The weather is miserable.
We packed up and drove off to Pincton to grab the 2pm ferry. Not ideal weather to be taking a boat ride but at least then it’ll be somewhat exciting.
I decided weather or no weather, I wanted to do a timelapse video of the boat leaving the south island. I setup my tripod, wrapped the camera in a towel, and as soon as the boat blew its horn, the camera started. One photo every 10 seconds (which gives me just enough time to wipe off the lens when necessary). I started at the front of the ship, but as it gained speed, it simply became too windy to keep the camera steady. So I moved to the side of the ship which was better. It took a little over an hour before we hit open seas, and it’s amazing how quickly the violence of the water increases. Wet and cold, I snapped a few hundred photos that for the most part, turned out pretty well.
Unfortunately, because of the wind and rain and all around bad weather, the scenery doesn’t really shine through, but it should still turn out pretty well.
I got back to a small group of stray folks where we looked at photos from our white water rafting/swimming experience, and Chippy performed some magic card tricks. But not just any kind of tricks. These tricks he pulled off, he says he has been practicing since he was 16. Not sure how old he is, but this guy is a professional. I have some stuff filmed. He never repeated a trick twice and pretty much had us all in disbelief, and managed to hustle me out of a beer too With a very dirty trick. Basically pretending to swap two cards from top to bottom then you bet on which card is which. There was a queen of spades and a queen of clubs, that Noodles held.
I said clubs on top spades on bottom, figuring it’s a 50/50 chance.
It was a 0% chance, as he magically replaced the black queens with the red ones. He earned that beer.
The trip was long, longer than usual because of the rough waters and weather. Apparently this 3 hour trip can take 9 hours if things are really bad. Thankfully for us, they weren’t.
It did take about 4 hours mind you.
So we got off the boat but different people were in different hostels, so made plans to meet up at Nomads where the majority was going for 7:30pm while Sam, myself, and a torontonian whose name I can’t remember now, we went to Downtown Backpackers.
I have a few nights in Wellington. Gives me a chance to relax, do my postcards, souvenir shopping, laundry, and sleep in. Unfortunately, the weather will be quite bad for NYE. 15-20mm of rain, lasting all day.
So, meeting up at Nomads, I had a chance to say goodbye to Trouble. Noodles, Chippy, his girlfriend, Sam, and the torontonian and I went off for a curry. We ordered heaps of indian food, shared it all, but the brits and I were very disappointed by their definition of “hot”. My vindaloo didn’t even make me sweat. This wasn’t the best indian food I have ever eaten, but it was the best meal I’ve had since our mexican night. We got stuffed at $40 a person. Probably the best value for the money.
Afterwards, we went to an irish pub on Cuba Street. Too full for beer, so I just sipped whisky. It was Noodles’ last night, as he was off on the 6:40am Stray bus tomorrow hoping to get to Tongoriro (how ever you spell it) and do the crossing before he has to leave New Zealand. Chippy performed even more magic card tricks for us, including using some kind of transparent card holder that morphed a bad card into the card we picked.
Leaving around midnight, we walked back to Nomads, said our good byes to Noodles and Chippy and his gf, both of whom are going to Toronto in March and I insisted they come crash at my place for a weekend in Montreal. Torontonian, Sam and myself walked back to Downtown, and I’m sure, after all that indian food, we all slept well.
