more photos

so at last more photos for you to peruse (including the penguins!)
new zealand 2 - stewart island and south bits
new zealand 3 - east around the southern bit to dunedin and oamaru

i am still terribly behind... but i am trying to catch up a little at a time.

in nelson, i couch surfed with mike... an awesome host. we went to this brewery and tried some local beers. mike brought two two-liter bottles with him and they filled them with brew (how awesome). i tried a few, but my favorite was called mojo which was a coffee porter or stout. it was black and i dont usually like dark beers, but this one i enjoyed. then back to his place for a hot shower and bed bc i got up at 4 am to go to a special maori ceremony. mike works at a outdoors attraction called happy valley and they were putting in a maori carved figure as a guardian to their forest from a tree that fell there a few years ago. i didnt understand most of it as it was in a language i dont understand, but it was an awesome thing to experience at dawn with birdsong in full swing.

i stopped into the world of wearable art for a quick visit... they have a fashion show each year and basically make these crazy costumes for six categories. they are amazing and i could have easily spent another hour there... but i had to make my booking on the ferry to wellington so off i went.

this afternoon i stopped in the tattoo museum and was a little dissapointed. i am glad it was only five dollars. yes i learned more about the moko (maori face tattoos) but really the place was a collection of photos of people's tattoos - and not just maori ones. some of the tattoos were impressive but i have hard time calling the place a museum.

tomorrow i am visiting te papa, a supposedly renowned museum and then heading north to explore the rest of the north island.