... and ...

I spent the night in Ohingaiti courtesy of Bridget, Nathan, Felicity and Freddy. Libby and I set off on Saturday morning for New Plymouth. The weather was pretty bad but from inside the Van I didn't mind. Soundtrack: the Black Seeds - On the Sun, Whopper Chopper, and Green Room: Wahine. We stopped by Wanganui to say hi to my dad, who hooked us up with some NP info. Cher Dad. Continued on up map 5 of the AA Road Atlas. Got into NP about 1:30 and found ourselves a backpackers (Central City Lodge on Leach St, no complaints). Then we went to the Govett-Brewster. The Mediarena exhibition was fantastic. We loved the 'karaoke room' - designed to give the everyday person an insight into the experience of a rock star. Perfect. Also liked the paintings commenting on woman's role in society (girl on leash with severed limbs juxtaposed with traditional backgrounds of snow, cherry blossoms and full moon) and the paintings commenting on genetic engineering. Altogether the exhibition was completely worth the journey. Afterwards we attempted the Puke Ariki museum but only got as far as the cafe - we had reached cultural saturation point.

Curry for dinner then we indulged ourselves: 'Troy'. I'm not usually a big fan but you'd have to be inhuman not to find Brad Pitt waaay hot! During dinner I had explained the story of the Trojan war to Libby, but we found that much of my version was omitted, I suppose understandably, since I like to start the story at the wedding where goddess of discord, Eris, throws a golden apple inscribed 'for the fairest' amongst the guests. This sparks off the beauty contest, where Paris is chosen as judge, and the goddess entrants offer him bribes - with the offer of the love of the fairest woman (Helen) winning. Made me want to read the Aeneid again... unlikely though. The urge lasted as long as wanting to re-read the Lord of the Rings after seeing each movie of the trilogy.