Wellington is Wonderful

Attending my first Wellington Phoenix 'football' game. We sat in the acclaimed Yellow Fever Fan section where I learned classic football chants like "Oh Wellington is Wonderful" and "The Ref is an Aussie."

Also when a seagull flies over the stadium and the score is 0-0, you chant 'SEEEEEEEAGUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLL' to let the players know that you are bored and they better pick up the pace. Unfortunately, Wellington lost, but we still think they are wonderful.

Antarctic Centre - Canterbury

Eventually I became more courageous about my driving abilities in NZ and set off to find the Antarctic Centre on my own. The Centre is the world's aerial gateway to the Antarctic where scientist undergo training and supplies to endure living on the ice capped continent.

I rode in an hagglund, a Swedish all terrain vehicle. It is the official vehicle of Antarctica with the ability to cross 3 meter cracks in the ice, climb 45 degree inclines, and to become a boat! Not the smoothest ride, but it will get you where ever in the world you need to go.

Inside the center, I saw the feeding of cute blue penguins. My favorite was Elvis, though through DNA testing it was determined Elvis was a girl. But a couple of them did have blue shoes. Apparently some of the penguins were getting sore feet from the rocks.














I also survived an 'authentic' antarctic storm. Really . . . .George (the elderly volunteer) locked me in an room, dropped the temperature to negative 20 degrees Celsius , and turned on some high powered fans for 5 minutes. It was COLD. And to humor my new friend, I went down the ice slide and threw snow balls at him. He was lucky there was glass between us.

Kiwi Slang - Sweet as . . .

Sweet as what?? As chocolate? lollipop? ice cream?

It is humorous the use of 'sweet as' in any situation. I refuse to use it. My excuse is my lack of grammatical and cultural understanding to use 'sweet as' appropriately. If I were told your mother died and I said 'sweet as' is that correct? I received a resounding NO!

Below is a funny 'pisstake' animation about kiwi slang and accents. Click on the image to watch the clip.

Tailing the Baa Baas

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South Island Road Trip

Mel met me at the Christchurch Airport from my flight arriving from Auckland. We threw my gear in the boot of the car and began our 5 day road trip of the South Island. Christchurch -> Dunedin -> Becks -> Queenstown -> Wanaka -> Christchurch. Oh yeah and a side trip to see the highest point in New Zealand. Mount Cook.

mount cook in the background