The South Island: A Retrospective - DAY ONE

Last month, I went to the South Island. Here begins the tale of my journey. I hope it's not too late.

The flight to Christchurch was silly. I've never seen flight attendants move SO FAST. They were like doctors. They had to be, because the flight was the most diagonal I have ever been on. Up up up, level for about 30 seconds, and then down down down.

Clodagh picked me up from the airport in Christchurch and we headed off into town. She'd been on the South Island for two weeks already (mostly in NELSON). Clodagh was driving our Honda, because the South Island is no place for Vanessa Speed (Christopher's BMW). We've recently named our Honda "Francisco" or "Cisco" for short, cuz why not. I hope someday to have a car named after me. It's the ultimate honor.

Before leaving Wellington, I had emptied our first aid kit (to thwart potential thieves) and filled it with electronic gadgets like my NEW VIDEO IPOD (thanks Mimi!), chargers for the phone, iPod and camera, an iPod adapter for the tape deck and other sundry items. I used these devices during the trip, to maximize torture of Clodagh, mostly with Neil Diamond songs. Te he.

I had recently heard about the HELLHOLE I had booked us into in Christchurch, and I was worried. Here is said HELLHOLE:
Nightmarish, isn't it? I liked it. It was cheap, warm and clean, and they sold bottles of wine in the lobby and you could order food for delivery from the local Italian place. So the first night of our adventure, we stayed in, drank a lot of wine, and plotted our course for the next week. Here's a still life of our planning tools. Notice that "vacuum" was left undone on my to do list. Also, drinking wine from mugs is rad. Thanks for the notepad, Pillsbury.
After two bottles of wine and some pappardelle with roasted peppers, Clodagh put a bra on her head. I bet she's happy she did that now, and even happier that I thought to record the moment for posterity.
Soon after (okay, more like 3 hours later, and after being told to move to the backyard with our wine so as to avoid violating their liquor license), we passed out. Day 1 complete! Such an adventure!