New Year's Eve in Welly - Night 82

Trip Start Oct 11, 2007
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Trip End Mar 26, 2008


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Flag of New Zealand  ,
Tuesday, January 1, 2008

For our last day of work we returned to one of my favorite projects, Otari Wilton.  The morning consisted of a good hike through the remnant virgin forest to check the 15 rat trap scattered throughout the woods.  Once again, no luck.  Natural food is plentiful this time of year, so the rats and possums generally don't need to resort to our traps.  Afternoon work comprised some tree measuring and weeding, whereupon I lay down in the tall grass next to the babbling brook and took a well deserved nap.  Lying there staring up at the sky speaks to a deeper meaning of life, something lost in our world of planes, computers and 'gainful' employment.

We finished early and were home by 3.  With all of us leaving tomorrow, the house was full of half packed bags, freshly laundered clothes and general sense of excitement.  Being New Year's Eve, the house was also full of alcohol, a problem which we began to remedy promptly at five o'clock Karori Cemetary
Karori Cemetary
 .  Dinner was a meat lover's feast, steak, chicken, prawns, sausages and burgers, all courtesy of my barbecuing talents.  Around 7 one of the new volunteers, Rafael from Switzerland, showed up at the house. 

The cab for downtown arrived at 10 and we all piled in to the ride down to the waterfront.  Our evening began at Mac's Brewery again, but we quickly moved on as the average age in the place was nearing 50.  After much ado and wandering, we finally settled on Molly Malone's, an Irish bar in Courtney Place.  The new guy was certainly outgoing, but add a little alcohol and he turned out to be downright nuts.  Sometime during the night he earned the nickname "Animal."  Never before was a more fitting handle applied to a drunken Swissman.  The new year came and went without much more than a toast.  About an hour later while standing near the dance floor a 4'11" drunken aboriginal woman wandered up to me and gave me a huge, overly long "new years" hug - as she called it.  She then proceeded to turn around and fall down the two steps leading to the dance floor taking out a few others with her.   I swear I didn't push her.....


What I Learned Today:  Sometimes growing up is about making the right decisions at the wrong time.
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