The most expensive taxi ride of my life

Trip Start Sep 05, 2006
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Trip End Sep 27, 2006


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Where I stayed
Turtle Cove Accomodation
(Whitianga hotels)

Flag of New Zealand  , North Island,
Sunday, September 10, 2006

The alcohol wears off, a groggy glance at the watch... SHIT!!! 9:30am!! Shit shit shit!!! My tour left without me!! I fly out of bed, get packed up, give my teeth a quick brush and run downstairs. Guess who i run into, the girls! They missed their bus too!  I sit down with a nice lady in the travel center and explain my delema (I'm sure this happens everyday.) She says not to worry, I can catch a city bus and meet my group in Whitianga. Excellent! The girls get their bus tickets organized too, and then we are all off to the bus station. I hand my ticket to the driver and he says "look at the date, this is for tommorow" nooooo!!! So I'm minorly freaking out, ok maybe majorly, because the bus is about to leave and I have the wrong ticket. Becki comes with me into the station to sort it out, the man at the counter tells me to be quiet, apparently I'm shouting. They tell me they can't help me. The driver was nice enought to let me on anyway.  I have to transfer busses in Thames though, do you think they'll let me on that bus? I'm sure you won't have a problem...
I get on the bus and finally calm down. It's pouring rain. We arrive at the Thames bus station and I go into talk to them about my ticket mix up.  The lady tells me, "sorry, there are no busses going to Whitianga today". WHAT!! I explain the story. She shows me all the pamphlets for shuttles and hostels and says i should call around.  I don't have a phone so i buy a phone card, of course it only comes in 20 dollar demoninations.  So I buy the card, but continue to talk to the lady and she starts calling shuttles for me. No one will take me. So she calls a few taxi's. Nope. This is all going on in a super rush because the station is about to close and I get the idea she doesn't want to spend one extra second there if she doesn't have to. She tells me theres not much around here and the hostels are probably booked, and it is pouring rain. I now imagine myself cold and wet sleeping in front of the bus station until tommorow morning when the next bus comes.She explains the taxi's and shuttles how desperate I am to meet up with my group and I'm willing to pay almost anything! Finally one calls her back, he'll take me to Whittianga, for $180NZ. Yikes!! But I'll take it!
The drive was the most twisting and turning road I've ever been on! Beautiful though. The driver was nice and just talked and talked.  We finally arrived at the hostel, Turtle Cove, at about 7pm. Having been awake for god knows how many hours (only a couple drunken hours of sleep) I went straight to my bed and crashed.  I slept until 5 am when I was wide awake and ready to go! 
I showed and dressed and had a look around the hostel and met up with our driver/guide, Eamon. I told him the whole drama and had a pretty good idea I'm not gonna live this one down. I then went out to explore the city with the couple of hours I had until the bus left. It was overcast and rainy, not a soul was on the streets.  A little bakery shop was open and I stopped and got a bacon and egg pie, which immediatly hurt my stomach.  I went back to the hostel and waited outside for the bus to come around. Here I met Naomi and Daragh, a young couple from London.  We waited for a few minutes and then asked the front desk where the bus was, he said it already left!  Just then the big green bus pulls up and theres Eamon laughing, the joke's on me!  I board the Kiwi Experience bus, Finally! Only a day late, but better than never, whew!
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