Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Photo update

Hello everybody. I've decided to include a link to my Facebook photo album rather than try to post photos in these blog posts. I've tried wrestling with this blog again and again to post photos and it never works, so here's the link to my Wellington album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016402&id=1488780096&l=01f2cfcf37

I'll be adding photos as I continue to take them, so keep an eye on that. Jane, I know that you said you'd like to see some photos from the Botanical Garden. We did venture there last night (the people we're staying with live at the bottom of the cable car line that goes up to it), but it was too dark to take photos of flowers and plants. It was tough to take photos in the dark, so we plan on making a day trip to the garden again to get some better photos in the daylight.

We plan on going out tonight to drive around and explore, so after we get back from that I'll post again about our day.

Exploring Wellington

Hello everyone! First of all, thank you everybody who reads and/or comments about my posts, its nice to feel that connection with all of you back home.

Today I spent the day exploring Wellington with Chrisanne, with Danny as our tour guide. Danny took us down to Cuba St, where we got to see all the shops and stores, including Real Groovy. Real Groovy is basically the New Zealand equivalent of Newbury Comics, but what was awesome is that Chrisanne and I found seasons 11, 12, and 13 of ER! They only have up to season 10 out in the U.S! However, apparently the discs here are formatted different so to watch them on U.S. computers and DVD players you have to kind of hack or mod the player. But its possible, and definitely not illegal, so we're going to try it out.

While walking down Cuba St, Danny made it a point to show us the Bucket Fountain. Here's a few photos of it:


And yes, apparently Elijah Wood elieved himself in it and almost got arrested.

For lunch we stopped at Munchen Burger, where I got a hot dog and the man asked if I wanted "tomato sauce" on it. Knowing that Kiwis call ketchup tomato sauce, I said I did.

After the sun went down, Danny took us out to explore the botanical garden. We took the cable car up to the top of the mountain they live on and when we got to the garden at the top, there was an amazing view of Wellington there. I'll try to post photos in the morning, since they were refusing to upload tonight. If this thing continues to give me troubles with uploading photos, I might have to put links in these posts to a different place you can look at the photos.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Ahoy, mateys!

Hey everybody, it's Chrisanne this time. Billy and I have arrived in Wellington and are having a great time hanging out with Julie and Danny and exploring the city a little. Today we even saw the fountain that Elijah Wood peed in while filming Lord of the Rings! Now that's a real tourist attraction.

Anyway, I have my own blog that I usually use for school and journalism-related stuff, but I'm going to be updating about the trip a little now. I can't guarantee that my posts will be as thorough or frequent as Billy's probably will, but I'm going to at least give it a shot. So feel free to follow it here.

Thank you!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Most Expensive Meal I've Ever Bought for Myself was at an Airport

Long title, I know, but I felt it was necessary. Because just a little while ago I went to a deli sandwich shop kinda place in the terminal and paid $27.00 for a meal for myself. It started with the $3.70 dollar Vitamin Water and just went downhill from there. I grabbed a roast beef sandwich and was happy with that when I spotted the scrumptious-looking baked ziti pasta. So I told the girl at the register I just wanted a bit of the pasta. Well, she proceeded to take out a big container and just pile pound after pound of pasta into it. Add Chrisanne's goldfish I volunteered to pay for and my sandwich, and you've got a $27.00 airport meal. Yum.

Anyways, my apologies for such a large update on something as simple as my meal at the airport. I guess that's what happens when I update before I've even reached New Zealand. We're now in San Francisco, waiting for our 9pm flight to Auckland. During out 9 hour layover here in San Fran, Chrisanne and I did a bit of exploring. We took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) a few stops into the city and walked down Haight St. We chose Haight St. because its not only in an Anberlin song, it is in a Third Eye Blind song (and we know that they are referencing that specific street because they are from SF), whom we love and adore.

Here's a couple photos from our time in SF:Chrisanne posing with the Haight St. sign

Our plane that brought us to Auckland in New Zealand

More, far more exciting updates to come shortly! Thanks for tuning in!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Welcome and Soon to Disembark

Hello everyone! I've set up this blog in the hopes that I can continue to keep it updated with photos and videos of Chrisanne and my trip to New Zealand! I decided to use this blog website rather than a Facebook group (at Chrisanne's suggestion) because it will be much easier to add video and photos and post updates to a blog rather than on a Facebook group.

We leave on Sunday morning around 8:40am, we can't wait! Stay tuned!