IRD & Vodka

Friday, August 19, 2011
Blenheim, South Island, New Zealand
We were abruptly woken up at 7am by somebody knocking on our bedroom window. I had asked Andrew to lock the door the previous evening but apparently people staying in another block didn't have a key and they used the kitchen in our block. Anyway, Andrew got up to let an American couple into the kitchen and as he was wide awake he began to make breakfast for us. We then got ready and walked into 'Blenheim' town centre which was ghostly quiet, probably because it was just after 9am. Andrew applied for an IRD tax number, via a fast-track system which cost $15, but as I didn't know when I would be fit to work I just applied through the Post Office as it cost nothing. We had a short walk around the town centre but we didn't have any spare cash to spend so we headed back to our hostel. I rang the 'Wairau Hospital' to find out the next step I would need to take to get a new cast on my wrist. The receptionist was extremely helpful and even managed to arrange for a St Johns Ambulance to come and pick me up. We arrived at the 'Outpatients Department' who then set me to 'A & E' to firstly register as a patient and then see a doctor. The doctor then sent me back to the 'Outpatients Department' where I was told a nurse would remove my old cast and replace it with a new one. I was told I would have to wait an hour and a half for an appointment but my name was called after only twenty minutes or so. The nurse was quite abrupt with me and basically asked me why I was even at the hospital as according to her my cast was fine and so she said she was unwilling to change it for a new one. I explained that I was only following the instructions given to me by the doctor I saw at Queenstown, but she still wasn't happy even though the doctor in her own hospital had sent me for a cast change! I was livid as the whole trip had been a complete waste of time and I then had to wait until Monday for an appointment to see an Orthopedic doctor. I walked back to our hostel with a rather unhappy face. Andrew made us something to eat when we arrived back at 'The Grapevine' and we chilled out for the rest of the afternoon before walking to 'LiquorLand' where we bought a large bottle of vodka. We ate a tasty lamb steak and then proceeded to make our way through the bottle of vodka over the course of the evening.  
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