Turns out that yesterday Steve said to meet back at 1 pm (yesterday) and he'd take people around the city if they wanted. Well, Fran, Joe, and Sarah W. showed up at 1 (a little late) and no Steve. They waiting a really long time for him to show up, which he never did. Turns out he met up with some friends and spent the with them - then came back to the hostel much later on bragging about how much beer he'd drunk with them. Not impressive.
We all decided to come back to the hostel at 1 pm to see if Jess is back from the High Commission. Susan and I headed out to the shops - she wanted to go to the Billabong store and I wanted to go to a design store (Beckon) she had found the day before to get an envirosak. We wandered and window shopped, stopping at Civic Square to see Fringe HQ (two little sheds). Got back to the hostel at 1 and Jess had her new passport. Susan and I ran across the street to HK Barbeque to grab some lunch for the road (some kind of home-style noodle dish for her, fried rice and pork for me) and then back to the van to get on the road to New Plymouth. Including occasional bathroom break, it took a little over 5 hours.
We got to New Plymouth and ended up at the Edgmont Eco-lodge - really far away from the centre of town, but cute. It's like summer camp - we have cabins with 10 beds each and the bathroom are in one separate building and the showers are in another.
The boys immediately started playing soccer (football) in the field outside the cabins. Kieran has actually spent his life playing semi-pro football, so he was in his element.
The girl's were getting ready (including Vicky and Jess in full 80's flourescent getup) and after the game we drove into town for all-you-can eat Chinese buffet. I was still full from my lunch and just had tea and bits of Ed's dessert. It looked like pretty appalling westernized Chinese food so I don't think I missed much. We then headed off to Woolworths to stock up on chocolate (okay, the chocolate was just me). Steve, even though we asked for bread for breakfast, did not get any. Back to the lodge for a shower and a nice night in reading in bed. Ronnie and Norrie's snoring drove Kieran and Sarah into the other cabin - thank goodness for earplugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment