Southward bound

Our lucky streak seems to be going strong.. we stayed all of last week at the university dorms in Christchurch with a couple friends we had met at Hang Dog. The semester just ended, so with all of their roommates moved out and eight empty bedrooms between the two of them, it only made sense that we should move in. Nadav and George were wonderful hosts, and it was suprising how quickly and effortlessly we learned to cohabitate for a week. We finally got in some good dancing, after a dry spell of a month with no beats or grooves. Christchurch definitely knows what's up with the dance scene.. our favorite place, Boogie Nights, is fully equipped with a light up dance floor and people dressed up in neon spandex scattered throughout the crowd. The songs are all the hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.. and everyone knows the words to every single song. Oldies, Whitney, MJ, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls... As you can imagine, we had a great time.

Danielle, as per usual, made us stop at McDonalds on the way home for her ice cream sundae. I'll let her elaborate on this development in her life whenever she's ready.

Mel, our fifth zany American girl, arrived last week to a magical day at the public pool. I know we've written about the public pools before, but honestly, I don't think words can do them justice. We arrived at the pool, got changed in under two minutes, and sprinted (all five of us) down the ramp to the wave pool. Once we hit the pool deck, we turned into 7 year olds, at best. We laughed our way over to the lazy river, spun ourselves sick in the whirlpools, and stared longingly at the waterslides that were too pricey even for the amount of joy they could have brought. We ended our pool sesh lounging in the hot tubs, while Mel foolishly went for the steam room. They should put some sort of signage up that one should not combine steam rooms and jet lag.

So, last night the travelling team split, and Mel, Christy & I headed down to Dunedin to wait for the girls. We stayed at Hogwartz, a hostel on a hill up above the city that is a dream come true for any J K Rowlings fan. No joke, it really exists. The drive here was lovely, and it felt like Mel's first experience of 'real' New Zealand. The hills were glowing in the setting sun (which doesn't set until NINE THIRTY PM) and Mel stared out the window oo-ing and aw-ing and yelping exitedly with the Kinks playing in the background.

Today we've just been wandering the city in the rain. An hour ago we were sitting in a cafe, calendars out trying to plan the next few weeks before Christmas, and a woman approached us with a proposal. She first wanted to know if we were travelling (she is from Cayucos, oddly enough), and she next wanted to know if we'd like to house-sit for her for two and a half weeks over the holidays while she's camping with her family. All we'd need to do is take care of the chickens and keep the house up. We are very good at keeping houses up and readily agreed to the deal.

Oh, and we took our Christmas photos yesterday to send to you all. Be very excited.