It's All Good!

Since I was having no luck on the job end of things, I decided to take a little vacation up to Richmond to visit our old flatmates for a week. Mari and Liz stayed in Queenstown and worked for the week before heading up to meet me for the weekend. I had to fly from Queenstown to Chirstchurch and then Chirstchurch to Nelson, each 45 minute flights but, with added layovers and delays, it took me over six hours to get up there. I arrived in Nelson around 7pm where our old flatmate, Brad, was there to pick me up. During the week, I spent my time relaxing, catching up with friends and enjoying the nice weather.
Another reason why I went up there was because it was Brad’s Birthday! It was on a Monday so, it was a pretty low-key night. While the boys were at work, I decided to walk to town to pick up some things for dinner. Brad and Todd had rugby practice that night so i figured it would be nice to cook them dinner. What better than Mexican? YUMMY! Seeing that Chicken Enchiladas were such a hit at Mari’s birthday, I knew the boys would love them too. Ding, Ding, Ding... I was right. The boys scarfed it down like it was their last supper!
The week went by pretty fast being back in Richmond. Mari and Liz were planning on driving up Thursday. It was a long drive, but I reassured them that it would be worth it! After a long ten hour drive, they made it! But before Mari and Liz could nicely come in and say hi, they ran through the front door literally falling over each other to rush to the bathroom. Apparently, there weren’t any stops on that drive?
With working all week, Mari and Liz had a little money saved up and it was time for a shopping spree in Nelson. As they headed to Nelson, Brad and I took a little ride up to his families farm. The weather wasn’t the best, but lucky for us, the rain had stopped for a couple hours once we got there. We took out one of his four-wheelers for a ride and he showed me around his farm. I couldn’t believe how much land they owned. They have sheep, cows, bees, horses, and little wild goats that run around in the hills. As we were driving on the four-wheeler, we came across a group of goats that ran away once they saw us. However, they left behind a little baby one that couldn’t be more than a couple days old. This was the cutest little goat I have ever seen. We couldn’t just leave it there to die so we took it back to Brad’s house where his mom could take care of it. She loved it, and took the little goat in as a house pet. After the goat got some milk, it was running around and jumping over everything like she owned the house.
We spent our Saturday morning doing a little more shopping in Nelson before we went to the boys rugby game. Liz had to pick up some last minute things for her interview back in Queenstown. It had been raining all day, and it wasn’t looking like it was going to let up. We all wished we had rain boots, known to Kiwi’s as gum boots, to wear to the rugby game since the field was covered in mud! Little did we know how popular these gum boots were! Everyone we saw was wearing them. However, Mari brought a massive umbrella so at least we wouldn’t get too wet. When we got there, the score was 9-13 and everyone on the field was covered in mud. The score went back and forth for a while until the other team made some lucky tries and won the game. We went back to the flat for a little while, to let the boys cool off from the loss.
Even though it rained all day, it was Clubroom Day. The Clubroom is the main meeting area at the rugby fields. Its a large building that has several locker rooms and a banquet room with a concession stand and bar. On this day all the rugby teams from the club that had a match were invited to a bbq in the club rooms, there was even a band playing! Mari, Liz, and I were a little worried that the loss would put everyone in a bad mood for the night but, that all changed once we got to the club rooms and everyone seemed pretty happy. The night was full of dancing, drinking, and fun! We ended up staying there until the place was ready to shut down. The next day was filled with sleeping, food, more sleeping, and movies. Most of the rugby team came over to hang out as we all lounged around in the living room. To much our surprise, Todd asked Liz and Mari to cut his hair! (and man, did he need it, his hair was starting to look like a mullet) They sat him down in a chair and started cutting away. I caught a glimpse as they were were cutting the front. I don’t think I have ever seen Todd look so depressed. Liz held his hair out with a comb as Mari took the razor to it. With a quick buzz it was all gone, his hair was left too short and slightly crooked... Todd referred to it as a “frollet” because it was long in the front and short in the back! I felt his pain, it looked horrible. Liz and Mari were at the point of quitting because they couldn’t stop laughing and didn’t want to screw it up anymore. After taking a short break to catch their breath, Mari started working on the sides. I decided I couldn’t watch anymore because Todd didn’t like the sight of my looks or laughs I was giving him. Thankfully, in the end it turned out good and I am pretty sure he will be calling Mari and Liz for another haircut in a month or so!