Wellington to Christchurch

Wellington is windy! They’ve been having winds of 80 knots (no idea what that means in mph but it was windy). Tuesday I ate a picnic lunch with Dave on Queens Warf (in the crazy wind) and then we headed over to the Wellington Maritime History Museum. While informative, the museum was quite random, showcasing underwear of various eras next to navigation equipment in the room next to the video of the ferry disaster (made me really excited to take the ferry with high winds and rough seas). I then headed through town to take a tour of Parliament and the fairness of their system of government made me even more frustrated with the US. They have total freedom of speech and can schedule time to meet with certain committees to discuss their needs, problems or ideas. With this direct form of governance, the floor is theirs for part of the meeting and then their ideas are discussed by the governmental body (must be nice to live in such a small country).
Later that evening I dined on Nepalese food for the first time which was absolutely amazing; the food, combined with my recent reading of Into Thin Air (about climbing Everest) are encouraging thoughts about a visit to Nepal in the near future. The next day I was able to spend some time with one of my flatmates, Euan, from Dunedin. We had a wonderful lunch and dinner and a really good time catching up.
The following morning I caught a ferry to the South Island and then a train to Christchurch. The train ride was spectacular; it went along the coastline so there was ocean on one side and gorgeous mountains and hills on the other. The farms were green and brilliant with new springtime growths and the baby lambs were frolicking in the pastures (I never knew sheep are born with tails). I arrived in Christchurch just in time for my friend Nigel’s birthday dinner. The next day I walked around Christchurch and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, enjoying the beautiful day, and beating my friend Jack in cards. He then proceeded to spend the evening beating me horribly in pool, so I’d call it even. Well, the sun is shining outside so I am going out to enjoy it!