I'm having a weekend off again. I caught the bus to Hamilton on Thursday and stayed with a couple I met at the genuine Kiwi party. Their friends had a netball match that evening, and they were short of a female player, so my hostess asked me if I wanted to play. I said yes.
Netball is a serious sport in NZ. Not quite as serious as rugby, but serious enough. And I'd never played it before.
The team members were very understanding, and I ended up not being too bad after all. I didn't even cross the middle line (I was playing defense and had to stay in my half) or pass to a member of the opposite team or make any other mistakes like that. And my team said it was the best game they'd played this season. I don't know if we won or lost, apparently it was a very equal game, but it was only a fun game. The team we should have played in the tournament didn't show up, so we won by default. Yay!
Yesterday I went to the inspirational Hamilton Gardens. Fantastic. Then I went shopping and bought some lights for my bike and a guitar. I'm very pleased with myself about that.
Today, I went to Cambridge. It's a pretty town, I wouldn't mind living there for a while. I was supposed to go see the Horse Magic Show, but the show was cancelled due to a race, and so I just went on a tour. The Thoroughbred Lodge was 6kms from Cambridge city centre, so I - shock horror - hitchhiked there. The man who picked me up was very friendly; on his way to Taupo. I got a ride back to the city centre from some other people on the tour. Will go back for the real show one day.
NZ has a weak coach network, but I've found that Naked Bus works well enough and is - mostly - cheap enough. They sometimes have $1 fares, which is always handy.
Oh yes, and on Wednesday evening my boss' family (boss, wife and older son) drove to Auckland to see the Phantom of the Opera in the theatre and took me with them. We met up with their younger son and his flatmates, of whom one came with us to the show. The musical was brilliant. The music was dramatic and powerful, as were the actors and actresses, the decorations detailed, the costumes gorgeous, the singing voices 100 times better than mine (i.e. awesome), and did I mention that the music was powerful? Left me in a trance for the rest of the night.
And I've finished the diary I started on the plane from Brussels to London on the 3rd of September. Need to start another one. Now.
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