if you're planning a vacation, make sure you're one day behind me!

1/14/10
I have to think that we are cursed. Let me recap how the weather has been for this trip. As I have said a few times now it has been mostly raining and windy here in the middle of summer. I want to make sure you really understand how bad it has been. Let me start by saying, if you are ever going to plan a vacation with me it would be best for you to get my itinerary, and make sure to arrive at a place the day that I am leaving or the next day. Let’s start in Sydney. Arriving in Sydney it rained. Clearing as we drove to Wollongong, but starting again as we got settled there. Sunny when we left Wollongong, and continued to be sunny until we reached Newcastle. Rained most of the time we were there, cleared as we were leaving, and poured buckets the entire way back to Sydney. Cleared for the New year’s Eve celebration, but poured again as we reached Bondi. Rained on the way to the airport, but as we left Sydney I could see the skies cleared and it was beautiful. So much so that we got a text from Skye thanking us for leaving. Arriving in Brisbane for a short, very short, almost missing our plane short, layover, was rain. Hoping for better weather in Christchurch, we thought we had found it. Cool, but no rain. We were happy, until the next day of course. Leaving Christchurch and arriving in Franz Josef, it rained for a day straight. When it came time to leave Franz Josef, the skies were blue and the rain was gone. Unfortunately, so were we. Now in Wanaka, guess what… yep, more rain and wind. Deciding to go to Queenstown, we arrived to 40 mph gusts and sideways rain. Rain the entire bus ride from Wanaka to Milford, however clearing long enough for us to cruise the Milford Sound. Awoke the next morning to beautiful sunshine and a gentle breeze, you guessed it, we were leaving. Arriving back in Queenstown, the bus driver said, “…very odd today that it is hotter in Milford than in Queenstown.” Then it began raining again. Heading back to Wanaka, we were told the weather had been beautiful. 29 degrees Celsius and clear. By the time we arrived, cloudy and windy. Woke up today expecting a clear sunny day, it instead rained hard for a few hours, followed by gusty winds again. Needless to say, we have again not done much in Wanaka. Spent the afternoon with a friend we made in Queenstown who is staying here in Wanaka. Enjoyed a barbeque at the hostel, sat and talked for a while, followed by a walk to the lake. Today was a short walk to get lunch, and relaxing in the room for the most part. Trev has a spaghetti dinner with the other athletes tonight and I’ll probably hang around the hostel. I was invited by the locals I met last time we were here to a house party tonight, but I’m not sure I will be going. Here is what the invite consisted of. “NICK! How are you mate? You’re coming to my house tomorrow night for the best party ever! Table tennis, golf, volleyball, and shooting. We have a target range for our 22’s. If you hit the outer ring you drink a beer, the second ring half a beer, third ring a quarter of a beer, and center you get to give a drink!” I’ve always heard drinking and guns don’t mix, let alone drinking games and guns! For now, I’m going to head into town for a walk and see what I will be doing tonight.