The other two beers which Jenny had left out were the Speight's Porter (this was the one that tasted like a Rickard's White), and the Old Dark.

One interesting fact about the Speight's Brewery is that it has its own fresh water spring in its basement, providing them with all the water they need to make damn good beer. However, they do not keep this water for themselves and have set up a tap on the street which over 300 litres are drawn from each day for people's personal use, free of charge.

While on the tour, we met a couple from the U.S. I had a feeling we might end up talking to them at some point in the night. When the tour guide was pointing out where everybody in the group was from, he pointed to Jenny and I and said we were from Canada, the 51st state. I immediately said that we're nothing like the States, and were distinctive in the fact that we were there to protect them from Russia. Anyway, when we got to talking to them, we learned that they were living in Dunedin for about a year, as she was completing work on her master's at Otago University. He was quite happy to meet some other North American's as it's been ages since he'd been able to talk about hockey with anybody. He told us that, like the All Black's rugby team, New Zealand also has a national hockey team called the Ice Black's, and just like their rugby counterparts, they perform a haka at every game.

One thing that I don't think I could come to grips with here in New Zealand is how small the carports, sorry, garages, are. I could hardly imagine parking a van into something that's no bigger than a garden shed, and yet I kept seeing it as we walked through the town. I guess I'm used to the idea that the garage is a storage area, and all you'd be squeezing into a garage here is your car...if that. I saw plenty of evidence that people don't bother closing the doors on them anymore. It's just not possible if you've got an SUV.

By the way, did I mention I really like Speight's?