South Island Trip

Mel and I returned form the South Island yesterday evening after a fantastic 12 days away!! Leaving Roz, Maz and Arj to explore Invercargill and Stewart Island over the next five days. Here is some of the stuff we did in our time awsay………………

We spent our fist few days in Christchurch where we explored the city, went to the ballet and visited Akaroa (originally a French settlement, on Banks Peninsula). From Christchurch we drove on to Lake Tekapo, where we took heaps of photos by the Lake while I lamented my decision to wear a skirt that day, after a very Marilyn Monroe like moment!! (It was so so so windy!). After a night at Lake Tekapo we continued on to Twizel. Twizel is an interesting place, there’s pretty much nothing there, the “town centre” consists of about 10 shops. However, we were very excited to discover that their town Santa Parade and “Mistletoe Market” were going to occur the next day! The weather at Mount Cook was really bad so we decided against visiting it and after purchasing copious amounts of fudge and chocolate from the market we set off for Queenstown. We were really lucky, we had excellent weather for almost our entire holiday, so all the driving trips between our destinations were amazing. The South Island is so much more beautiful that the North!

Our first few days in Queenstown are covered by Arjan’s entry in my journal which I thought was so fantastic, I had to post it here…………………

Observations on the Movements of Claire Deutsch and Friends on 26th and 27th November 2006

A.Abeynaike
27th November 2006

Executive Summary

The author joined a group of females as they toured the South Island to observe their behaviour in a pack environment.

The females displayed characteristic ritual behaviours that enhance their bonding and improve group synergy.

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Methodology
4.0 Results and Discussion
5.0 Conclusions
6.0 Recommendations
7.0 Acknowledgements

1.0 Introduction

This report chronicles the adventures of Claire, Roz, Mel, Arj and Maz during theit grand tour of the South Island on the 26th and 27th November 2006. This tour, which will last for at least two weeks, began on 20th November. Other parts of the tour are recorded in Claire’s book and Roz’s Journal, yet to be published.

2.0 Objectives

The aim of the trip is to have fun and celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives.

3.0 Methodology

Observations were made through the objective eyes of the author, who partook in the trip for the scientific documentation of several females on a road trip.

4.0 Results and Discussion

4.1 Trip to Arrowtown

After the previous nights inebriated socialising, the females woke at a late hour in the morning to begin their daily cleaning rituals, the secret rites that may only be seen by females. Therefore the author remained in bed until the rituals were complete. It was decided to skip a traditional breakfast for a brunch instead at “The Stables” in Arrowtown. Two eggs benedict’s and two omelettes were consumed. The females proceeded to peruse the local retail outlets, a seemingly futile exercise where nothing is purchased. This tradition, apparently has cultural significance however, as it is carried out in every town.

4.2 Afternoon Nap

Two of the females suffered form fatigue and required 3 hours of unconscious time. In the interest of understanding this phenomenon, the author joined them in this activity.

4.3 Evening Activities

English cuisine was chosen for the evening meal: steak, potato (mmm packeted cheese sauce………) and broccoli. For entertainment, the film “Borat” was viewed at the local cinema. As usual alcoholic beverages were consumed beforehand for their psycho-somatic effects.

4.4 Trip to Wanaka

As the $40 TSS Earnslaw was considered poor value, a sojourn to Lake Wanaka was opted for. After briefly viewing the lake, we fulfilled Roz’s dream of visiting “Puzzling World”. The females were indeed puzzled and could not navigate their way through the 3D maze. The author intentionally led them down wrong paths to observe their reactions in desperate circumstances, but provided inspiration when they reached the end of their tethers. This resulted in successful completion of the challenge which proved satisfying for all. Jittery Guy and Blonde Girlfriend (form the bar last night) were spotted.

4.5 Airport

A fourth female was collected. As expected, she integrated easily into the pack. Jittery Guy and Blonde Girlfriend were again sighted. It is thought he is stalking the pack, but may have been scarred off by the authors slick dance moves.

4.6 More Eating

The females prepared an excellent meal of stir-fried chicken and vegetables. The author prepared rice as a guise, while observations were made. This meal was apparently not sufficient and the females proceeded to the local chocolaterie to consume a staple of the female diet. The author attempted to join them, but as he hasn’t evolved the specialist digestive system of a female this proved detrimental to his stomach. Extra sedentary time was required for the digestion of this food. Meanwhile, a flurry of activity occurred around him in preparation for the following day.

5.0 Conclusions

The pack is successfully progressing on their great South Island tour.
Daily cleansing and shopping are important to the females psychological well-being, regardless of tangible outcomes.
Women eat chocolate.

6.0 Recommendations

Don’t eat too much chocolate.

7.0 Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank his subjects Claire, Mel, Roz and Maz for providing the data that made this report possible.

We got up at the crack of dawn to travel to Milford sound, went on a cruise around the sound (which is apparently actually a Fiord, as it was carved out by a glacier rather than water) in the afternoon. It was raining quite a bit, but in Milford this can actually be a good thing as hundreds of temporary waterfalls appear when it rains. The Fiord is absolutely amazing! Maz insisted on standing on the bow of the boat when we went into the big waterfalls and as a result got completely drenched, twice! Another early morning saw us kayaking, after we got all dressed up to kinda resemble ducks (it was really funny! Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos L), around the Sound for about 3 hours (again in the pouring rain!) We all thought we were going to die by the end of the kayaking and all had really sore arms for the rest of the day, but it was definitely worth it!!

Back in Queenstown, it snowed up on the mountains overnight, which we were most excited about when we got up the next morning! To end the trip (for me and Mel) we all went on the Dart River in a jet boat, which was really awesome!! The others then left for Invercargill, and Mel and I departed Queenstown for Auckland.

Was a Fantasic trip overall! Mel will hopefully post some pictures of us all sometime soon.