When I reached Wanaka, accomodation didn’t jump out and grab me. So I started walking, I saw a sign that pointed to a Backpackers (the YHA) which I walked past, and wasn’t too impressed, continuing my walk I stood watching some skateboarders playing on a half-pipe with the beautiful Lake Wanaka in the background. When I turned around, there was the European Chalet stylings of the Purple Cow.

The Purple Cow, had a really friendly vibe, with a log fire, a nice big tv room, Ping Pong and Pool tables. The kitchen was large and clean and all of the people were happy to have a chat. I stayed in a 4 bed dorm with an ensuite, very reasonably priced at $24 a night.

Wanaka itself is a strange town, it has a very hippy casual feel, with a lot of (excuse my generalisation) dreadlocked snowboarders sitting at the coffee shop, Kai Whakapai (prononounced Ky Fuka-Pie), which might I add served a mean hang-over cure breakfast.

While I’m on the topic of hang-overs, there are almost more pubs in Wanaka than all the other shops added together. It seems that Wanaka has grown faster than businesses can move in. Anyway, I went to an Irish bar, Slainte where the Guinness was cold and served with a smile. The publican was more than happy to help me with finding a game of AFL to watch even though this meant sending me away from his establishment.

The other pub of note I went to was Red Rock, (named after my favourite chips), the DJ was spinning up funky hip-hop beats, the couches were comfortable and the beer was really well priced.

Within many of the Javascript libraries that are floating around at the
moment there is a lot of code duplication. The thing I’m thinking about most
here is checking if an element has a class, and adding a class if it doesn’t
exist. This isn’t only in webbased toolkits, like
YUI and
Prototype, but
Joe Hewitt‘s
Firebug also defines
these functions, and I’m sure most people doing any sort of slightly more
complex web development needs, or could do with these being defined at a
browser/platform level.

A cursory glance of the the WHAT-WG specs doesn’t show anything regarding this sort of modification. I’m interested in what other
people have to say about it.

I’ve found my way to Queenstown, it’s a beautiful little resort town on the shore of Laka Wakatipu. On clear days, you get the postcardesque view of the snow-capped mountains reflecting in the water of the lake. Magic.

I’m staying at a cool little backpacker hostel called Bumbles, it’s got views of the lake from most of the rooms, it’s really cheap and the staff are really helpful. I’ve had a few dramas with my cashflow and they have been more than helpful, I’m really glad I decided to stay there.

Apart from the real dramas I’ve had, my other problem has been getting coffee. There really isn’t too many coffee shops in a place that one would think would otherwise have more cafes than you can poke a stick at. Most of the places that double as coffee shops are actually bars that masquerade during the day. These places are generally no bigger than a cosy little coffee shop, and at night get packed full of drinkers, very bizarre indeed.