New Zealand II: Speights is New Zealander for Budweiser

Since I am currently sitting drinking a can of speights (and oddly enough wearing a budweiser t-shirt) I came to the conclusion that speights is the cheap but decent beer of New Zealand (also it is oddly amusing how the can has people running, kayaking and biking lining the top of the it (see below). Probably should have people pissing outside, walking in non-straight lines, and waking up hungover at the top instead...but i digress). New Zealand is pretty incredible despite the fact that it's obviously a sham; I mean come on, mountains everywhere? beaches, water, and mountains all in the same place? Not possible.

Yesterday was spent at Abel Tasman national park located in the very north of the south island. It's pretty incredible; there's a long trail you can hike with beaches you can exit off to and take over. I claimed one beach for myself and spent an hour there. I fought off a few local seagulls with a stick and loud noises. I then decided to have a hand at shucking mussels that was nearby (there were tons of them). After getting one open and getting a look at it, I remembered I had forgotten my skillet, butter, shallots, white wine, garlic, and fork so I opted out of eating it. In all seriousness though, if I had known whether or not it was safe to eat I would have (I still have no idea whether it would have been ok). All in all it was a great hike and luckily the weather was perfect.

Anyway, I'm getting too tired to write anymore. Here's some more fun facts about New Zealand:

-The national animal is actually not the kiwi but the sheep (kiwi's are actually a hoax like trolls, elves and eskimos)
-Oddly enough the national flower is also the sheep
-Money is actually made out of wool (and will go through inflation if you put it in the dryer)

Also, pics should be up on facebook if you want to check them out