The North Island Border

Walking down Lambton Quay yesterday, on our way back from the Wellingon Botanic Garden, it appeared before me, bathed in a golden light. My Mecca. We had stumbled upon it, as if by fate. Destiny. Borders. The bookstore! Books and music. And tons of magazines! And big comfy chairs. And tons of sections, with tons of books, and plenty of sports books. Home. I love it. I haven’t seen a mega-bookstore since, since… since Auckland!

Nine months or so since Auckland, a bit longer since I last… Two days ago I decided. Too many days of white food, at room temperature. The thought first occurred to me during our Lake Waikaremoana hike. It sounded sooooo good, after hours and hours of hiking. My goodness I’d love a great, big, juicy, fatty, salty… hamburger. A whopper. With everything on it. Who am I? A hamburger? I was a vegetarian for 9 years, and I haven’t had a hamburger since I became a carnivore again. Even before vegetarianism, I hadn’t been in the habit of eating fast food since high school. So when I walked into Burger King two days ago, I ordered a double whopper! With everything. It was divine. Best hamburger I’ve ever eaten.

Got new kicks yesterday! New shoes, that is. They’re Asics. Motion control even, to manage the pronation problem I have. Flat feet. I have flat feet. I blame my dad. Wait, how can we afford new shoes?? We can’t. But we really can’t afford for my feet to fall apart during any of the 46.5 hikes Betsy has planned for us on the south island. My old pair was falling off my feet. My grandpa Sam would have been proud.

I saw a movie in an actual theatre! “District 9” was the lucky winner. It was a really fun, interestingly filmed science fiction movie. I liked it, and loved being in a gigantic, modern, mega, 15 screen movie theatre.

In short, spending a few days in Wellington has been awesome. It has all the comforts a child of the suburbs needs.

We’re heading south. On Sunday we’ll load Hank on the inter-island ferry and float on over to Picton. Round 1 will be the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. Round 2, Nelson Lakes. Round 3, Queen Charlotte Track. Round 4… You get the idea. Betsy is over the moon with excitement, and I’m… wondering if we can see one more movie in the cinema before we go.