Sweet as bro
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2005
1
27
65
Trip End
May 11, 2006
Auckland,
New Zealand
Friday, December 16, 2005
On the plane there was a free seat next to Jarrod, the Kiwi guy; a rafting guide that had been looking for work in Chile. I moved seats and sat next to him for the flight. He gave me lots of tips of where to go and what to do once in New Zealand. Jerrod's mate picked him up from the airport and they asked if I wanted to spend the day with them. We drove to the top of Wellington Hill for views of Auckland. Auckland is right at the top of the North Island on a very narrow stretch of land, surrounded by water and islands. We swam in the sea to the east of the city. Jarrod's mate and girlfriend cooked me a roast for dinner, fed me beers, and let me stay the night at their house. I just can't imagine something like that happening in England.
I didn't want to impose so checked into a hostel in downtown the next day. It's just off Queen Street, the main shopping street in Auckland. Gone are the days of 2 pound accommodation, damn it's pretty expensive here. There's so much to do and so much to spend your money on, I'm thinking about extending my stay so I can fit it all in.
Yesterday I went to the Auckland Art Gallery. They had paintings and sketches by Frances Hodgkins - not really my thing, 17th and 18th century European art - good but portrait after portrait gets a bit boring; there was also some modern art, some of which was brilliant some of which was wank. One of a bears head with a teddy bear hanging out of it's mouth was amazing - the head was made out of hundreds of matches glued together lengths ways; and I loved the glass box with crystal formations growing inside it.
I am developing a growing hatred for the blurbs that are next to modern art. Stuff like: "Perhaps the sign posts in this piece signify the distances the artist has had to go to find success in life - near and yet so far" or "The matches in this piece resemble the dangers that are present in everyday life - life, so precious, so delicate". They couldn't be worse if you asked someone to look at a painting and cram into just one paragraph the biggest pile of wank writing, that vaguely has something to do with the painting, and at the same time will make everyone despise everything about the art world as a whole. I don't even think artist have anything to do with them, more than likely it's pompous gallery directors or critics. I find violent urges rising within when I read them.
So to calm myself down after the art gallery I visited the Red Lion brewery up the road, the highlight being the free bar at the end where you get to pull your own pints. Sweet as bro!!. They say this all the time here and it drives me nuts. If I ever find myself saying it I will have to kill myself.
I've being toying with the idea of buying a car, and so nearly did today. I decided against it as it could of worked out a bit expensive. In the end I bought a flexi bus pass, which should get me around the north and south island. Still $541 which is over 200 pounds. Man, in SA we were doing 20 hour journeys on the sweetest buses for a tenner.
Not sure where I'm going to spend Christmas, Bay of Islands possible. Still no camera yet!!! Not sweet as bro!
