Jesus Drives a Pimp Mobile

This is long, but so good.

Just when I thought I had no ride to Christchurch Friday morning, I was offered a spot in a 12-person van rental. We even got 1 day free on the price! Then I found out some space opened up at a friend's house and I'd have a free bed for the two nights! So we drive the six hours up to the city Friday afternoon and I get dropped off at my friend Jono's house to get settled.

Jono's House: Warmth, great bed, heated tile floors and towel rack, awesome parents

Jono shows us around the city a bit to experience the night life and after a long night of dancing at Boogie Nights we go back home to nice warm beds! The next morning (after the best sleep since I left home) Jono took us to the Wildlife Preserve. It was like a zoo, but better! We danced with the talking parrot, pet eels, and shook hands with monkeys! We also got to see wallabies, whining otters, and KIWIS! The kiwis were really special because they're endangered, the national bird, nocturnal, and so funny to watch waddle around uselessly.

Later that day, half of us watched the game at the stadium and the rest watched it back at the house (saved $50, stayed out of the rain, and had dinner courtesy of Jono's parents) UNFORTUNATELY i couldn't make it to the Ultimate tournament.. it's kinda hard when you're the only one interested and you're lacking transportation. So sadly, I still have no disc.

I met back up with my van buddies Sunday to head home around noon. We got some gas and snacks and settled in with our ipods for the journey back to Dunedin. The van started slowing down about 40 min into the trip. We knew there was definitely something wrong when we were going 10K/hr while flooring it. Five minutes later and we were twelve international students in a dead van on a highway with nothing but open fields in sight. Our friend who rented the van never asked one VERY important question about the car: petrol or diesel. We put petrol in a diesel van and killed it. DEAD. We're not sure if we have to buy it now or what. I don't really wanna know.

get the cameras rolling... TRUE LIFE: I'm a Hitch Hiker

(Before you have a heart attack mom, I am still alive)

It's pouring freezing rain and the wind is whipping, and we have to leave the van to get towed. We grab our backpacks and sleeping bags and head out of the van in pairs (girl and guy), stick out our thumbs, and put on a big puppy dog face.

It took Chris and I no more than 10 minutes to get our first ride. This guy was a total creeper. He was in his late 40s, covered in tatts playing some hard metal music like Disturbed. When he reached into the arm rest we were sure he was about to pull out a gun! Just a cassette. Well, it was a Dashboard Confessional cassette. Creeper. He drops us off in the center of the very next town about 15 min away. We're trekking through the wind and rain to try to find the major highway when we see three kids standing at a nearby gas station holding cardboard signs saying "To Dunedin" and "Heading South." Getting closer we realize its our friends (2 of them being my flatmates)! Crazy thing is, they weren't in the van with us earlier. They had bought a car and driven up to Christchurch on their own. Their car ALSO broke down the day before and we had just happened to find them in this random small town about 1.5 hours out of the city.

Sadly, we had to keep moving without them. A group of three is hard enough to hitch with, forget five. We felt like bums having to move on to the next corner so weren't competing for the nickels and dimes of passersby. Ten/fifteen min later we see a van (not a minivan, more like a small shipping truck) start to pull over. Our friends that we just left are inside waving!! They stop and tell us to hop in!

This was Jesus. in the flesh. in a pimp mobile.

Pimp Mobile: sink, lighting, makeshift bed, stereo system, custom wooden trim shaped like waves, pictures, 2 surfboards, snowboard, skateboard, guitar, beanbag

This guy was young, friendly, loved KFC, and was headed all the way (5 more hours) to Dunedin! He was actually really happy to give us a lift because in such high winds the height of the van causes a ton of wobbling, reducing his speed by half. Five people added a lot of weight and would make his trip faster. If this wasn't a miracle enough, he drove us right to our door! So what if he grows his own weed, this man dropped straight from heaven.

One hot shower and hot meal later, I was alive and well with one crazy story.