DUN DUN DUN...Dunedin!

At long last, the Dunedin update *suspenseful music* Have some Dunedin Pics

Abstract (sorry, too many damn projects!)

Highlights of last weekend: the game of “I’ve never…” followed by body shots, drunken dance floor antics, and Colin trying to get me at least tipsy. 2 to 3 hours of sleep, Cadbury tour, the albatross/penguin/seal tour, the Graduate performed as a play, and the All Blacks vs. Wallabies game. After a full night’s rest, Larnach castle, the steepest street in the world, St. Clair beach, rainbow, and a puppy.



I neither won nor lost the game of I’ve Never, but I can say it was very enlightening. I now know dirty little secrets about the other seven that aren’t supposed to leave the hotel room in which we played the game. Hee.

As for the body shots, I can say that I egged and spectated only. I do have pictures, however. Hee again.

Ah, the dance floor. We had a bit of a switcheroo from what usually occurs in such an environment—the ones who usually “score” (dance with/get hit on by locals) didn’t score, and the ones who usually don’t get any got some. It was odd. I’m only talking about the 4 other girls because for some reason the boys and I just haven’t really gone there with Kiwis. No old guys for me that time, either. Huzzah!

Ah, did people buy me drinks that night! We all pitched in for the drinks used during I’ve Never, then Michelle bought me a Malibu pineapple because she owed me money anyway, and Colin, having found out during I’ve Never that I’ve never been drunk before, felt bad for me and decided that I’d get drunk on his tab. Unfortunately for him, after 2 rum and cokes and part of a gin and tonic I felt kind of bad for using up all his money without results and so I stopped and remained as sober as a judge for the rest of the night. He was both amazed and disappointed. I’d be an expensive date to get drunk. It’s genetic.

So who likes chocolate? I thought I did. Then I went to the Cadbury factory, had the lamest tour ever, and now I’m not quite so in love with it. The whole thing was pretty much walking around the plant watching little DVD snippets. So if you ever find yourself in Dunedin, NZ, go spend your time in places other than the Cadbury factory.

Ah, the Elm wildlife tour. So. Great. We saw an albatross, which was really lucky, especially for the day we went out—it was warm and not very windy. Albatrosses can’t fly without the wind because their wings are so damn heavy and their bodies are so damn huge. They also sleep while flying over the ocean by catching a drift and turning off half their brains, like dolphins. Their babies get even bigger than the adults are because chicks that can’t fly yet eat a ton and don’t get much exercise. We also saw a colony of fur seals, which were cute, but not quite as cool as the NZ sea lion. Male sea lions populated the beach and it was like hanging out at a frat house the morning after, assuming everyone had gotten too piss drunk the night before to leave. They were lying around waiting for the day to cool down, and the big dudes were bossing around the little ones. I have a hilarious video clip of one group that was having a tiff, and in the background our guide is giving a narrative of the sea lion mating process. Too funny.

We also saw Yellow-Eyed Penguins return from the ocean to nest for the night. Their feet were bright pink because it was so hot (about 52 F) and every so often they would stop walking and kind of stand there and lift their toes up, trying to cool their feet off. We watched established couples reunite, snog, and sing love ballads to each other. According to our guide, the singing and the kissing are purely displays of affection. It was soooo cute! I have videos of penguin necking and penguin song.

After we got back into the city after the tour, we made it in time to get tickets for a theater production of The Graduate. The stage had a revolving set!! I’ve never seen the movie, but I had a general idea of the storyline. There was definite full-frontal nudity in the beginning, which I wasn’t expecting so it was like “HELLO SHE’S NAKED.” It was a really good performance, they actors were really funny, and the American accents were convincing. We’ll have to rent the movie while we’re here.

That night I decided that I wanted to get more sleep than I got the night before so instead of going out I stayed at the hotel and watched the All Blacks vs. Wallabies rugby game on TV. I got to see the haka again! New Zealand was really worrying me during the first half of the game—it was 0-13 for a bit, and then 3-13 for most of it. Then during the second half they started really pulling those amazingly awesome plays that they’re famous for, and pulled their score up to 30, leaving Australia with their measly 13. One of the players, Daniel Carter, broke his leg and the slow motion replay of the incident was just a jaw dropping and incredible OUCH.

There is one castle in New Zealand (on the South Island, anyway) and that is the Larnach Castle. While compared to Hearst’s Castle it was pretty small and not all that elaborate, it was still really neat. I especially like the tower because of the amazing views of the harbor, city, and surrounding lands. The grounds were even more amazing and the whole thing was awesome.

Next we drove up and down the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street, in our mint-green Hiace van. Besides Mike’s driving in general, this was the “Oh sweet mother of pearl we’re going to die!” event. I wish I’d thought fast enough to get video footage of going down that hill and record everyone’s terrified screams from the backseats, but I guess that’ll just have to live on in our memories.

Next we took off to the beach in St. Clair, where most of the group wanted to go surfing, but all the shops were closed, so instead we chased a rainbow, did backflips and cartwheels on the beach and played with an incredibly soft, tiny, and adorable puppy named Poppy. He wouldn’t stay still long enough for a picture so I just started clicking away, hoping for a good one. He kept trying to eat my camera, so I have a couple of good live-action shots of him doing just that. One is my desktop background.



Now I have to sleep.