(September 27- September 30)
In the morning we were off for Nelson to see our last USA game. After a nice break at Keiran and Karen’s, we had a very large agenda to see Kaikora, taste some wine in the Marlborough region, and get to Nelson in time for the game! One of the places we wanted to see but ran out of time for (in addition to the Southern sounds and Stewart Island- next time!), was Kaikora, a small town with beautiful ocean vistas and lots of opportunities to see seals and whales. I think Kaikora actually means crayfish…and they are also known for their fried crayfish. Which we didn’t try, but saw plenty of. The coolest vista from Kaikora is off a small spit of land that attracts some sun-bathing seals, and provides a beautiful view of the ocean with the Alps unbelievably close to the water, completely snow covered. I’ve never seen anything like it. And the seals of course are always a treat to laugh at. They just remind me so much of Molly.
We managed to stick to our agenda and get to the Marlborough wine country by the afternoon. With some quick peanut butter and honey sandwiches to fill our stomachs (I will never crave peanut butter and honey sandwiches again) we went to try out these Marlborough wines. The Marlborough region is famous for its Sauvignon Blanc, which I got sick of quickly. But we visited quite a few wineries, and picked up a great bottle of Pinot Rose to save for a pizza night. The last winery we visited was an organic, biodynamic winery with great Pinot Noir, then we were on our way to Nelson. Luckily we knew the town quite well since our last visit, and found parking close to the stadium just in time to head to the bar to see the second half of the Canada v Japan match. Surprisingly, it ended in a draw, the first draw of the rugby world cup. I had expected Canada to blow Japan out of the water, considering how well they play against the French. Good for Japan! We got geared up for our game, with facepaint, sunglasses, and our flag, and strolled into the small stadium. Italy sucks, and I thought we could do better. That was a frustrating loss. But my favorite player from the USA team, the winger, had a fantastic game. No tries, but amazing runs and tackles. We headed to the same bar that went to for dinner, as they promised us if the USA team goes to any bar, it will be this one. Well it was as good a try as any and we got there just a few minutes too early for the drink specials. So we sat and waited until 10 to get $4 beers when some guy in an Italian fan jersey came up and poured us champagne. He tried speaking to us in broken English, saying he could only speak Italian (me thinking, you know we’re American, and we hate you right now for your team beating us), and went on for at least 15 minutes trying to ask us about our lives, where in the states we’re from, what football teams we follow. Really random things in very poor English. Out of nowhere, he burst out laughing saying, “I’m a Kiwi! I’m not Italian!” We burst into hysterics, I thought it was hilarious. He kept apologizing for tricking us, but we said we deserve it for being dumb Americans! He said he has to keep himself entertained: he came up for the match by himself, he’s a married man and can’t hit on girls, so he thought this would be fun. I thought it was great.
We stuck around, hearing rumors that the team will end up here around 1 in the morning. We met too many Americans, the most we’d met this trip, and perhaps the least obnoxious...but I still think I want to be Canadian. We entered the dance floor around 1 where I spotted the love of my life, the winger from the American team. Like a stupid, blabbering American, I stammered that he is my hero and I want to be him, I’m a winger from Philadelphia, and other stupid remarks. And he gave me a hug and said he admires me, being a winger from Philadelphia. I got a picture with him, and was disappointed that I sounded like an idiot, and he probably just waved me off as a stupid USA fan. He didn’t stick around much longer, and the rest of the team didn’t show up, so we gave up on the stupid night club and headed to our car for the night.
So our plan was to sleep for a couple hours, then drive to Picton really early to catch the morning ferry. Well...we slept for more than a couple hours, no surprise really, and realized we had missed the ferry. We really have crappy luck when it comes to these ferries. We slept it off, hoping to make the afternoon ferry. Thank goodness when we got to Picton, they exchanged our ticket for free, something they really shouldn’t do. Jillian and I joked that we probably looked so pathetic, having slept in the car, our hair a mess, in our pajamas, haven’t showered in a couple days, that they felt like we really needed the help and did us the favor. What a relief. That was almost a 200 dollar mistake.
Even though I didn’t get to see my penguins on the South Island, I did get to see a whale on the ferry ride back! All I really saw was water spewing up from the middle of the sea, and I’m gonna just pretend it was a whale, like I’m going to pretend I met Dan Carter’s dad. Once we landed in Wellington, we had a five hour drive to New Plynouth. We’re lucky to have Keith in New Plymouth, since we missed the morning ferry and couldn’t make it up to Auckland in one day. So we crashed on our new buddy’s couch for one last night, and left early for Auckland.
On the way was a mandatory stop at Waitomo Caves (the stop we missed when we slept in one of those other mornings…). Waitomo Caves is such a necessary stop because this is where you get to see the glow worms! You can go tubing through the caves to see the worms, but for money, time, and exhaustion’s sake, we just opted for a one hour tour of the caves. Our tour guide was great: Rich. He was a very lackadaisical Maori, speaking in a very slow, swaying, Maori way. We hiked down into a cave, saw some Moa bones (an extinct New Zealand bird), and of course saw some glowworms! The glow worms are in their larvae stage, and their fluorescence attracts bugs for them to eat, which they catch with their threads of saliva that hang down from the ceiling. Almost like a spider web, with less structure. Then once they mature, they have something like two days to reproduce before they die. Tough life!
After the tour, we got some ice cream, and were on our way to our final destination, Auckland! We found a room at a questionably gay backpackers dorm...When I spelled my last name for the guy at the front desk, he asked if I was married to a Thai guy. I told him no, that my father is Thai, and he told me this story about his lesbian friend that married a Thai guy for some citizenship reason or something. We stayed in an all-girl dorm (first time that’s happened- it’s usually co-ed) and since we got there so late we didn’t get first pick on beds. We had to sleep on opposite bunks from each other, and as we were falling asleep, I realized it was the furthest away I had slept from Jillian in about two months. I really wanted to tell her that but the receptionist already thought we were gay, who knows what all these girls would think of these two American girls following the rugby. So I didn’t make the joke.
In the morning, we saw the sights in Auckland: the fan zone, the waterfront, some parks, some awesome playgrounds with so many great things to climb! We really walked the entire city. We settled down for some coffee at the only place we knew: Theatre! It was the first coffee shop we went to in Auckland when we first arrived as lost and broke tourists! Three weeks later, and I feel like I have almost mastered the island(s). Not really, there is so much more to explore. But it was nice to see our trip come full circle…on my last day in New Zealand. Very cool, but also so sad!
To go out of the country with a bang, for my last night we had tickets to see South Africa play Samoa. The game kicked off at 8:30, and my flight was leaving at 1:00 AM. Yikes. We had little South Africa flags to show our love for the Spring Boks, and facepainted up while tailgating in our car. I was going to miss our car! Our home for the last three weeks! The game was so great, the best game we had seen! The fans were all really into it, and Bismark and Yanni started!! And stupid Paul Williams, the foulback on Samoa, got a red card for punching a South African. It wasn’t a real punch, but that’s karma for being a meanie the whole tournament. I can’t stand Paul Williams.
We had to leave the game a few minutes early to beat traffic to get me to the airport, but I was confident in South Africa with a 13-5 lead. I think Jillian and I both were crossing our fingers to get a call from John Walshe, saying to come hang out with South African team, because I would hands down have missed my flight to do that. But there was no such luck, so to the airport we rushed. What a bad weekend to be leaving New Zealand! The All Blacks and the Warriors play on Sunday! And so many games in between. I did my research, and found the bars in Bangkok I’d have to go to at 9:30 in the morning to see my teams play. But the suckiest part was leaving my best friend in New Zealand.
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