I've done it again. Physically gotten ahead of myself. I'm in the South Island, in Picton right now, and about to head to Nelson, but I haven't finished off Wellington!
My last day in Wellington, Friday, was chill (as I wrote in my last entry). I went climbing in the evening with a very nice lady whose husband I'd met the day prior. She invited me to dinner, as well as offered me a place to stay next time I was in Wellington. I couldn't go out with them, unfortunately, because I had a show to catch. They were also headed out to a nature reserve Saturday, and I was sad I would be leaving Wellington and couldn't join them -- where were they a few days ago?! That's life, I guess.
The "Apollo 13" play was very well done. It's fully interactive and tries to include all 75 or so members of the audience, who are surgeons, comms officers, press, engineers, etc...with full-on consoles that work with phones, etc, in front of them. The set was very well done. One of the audience members was subbed in for an astronaut exposed to measles, who couldn't go on the trip. Walter Cronkite helped narrate through the show. I was "Beta Comms" and ended up calling up the astronaut's wives to have them head to Gene Krantz's home to be with his wife. Later Richard Nixon called me.
"President Nixon?"
"Get Gene Krantz on the phone."
"Uh, he's busy."
"Get Gene Krantz on the phone!"
"He's in the bathroom."
"You were just speaking to him!"
"He's very sick...he has...explosive diarrhea."
"I need..." (Meanwhile, they've written on the board "Say 'damn it' and hang up!"
"Damn it!" -- I hung up.
Well, that ended up being my scene. I think the whole show was a bit different for me because I was an actual America in the audience, and the American flags hanging up, and on the astronaut's suits were pretty cool. Everyone was involved in the show at pretty cool levels. One guy ended up trying to fix the carbon dioxide filtering on the shuttle, others were meteorologists, etc. At the end we had to determine the proper codes to get the shuttle back to Earth. Each row had the same code. I figured out the code for my row and passed it on -- it was pretty cool.
On Saturday morning I headed to the Interislander ferry at 7:10 a.m. to travel across the Cook Strait and head over to Picton on the South Island. The ferry was huge and included a children's playground, cinema, recliner lounges, sun deck, food court, bar, and observation/sun decks. It was early and I was pretty exhausted. We had to check our luggage...and I was amazed there were no x-ray machines or security checks boarding the ferry. It seemed like a bit of time travel to the past. People with cars could drive on their vehicles on the lower levels...You'd never see that in the States.
Picton is a beautiful little town of about 4,500 people on the northern tip of the South Island, primarily known for being a gateway between north and south islands. I was also using it as a gateway to the Marlborough Sounds wine region. I got picked up for my tasting at about 1:30 p.m., and headed over to a total of four vineyards. It was a short, but very nice day. New Zealand is known for its Sauvignon Blanc, and by some accounts is responsible for about 1/4 of the world's Sauv Blanc. They also have excellent Rieslings. Otherwise, their red wines are a bit lighter and not really my type of red. The wine tasting was fun, and educational, but otherwise a bit of a disappointment. Compared to Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara's wine trails...it's really not as beautiful, and the wine is pretty good, but not as amazing. There were a couple great wines, but otherwise, the overall experience was OK.
The hostel I'm staying at in Picton is called Sequoia Lodge, and it's excellent. Its the kind of place with no locks on its doors -- literally. I got my first night of really good sleep in a long long while last night. And I actually think sleeping in mixed dorms (as opposed to all female) makes people behave better and makes them more quiet. Working theory. Anyway, at 8 p.m. every evening they provide chocolate pudding, which is basically baked hot fudge brownie that's still molten lava style. They have free Internet...free tea and coffee...a landline we can use, plus a hot tub. Exhausted as I was, I took a quick dip, which was really very nice. I somehow lost the bottoms of my swimsuit way back in Rotorua, so I have been using synthetic underwear (black) and my board shorts as my bathing suit bottom. In fact, it's quite the style here to do that, and what guys do anyway. I'll probably buy a new suit once I get to Australia (maybe).
Well, I head to Nelson soon (in about 30 minutes or so), and I've got to pack up. Sounds like mosquitoes and sand flies are out in force here in the South Island's west coast...so I'll start lathering up on DEET I guess. Better safe then sorry. I already have a few bad bites from Wellington (not sure how or when), and one from here. They have been pretty torturous...And this is what I bought that repellent for, after all.
Adios for now.
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