Go Karts, Spray Tans, Indoor Cricket, and Hen Night

DC, SC, CC, MC, KC, DS, HS, and RS all went go-karting in Porirua. I watched. Actually, not true. I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which interests me far more than go karting. The few times I did glance at the kart action, HS was clearly the most aggressive on the track. No surprise. KC held her own too:

DS then took me into Wellington to meet up with CS for a ladies afternoon. We met at a spray tan place. The spray tan was a most odd experience that I have no ambition to repeat. We watched a rushed video, with a too-long list of instructions. With Ross's experience of a spray tan in the sitcom Friends playing in my head, I went first. Stripped off in the enclosed changing area, applied the blocking lotion to my palms and feet, and stepped into the spray booth stark naked with no glasses on. Had a moment of curious alarm wondering how they know I'm ready ("Is there a webcam pointing at me?") then remembered it was my job to press the large green button to get started. The jets immediately fired up and sprayed in a steady arc up and down my body. Including my face. Just had not really occurred to me that I'd be sprayed in the face, and wasn't too keen on breathing the stuff in. But the spray lasts 14 seconds, which is quite a long time to hold your breath. Then I turned around to be sprayed on the other side, but still didn't really like breathing because the whole booth was full of the vapors. Stepped out, relieved it was over. Dabbed off the excess, got dressed, and told CS what great fun it was, and off she went :) The tan takes hours to develop....mine ended up OK, except that my palms and feet went orange despite the lotion. CS's legs went orange and streaky. It had faded enough to be fine for the wedding, but neither of us have any ambition to spray tan ever again!

We had lunch at Olive, then stopped by a nail place so that CS could have a shellac French Manicure. Looked lovely a week later at the wedding. Then we took the cable car up the hill, walked through the botanical gardens, and hiked (climbed, really) up to her apartment perched on the side of an astonishingly steep hill. Several of CS's friends arrived, we all got changed, and started walking back into town. After about 20 minutes walking, we realized we'd be about an hour late if we kept going, so called taxis instead. Ate at a Japanese/Sushi place, along with SS, HS, and friends and ZC's sisters, sisters-in-law, and mother. Quite a crowd. SS and I left at about 10pm. The younger generation remained in Wellington to party/barhop.

Meanwhile, the guys were off at the stag night, which started at 3pm. It was (apparently) held in a summer camp location and consisted of watching sports, playing sports, and drinking. To SC and CC's mortification, they were required to join in on indoor cricket and soccer--extra intimidating given the sporting prowess of the groom and his family and friends.