Dunedin

I spent Saturday and Sunday in Dunedin. It was the best I have felt since my Dad died. I left at 6.30am on Saturday with Hamish and David from ABC and two other guys John and Playo. We stopped in Timaru at McDeath amd I asked them to remove all meat from my breakfast:) We got to Dunedin at about 11am and went to try and stay at Studholme, a student hall. We managed to acquire the room after charming the nice Maori man who looked after the hall and convincing him we weren't there for the Undy 500. From there we had lunch and Hamish, David, Playo and I drove out to Sandfly Bay to jump off sand dunes on the boogie boards and Polly Pocket skateboard (minus wheels) which we acquired from The Warehouse. The drive around the bay was really pretty and we stopped in to see Hamish's relatives for a bit. Once we found the gate into 'the wild' we fought our way through scrub and gorse until we reached the mighty dunes. This was really surreal for me as I had gone to this very same place as a kid with my Dad, Mum, brother and Dad's family and it hadn't changed at all. I rolled down the sand dunes for a while as did Hamish and Dave and we got so dizzy we thought we would puke and die. It was great. We then proceeded to perform running flips and jumps off a steep dune and caning ourselves. It was one of the biggest highs I have ever experienced ever. It was so buzzy. The place rocked.
On the way back to the car we found a track that led right back to where we parked but had missed it on the way in. On our walk out we found the gruesome scene of a sheep who had been killed while giving birth. It was horrible. As we continued out we heard some lambs that had got stuck in a river Dave went down and managed to fish the two babies out and we carried them back to their mother, who accepted them. It was very nice really. From there we went to tea at a little Korean place with a bunch of people I didn't know. Afterwards I was dropped in Brighton at my Aunty Hilary's place she is my Dad's eldest sibling, I hadn't seen her since I was around 8 years old. Jared then picked me up and we hung at his place before going for a late night drive to locations chosen at random and talking a bunch. After failing to establish contact with Hamish I crashed on Jared's lounge floor.

Next morning my Dad's brother Merv picked me up and bought me breakfast. We went to his son, my cousin Glen's fabulous mansion where I met his wife Katherine and one of his daughters, Morgan for the first time. Merv and I then drove back to Hilary's and were joined by my cousin Jo and one of her sons, Rhys. I got to see what my Dad's parents looked like, via photos for the first time in my life. After getting hold of Hamish it was decided I would be put on the Knight Rider and hang with Jo for a few hours. I went to her house and met her partner Junior. Yep. I had tea with them. Jo and I then watched my Dad's funeral DVD, making her the first outside my brother and I on Dad's side to see it. She was close to my parents when she was younger. After this we rang my Mum. After a few coffees and discussing family history and traits we went back to town-ish and I was put on the Knight Rider and sent on my merry way. The bus trip sucked but it was overshadowed by the kick arse two days I had just experienced.

My family is awesome.