(no subject)

[clo_again]

My hostel here in Dunedin does not have crap wireless internet. It, in fact, does not have wireless internet at all. When I asked at reception I was directed "go out, down to the lights, turn right and the common room is twenty metres/minutes on your left". I didn't catch whether she said metres or minutes and, on reaching what I assumed to be the correct set of lights (I arrived here at 1pm this afternoon; at 1:10pm I got on a minibus to do a wildlife tour and only just arrived back), I couldn't see anything that looked promising to my right. I could however, see a McDonalds to my left. In Sydney definitely, the McDonalds had free wireless and I thought in other places too.

So I'm in McDonalds. Wireless yes, free not so much. Still cheaper than my Queenstown hostel though, I think. I rather suspect I'll be back here tomorrow morning for a coffee and then again in the evening because I have nothing to do tomorrow and I was kind of hoping to spend it hanging around the internet and the rest of it in a cafe somewhere as the weather is appalling. I was going to head to the cinema across from my hostel tonight to see Star Trek again but now I'm thinking I should head back and watch Skellig, which I downloaded at Easter and still haven't watched, and save the cinema to kill some time tomorrow. Dunedin so far is prettyish but just driving around here in the bus has left me with the distinct impression that I'll get lost if I just wander. Also doesn't help that my hostel doesn't have maps. Why my hostels seem to be degrading in helpfulness and facilities the further south I get, I don't know (Dunedin has like 120,000 residents so it's not like I'm in a backwater) but there you go. I'm staying in the YHA in Lake Tekapo on Monday though and they've yet to let me down on internet so hopefully I'll be able to download Good News Week then. And then I'm back in Oz, and then Alice Springs and you know, I just might be able to watch one damn episode on an actual television before I go home. BUT PROBABLY NOT. Not with the way my GNW luck is going. I'm just glad they have the podcasts up for free at all though, since the website doesn't seem to load the episodes properly outside of Oz. *mourns*

I watched my last unwatched episode last night though and I'm so, so glad I saved it until last because it was the one where Amanda Palmer (I was like HAI NEIL GAIMAN'S FRIEND YOU ARE AWESOME :DDD) did a table dance on Paul's desk and he couldn't speak for a minute or so after. I now heart on Amanda Palmer so much. Remind me to look for Who Killed Amanda Palmer while I am in Melbourne because it looks like Amazon doesn't stock it personally so I may as well try to pick up a copy firsthand. They advertised it on GNW so I'm thinking it's probably around.

Money? MONEY I HEAR YOU SAY?! Yeah. I had McDonalds for dinner tonight. I can afford a damn CD after that. (But only one. >_< Yeah.)


~

My other thing while I have internet, since that seems to be becoming a problem down here in the unpopulated wilds of 120,000-people-cities, is irradiatedsoup, I'm still good to be coming to yours on May 28th right? I promise to not talk about Paul McDermott too much and flail over everything and you can taunt me with your BSG knowledge beyond the end of season two. And also, do you have a printer I can steal borrow to print out my flight confirmation for Alice Springs? If not I can do it at the YHA in Tekapo I think.

I'm just waiting for George singing chocolate pudding to finish downloading before I can head back to chill with coffee and downloaded TV for the rest of the night. I am definitely ready to go home now, or at least back to Australia where I will have TV and fun people to talk to and buying milk for coffee will not be an epic adventure every two days when I move somewhere new. How people live in hostels for a year is beyond me. Even though this one actually seems nice (muuuuch better than the Queenstown one, even though you still have to go outside to get to the showers) despite the lack of internet and staff who seem to have better things to be doing than giving directions.

I do miss my Sydney hostel where staff were nice, I liked my room and my view and the showers and the lounge and the wireless. Or maybe I just miss Sydney, where I was learning my way around and was happy to be there and it was beginning to feel a little bit like home after seven days. I do miss Sydney. I want to save money for other trips, like America and Canada and Peru but I rather think I may be heading back to Sydney sooner rather than later. What's the point of travelling if not to find the places you like and go back to them?

C'mon George. I want to get out of McDonalds and away from the irritating over-junk-fed kids now.