Let's face it. My blog abounds with relevant information... er, uh.

So where are we? Chris is alive and kicking. I got punished with food poisoning for revealing his weakness for chest infections. But all is well now and we seem to be stuck at this hostel in Kaikoura on the northeast coast of the south island. It's got a free sauna, what can I say? We stayed with a host before that in Blenheim. Truly nice to do some work and then hit up a few wineries in the area. Wine tasting... the biggest conglomerate of bullshitters known to man. I've got some friends that would fit right in, Ted. Regardless, I had some incredible wines, the best vinagrette to date, chocolate liquers, olive oils to please the palate, and the 'Best gin in the world'.

We did some usual yard work in Blenheim, while Patrick got to resist the vicious wind by building shelves in a closet. At the end of our stay we built a rock couch inside a paddock. The sheep had been moved to another pen, but this one stubborn bastard kept escaping. The flimsy electric that she put up was barely holding it, so I went out to fix it on the last day. Only, out of no where this swarm of bees dived bomb me, forcing me to hop the electric like Carl Lewis and sprint up hill dragging Chris along with me in the confusion. That was when I called it a day and sat by the fire inside.

We're on our way to Christchurch tomorrow and will stay until we have spent all our money again. I fucking hate spending money when I fail to reap much more from it than food and shelter. Where are all the tanglible items that I can cherish forever, shit. Halloween should still be good, even though New Zealanders claim not to celebrate. That'll just make our thrift store costumes that much better at the classy joints in Christchurch.

Well, I hope the weather gets warmer, but it's a fine line to walk as you're traveling south while spring casually comes on the scene.

"I can't stop shaking"

The other night we camped out by the river north of Taupo after a delicious, yet expensive Indian meal. Because Taupo lies on the central plateau the night air was chilly. Patrick and I have grown accustomed to sleeping in the car when we camp because it's so comfortable with all our crap in the car, not to mention the fact that when it's raining non-stop you just want the driest place possible. Anyway, I was awoken in the night by Chris, who having emerged from his tent was shaking uncontrollably. It seems dear Christopher forgot to put down a pad. The earth just sucked the heat right from his body and sent him nearly to a hypothermic state. All that said and done, he was a little lethargic the next day from lack of sleep and bodily trauma. We gave him shit all day because, what else can you do? However, last night Chris woke us up again inside our hostel room with the shaking happening again. It was bizarre and we noticed that he had a high fever as well. We asked him what he wanted to do, because he obviously didn't have hypothermia this time. He opted for the hospital. So we went to the hospital early this morning (2am) and had a lovely time reading tabloids while Chris got IVs stuck in his arm. Still not sure what he has, but he's still kicking and that's good. Needless to say, we're crashing another night in Palmerston North for Chris to recover, but I'll be damned if we have to cancel our expensive-ass ferry tickets to the south island in two days. God I hope whatever he has is not contagious. The doctor is leaning towards bacterial, but chest x-rays didn't look good either.

Anyway, Patrick and I have been up all night and are about to explore the free museum and acclaimed gardens.

code word: sarsparilla

Well, the technology front gets shadier and shadier the deeper we get, but what do you know, I've got some dial-up internet. Yeah, says a lot about my privilege when I am shocked that dial-up still exists.

So far we're doing all right. Lots of late night Rummy games and building of a sweet backgammon board. We take our car Gerald for drives that even stun our Mitsubishi motor vehicle. We've built a deck and awning, ran irrigation, weeded inside hot-houses, and castrated sheep. There's something so sinister about attaching a rubberband to a lamb's testes, but yet, so satisfactory... maybe that's the sinister part. We're currently in Opotiki, but are about to enter Hell's Gate in Rotorua. Then to Wellington via Taupo and off to the south island for a 5 week stint of breath-taking adventures.

We're teaching ourselves how to bone carve; a most vomit-inducing adventure. The bones need cleaning, then soaking, then cleaning, then soaking, then cleaning, then drying, then carving. Needless to say, it takes a butt-load of time to prepare just to struggle with the carving part.

Oh, and I now have a Mullet... I'm my own worst enemy.