Stingrays - gloump!
So far, Maria and I have been enjoying our stay in the City of Sails. Yesterday we went to Kelly Tarleton's underwater adventure world, which was lots of fun. They have a stingray tank with ~10 stingrays, and when the handler got in the tank to feed them, they were all over her. Given that some of these beasties were as heavy as 250 kilos, it was quite the site to behold. Fortunately they don't have any teeth, and were just showing their affection - and hunger; they were easily fobbed off with a few pieces of herring.
In the past couple of days, we have also spent quite a bit of time walking the downtown area, visited the Victoria Park market, gone to see the Auckland museum, watched a play, and gone shopping for shoes.
"Wheeler's Luck" (the play) was fantastic, despite the fact that we were both exhausted after a long day of tramping through various city streets and parks. It consisted of just two men, playing all of the parts in a very tiny Northland town. It started, most gruesomely, in complete darkness, where you hear a little old lady conversing with her cat, doing a couple of things, and then pleading in rising panic for the cat to get away from that! after which you hear the boom of a shotgun. The rest of the play consists of the wrangling in the town as to what is going to become of the the late Nora Cox's land, since the Mayor has unilaterally brought in a rich developer to turn Cox Point into a resort lodge replete with Casino and 18 hole golf course. Of course everybody in the town is possessed of an opinion. The two actors not only acted out all of the character parts, switching midscene if there were more than two characters (and sometimes both of them would end up playing the same character, at different times in the play), but also made all of the requisite sound effects. It was hilarious, and that was even with the handful of New Zealand specific jokes that I recognized I wasn't getting (and who knows how many more that just sailed over my head).
Today we're renting a car and heading up to Whangarei for Jenna's stagette. It's going to be mind-bending driving on the wrong side of the road. We have been having enough trouble as pedestrians! But I'm sure I'll muddle through if I take it slowly enough. I'm also hoping that sitting in the right side of the car will help me make the mental shift.
More adventures in New Zealand later!
In the past couple of days, we have also spent quite a bit of time walking the downtown area, visited the Victoria Park market, gone to see the Auckland museum, watched a play, and gone shopping for shoes.
"Wheeler's Luck" (the play) was fantastic, despite the fact that we were both exhausted after a long day of tramping through various city streets and parks. It consisted of just two men, playing all of the parts in a very tiny Northland town. It started, most gruesomely, in complete darkness, where you hear a little old lady conversing with her cat, doing a couple of things, and then pleading in rising panic for the cat to get away from that! after which you hear the boom of a shotgun. The rest of the play consists of the wrangling in the town as to what is going to become of the the late Nora Cox's land, since the Mayor has unilaterally brought in a rich developer to turn Cox Point into a resort lodge replete with Casino and 18 hole golf course. Of course everybody in the town is possessed of an opinion. The two actors not only acted out all of the character parts, switching midscene if there were more than two characters (and sometimes both of them would end up playing the same character, at different times in the play), but also made all of the requisite sound effects. It was hilarious, and that was even with the handful of New Zealand specific jokes that I recognized I wasn't getting (and who knows how many more that just sailed over my head).
Today we're renting a car and heading up to Whangarei for Jenna's stagette. It's going to be mind-bending driving on the wrong side of the road. We have been having enough trouble as pedestrians! But I'm sure I'll muddle through if I take it slowly enough. I'm also hoping that sitting in the right side of the car will help me make the mental shift.
More adventures in New Zealand later!
posted by Aletha at 3:23 p.m.
3 Comments:
Sounds like your vacation is going along swimmingly! Thanks for keeping me(us) in the loop... makes Ottawa seem so... cold... ;)
Maria keeps saying she simply couldn't face returning to Ottawa and having there be snow on the ground... I hope it's melting?
Ah... the snow is FINALLY starting to melt, my friend... bring back some warmth when you return, will you?
Post a Comment
<< Home