Menudo sighting...

I spent a couple days in Wellington and found myself wishing I had decided to crash there for longer instead of Christchurch. But alas life's too short for regrets--so I made the most of my time. Wellington is not only the capital of New Zealand it has stoplights. Okay this is a big deal after spending a couple months in the south island where what looked like a 'big town' on a map more often than not translated into a cafe and a loo if you were lucky--so you can only imagine my excitement to be in a town...with not just one loo or cafe but heaps and heaps--maybe thousands to choose from. I spent my days doing the obligatory touristy things like touring the historic sites, visiting parliament, aimless window shopping and checking out a couple of galleries. One afternoon while eating lunch in some city park I was greeted by about 10 prepubescent boys decked out in tracksuits with 'make some noise' emblazoned on the back of their hoodies. The boys did their best breakdancing to the likes of jay-z and oddly enough random clips from the theme song of 'inspector gadget'...but really it just reminded me of the kind of dancing that takes place at 6th grade dances...in other words plenty of side step shuffling, random offbeat clapping, the occasional pelvic thrust and plenty of fist pumping...what really struck me well was two things...one how badass can these boys really think they are wearing matching pink bandanas around their necks like cowboys and two why the hell was their a kid wearing a mask straight out of insane clown possee--I'm talking bloody white jason style type mask--either way I was amused.
The main 'cultural' attraction in Wellington is probably the te papa museum which is a 6 level interactive hub of history, art and countless ways to entertain the 8 and under crowd. Whatever it was the day I spent at the museum--I was not in learning mode, finding myself staring at pictures and walking closer to the prints then stepping back a ways...pretending like I was actually contemplating the bigger meaning behind a canvas with a black dot in the center--really I was just wondering how the hell are people enjoying this. Instead of learning about the history of the maoris I found myself spending most of my time in the children sections of the museum--you'll be proud of me to know I figured out who killed the crazy mad scientist and no it wasn't the transvestite looking environmentalist. Also I made many a kids wait in line as I spent a good amount of time perfecting my computer generated new zealand bird--getting to choose feet, wings, etc. Okay so maybe sophistication is not my middle name, but whatever your only 12...'cough' 22 once.
I arrived in Melbourne, Australia a couple days ago and could not have felt anymore like the country mouse coming to visit the city. Honestly, having to look both ways before crossing the street has just been unheard of these last couple of months--but apparently that's what city life calls for--so looking left and right it was. I'm definitely a Melbourne kind of girl--if I thought wellington was a cultural mecca of sorts...boy was I wrong Melbourne is a much bigger and better Wellington! The only downsides so far to this city are the constant rain, the fact that museums are not free and more importantly that I'm not a millionaire. I have definitely gotten a case of the 'I wants' walking the streets with so many shiny pretty looking thinga-mabobs screaming out to be bought...I mean everybody needs their very own ugg boots with painted images of koalas that actually make koala noises...okay I'm not that bad...tacky...but exciting...no? The Queen Victoria Market is like the farmer's lady market in Bethesda but a million times bigger and better...with stand after stand of fresh local fruit, veg, meat, cheese, bakeries and random chochkies of sorts--aka the boots. My first impressions of australia were that it felt much more familiar and like the United States then I was expecting--whether it was the streets lined with 7-11's, the ipod toting professional, the constant buzzing of cell phones...but really it was just the energy of life that felt like home more than anything else.
I had no idea how hard it would be to plan my trip in australia in my time allotted. Apparently unlike New Zealand objects in mirror are not closer than they appear...in fact cities that look like an hour drive away could easily be 24 hours away--crazy I know. So, trying to find the most economic way to see the country while at the same time not feeling too rushed proved challenging and ended with me spending a good 3 hours in the travel agent's office...but alas I walked away with the next 26 days planned...the last 10 or so I'm going to wing it as I make my way down the east coast to sydney. In the meantime I will be spending the majority of my days in the outback--which is much more my style. I'm excited for the weeks to come and to give control over to someone else for a bit and actually act like i'm on holiday--before I head back to the states and back into the real world...well, as real as living on a college campus can be.