I'm on a pilgrimage to see a moose.
August 27, 2005Auckland, New Zealand
7:13pm
I am in a hotel bar drinking a cold beer brewed in Nelson, whose name escapes me at the moment. Nelson is where we will be staying come December and January. Right now, I am at the Druxton, a swank hotel just west of the Auckland CBD. We are able to stay here due to our budget increases for cities, and a last minute hotel room booking website that we have used twice now to feel like rock stars. At this very moment, there are way too many people around me. I feel like the doofus I usually make fun of with a laptop in a bar, and somewhere, strangely a bagpipe is playing.
The All Blacks are about to take on the South African Springboks in a rugby test that people here take very very seriously. The All Blacks are arguably the best rugby team in the world and for a nation with only about three million people, they are proud about producing such a rugby juggernaut.
Last I wrote we had just climbed a mountain. Since then we have stayed in swank airport hotel and taken two separate planes. The last plane being the one that crossed a border and dropped us off in the country where we will be staying for hopefully five to six months.
It all started at 5am on Thursday morning. We drove the 200kms from Coles Bay to Hobart in Tasmania with the sun chasing us the whole way. We saw maybe 10 cars and 60 carrion, mostly possum, in the two and half hours. We still soaked in the coastline with blurred eyes. All whipping passed us in a flurry of green and ocean blue and red rippled sky. The sheep stared at us. I honked once and they bolted away. Serves them right for staring at us. The lamb just shook their heads, knowing a distant cousin will soon be a certain chop melting away in my acidic stomach.
The 90-minute flight was beautiful. Hud fell asleep on take off and woke up pulling into the terminal in Sydney. We grabbed our luggage, our shuttle bus, and within minutes we were bouncing on the beds at the Stamford Sydney Airport Hotel. As we were checking in I noticed a bevy of multinational women all dressed like flight attendants. Flight attendants with red pillbox hats direct from the sixties. Emirates employees. About 30 of them. Not including the guys. The gay guys. Except for the pilots. Right Captain Dan? So mental note. Chicks in lobby.
We went down for dinner in the hotel and right away they asked us if we would be having the seafood buffet this evening. It was all ours for the low low price of $48 per person. Hud was free of course. I looked the maitre’d directly in the eye and said: “Will you be giving me the hand job or will Sparky, the waiter be the lucky one?”
Needless to say we ate off the menu. Hud played with the crab’s legs and crawfish and then almost gagged when we gave him actual crabmeat. A waste, but Hud’s exorbitance was funny; the hotel’s was offensive.
After Hud was reasonably tucked in, I slipped downstairs to the bar. AV8 was the name. Get it? Airport humour is so alive with razor like wit. I ordered really good James Squire Amber Ale on tap and watched all the flight attendants come in and request their discount. Their hats were gone, but the make up was out. They all huddled in the corner and I waited for the pilots to swagger in and order rounds. No one talked to me, or I to them, but from a people watching point of view it rocked.
I forgot to mention the $650 ding we took on the rental car for a dent on the rear. It’s funny, we were so concerned about the scratch we made on the front of the car, we kind of forgot about the dent on the back. We are covered through our credit card, but my guess the cheque will be sent by the time we get home.
The flight to Auckland was fine, a bigger plane, and the bulkhead for us, so more room and cool personal monitors so Hud watched Madagascar, Steph watched some silly romance and I watched Sin City, my favourite movie of 2005 so far.
The landscape from the air looked as expected. Volcanic, green and lots and lots of ocean. Yesterday we arrived basically at dinner, so had a quick roam and went for dinner at this small Greek café tucked in at the end of an alley. We are now 16 hours ahead of Toronto time, and two hours ahead of Sydney time. Needless to say, Hud went to bed around ten.
Auckland has a nice feel to it. Like Sydney’s down to earth older sister. The one with the cool earrings and that says fuck more often. The fashion is black or earthy fleeces with walking shoes. So we fit in. Stephanie still can pull off the Guccis. Damn her for looking cool in every city.
Today we walked to the harbour and then up the Sky Tower.
Hud was pretty taken by the Sky Tower. It’s 220 metres with glass floors. Vertigo crept in my bones at the beginning, but after a while, the dizziness subsided and I was money, jumping up on the glass floors to make myself feel better.
We checked out the casino and even Stephanie did a walk through. Her face when she came out was alive with wow. She looked like she finally understood the appeal of the shiny jingly indoor football fields.. Put her at $10 blackjack table for a couple of hands and we may have an addict on our hands. Would be kind of cool to have a gambling addict for a wife. Only blackjack though, not slots, slots are like casino heroin for women in polyester pants.
We came back after with takeaway kabobs. They were tasty and we promised ourselves to force feed Hud carrots and broccoli once we get to Onemana on the first. We all went for a swim and a soak and listened to the hotel guests on all the balconies getting ready for Saturday night. Somewhere I was jealous, but I am drinking beer in a bar, so what do I have to complain about.
We also picked up our car today! A 1991 Subaru Legacy with 192,398 kms on it. It’s our only asset! It’s a wagon. I finally have a wagon!
Clark Griswald eat your heart out.
Holiday road indeed.
Love to all,
J.
posted by Jason @ 1:44 AM
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