More Americans, Snow & Hail, Baldwin Street, & Miss Saigon

Vanessa's house can now officially be called 'Little America.'  Anne and Will, friends she made during her year in Baltimore, got married on September 11th in Ohio and are here in New Zealand for their honeymoon.  Before heading out on a two week adventure around the country, they landed here in Dunedin to spend some quality time with Vanessa.  They were supposed to head to Queenstown for the weekend, but a "storm the size of Australia" has been battering this tiny country and bringing lots of snow to the higher elevations.  Hence, a fun-filled Dunedin weekend was in store for everyone, and they let Todd and I tag along on their adventures.

Friday afternoon, we headed out to the tip of the peninsula, taking in (more) amazing views and checking out a World War II bunker filled with graffiti.  After delicious Friday shop pie for dinner, we tucked those jet-lagged new Americans into bed.  Despite the looming threat of a "storm the size of Australia," Saturday morning was sunny, so we headed out for a morning walk into Frasers Gully.  The minute we got back to the house after our walk, the rain (and the rest of the day's wacky weather) began.  It rained cats and dogs while we were at brunch and doing a little shopping but the higher elevations of Dunedin got some snow.  Mid-afternoon brought naps, sun, and hail followed 5 minutes later by sun.  Crazy!!

Todd and I were invited to dinner by new curling friends, Gordon and Mark.  Luckily, they live right down the street, so we could walk...make that slip and slide down icy sidewalks...to their house.  They had invited their neighbors as well, and check this out...THEY WERE IN SCARBOROUGH IN MAY!!!  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they have visited the chocolate moose at Len Libby's.  Hilarious!  We had a really wonderful evening and look forward to hanging out with Mark and Gordon and friends many more times.

Sunday brought a brisk breeze, but that didn't stop us from heading down to the Museum Lawn to support my co-worker Kitty in the Global Mala (108 yoga sun salutes) for Peace.  From there, we headed over to the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street, a must-see tourist spot in Dunedin.  After the long hike to the top, we had some picture-taking fun, and Todd and I re-enacted his Jaffa injury (see The Jaffa Race!!!...and a head wound for Todd post).

Scene 1:Jaffa flying into Todd's forehead

Scene 2: "Oh my gosh! You're bleeding, honey!" 

Scene 3: "Ha ha ha!! You got hit in the head with a Jaffa!  Ha ha ha!!"

















We were fortunate enough to finish out the weekend by seeing Miss Saigon at the Regent Theatre.  Gordon and Mark were given two tickets for today's matinee but couldn't make it and already had tickets for Thursday's show.  They offered them to us, and we went!  I've seen Miss Saigon twice on Broadway, but Todd had never seen it.  It was a great production (the leads' voices were almost as good as the originals) and a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.