No wait! Don’t stop reading. This post really isn’t about basketball, although basketball is the thread that binds it together. You see the Boomers vs Tall Blacks game is the reason I’m hightailing it to Wellington – something I’ll never attempt to do again in three days I might add. Yes it might not have been the smartest thing to do, but if I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have been shouting out “pub quiz for dummies” answers in the pub at Napier* with a complete stranger (we would have won if we had been playing), in between watching the Opals vs the Tall Ferns on tv. Nor would I have accepted an invitation for a drink of yet another stranger in Wellington before the game as we both wanted to find somewhere out of the wind. You know, that’s probably giving the wrong impression – I’m not picking up men in bars! lol The point of all this is that travelling by myself makes me do things I wouldn’t ordinarily do – like talk to people I don’t know – and the surprising thing is: I actually enjoy it.

It certainly is an exercise in personal growth – but I am OVER driving. The weather has also turned to rubbish today so I’m holed up in a beautiful apartment on the edge of Lake Taupo (toe-paw) called Braxmere. I’m just going to NOT drive for a bit and look at the swans on the lake.

*I also wouldn’t have found that pair of leopard skin boots that I probably didn’t need but bought anyway and now have to find a way to fit in my luggage.