Doofus Of The Day #521

Today’s winners are from South Africa, but are currently in New Zealand. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

A South African couple visiting New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup couldn’t understand why their Wellington hotel wasn’t on their GPS – until they realised they were about 19,000 kilometres [almost 12,000 miles] off track.

“I booked into the right hotel, just in the wrong country,” said Michael Adendorff yesterday, who was unfortunately unable to keep his booking at the $180 a night Majestic Hotel in Eastbourne, England, for last Friday and Saturday night.

Michael and Sunette Adendorff found themselves driving around in circles in Eastbourne, Wellington, on Friday afternoon, wondering why a street named Royal Parade wasn’t registering on their GPS system.

When they pulled in to Eastbourne pharmacy on Rimu St to ask for directions, employee Linda Burke had some bad news.

“They just walked in and asked me where Royal Parade was, with the Majestic Hotel, and I said: Oh no, there’s no hotel here.

“I looked at it and said: That’s in the UK, that’s in England.

“He checked on the internet and said he did think it was funny they charged him in pounds.”

Ms Burke wasn’t about to let the pair go without accommodation, so offered to put them up in her own house for the night.

The long-term Eastbourne resident then took the pair to the local RSA (Returned and Services’ Association) for beers and dinner, where they watched the New Zealand v Tonga match and received some good-natured ribbing.

“We met a lot of locals from Eastbourne, it was very nice,” Mr Adendorff said.

“The Kiwis took the piss out of us because of our silly mistake but it was very nice and they were very friendly.”

There’s more at the link.

I guess they should have turned left at Albuquerque . . .

Peter