Dunedin, Christchurch, and OZ

I'm in Melbourne right now and this city is awesome. Like a larger Portland with LA weather. In general aussies hate Americans even more the kiwis. A friend tells me they have taken to calling us septics. Oh well. I have still yet to meet any other Americans here, so I am basically the ambassador for our country. Wish me luck. Tomorrow I'm off to Perth for about a week. I'll try to write again from there at some point.

I wrote this entry a while ago but haven't had a chance to upload it until now:

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After a butchering "We Are the Champions" at a karaoke bar in Dunedin we left for Mt. Cook on the advice of our host Alana. We were her first couchsurfers and she was a very gracious host. She is engaged to her Czech boyfriend... they've been "dating" for over a year now, though they've only spent 6 days physically together. Their relationship is entirely skype-based, but they are going to get married anyway.


We stayed in a cabin-like hostel very close to Mt. Cook. The following morning we went for a long hike. Mt. Cook itself was obscured by clouds but we were able to see some other beautiful peaks and glaciers. There are two lakes near Mt. Cook that had neon blue water. I've never seen anything like it.



From there we drove to Christchurch and got quick dinner at some kabab place. About halfway though our meal a fight broke out just outside the door to the restaurant, and ended in one of the guys in a headlock literally in the doorway of our restaurant.

As it turns out the loser of the fight had stolen a small can of pringles - valued at $2.50 - and been chased down and tackled by the small asian convenience store manager. The thief was Canadian and offered to pay the manager twice what the Pringles cost and said he would never go back to his store, but the manager would not let him out of the headlock and insisted he wouldn't move until the police arrived.

As we were leaving the police arrived, asked what had happened, and the told the Canadian to pay the man double what the chips were worth and not come back to the store. What a lucky break. In the US he probably would have been deported.

So from there we went over to another couch surfer's home. We played some Texas Hold 'em (I had it and then lost all my chips in two ridiculous hands) and some pool (I won all 3 games) and went to sleep. I spent today wandering around Christchurch (didn't see the famous wizard) and making arrangements for getting a ride to the airport at 3:55am tomorrow morning.

Next time I write I will be in Australia. Until then...