Cindy (our Group Representative) all fired up from The Hobbiton Saga coupled with The Shower Curtain Saga called the Tour Company to register our grievances.
To compensate us for our collective ill-will, the company arranged a complementary coach ride to send us to a shopping outlet. Mr Beady-Eyes was instructed to make this arrangement. Meanwhile, we walked about 15 minutes from the hotel-with-no-shower-curtain to see the last item on our itinerary.
SKY TOWER MAIN OBSERVATION
The observation deck at the top gave a nice view of Auckland. |  |
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When asked about the coach arrangement, Mr Beady-Eyes said, "Ah yes. I have arranged for a coach to take all of you to a shopping outlet today."
"How long will it take the coach to send us there?" asked Cindy. (our Group Representative)
"3 hours," replied Mr Beady-Eyes.
"3 hours?" cried Cindy. "How much time do we have there?"
"30 minutes" said Mr Beady-Eyes.
Thus began The Coach Saga.
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Florence, another member of the group walked towards Mr Beady-Eyes. He was taking another draw from his handmade ciggie. After about ten minutes, The Coach Saga was unraveled.
The drive from the hotel-with-no-shower-curtain to the outlet will take 30 minutes. We will be given 3 hours to shop before the coach returns to pick us up and send us back to the hotel-with-no-shower-curtain.
After close to an hour, the Coach Captain arrived at the Sky Tower to pick us up for the drive to the outlets.
Mr Beady-Eyes pulled the young good-looking Maori Coach Captain to one side where some serious whispering was seen. It was impolite to eavesdrop so we watched them from a distance.
We alighted the bus waiting for the conspiracy to unfold. That was probably unkind of us and unmerited but at this point in the trip, we were wondering what else the magician will pull out of his magic hat..
Nothing happened. We reached the outlet without loss of blood.
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Three hours later, we waited at the agreed spot for the Coach Manager, each laden with shopping bags and crates of fruits. Once we were seated on board, the compulsory seat belts properly in place, Mr Beady-Eyes, mic in hand began.
"It is very nice of the company to make this special arrangement with the coach today, to send all of you to the outlet and back. The Coach Manager had taken some time off just to send us there so it will be nice if all of you can give a token of appreciation to the driver for his services today."
Silence. When something is called complementary it is customary to think of it as complementary. None of us were about to give any tokens of appreciation with our arms twisted. I couldn't help thinking about the conspired whispering between Mr Beady-Eyes and the young Maori Coach Captain before we took off from the Sky Tower. Was there a premeditated conspiracy to coerce us into this?
Before we left South Island, there had been a farewell of sorts with Glen, the Coach Captain from Christchurch. Glen had been with us for 7 days, had empathized with us and was most accommodating. We had presented him with a token of our appreciation in the presence of a sullen Mr Beady-Eyes. His sense of foreboding must have inspired him to arrange this little drama.
We reached the hotel-with-no-shower-curtain without any blood shed.
Before we left South Island, there had been a farewell of sorts with Glen, the Coach Captain from Christchurch. Glen had been with us for 7 days, had empathized with us and was most accommodating. We had presented him with a token of our appreciation in the presence of a sullen Mr Beady-Eyes. His sense of foreboding must have inspired him to arrange this little drama.
We reached the hotel-with-no-shower-curtain without any blood shed.
The rest of the day was spent shopping along Queen Street. I broke my own record on this day. My pedometer registered 13,146 steps! (My daily average is less than a thousand.)
On our way back to the hotel, three rowdy Maori ladies dressed in short, black bustier dresses walked on black stilettos in drunken stupor behind us. It was cold out there and they were throwing cardboard at each other as they guffawed. I couldn't help wondering about the social status of the Maori community.
Inside the washroom of the hotel-with-no-shower-curtain vis-a-vis The Shower Curtain Saga of yesterday, hung a painting with three golden circles.
Looking at it, I thought about Tolkien's Lord of The Rings. Sauron made three rings for the elves, seven rings for the dwarves and nine rings for men. Each circle in the picture represented the three types of rings made for the different races. Collectively, they made up the One Ring which bind all three in the force of darkness depicted by the black color in the background of the painting. I wondered if these thoughts went through the artist's mind as he painted this picture. |
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Our trip came to an end on the following day when we were driven to the airport in the morning. With a brief transit in between, we reached home without further incident. The cheese we bought from the Cheese Factory was confiscated by the New Zealand Immigration Officer because they were deemed too dangerous to take on board. I hadn't had the presence of mind to check them in with the rest of the luggage.
The silver fern, cleverly pressed between the pages of a travel magazine checked in with my luggage made it through. The 6 little stones I picked up from Lake Tekapo, The Moeraki Boulders and Lake Pukaki was also checked in with the luggage.
The frozen lobster tasted great while the paua shell and costume jewelry were remnants of a memorable trip
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The kumara (sweet potato) does not speak of its own sweetness .....Maori proverb
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