South Africa vs Fiji

South Africa vs Fiji

Note - Didn't find internet in Havelock.  Internet is hard to find in New Zealand!!

We were in Wellington over the weekend for South Africa vs Fiji.  We were cheering for the Fijian underdogs, but unfortunately they just weren’t up to the task.  They were looking pretty good until the end of the first half and then the Springboks started firing on all cylinders.  It ended up 48-3, I think and even the Springbok fans were cheering for Fiji to score at the end.  We also finally had our first bit of travel blahs. 

Looking over the city from the Te Papa National Museum

Everything was good until we got into Wellington.  The walk from the ferry to downtown and near where we were staying was a solid 40 minutes.  It was a fine walk but I think we both needed lunch and didn’t realize it.  We decided to take a chance on a hostel for the night and it mostly turned out well.  We checked in and headed over to the national museum.  We looked at a handful of the exhibits and then realized we badly needed food.  The museum was beautiful and we will definitely be going back to visit again.  We wandered down to the water front and it was just absolutely swamped with rugby fans.  We finally settled on a relatively empty café and settled in for a bite to eat.  While sitting there, I realized I was just not having an amazing time, so I asked Mike if he was having a good time in Wellington.  He grinned at me and said…. No.  Pretty funny.  Our dinner of lamb burgers was delicious though and I think it gave us what we needed, because we then headed to the game and we were feeling much better.  The game was great and we weren’t too cold.  Our seats had us right next to the entry for the teams, so it was fun to see them up close as they came and went.  They are some very big boys!! 

South Africa heading into the tunnel.

We headed back to the hostel to see what the rest of the evening held for us.  I was a little worried from some online reviews that I had read, but had not too much to worry about.  The room was clean and we had booked into a 4 person dorm room, but after some room mix ups we ended up in a room all by ourselves.  There was a bathroom in the room and it all was quite clean.  The best bit was there was a bar attached to the hostel & it had great drink deals and some delicious cheap food.  Our cheapest most delicious meal "out" in New Zealand yet.

Reading the paper on the ferry back to Picton.  Down with Australia!

The next morning we were on the early ferry out and we wandered about Picton a bit waiting for the library to open so that we could use the internet.  Picton was having a Spring Festival so we sampled some free wine and food watched a singer and a cooking demonstration.  A school was also selling venison sausages and patties.  We had one each for a snack then used the internet and headed back to the house.  We had set up a time to head up to the main house and have some drinks with our hosts Yvonne & Vic, so late in the afternoon we headed up.  Drinks turned into more drinks and then snacks and more drinks and then dinner.  We had such a lovely time getting to know them.  They are originally from Switzerland and moved here to New Zealand quite some time ago.  We are counting ourselves lucky to have some a nice place to call home while we are here.

Yesterday the weather was quite cold and dreary.  We even had a full on thunderstorm in the evening.  So, it was the perfect day to just vegetate and stare out at the bay.  Today we’ve already been for a very ambitious run/hike up Mt Cawte (1,500 feet in elevation!) that is behind our little house.  It was an absolutely amazing view.  Mike and I sat for quite some time at the top just saying… Wow.  Too bad we didn’t take the camera.  We’ll remember it the next time.  Now we’re off to explore Havelock and hopefully we find some free internet so that I can upload this post and some of the green lipped mussels that they raise in the sound.