A Kiwi Halloween

Halloween. It was a long day.

We started the morning by carving pumpkins. Armed in our orange Tui overalls (which are surprisingly comfortable, but a little bright), we went outside of the bar and carved our tiny green pumpkins on the sidewalk. People stared. I suppose two 23-year olds carving pumpkins in orange overalls might look a little strange considering they don't really celebrate Halloween here, and nobody knows what a jack o' lantern is. The 5 year old that was sitting with us thought we were crazy.

After decorating the bar with streamers and cobwebs for about 4 hours, Shaun and I decided to drive to Waimate for "Wacky Race Day", a charity event in which grown men and women dress up as horses and race around an obstacle course. We got lost along the way and I had to ask directions to "Wacky Race Day". The guy at the gas station thought I was nuts that I was trying to find my way to such an event. It probably did sound a bit odd.

When we got there, we found a group of people dressed up like the Kentucky Derby- big hats, tweed jackets and top hats, pinstripe suits. Apparently even if the people are racing, people dress up for the races. We met up with our friend Jock and Adam and watched them run around, pushing other grown men out of the way to win. You could bet on the different "horses" and Shaun and I even won 34 dollars of funny money.

Timaru- the party we threw at the bar was a huge success! Shaun and I dressed up as cowgirls, which we thought was very appropriate for our American holiday. Most people don't dress up here but a lot of people came out for the holiday. It was advertised in the newspaper and on the radio as the Halloween party at the No. 8 Wired, hosted by the California girls. We're somewhat like local celebrities in Timaru, which is a blessing and a curse. People just tend to stare at us a lot.

Anyways, today is our day of rest. Happy birthday Stephen!

I won't have internet for the next few days because we're going to the Milford Sound tomorrow. Back on Friday.

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