WOW/fish

WOW--that is the World of Wearable Art museum in Nelson.  That is where we went to day.  It is raining, raining, raining.  So the hiking trip to Tasman Park was out, indoor destinations in.  The WOW is a contest/show done each year.  We saw a video at the museum of last year's show--it was quite the visual extravaganza.  The winners are displayed at the museum.  Inexplicably, there is also a classic car gallery at the museum.  We don't know why.  Maybe for the stereotypic guys.  One of the galleries was filled with black lights an the costumes all glowed--very cool.  Many of the costumes displayed explained the artist's conception and all told what materials were used in construction  Some were more like normal clothes, most were not.  In the children's division in fact, were two costumes with books--one had a dragon coming through the pages of a book and another had a witch in between the pages who could put down the book and walk out--the witch's face was most of the costume.  Very cool.

We also went to a tiny aquarium in a nearby town--very cute.  There were signs that you were allowed to touch the animals, but to be careful of the eels--they would bite your fingers!  We followed the directions to use a fist and that worked.  We also touched anemones, starfish, and other creatures.  We saw octopus and other strange creatures in tanks.

The place we are staying deserves a description.  It is a private hostel--Eden's Edge.  Only three years old.  It is comprised of three buildings and a storage building.  One building has rooms with bunks, toilets, and showers.  The middle building are the common rooms.  A large, well-equipped kitchen, large dining room table, a lounge with many couches, chairs, and tables, with shelves of books and games as well as a large chess set that we have made good use of.  There is also a separate room with a TV and DVD player and couches.  Beyond the kitchen is a laundry room with coin operated washer and dryer and a bathroom (not coin-operated!).  The lounge has a heater so it is the warmest area.  The media room and laundry are separate rooms, the rest have an open floor plan.  The third building has a reception desk with a shelf of DVDs to borrow, the owner's apartment, and three bedrooms for rent.  They have an outdoor swimming pool and landscaping that they are currently improving.  The rooms are separate with paths connecting them.  We have been using umbrellas to get from one to the next today!  They are currently closed because this is the slow season and they have landscaping projects that they wanted to work on that they can't during the busy season (their summer).  It is unseasonable cold and rainy--the owner's said that it is usually warm enough here during the winter for a t-shirt during the day and sunny most of the time.

We are doing a Lord of the Rings marathon now.  Our previous rule had been that you had to read the books before seeing the movies (so that the violence has some context).  Annie did that and Shelby tried in fourth grade but didn't make it through The Hobbit.  But with an upcoming trip to New Zealand (where the movies were filmed), we let the children watch the movies without reading the books.  And so we are letting them watch again with a stretch break in between.  Since we are the owner's only guests (we're not sure why they let us stay here--when I asked, it seemed that they were willing to take the time to do the cleaning for a family of five, where they would need to put in the same amount of time prepping for one person.  So they earn the amount for a family of five with the same amount of prep time.  I think.

I'm still having trouble loading photos, so I will end for now--our 24 hours of internet that we paid for are almost over!