Misty Mountain Hop

So, I made it to Mount Cook Village, and will be hiking up to get a closer look at Mount Cook (also known by its Maori name, Aoraki) and the glacier that's got it in its clutches, Hooker Glacier in the morning. It's been a busy couple o' days since I last posted (and I know I owe a report on the farming itself, will get to that at a later date).

So, yeah, purchased a nice cheap car in Christchurch. I was in elementary school when this car was made. Oh yes, I am now the owner of a 1989 Honda Accord LX. It actually runs pretty decently (the mechanic was quite surprised) and there's just over 200,000 km on it (120,000 mi), so it'll work for me. I paid $1500 NZ for it ($750 US), so if I treat Maggie May (that's her name now) real nice, I can maybe sell her for just about the same price when I'm done. So yay, I can get around easily now! Have even figured out the side of the road thing pretty nicely, haven't slipped up yet. However, from today's road trip experience, I can report that NZ drivers are rather nutso, doing things like passing on two lane roads around curves and getting pissed when you're doing the speed limit (sorry man, I didn't feel comfortable doing over 100 kph around these mountain passes).

Had a nice last night in Christchurch though, met a bunch of folk in my room and had a nice social time around the hostel picnic tables and learned drinking games from around the world (hence my late start this morning). Was really the first night I've had socializing with people since I've been here, which was really quite nice. Apparently there's a sizable portion of people that reside in hostel rooms long term. The ringleader of last night's gathering has lived in the hostel I stayed at for months (he's a tennis instructor in town). Interesting life to lead - may end up being what I do at some point if I settle down in a town - but could definitely imagine missing privacy a great deal.

Today's road trip was interesting. I saw the following things:

• The world's largest jersey
• A replica of the Bayeux Tapestry constructed of metal bits, including an interpretation of what the last missing bit would have looked like
• A cafe on top of a mountain
• Mt. Cook from afar, which looks almost exactly like the Paramount logo from Lake Pukaki (will upload all photos I have when I get to Dunedin in a few days...)
• lots and lots of sheep

That's all I have to report for now - will report more later, but I'm pretty tired...may be an early night for me.