on the decks, which made things a lot easier, but then they had to close the decks because the winds and the waves were so rough so I literally sat in the window, so I could at least watch the waves, which did seem to help. Once we got between the mountains, though, the seas became much calmer, and I was able to grab a few photos on the deck.

After we arrived in Picton, Sarah and I picked up our rental car - a cute white Nissan, and we began the drive to Kaikoura. The scenery is already amazing, and it was great to see such a juxtaposition of landscapes - soft rolling hills against sharp majestic peaks, which ended at the sea with great green ocean breakers crashing against them.

However, the morning of rough waves and the afternoon of winding hills made me very, very queasy. When we arrived in Kaikoura and found our hostel, The Albatross, I took a dramamine and crashed for several hours. I felt much better when I woke up and Sarah and I made dinner. Michael was kind enough to share the mussels he cooked, which I did try, thank you very much. It was an interesting experience, lol.

A guy from Saudia Arabia then engaged Sarah and I in a conversation about the meaning of life, which went on and on and on. I was in the middle of composing a fantastic escape plan, when he got up to pay for his juice and then we seized the opportunity and fled. I later came out to watch a few rounds of chess between Michael, Becky, and Dominick, who then suggested that we take a night hike to the observation post to watch the stars.

I thought this was a fantastic idea, and luckily it was not very cold last night and so we walked for about a mile and saw the most stars I had ever seen in my life. It was absolutely beautiful. The moon was pretty bright, which dimmed some stars, but when you turned around to look at the moon, you could see the snowy mountain peaks in the moonlight. I was able to see the Southern Cross, the constellation on both the New Zealand and Australian flags. We also saw three shooting stars, but, and I'm well aware of how corny this sounds, I found myself having a hard time thinking of something to wish for.

What day is it again?

Okay, so I still haven't totally adjusted to the time thing. I slept for a total of three hours last night and cannot go back to sleep. Boy am I gonna crash today!

So, I've now done two things that I never thought I would ever do in my life: fly solo internationally and stay at a youth hostel. At first I was very shy, as I tend to be, but the people here (well most of them) are pretty awesome and I've met people from all around Europe. I thought I had left the whole "dorm thing" behind when I graduate from the university, and let me tell you, I really don't miss it. I do enjoy my privacy, but this has been a great learning experience for me, and that I wouldn't trade. It's good to meet and talk to "real people" and locals- the sort of experience that itinerary tours just don't give you.

Yesterday, Sarah and I toured Wellington by foot. There were a helluva a lot of hills, by the way. We went to the free national museum, whose name I will only butcher if I try to spell, and that was pretty cool. There was a modern art exhibit though that focused on the placement of hair on chain linked fences, which I didn't "get", but I do know that it was very creepy.

My favorite place was seeing the Maori meeting house that they have in the museum. We had to take off our shoes before entering, and it was very darkly lit, which only increased it's coolness. Maori art is fascinating and I do have to admit to being totally taken with the swirls and complex patterns. It was fascinating because the meeting house was very reminiscent to me of the Scandanavian meeting houses.

Afterwards we took a walk to the botanical gardens which were awesome as well, but we went through them pretty quickly because the sun was setting and it was getting colder. We stopped at the grocery to pick up some items for supper and I was amazed at the price of bell peppers- anywhere from 8-15 dollars (about 5-9 American). While we didn't get any peppers, we did get some chocolate biscuits which are fabulous and some ice cream (which was like eating marshmallows) called "Hokey Pokey" and had butterscotch in it. We also picked up some golden kiwis. Now, I don't like green kiwis, but golden ones are some of the best fruit that I have ever eaten. After all of this deliciousness, I have to agree with Sarah when she said, "You will never be happy again when you leave all of this." Lol, too true.

And the Second Leg Begins!

Well the good news is I didn't toss any cookies (although the ones Delta provided were rather tasty) as the flight was pretty smooth. I did have a window seat, but it was right above the wing so I couldn't see much. I also sat next to a lovely lady from Valdosta named Betty who was probably in her seventies. We had several lovely conversations about the following items:
1) The fact that she is deaf in one ear.
2) The fact that it is not safe for a young women to travel alone these days.
3) That I got my computer from amazon.com
4) That I did not get my computer from verizon.com
5) That I did not get my computer from verizon.com (Had to have that one twice.)
6) The rules of playing Spider Solitaire.
7) The fact that I shouldn't nap on my pull out tray because it will hurt my back.
8) Did I want to share her headphones?
9) The fact that I was not married.
10) Why was I not married?
11) The fact that I am not, in fact, a Baptist.
12) The fact that she was glad I was a Christian.
13) The fact that Niagra Falls is a lovely place to visit, especially on a honeymoon, should I ever get married.
14) The fact that her daughter wanted to be a teacher until she got knocked up.
Yeah, the conversations were a little one sided. Although I did think it was awesome that she pulled out a GameBoy Advance and started playing Tetris.

Anyway, not much happening here in San Francisco. Pretty airport, if you don't mind the whole construction thing. Apparently they are redoing a big section of it. Okay, there are some people eyeing this computer table prettily heavily, so I'll be polite.

Don't know when the next update will be....don't know how the whole internet in NZ will work. Hopefully, I'll be able to post when I get to Auckland.

Ah, the beauty that is Hartsfield-Jackson

Well, I'm at airpot one of the journey awaiting my flight to San Fransisco. Daddy dropped me off here around 8:30ish and I was at my gate an hour later. Security was a breeze; I was through that in less than five minutes. So, I've been hanging out at gate A24 for several hours now, mostly playing on the computer.

The weather is overcast and a bit rainy; I'm real excited about flying into those clouds, let me tell you. I'm suddenly reminded of the Mr. Bean sketch of the kid puking on plane. In case you've never had the pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T403eJoOcE

So here's a fine example of my luck. I sit down at the gate, the empty gate, mind you, with my tea and parfait. There are seats everywhere, but where do the next people to come to the gate sit? Right next to me. Yup. And they are somewhat lacking in their hygiene. Then the woman took off her shoes. This was not good times. I have since moved seats. They are both asleep now, stretched out on six seats. Guess I'm too much of an Atlanta girl; ain't no way I'm falling asleep in Hartfield-Jackson with all my belongings setting beside me. But then again, I don't have eau d'toe as a security measure.