Kia Ora (Hello) from New Zealand!!
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2007
1
18
26
Trip End
Feb 11, 2007
Auckland,
New Zealand
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Well as you've probably guessed from the title of this entry I am now in New Zealand but more about that later.
After I last posted on saturday morning we have travelled a fair few miles. On saturday afternoon I spent my time roasting and trying to sit on the beach and write in my journal. Think I lasted about 15 minutes lol, it was so ridiculously hot on saturday. Oh one thing I do need to mention about Melbourne is the flies. They chase your relentlessly. Me and mel have both agreed we could prbably spend a lot of time in that city of it wasn't for the flies and the way they insist on landing on your face! Euw! On saturday night we had planned a night oout with Pete with a few drinking games in our hostel first. A couple of the girls we had met in Byron Bay, Nina and Andrea who we had met by chance in the city and swapped numbers with, arranged to come over to our hostel too and the crew from facebook were meeting us out in St.Kilda so we had quite a crew. Pete managed to get himself a bit drunk on the bottle of red wine he'd brought round with him and we got stuck into the goon. By the time we left the hostel we all felt nicely merry and we headed for a place on The Esplanade called The espey funnily (esplanade hotel). This place promised us a live music of the rock/indie variety and so we were looking forward to some good tunes. What they failed to tell us about was their lack of air con in the place. It was packed in there and very sweaty, for those of you that know Nottingham, think Ocean on a wednesday night but worse lol!
After lasting till about 1am and dancing to songs I didn't really know, we decided to wander down to the beach for a paddle to cool off. For some of us i.e. Pete and Jenna this turned into a fully fledged swim, Pete stripped down to his boxers but jen kept her clothes on lol! It was very funny and I got some great pics which I'll put on facebook at a later date (i.e. when I can be arsed!!) Watching pete walk home with sand in wrong places John Wayne stylee was highly amusing too!
We got up on sunday intending to meet the people from facebook for the last time at the St.Kilda art and craft market which happens every sunday on the Esplanade. The place was a bit like Peter Kay's joke about wedding buffets (chicken legs, vol-au-vents, cheesecake, you know the one) as the same stuff seemed to be repeated over and over. But it was nice to look round and to see the guys again - in the daytime for a change. After taking them down the pier which was a tad windy, we said our goodbyes as they haven't got plans to be in new zealand anytime soon. They're a great bunch of people and we got on straight away but I'm sure we'll meet up sometime on the future for a reunion. After all this I walked to Coles Supermarket to buy stuff for tea as we were treating Pete to lasagne and garlic bread for tea. We cooked in our hostel oven - hooray an oven - and then watched the DVD of his skydive over mission beach in queensland. It looks amazing and made me want to do one even more (sorry mum). We chatted till bedtime and Pete took himself off home.
On monday we got up to go to the Melbourne museum which was a bit of a trek just out of the main city shopping district. But first we stopped off at a food court and I had a lovely roast pork and gravy sandwich! Mmmmm! Hehehe. I needed some comfort food. The museum was good, we went in the Science and Life exhibit which was full of dead stuffed animals, lots of insects and an underwater experience which was all very interesting. Then we went and looked at the little dinosaur exhibit they had which wasn't a patch on the Natural History Museum before heading upstairs to the Body and Mind area. The body part was fascinating and reminded me why I chose Biology for my A-levels. All that stuff your body does is crazy and lots of facts about DNA and nerves came rushing back. By far the most interesting part was the stuff about the mind which explored concepts of dreams, depression and moods, memory and how it can be affected by different factors and psychosis and other mental disorders. I got very sucked into it all. The last exhibit was all about the aboriginals and how they had been affected when white people started dictating to them where they should live and how they should live their lives. I learnt a lot from this exhibit too and some of the things that happened were pretty shocking. The film Rabbit Proof Fence is based on this and I'd suggest to anyone to watch it. I did at Uni a few years ago now and seeing the exhibit consolidated what the film had told me.
After all this learning and being intelligent and insightful, we went back to St.Kilda on the tram to eat and then we had decided to go and see the little penguins that come in to roost on the rocks down the pier at sunset. Pete came too and we went down and saw the sweetest little birds hiding in the rocks. They were looking at the humans crowding round them in a very weird way. After waiting for what seemed like ages, 2 more appeared by the edge of the sea and quickly waddled their way up the small beach to the rocks. Very cute. Then as we were leaving, 3 more were sat on the rocks near to the sea, flapping their flippers and squawking their little heads off. It was quite a sight and very sweet. We wlaked back to the hostel and said goodnight to Pete. He was going to come round in the morning and wave us off. The it was time to pack, shower and sleep as we had to get up to go to the airport.
On tuesday morning we got up early and had the free pancakes our hostel offered before 9am (we had never been up in time before). Pete came round and walked with us to the bus stop where we said our goodbyes. It wasn't too sad as hopefully he will be coming home in a few months or so! But it was still weird to say bye all the same as it felt like we'd only been with him for a day or something. It was lovely to see him! Then we waited for our bus which picked us up and took us to melbourne airport where we checked in, went through security with no beeping and sat and waited for our plane. It was only a 3 and a half hour flight so by the time I had watched a film (Stardust - great film) and eaten my lunch (thai chicken and rice which was yummy) it was almost time to land in rainy Auckland.
So my first view of New Zealand was wet - just like Cairns but not quite as hot! We're 2 hours ahead of Oz and that makes me 13 hours ahead of you guys back at home. We got off and got our bags without any dramas but then mel had to declare that she had a wooden didgeridoo in her backpack which meant a search by customs. Luckily her bag only bot everyone's, but it did mean more queues! Fab! The customs lady was really nice though and we got through quite quickly and headed outside to get the Airbus into the City that would take us straight to our hostel, The Fat Camel. It took us about an hour to get there and we got checked into our 8 person dorm. The way the hostel is arranged is pretty cool, our dorm is one of 4 in a apartment type arrangement around a small communal kitchen and sitting area with a bathroom just off this. It's quite cute and feels like halls at uni. We dropped our stuff in our rooms and went to get a few supplies, i.e. bread and beans lol, before chilling out and talking about where we were planning on going and how we were going to do it. We went to bed with the idea that we'd get up and talk to the travel guy in our hostel about the best prices for transport around the north island.
So when we finally arose this morning we got dressed and we have booked a car that we're hiring for 3 days to do the Bay of Islands, staying in Paihia for 2 nights. The it's back to Auckland for a night in this hostel before leaving on saturday morning on the Stray bus on a tour of the best bits of the north island. Apparently stray are really good and we'll see loads of stuff. Sweet as!
After sorting all this out me, jen and mel went into the center of Auckland and checked out a few shops on the main shopping street, Queen St, including a few rugby shops! Then we walked up to the sky tower and watched people throwing themselves off the top and zooming down on a harness. Crazyness. Then we walked down towards the water and wandered around the harbour. The water here is sooo green, it's weird. Auckland is fairly small with not a lot to do so I'm glad we're leaving tomorrow really! Can't wait to get this show on the road. Speaking of which I need to go and pack my stuff for my little trip up to the Bay of Islands! Woooop!
Lots of love to everyone, those of you who are off to center parcs this weekedn have fun you lucky devils! Look after my mummy on her birthday for me! Love u lots mum!!
Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
