Well.
I got out.
I lost my wallet and all the cash therein. :(
My first night in New Zealand I was booked into Hotel So http://www.hotelso.co.nz/Rooms/Double This hotel is strait out of 'The Island' I felt like I was supposed to be escaping from this futuristic prison cell. The shower could be lit in any color I wanted! So I took two. One orange and one purple. Purple is way better. I ended up getting screwed by the travel people (who also messed up three other friends itineraries.) and the Indian Embassy is basically useless. After five e-mails asking the same question in as many ways as I possibly could I still didn't get an answer that made any sense and when I tried to call they told me I had to come in, but that I couldn't get my Visa in less than a week. Lame. SO I rented a car with my friends Jenn and James and we drove to Wanaka via the long West Coast route. The road trip was fun-tastic and we passed through two Glaciers (it's pronounced: GlassEars here in enzed.) I will post pictures asap as they are amazing. The best part of the road trip was running out of gas in a town whose gas station closes at 5!! We had to coast thirty miles with our teeth clenched and the car jerking but we finally made it in. We stayed the night in Hokatika a small ocean side town where we were convinced by this hippie to come to his movie theatre and watch 'Control'. First off, the movie theatre was this old garage and he had all these hideous leather couches set up in front of this big screen. He was this hairy shoeless guy who ended up watching the film with us. He talked through out. He said the fact that Anton Corbin filmed it in black and white gave it artistic merrit. For the record the film sucks. It's like a bad Hemingway novel where no one feels anything and you don't connect to anyone and don't even really care about anyone. I was just waiting for him to finally kill himself so I could peel myself off the leather couch and get the hell out of there.
That said the town was cute and quaint and I had a great time with Jenn and James. We went into the woods and found glow worms! It was amazing, like walking through the stars.
Now I'm at a house in Wanaka. Yesterday I got a sunburn kayaking to this random island and felt my feet sink into sand and a chilled breeze on my skin. Antarctica feels like years ago. Maybe it is.
The house I'm staying at is filled with Antarcticans, mostly DA's and it's funny to listen to them talk about Antarctica. Some are going back some 'will never.' It's funny how our experiences are so relative. How I can feel so much for a place and have such conflicting emotions toward it. One of these days when I have time I will set out a more articulate version of Antarctica. For now, It's time to leave the computer and enjoy the world around me.
I hope all is well.
Big love all around.
heartrl
