I guess I don't know my name

Kapiti Island, reprise: Should you ever be in the Wellington region, get a permit (from the Wellington DOC office) and go there, it was one of the best places I visited so far, on one level with Kakadu National Park in Oz and the Coromandel perhaps. There are two different areas to visit, you need a permit for both of them, but it's probably best to start out with just one and see how you like it. The middle part has lowland walking tracks (were you might see most birds) and a track up to the summit, which supposedly offers great views. "Supposedly" because of P(Aw) = 1, so there was mist, fog, mist, and fog. But still worth the walk. The DOC guy that gave the introductory talk down at the landing site insisted on calling the walk "challenging" and painted a rather dramatic picture. Walking up the Trig track described to be oh-so-dreadful I found that it was a piece of cake. It might be hard for people in a wheelchair or something like that. Perhaps someone should tell that guy not to cry "wolf" too often ... . There's even fewer people allowed to go to the north end of the island and I'll definitely go there next time. Funny enough, the only thing I didn't like about my visit to the middle part was the Germans. And the children. I mean, you're there to see nearly extinct, extremely rare birds and some of them arseholes just cannot walk and keep their fucking mouths shut for a second. Add to this that one of them was a fucking hippie with a blonde ponytail, that alone would have been enough just to beat the shit out of him. The same goes for the bloody children: just when you've finally spotted a bird they come running round the corner shouting "Look, there it is. Oh now, it's gone!" What a surprise. Next time bring your stereo and psp, brats. Or I might just drown them. But I don't wanna sound too negative, I just gave them 20 minutes before I went on and everything was nice and quiet. But I'd still like to kill someone, I'm seriously missing an outlet for all this testosterone within me. Maybe I'll just walk down to the Irish Pub tonite and tell them that all Englishmen are faggots. That should suffice to start a handy brawl. ;-)

Another piece of advice concerning Wellington: Do not stay, I repeat, do not stay in the city. Stay at Moana Lodge, Plimmerton Beach. It's the best hostel I've ever stayed at and I've seen quite a few. Fantastic. Extremely friendly staff, extremely clean, the best facilities ever, beautiful rooms, real beds with good matresses (did anyone just put a bag over his head?), and a good location. You can easily reach Wellington by train (25 minutes).

Today I caught my domestic flight from Wellington to Blenheim (South Island). Unglaublich. Einchecken geschaetzt 45 Sekunden und danach nichts mehr. Kein baggage check, keine Kontrollen, keine Schleusen, ich haette einen Panzer mit an Bord nehmen koennen. Auch auf dem Rollfeld keine Affen mit bunten Jaeckchen und wichtigen Paessen, es geht halt auch einfacher, ohne tausende Idioten, die sich als pseudo Securities wichtig tun muessen.

Blenheim ist nicht wirklich toll, hier braucht man fuer alles ein Auto. Das wusste ich auch vorher, ich wollte ja auch gar nicht hierhin, es war eher fuer die Weinliebhaberin gedacht. Naja, whatever, habe ich das wenigstens gesehen. Es gibt eine Chocolate Factory :-) und nette Gaerten und ausserdem fahre ich ja auch morgen nach Motueka und werde die Straende in der Golden Bay geniessen, so nothing to moan about here. Das Hostel scheint ok, Koanui Lodge, sehr schoenes, geraeumiges Zimmer, very clean, towels, central location. The manager (?) seemed to be in a hurry though, he just gave me a veeeeery quick tour of the place and that was it, no words of advice, information about Blenheim, etc. Kinda strange, but nevermind. I've decided to have a lazy day today anyway.