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White flower ring on native canoe from museum in Hamilton and a carving.
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Hamilton, New Zealand – Dec. 29 – Slept in a jail cell in Hamilton last night.
It wasn’t actually a jail cell – I’ve yet to accomplish that; it just felt like a jail cell – or an iPod.
There was a weather warning issued for Tuesday; rain the entire day with extremely strong winds. I was safe at the Rainbow Springs Backpackers Hostel in Taupo, but felt the need to push along.
Hopped a bus to Hamilton and found the Waikato Museum, which had a fantastic collection dedicated to the stories, art, history and culture of the Tainui community.
There were fabulous carvings and a life-size Tainui canoe complete with rings of white feathers.
By the time I left, I found a hostel for $29 for a single room. The guy who owned the facility tried to get the most use out of all his space and that’s me being nice. I knew it would be interesting because the cubby-hole office was such a mess and he wasn’t in it.
We climbed the narrow stairway – sideways; by the time we got to the top I thought we’d discover stalactites. The rooms were sectioned off into pods A and B; there was a shared bathroom. The shower was like climbing into a high school locker; washing up sounded like you were wrestling a bear in a beer can.
I had pod A and felt like Alice in Wonderland after eating a piece of cake. There was enough space to do the Hokey Pokey, so it would do for the night.
I’m not complaining, not much anyway.
I figured New Zealand was an adventure and this was part of my combo-platter of life.
NEW ZEALAND TRENDS…
New Zealand is stuck in the 80s, at least as far as music and movies are concerned.
I think I’ve seen about every Tom Cruise film ever made. Turn on the TV and it’s Tom-Cruise-something flipping a bottle of booze or giving a Top Gun windmill high five..
I asked if he died and this was some sort of tribute to his work. Sorry to say but Nicole Kidman really settled there for a while, didn’t she?
As far as music is concerned it’s Annie Lennox and Eurythmics, Bon Jovi and Cory Hart is still sporting his sunglasses at night.
There are also CD deals in the paper; sale ads for 1980s CD’s for only $14.99. Seriously, who doesn’t have that music, and who wants it NOW?