Day 6/7: Wellington

Jan 26, 2010
Wellington

Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and today was a travel day. I was on the bus for 5 hours. We stopped to see Mount Victoria, but getting off the bus it was so frickin' windy that I wasn't so interested in Mt. Vicky.

Last night we all went out to a cool restaurant for dinner and drinks. Barnaby, our new tour manager, decided to start to play this game. He buys 2 shots: one for himself and one for someone else, and then that person buys 2 shots, for themselves and someone else. As he was buying me my shot, I thought, "what a grand idea for everyone to spend money--and get hammered for some." The highlight of the evening was watching Carol dance. Carol is a young Brazilian woman who is a fireball of energy. She exudes sexiness in every sense and is so much fun. Her accent and dance moves make most of the men melt, and watching her sway to the music last night was great, as she was in her own little world!

This morning I went on an ATV adventure.... and boy was it an adventure! It was about a 50 min drive to our destination. There were about 13 of us that went this morning. We geared up in waterproof pants, jacket, and boots. The guys gave us a run down on all the buttons on the ATV which I think were 350 horsepower. We had gears, which I think means that I drove "standard" for the first time today.

We first were taken through a course that ensure we all knew how to go through water, mud and ditches properly. We all "passed the test"... and the next 1 1/2 hours was pretty much rough New Zealand terrain.... forest, rivers, mud, hills, dirt roads.... a total ADRENALINE RUSH!! I think at one point I must have been on a 70 degree angle in this ditch, so much fun!!!

The driver told us today that the following movies have all been filmed in New Zealand: all of the Lord of the Ring movies, The Last Samurai, King Kong, Avatar, The Lovely Bones, and The Hobbit is currently being filmed right now. I was able to see the forest where one of the hobbits from The Lord of the Rings movie was filmed, and today we got to see a part of where King Kong was filmed.

Tonight I have to do laundry, and I think I may venture out to see Avatar. How cool is it that I will see this movie in the city it was filmed in??!!

Today is our last night on the North Island. Tomorrow morning we are on a boat making our way to the South Island, which from what I've been told is much more beautiful.

Yes, I'm finally caught up on my blogging!! It most likely won't last too long though. I hope who ever is reading this, is enjoying my adventures thus far!