got pulled over by the police :(

dudes and dudettes,

man, i am exhausted. been a hectic few days, not been able to get to a puter, far too busy adventuring and so forth.

have had lots of drinkning :)
but no debauchery :(
trekking through a volcano :)
and a 600km drive today :(

spent a night in wellington to begin my stint in the norht island. however, i did cheat a little. i decided that as this was half way through my trip, i deserved a little luxery. or rather, i deserved an en-suite and a double bed. it's not a lot to ask for, especially now that i'm used to the more sophisticated holiday accomodation-what with being post-university and having a job. so i checked into a hotel. it wasn't a glamourous hotel. very basic. it didn't even have a flat screen tv, just a basic 14inch CRT, and it didn't have loads of channels, just 11.

if you're ever in wellington, make sure you go this sushi bar on cuba street. had a conveyor belt. fab. and a bargain at only 25ish$NZ. the wasabi was mucho hotto though! :)

had a day in wellington. nice enough city, but the problem is that it is a city. everywhere in the south island apart from christchurch are really towns. they may call themselves cities, but they're only kidding themselves. small towns with very little traffic and miost of them only have one main streeet. what i'm trying to say is that i;m not used to lots of other cars on the road at the same time as me. and i'm certainly onot used to traffic lights, and lanes in roads, and opne-way streets. Wellington was a rather tricky drive, especially, when the hotel was in the centire of town but down some rather small side streets. i think it was the seedy end of town as there were a few strip clubs and porno shops within a very short walking distance. unfortunately i was exhausted and fell asleep on my bed (rather than just resting my eyes for five minutes) and so missed out on the oppurtunity to review some of these establishments for the next edition of the lonely planet guide. :(

the next day saw me driving to lake taupo. it's about 200-300km north of wellington. i was running late after spending far too much time exploring the city in the morning (the city, not the strip clubs), and so i thoguht i'd make up time by driving a little faster that the law suggests.

in all fairness though, in the south island, i was always doing about 120-140kmh (the limit is 100kmh), buit the roads are so empty, that there's never anyone to crash into or any police on the road. but from wellington, there were quite a few cars and it seems police cars too.

i was minding my own business pootling along at about 120kmh for about 10mins and being followed by a black holden, which is unusual because nobody in NZ speeds (or overtakes-they'll quite happily sit behind another car doing about 85kmh, rather than overtake them. it drives me mad). i didn't really think anything of it except that it was a bit peculiar. he was even overtaking when i overtook. i just thought he was eager to get somewhere as i was.

bugger me was i surprised when the red and blues started flashing from the front grill. i pulled over and waited for my $180 fine. the chap asked fro my liscence and was examining it for a few minutes, whilst explaining the use of indicators when overtaking. he then gave me two options. either pay $180, or just follow him for the rest of the journey as hed would not be travelling over 100kmh. i think it's pretty obvious as to which opytion i took (my wallet is not $180 lighter) :)
i think he just couldn't be bothered to sort out the paperwork for an international liscence!

got to lake taupo. the hostel is okay, but the woman on reception was the most miserable person ever and particularly unhelpful too. had to catch a coach to teh volcano at 6.20 the next morning so i went to bed quite early. there was a hole in my matress. well, a dip in the centre where it was clearly wearing out, or this was the bed for fat guests. so sleep was not easily forthcoming. was chatting to the girl in the bed opposite mine. she was a kiwi. she said i had a beautiful accent. i do though don't i :). i felt like a naughty schoolkid talkiong after lights out on a school trip.