A whole lotta nothing in Methven

It's our second day in a small ski town called Methven, and we've yet to go skiing on Mt. Hutt.... or even get onto the mountain actually. Yesterday the lifts were closed because of high winds, and today they're closed because of snow (ironic- snow closing a place where you go skiing- but they're expecting 50 centimeters of snow to fall today alone, so needless to say the roads up to the lifts are closed because they can't clear them as fast as the snow is falling!) Should make for amazing conditions tomorrow, so we're probably going to stay an extra day here to take advantage of it. Where we're at in the valley, it was snowing this morning but now it's just a cold rain (good day for internet!)

We've made a couple of new friends at our hostel (actually, besides two folks that are here all summer- sorry, winter- they're the only other people in the hostel.) They're from Sydney, Australia, and have been a lot of fun to hang out with- we're getting all sorts of tips from them on places to check out since we leave New Zealand for Australia in a couple of days.

One of the topics of conversation we've had is about the kiwi bird, and the fact that it's pretty much the worst country mascot ever. Not only is it nocturnal, so you never get to see it out and about, but it's a bird that can't fly, and it's been almost completely wiped out by people's domesticated pets (dogs and cats.) Steve could go on and on for a long time about this topic, and how other country mascots are far superior- kiwi bird vs. bald eagle, kiwi bird vs. the australian kangaroo, etc. etc. We have yet to see a kiwi bird, but hope to do so at the Christchurch zoo in a couple of days. Actually, I don't think we can really justify flying out of this country before seeing this bird.

Another point of information that might be useful to you is the explanation of the traveling gnome. Steve realized you folks out there might have NO idea what the deal is with the random plastic figuring that keeps showing up in photos. Well, before we left the US, I thought it'd be a good idea to take along some sort of personal mascot that we could use in front of interesting landmarks because you're probably going to get really sick of seeing pictures of me, Steve, or the two of us together. The question of what that mascot should be was answered by Paul Dowdy- someone I had the pleasure of working with on my project in Virginia- who presented me with the traveling gnome (complete with gnome passport and all.) So, thanks to Paul, the traveling gnome gets to accompany us on our adventure around the world, check out some great sights, and get in quite a few pictures of his own.

Before my ramblings go on for too long, here are a few additional thoughts/observations to leave you with on this fabulous country:
1) If you're going to be driving in NZ, be aware that they love 1-lane bridges.... as in car coming from one direction has the right of way, and all opposing traffic has to wait for them to pass before driving over. This is not limited to backcountry roads- but major interstate roads as well (they only have a handful of real multi-lane motorways in this country.)
2) Never read a map/atlas in the dark. Doing so may cause you to mistake an RV dump station for a holiday park (NZ for campground), causing you to end up in a random park, under a bridge, in a sketchy part of town that looks like the perfect backdrop for a Law & Order episode. Why would you make the only difference between these two symbols their color (dark blue vs. black)? Fortunately that mistake only happened once.
3) Don't try to order "American Cheese" on your sandwich at Subway. They will only stare at you blankly, because they don't HAVE American Cheese....riiiigggghhhhttttt.....
4) If ordering deli meat, don't say you want "half a kilogram" of shaved ham. They will again stare at you blankly until someone else ordering at the counter says "I think she means 500 grams." I am guessing this lesson will apply in many other countries as well.
5) The Kea bird (world's only alpine parrot) should in fact be made the NZ mascot. They are one of the smartest animals in the world (up there with the dolphin, apes, etc), have figured out how to solve puzzles/ share, and in a more practical manner know how to remove hub cabs from cars parked at ski lodges. Pretty cool stuff. We have seen several Kea's out and about, and they are pretty neat- way cooler than this kiwi bird (will confirm once we actually see one of those!)

Cheers,
Anna