... So I finally arrived in New Zealand, only a couple of days late (anyone annoyed with me starting so many posts with an ellipse and then 'So'... doesn't seem to make grammatical sense? Well I'm just fronting up to the big grammar God in the the sky... anyway... so...)... obviously I'm almost obliged to draw comparisons between NZ and OZ... the positives and negatives... the classic, exam question:
'Compare and contrast the islands of New Zealand and Australia with direct reference to approcahability, sites of interest, expense and touristic experience, and quality of the women.'
Well... here goes... (I always loved exams... was a bit of a pro... if I don't say so myself;)... ... The instant and most obvious differences between Australia and New Zealand would be in terms of chatability and folksy-quality... People are immensely chatty and approachable in New Zealand... within 1 hour in New Zealand I'd probably had more conversations with people I didn't know then compare to my whole time in Oz... the woman driving the airport shuttle explained the weather, the bumpy roads and derelict buildings were due to the two recent earth quakes (kind of weird to see such signs of destruction in such a developed country... she explained that one road has only just been opened after 4 months (first earthquake in September and the second on boxing day) and the buildings were merely shells)), and divulging her annoyance at the politics of being a shuttle bus driver and how the depot favours some drivers (sorry love, just not that interested)... Since Australia I realised that I need to get out there a bit more... I met very few people in 2 weeks in Australia and didn't really make one new friend... I was a bit affronted by the difference and change from Asia and from my depression at leaving good people... that allied with my shock at the prices there turned me into a bit of an antisocial see you next Tuesday... so after my chatty shuttle into town (even as I came out of arrival a couple of chavy locals screamed at me 'Welcome to Christchurch' in somewhere between a squawk and a whine... a nice welcome) I decided I had to start being a friendly bastered again... so more of this solitudicious, loner phase... so as soon as I got in my room I started chatting to the first person I met (a girl... seemed to bring me out of my shell a bit more for some reason;)... soon more people were arriving, and the whole dorm was a hive of chatting and friendship developing like a foetus in a womb... we went out, had drinks in a local bar (I could only have one weak beer due to the antibiotics:(... the bar was incredibly local but in a nice way... they even had a raffel where the prize was a plate of raw meat... and they had a very local style band playing (reminded me of the Downend Tavern (a very "local" pub near me at home)... they had a band consisting of a middle aged female singer and male bass player accompanied by a stereo playing the backing track as they played hits as diverse as My Sharona by The Knack and Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre... ... fair enough... so all the lone travellers in the room (Dave the Irishman (a new one!), Chloe the Ozzie, Sven the Swedish German (I learnt that Sven is an old man's name apparently), Morgan the Canadian, Leslie the American, and some guy I never found out his name or where he's from... but he wore glasses (sorry a bit inattentive of me!)) we chatting gregarious and having a laugh together... I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'll take credit for that:) ... In terms of 'Folksy', everything in New Zealand just seems smaller and more manageable (although that depends on whether Christchurch can really be seen as representative of NZ)... as I walked into the city today there were cricket games backing onto cricket games in the park, the cathedral in the town is just a church, and the market is just a couple of stalls... it's like a small Melbourne really, a bite-sized manageable chunk of Australasia... so far I like New Zealand, but I came determined to be more social and with a more open mind then when I arrived in Australia so that might explain things a bit...
... A note about my hostel... it's a converted prison! ... it was only closed in 1999 and one of the reviews on Hostelworld is from a woman who's husband was in the prison (humm... married to a felon?) and they came back to stay here... there is a couple of cells maintained with the old graffiti of the prisoners and it really has the feeling like I'm in an episode of 'Porridge' ("Fletcher!")... it's quite cool, a bit far out from the city but I couldn't resist... I'll post some photos soon:)
... A couple of other things of note... My leg is getting better and I'm actually disappointed to discover that when I squeeze it puss no longer bursts forth volcanically:( ... but at least I can walk without pain now:) ... but I had to get some medical tape to keep my plaster on the wound... I decided not to get the paper stuff because it's weak and annoys me when it doesn't keep the plaster on, so I got the flesh coloured strong stuff... like medical masking tape... Jesus Christ that was a mistake... I suddenly wish I'd shaved my legs before I used the tape... Fuck me it hurts removing it... pulling of the hairs, the tape is mocking me... I started trying to cut the tape off instead of allowing the tape to pull the hair out (so now I have a small array of bald patches on my thigh!)... but then I learnt to pull the tape off with the grain of the hair... still painful but less so... but Jesus wept it hurt at first... just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye...
... OK, so I'm happy and content here in NZ... the leg's recovering... and tomorrow I get the bus to Queenstown
... gonna try and find somewhere I can upload some photos at... to let you see my prison and some of my other activities... keep well folks...
lots of love,
Matt:)
'Compare and contrast the islands of New Zealand and Australia with direct reference to approcahability, sites of interest, expense and touristic experience, and quality of the women.'
Well... here goes... (I always loved exams... was a bit of a pro... if I don't say so myself;)... ... The instant and most obvious differences between Australia and New Zealand would be in terms of chatability and folksy-quality... People are immensely chatty and approachable in New Zealand... within 1 hour in New Zealand I'd probably had more conversations with people I didn't know then compare to my whole time in Oz... the woman driving the airport shuttle explained the weather, the bumpy roads and derelict buildings were due to the two recent earth quakes (kind of weird to see such signs of destruction in such a developed country... she explained that one road has only just been opened after 4 months (first earthquake in September and the second on boxing day) and the buildings were merely shells)), and divulging her annoyance at the politics of being a shuttle bus driver and how the depot favours some drivers (sorry love, just not that interested)... Since Australia I realised that I need to get out there a bit more... I met very few people in 2 weeks in Australia and didn't really make one new friend... I was a bit affronted by the difference and change from Asia and from my depression at leaving good people... that allied with my shock at the prices there turned me into a bit of an antisocial see you next Tuesday... so after my chatty shuttle into town (even as I came out of arrival a couple of chavy locals screamed at me 'Welcome to Christchurch' in somewhere between a squawk and a whine... a nice welcome) I decided I had to start being a friendly bastered again... so more of this solitudicious, loner phase... so as soon as I got in my room I started chatting to the first person I met (a girl... seemed to bring me out of my shell a bit more for some reason;)... soon more people were arriving, and the whole dorm was a hive of chatting and friendship developing like a foetus in a womb... we went out, had drinks in a local bar (I could only have one weak beer due to the antibiotics:(... the bar was incredibly local but in a nice way... they even had a raffel where the prize was a plate of raw meat... and they had a very local style band playing (reminded me of the Downend Tavern (a very "local" pub near me at home)... they had a band consisting of a middle aged female singer and male bass player accompanied by a stereo playing the backing track as they played hits as diverse as My Sharona by The Knack and Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre... ... fair enough... so all the lone travellers in the room (Dave the Irishman (a new one!), Chloe the Ozzie, Sven the Swedish German (I learnt that Sven is an old man's name apparently), Morgan the Canadian, Leslie the American, and some guy I never found out his name or where he's from... but he wore glasses (sorry a bit inattentive of me!)) we chatting gregarious and having a laugh together... I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'll take credit for that:) ... In terms of 'Folksy', everything in New Zealand just seems smaller and more manageable (although that depends on whether Christchurch can really be seen as representative of NZ)... as I walked into the city today there were cricket games backing onto cricket games in the park, the cathedral in the town is just a church, and the market is just a couple of stalls... it's like a small Melbourne really, a bite-sized manageable chunk of Australasia... so far I like New Zealand, but I came determined to be more social and with a more open mind then when I arrived in Australia so that might explain things a bit...
... A note about my hostel... it's a converted prison! ... it was only closed in 1999 and one of the reviews on Hostelworld is from a woman who's husband was in the prison (humm... married to a felon?) and they came back to stay here... there is a couple of cells maintained with the old graffiti of the prisoners and it really has the feeling like I'm in an episode of 'Porridge' ("Fletcher!")... it's quite cool, a bit far out from the city but I couldn't resist... I'll post some photos soon:)
... A couple of other things of note... My leg is getting better and I'm actually disappointed to discover that when I squeeze it puss no longer bursts forth volcanically:( ... but at least I can walk without pain now:) ... but I had to get some medical tape to keep my plaster on the wound... I decided not to get the paper stuff because it's weak and annoys me when it doesn't keep the plaster on, so I got the flesh coloured strong stuff... like medical masking tape... Jesus Christ that was a mistake... I suddenly wish I'd shaved my legs before I used the tape... Fuck me it hurts removing it... pulling of the hairs, the tape is mocking me... I started trying to cut the tape off instead of allowing the tape to pull the hair out (so now I have a small array of bald patches on my thigh!)... but then I learnt to pull the tape off with the grain of the hair... still painful but less so... but Jesus wept it hurt at first... just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye...
... OK, so I'm happy and content here in NZ... the leg's recovering... and tomorrow I get the bus to Queenstown
... gonna try and find somewhere I can upload some photos at... to let you see my prison and some of my other activities... keep well folks...
lots of love,
Matt:)
nice blog mate, looking forward to the next installment
ReplyDeletenow you know what waxing feels like!
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