Kaikoura to Wellington

I am currently back in Wellington and staying with Mike, Debs, and Ethan until the 28th. Kaikoura was quite uneventful as the sea was too rough and my whale watching trip was cancelled! BOOOO! I was actually really looking forward to whale watching for some reason... I get there and the guy is all, "Well today's trip is cancelled. How is your schedule for tomorrow?" So I'm thinking, "Oh tomorrow is jam-packed with riding a bus for 2 hours, then jumping onto a ferry for 3 hours and watching enormous Australian men play rugby... I think I just may be able to pencil a whale watch in!" I just basically ran around Kaikoura taking pictures and seeing the city... which consisted of one big street... one big street with a used bookstore! Yes, I picked up yet another book, About a Boy by Nick Hornby (better known as the author of High Fidelity). No wonder my backpack is so damn heavy, I have about 5 books stuffed in it and I am too attached to all of them to give them away. So I did what any person would do, I found another used bookstore today and sold one back... and picked up Tuesdays with Morrie... wait, I thought I was supposed to be getting rid of books?! Actually Tuesdays With Morrie is one of my faves thanks to my Comm 110 professor, Steve Koehn. I figured I'd read it again and cry... again.

Mike picked me up after the ferry ride and I think I had the best night's sleep the entire trip last night. Apparently Ethan was trying to wake me up this morning outside my closed bedroom door... little did he know I now sleep like a rock. Being in a hostel with anywhere from 6-12 people at a time you learn to sleep through bags being packed, snoring, and people having sex (not lying). Thank god someone invented ear plugs.

Today I took the bus into the city and walked around for quite some time. Welly is such a great walking city, it's just bustling with people. It is by far my most favorite city here and I can easily understand why Mike and Debs chose to live here. I hit up the Wellington Art Gallery for a bit then ran into the Te Papa Museum to grab some new photos of a VW bus exhibit they have there on the sculpture deck (the pics I had before were on my MIA digital camera). We went out to dinner at a Malaysian restaurant in town tonight. I haven't had Malaysian before, just Thai, Chinese, and Japanese. It was pretty similiar to Thai... very very good!

Oh and I almost forgot... I spoke to my best friend in the whole wide world right before I got onto the ferry yesterday (Randi that would be you) She just got back from her trip to India this past week. My main question is... Hey Mom and Dad, aren't you guys happy I chose to backpack New Zealand instead of India? ***I can instantly feel my father's mouth dropping to the floor*** Mind you, the same father who when told that Randi was moving to Oregon said, "What is she moving to Oregon for? How is she getting there, by covered wagon" (he then proceeded to laugh at his own joke. I love you dad) Anyway, sorry for the tangent... Randi has decided to run the San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society again this year (hell, I couldn't drive 26 miles) She raised just over $4000 last year... if you would like to donate to her cause, you can paste this little link right into your browser:

http://www.active.com/donate/tntor/tntorRPetrau1

That's it for now everyone... sorry I'm not falling into anyone's lap or helping out the Japanese tourists for this blog... just give me a few days!