So... this morning we just skippered a boat! No biggie! and then tonight participated in a yacht race - got a Top 3 finish too!
Today was so much fun! OMG - ok beginning is a good place to start....
Chapter 1: Running Late:
um we woke up, we were running kinda late coz for once I was the one that needed sleep, but running late is no excuse for missing ones morning coffee, so we headed to the bakery next door and, alas! No coffee! Somehow, with no morning coffee, and in a bit of a too early in the morning mood, I drove round the corner and got us some coffees. Now, the backpacker lady told us it would take us 45 minutes coz the roads were windy, but the pamphlet said 30 minutes, and I don't nomrally let anything slow me down, so we thought we still had plenty of time. Turns our the backpacker was right! The drive was absolutely beautiful, it was along the Queen Charlotte pass or something sounding similar (I have sealegs) but so windy, felt like we just went in a circle (the pamphlet was totally deceiving coz in the pamphlet the line was straight) but eventually i got us there in one piece thing too - it's been like almost a week since I have done Chrissy and physical harm by the way! I'm impressed, but when I pointed it out to her she said i had caused her pyschological harm. Bollocks, I say! Nothing therapy can't fix!
Chapter 2: Being a Skipper
So anyway, we arrive at the boat place a little late, but the man was nice about it and there was no one else waiting so it was sweet. um the boats were these cute little aluminium things with motors... ours was only 9.9 so couldnt do too much damage. Chrissy drove first while i just got driven around on the front of the boat through Malborough Sounds. It's not too hard either, just kind gotta keep it on and turn the steering thing and change the speed. but the steering is a little confusing coz it is backwards, like turn right, boat goes left!
Anyways then it was my turn to be skipper... at first I did not understand about the steerng at all, so we did a nice big circle, and then another nice big circle, but eventually my brain clicked and we were off. There was a boat in front of us (like a big boat) so we rode the waves from that boat - Chrissy said I should design rollercoasters coz I am so unpredictable! Which would be handy seeing as we never got to Rainbow Springs (!) she also said that I was better at driving a boat than a car (not sure if that was a compliment about my boat driving skills, or a dig at my driving ability, but I was pleased nonetheless). Omg anyway, driving a boat was the most awesome fun, and aside from accidently breaking boat law coz I got within 50 metre of the big boat, I was actually not terrible at it! We stopped for a bit while the guy gave us a bit of a history lesson about trees and we looked at them from our boat and stuff (and i know i said i like cool trees,but i actually don't care too much about them other than to take a photo and climb and make friends with them) and then we went and looked at some mussel farms. OMG - they use a boat to get mussels, much better than jumping into the freezing ocean, twisting them off rocks and cutting your feet! I accidently got the boat engine caught on the rope at the mussel farm so i had to lift it and stuff, but, being the skipper, that was no biggie for me to fix! OMg we also saw Jellyfish! and i picked one up, except it was gross and slimy and then i got super worreid that I killed it, but i turned it right side up and pushed it down a bit and it was as good as new! After the being on the open water bit we started heading back to dry land and we saw a penguin, i slowed the boat down and got up super close and we watched him be a penguin for a bit! It was amazing, they were fairy penguins, but they call them Little Blues over here!
Got some cool video and photos, 'cept this place blocks you from uploading stuff so I will try get it up soon coz its prety cute!
Chapter 3: The chapter in between being a skipper and the Yacht Race
After the boat thing we took a nice scenic drive back, stopping at a lot of places to take photos coz the Malborough Sounds looks kinda like Neverland, but real! and then we went into town (ie. the road with shops on it) and looked around, spent some money, had some lunch and icecream. Tomorrow we head to Nelson for the World of Wearable Art museum, so i bought a cool hairpiece to match my green dress. (I wanted to wear my Bardot dress but I couldn't find anything to match) Um after that just ended up at The Villa, where I cleaned out my handbag (found so much money) and then got bored and dawdled around! Next Chapter!
Chapter 4: the Yacht Race
The people at the backpackers said that if we go down to the yacht club and just ask, someone will take us sailing. Sounds a bit wierd to us, but we really wanted to sail so we headed down to the yacht club. We meet this guy, but his boat was full, so he introduced us to Mark and we got onboard his Yacht. Turns out that on Tuesday night there is a locals yacht race. So we got to get in on that. Ended up being Mark and his wife Sue, and there friedn Bill and us. Mark wasn't sure if there woudl be too much jobs for us, but we were a pretty keen crew, so I put the flag up, unboarded the lifeboat and then, when we got out into the water, I put up the big sail. It was very exciting, but really hard, they had Sue on standby coz they thought I would not be strong enough, but I guess all those years of hanging out iwth my brothers and trying to beat Bro Montana at stuff paid off, coz I got the sail almost to the top and then Sue took over! (I totally could of got it all the way, but I think she wanted a turn!) Mark was a bit of a negative nancy and said we couldn't win but I told him I had a good feeling about a Top 3 finish!
The course was pretty fun, just had to go around some buoys and stuff, me and Chrissy just kinda watched during the actual race, coz racing is serious business! We made it to the finish line pretty good, and came THIRD! TOP 3! I'm practically a psychic! Ont eh way back it was fun, I got to be useful and put away teh sail, and me and Chrissy helped with the ropes and we both got a go at steering it! After we parked it, the team hung out in the boat and had some Shandys (one bloody Shandy + sealegs = the worst ) and talked and stuff. Me and Chrissy have met the most amazing people this trip and it continued. They were so lovely. Turned out they lived in Canberra for a year when they were much younger and tehy also spent two years sailing around the Islands (Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia etc.) If ever I was to pick an impossible dream it would be to learn to sail, buy a boat and just sail around the islands... I'd make it back to Samoa and visit the rest of the islands and get the most kick ass tan!
We went to the Yacht Club after to shout them a drink and get some dinner. I finally got my Fish Pie. Which was on my NZ to do list coz of Outrageous Fortune. It was okay - 'cept for the peas! the yacht club was cute, everyone was so friendly and funny!
Anyways, hopefully this blog makes sense, I still have sealegs and really cannot be bothered reading over it!
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