The Longest Trek of My Life But Then I Fell In Love...With Nelson!

Tongeriro Crossing! I'm glad I did it, but I will never do it again! A 19km trek over a volcano...I don't know what I was thinking. Actually I was thinking "oh what great 'little' trek" this will be. LITTLE MY ASS!!! I'm surprised I could feel my ass after.

The trek started before 8am. We had spent the night freedom camping (camping for free) on the side of the road in a little area surrounded by bush, sand and cows that mooed all night. We bundled up (as the nights are getting colder) and we enjoyed a spaghettie bolognese (that Jordan cooked up on the cooker) shared a can of coke and looked at are view of the moon rising over Mt. Tongeriro and Mt. Doom (the volcanoe where Lord of The Rings was filmed). After we ate Jordan pulled out his guitar and then we all curled up in our camper around 11 as we had a huge day the next day.

We grabbed a shuttle from Base Camping Grounds and headed towards the volcanoes. On the shuttle they basically told us ``it may rain and get cold today. If it is looking cloudy to not attempt Mt. Doom stay on the Tongeriro track. If you miss your shuttle we will not come back for you, we will send a search party. enjoy your trek`` in other words ``we are not dumb enough to do this ourselves. We will wait for you with our coffee on the other side. Best of luck!`` Right. So we begin. The first hour there wasn`t much to see, a lot of rock around us and two huge volcanoe`s infront of us waiting to see if we could make it. I love walking but after the first hour I was getting really tired and we still had the Devils Staircase ahead of us. Whats that you ask? Exactly what it sounds like...I really believe the Devil himself built this staircase! Not joking! The guys wanted to do Mt. Doom (due to my vertigo I was told not to do it as it is pretty high and narrow up there) so we divied up the food and off they went. They had to make it there by 9:15 or they wouldn`t be able to do it. I looked up at the Devil and thought there was no way the guys were gonna make it up there in 15 minutes but I didn`t have to worry as I was going to go at my own pace and enjoy a day on my own. Besides after this bout of stairs it should be smooth sailing. HAHA OK! The volcanoe is very deceiving, every time I got to the top (or rather what I thought was the top) I would look ahead and see more and more staircase. All I wanted to do was turn around, I was tired and hungry and it wasn`t even close to noon yet. WILL THIS EVER END?!? I kept going...1. I wanted to do it 2. I didn`t want to write a blog about me not doing it lol sad but true. I stopped to take pictures of the view, I even tried taking pictures of me with a nice background but that didn`t last very long. I ended up meeting Maddie...a Canadian backpacking with her friends. We ended up trekking the whole day together THANK GOD!!! I don`t know if I could`ve lasted the whole day by myself lol...it was treacherous and not easy. We sat down and ate lunch and as I looked a head I saw that we hadn`t even reached the summit yet. I looked behind me...clouds had almost completely engulfed all of Mt. Doom...I knew the guys had gone that way so I was hoping they were ok. I knew how the weather could change up this high, on top of all the layers I had put on in the morning(shorts, leggings, joggers, 2 tank tops, long sleeve shirt, sweater, hoodie and vest) I had to put on my windproof water jacket as it was getting windy and a little rainy.

My legs were killing me, at one point I looked at Maddie and said ``Gandolf better be waiting for me when I get to the top.`` She looked at me really wierd giggled and said ``ummm ya ok`` (finding out later she had never seen nor knew that Mt. Doom was from LOTR and thought I was just really weird haha).
We finally reached the summit at about noon...though cloudy and a bit rainy it was really beautiful. You could see Red Crater, the Green Lakes (which the smell brought me back to Rotorua-sulphur) and there was another Lake that I can`t remember the name. We started heading down at this point which wasn`t as easy as I thought. My vertigo kicked in a little as I could see everything infront of me including how high I was and I could feel my feet starting to blister. An hour after the summit and a little ways down the hill we got to a toilet point where we could relieve ourselves and sit down on some benches and take a break. Not thinking we had much more to go I felt a little more positive which soon faded. Once again the volcanoe was deceiving. Everytime we thought we were almost at the bottom there was more rock to be walked down. Our feet were blistering and it was hurting. We finally hit the forest. What a nice change of scenery and really beautiful. Green foliage everywhere with little water falls and rivers....yet it never seemed to end. At this point I had undid one of my hiking boots halfway because my ankle was in so much pain. ``Can you see the light`` I would call to Maddie ``this thing goes on forever`` she would say. ``I swear that sign said only 45 minutes`` ``how long has it been?`` ``an hour`` even the forest was deceptive. Finally we could see the car park. With sore feet and aching bodies we walked to the waiting area exhausted but proud of ourselves for surviving the day. The boys showed up about 10 minutes after we did. They didn`t make it all the way up Doom because the weather got too bad so they had to turn around.
That night we stayed at the same hostel as Maddie and her friends. The boys stayed in the camper and I paid the extra money to sleep in a bed though I tossed and turned all night. The next day we headed our way down to Wellington.
This is where my adventure changes. I am no longer with the guys. I parted ways with them in Wellington. They were staying there for a about 5 days and I wanted to head over to the South. I loved my 10 days with them but I really needed some me time, so that night they dropped me off at the YHA in Wellington where I joined Maddie and her friends. So we grab some drinks and drank down in the common room at about midnight Maddie and I decide to go out to the bar...and go out to the bar did we ever. We met some locals the hostel bar who took us to another bar that served till about 530 in the morning. We had to be up at 630 to catch the shuttle that was taking us to the ferry. It was a really messy morning. Half drunk and no sleep we barley made the shuttle, we couldn`t stop laughing. When we checked in our bags for the ferry, who backpack and sweater were covered in PBnJ due to the attempt at making toast for breakfast. We got to sleep on the ferry thank god though the bouncy waves were not making me feel much better. Unfortunatley I did not see much or take any pictures of the ferry ride...I heard it`s beautiful but I was enjoying the back of my eyelids too much to really care. We parted ways in Picton (ferry landing) as we were both on different buses but were staying at the same hostel so were going to see eachother that after noon in Nelson.
Ahhh Nelson...my most favourite place. I don`t know what it is about Nelson really but I didn`t want to leave there. To be honest nobody did...people would show up at the hostel for a night and ended up staying 6 months. The hostel itself I fell in love with. Paradiso - an old house turned into a hostel with the most comfortable beds, some having lofts to make more bed space, tv room with loft, a little motel out the back with more rooms, tents, teepees (yup teepees) hot tub, pool, sauna, a huge kitchen with about 5 stoves a ton of tables where everyone hung out, a smaller kitchen around the side with two tables and out door tables, hammocks, free breakfast, a pack of noodles when you check in, soup and bread everynight (they get the bread from the local bakery everynight when it closes) and too top everything off everynight at 1030 (because its in a residential area) you either have to go inside OR go on the bus. Yup the bus. Its a big green bus from the 70`s that is parked at the back by the pool where everyone parties at night and plays the biggest game of Jenga I have ever seen. It was crazy. I never wanted to leave this place. It was homey and comfortable and had a great vibe.
My whole reason for going to Nelson was because I wanted to hit up Abel Tasman National Park. I had to be up at 7 the next morning to catch the shuttle ( I almost didn`t make it because I don`t have an alarm) and then we took a water taxi over. I was with two English girls (Katie and Rosie) from the hostel. Both the shuttle and water taxi were beautiful, mountains and ocean everywhere you looked. We got dropped off at a beach with gold sand surrounded by hills and rock. I looked out as the boat drove away. It almost felt like we were being deserted on an island lol. The beach was pretty much shaped like a culdisac almost making it seem like we were closed off from the rest of the world...I kind of felt like Leo in the movie The Beach. Man it was so breath takingly beautiful out there. The sands were of a yellowy gold color and the water was the greenest of greens. I just wanted to pitch a tent and stay there forever.

Before hitting the path up the mountain we went and played on some rocks snapping pictures and taking in the view. The trek was really nice (nothing like Tongeriro) and the views we had were breathtaking. About midday we hit another beach on the way for lunch. We walked down a hill and over some rocks and came out onto this beautiful gold sanded beach with a huge rock mountain wall to our ride that curved around and kept going down a straight part of the beach. We sat down pulled out our food and enjoyed our food and beers that Rosie had brought. I was like a big kid, waiding in the water, collecting shells as well as granite rock - tres cool. I so wish I had donw a few days at Abel Tasman rather then 1. It wasn`t enough. I really wanted to camp out so I could enjoy a full day of the beach and the little rivers and waterfalls in the forest. I can`t even explain how much of a great day it was and how beautiful it was (to me) I`m actually at a loss for words about the beaches, so all I can say if you ever have the chance go see it for yourself. I loved it sooo much...probably one of my favourite days in NZ.

I was suppossed to leave the next day...but fell in love with the hostel and Nelson itself that I couldn`t bare to leave. Plus there was a market on Saturday and I really wanted to not play backpacker for a day and chill out by the pool and thats exactly what I did. Met some really interesting people. Brian (from Alaska) has been traveling for about 11 years and has some of the most interesting stories I have ever heard...such as being a German Tourist and staying in Fairy Village. The English girls left Saturday morning so I ended up hanging out with my dormmates Brooke and Loni who are from Waterloo - Canadians. The amount of Canadians in Nelson is insane. I almost haven`t heard an accent in a few days lol.
I left Nelson this morning at 720am and headed in the Intercity bus to Punakaiki - West Coast. The ride was nice. They give you a bit of a history of the scenery and have a stop for breakfast and two pee stops. Now I am sitting in the common room at the hostel Beach Hostel listening to the waves of the ocean outside. I can walk to it, its 30 seconds away. The hostel is cute, very quiet, I don`t think there is more then 15 of us here. It`s raining so the weather is a little shitty but we were watching dolpins play out in the waves about 20 minutes ago. So it is just me now...traveling solo. I miss the guys a bit, it was nice having a bit of a consistancy as I am meeting new people everyday and it`s hard to keep track or really create any sort of relationship...plus when driving I don`t get to stop for photo ops anymore lol, but I really am loving the time to myself.
The drive here was so beautiful. I tried snapping shots in the bus but its hard when its moving through the mountains and surrounded by trees. Its endless miles of ocean with random rocks jutting out and mountain cliffs along the coast. When we were driving through the hills I couldnt tell if it was mist our clouds that was sourrounding all the mountains. I barley ready my book because I just wanted to take in all the scenery (and I left my glasses in Nelson so reading is going to be fun - I called and the Canadians are going to keep them until we meet up again).

Well I am guessing this is enough lol. I have caught up on all my picture albums now...this blog will go with the pictures of Mt. Tongeriro and Mt. Doom, Wellington pics and all the Abel Tasman ones. Hope you all are well and I will post again soon.

xoxox

Black Abyss and White Water Rafting

This morning was so beautiful. The morning mist was still hanging over the mountains and everything had been kissed with dew. The birds were singing a beautiful song. There was this one bird that whistled a really distinct tune over and over, sometimes it sounded really close and other times it seemed really far away. I took out my camera and took a video just to record the sounds. The scenery was beautiful, a farm across the road all surrounded by mountains and jungle lie foliage with a lake to the right of us, though, we couldnt see the lake. The lake was at the DOC campsite, we, were on the side of the road. The DOC Campsite closes its gates at 9pm so the past two nights we have been sleeping on the side of the road at the entrance. Apparantly its not an issue. This morning a man saw us and asked if we spent the night we told him yes and he said he didn't understand their hours and was planning on calling them. Yesterday we woke up in the middle of a marathon and the marathoners just waved at us. LOL gotta love the Kiwi's.
We have had a crazy few days since I last posted. Waitomo we were going to go to the glow worm caves but instead Wes and I and his buddy Hamil decided to participate in Black Abyss. Alright so heights, the dark and small places are not my cup of tea. We started with a little training session a basics on how to control yourself when abseiling into the caves and what to do if you slip - SCREAM!!! We get to our starting point. FUCK! What did I get myself into?!? Wes and another guy go then it's my turn. Lloyd (one of our guides) straps me in gets me into the right position and says "ok start lowering yourself down" I look down. "Thats a really tight squeeze, what if I get stuck?" "you wont get stuck, keep your legs and body straight ande hold the rope close to you." "and when I get through do I have to put my feet on the wall" "its a good idea or you will hit the wall" At this point there was an earthquake taking part in my anatomy. I was shaking like a newborn baby. "ya I don't think so" I said. "you will be fine just go slow" "ya umm I don't think I like this, I can't do this" "come on Emmie you will be fine" So with shaking hands, fingers and body I start lowering myself. "ok Emmie now look up and smile" I look up and Lloyd snaps a picture. Ok lowering slowly and not to surely I get closer to the small part. I'm definately not doing this as smoothly as it should be done but there was no fucking way in hell I was letting go or giving myself any sort of speed. How did I agree to go deep into a hole on a fucking rope.
I get through the narrow part and let out a sigh of relief. Ok, that wasn't so bad. I look down, not a good idea. The helmet lights look really small, I still have a long way to go. 35m seems a lot when you are descending into the earth. I stop for a minute and try and take in the scene below and around me. All I could see was cavernous walls of rock around me and above me. I have no choice but to keep going. I start to lower myself. An 18 second descent took me about 7 minutes but I DID IT!!! I was shaking when I got to the bottom and couldn't really talk but I made it and was quite proud of myself. Next, after everyone had done their descent, Monkey (our other guide) sat us down on the rocks while Lloyd went ahead of us. We sat and talked, and Monkey gave us a background on the caves ( I wasn't really listening as I was to amazed by all the glow worms twinkling above us. After about 10 minutes we climbed through the rocks behind us walked along a little narrow bridge thingy and stopped. At this point I am at the front and I get clipped in to a rope. "Is this what I think it is?" I asked "yup. Drop your legs, turn off your light and hold on" "But I don't want to go first, infact I don't want to go at all. Where is Lloyd?" "you will see when you get over there." " I dont want to see when I get over there I want to see now!" At this point I am hanging on to another rope, in the pitch black and a cave full of glow worms infront of me. "Alright hold on and use the brakes" and I am flying through the dark thinking brakes?!? what brakes?!? they never showed me any brakes "wheres the braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakes!" I screamed. Then I stop abrubtly with a loud BANG!!! It felt like I had hit one of those big blue gym mats. I was a little confused but not hurt and then complete silence. I am swinging there over who knows what and I can't move, and I know I didn't hit any brakes. I'm stuck. "hello?...helloooo, I'm stuck" and then a light goes on and Lloyd is looking at me in the face with a smile "you enjoyed that didn't you?" I asked feeling a little embarrased "yup." He gets me down and I wait sitting on the rocks while the rest of the guys sail the flying fox without any fear. When the stopped Lloyd would take a big black floating tire and hit it on the ground, I didn't hit a gym mat lol. After everyone fly's down they have us sit on the edge of rock over looking a river and fed us cookies and hot chocolate to get warm. After about 10 minutes they hand us tires and tell us to jump of the ledge into the water. All the boys jump in with there tubes under there butts and are in and there is me not wanting to jump I wanted to walk around the side but I was so determined things that scared me that I couldn't just give up. The guys were all chanting my name and clapping trying to get me in plus the water was freezing and they were starting to get cold. "Come on Emmie" says Monkey, if you fall out of your tube I will save you!" I look at Lloyd "what lives in that water?" "Only Monkeys" I jump and land perfectly in Canada cold water. So much fun I would've done it again lol. Alright so now we head through a long cavernous tunnel with way of ropes along the wall. We travel for about 7 minutes and we stop, Monkey gets out and hops up onto a ledge. Here he tells us to turn off our lights and enjoy. The cave wasn't like a cave at all. I felt like I was in another world under a different sky as I watched the twinkling lights of the glow worms above me. It was incredible. We sat there for about 10 minutes watching the green twinkling sky of glow worms while Monkey told us about the glow worms and how they are born and what makes them glow - their poop! Imagine having glow in the dark poop! Anyways after that we all hooked our feet into the person infront of us and Monkey pulled us through the caves for about 10 minutes and talked as we enjoyed the slow relaxing trail. One thing I have to say is you can tell that the guides absolutely LOVE there jobs. They were amazing. We pissed ourselves laughing the whole time. We wiggled through small spaces (which weren't that bad), walked through the Drunk Mans Walk and even went down a water slide. At one point an eel met us at the begining of a tunnel. "is there an alternative?" I ask not overly fond of the black eel. "Sure is" says Lloyd and he jumps up a 7 foot wall, scales it and goes into a tunnel above me. "Thats a joke right? thats the alternative?" the eel it is. Our last bit of trekking was my favourite. We squeeze ourselves into this tiny area and we are under a water fall. We had to scale ourselves around the edge and then climb it, it was so cool, and then we had to do it again and then crawl our way to daylight. I AM ALIVE!!!!!!!!!! I did it! lets do it again haha just kidding. It was time to go back for free bagels and hot tomato soup. After that we walk back to the hostel and make a big dinner and call it an early night as we were heading to Rotorua the next day.
Rotorua fucking smells!!! Like really smells. It's a constant smell as sulpher, but, that is due to the mud pools, sulphuric and hot pools. We ended up stopping at a park of mud pools so we got out to take pictures. I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit, the smell was awful. After a few pictures of a few pools we decided we didn't need to take anymore or smell anymore so went for a place to camp for the night. We ended up staying at this really cute hostel called KiwiPakka. We could park the camper and use the tent (when we can use the tent the guys sleep in it and give me the van to myself, its so nice). We grabbed a beer at the hostel bar and went in there thermal pool which was naturally heated. It was soo hot but really enjoyable. We stayed in close to an hour and then grabbed another drink from the bar before we got ready to meet up with Hamil who was also in Rotorua that night and was joining us for some St. Patties Day festivities; and what a night of festivities it was.
We ate at the market for dinner while hitting a few bars along the way for a few shots. After we ate we decided to hit the same bars on the way back to Lava Bar (Base Hostels Bar). We were sitting out front of one bar when this really young Kiwi starts talking to me, asking me where I'm from what I am doing in NZ, then very bluntly looking right at my cleavage says "you are a beautiful Canadian with amazing titties" "i'm up here sweetie, these are my eyes" "i know I can't help it" the guys were pissing themselves especially when he took me by the hand inside so he could get my email. Finally after titty man we leave and head to Lava. It got crazy. I dont know what the Kiwi's put in their alcohol but I was drinking coolers (which I don't normally drink) and they were really good, and really fucking strong. I ended up sitting out on the patio all night at a table all night. I met this guy in a green dress and a pink wig named Gofor and his friend Patrick. I met another guy (I think Jacob) it was his birthday, his 20th birthday. Yaya I know you are gonna think cradle robber, not the case here. We were just hanging out talking about NZ and traveling when all of a sudden I feel his hand rubbing my leg. I move it. Then I feel is finger rubbing my leg. Ok kid, it might be your Birthday but I am not wearing a bow! The guys finallly come around, we hang out about another half hour and head back to our van for some zzz's.
The next day we head out to a Maori village for some culture. This Maori village was built on living hot pools. It was incrdedible. They use the steam from the ground to cook their meals. The hot water from one pools runs a stream and goes into these stone pools built into the ground which is where they bathe. The water has natural minerals and oils therefore they do not need soap and shampoo. Their dead is burried on the ground because they can't dig more then 3 feet because of the heat. We got to eat one of their Hangi meals and we even got to see a performance from some of the villagers which took my breath away. Their music and voices were so beautiful and their movements were so interesting. It rained halfway through our tour and we got stuck in their changing area by the baths but that had a very leaky roof so we got wet anyways. We were there about 3 hours and then went and hung out at Mackers (McDonalds) for a few hours as they have free WiFi there. The Mackers here are crazy. They have all been revamped here, a completely new look. They are focussing on their McCafe so it's more like "lets go drink some coffee and go on our laptops" type of place. Black (fake) leather booths and red (fake ) stools. Big tables made to look marble and everything is red black in white. It's actually quite nice. It helps us paying for WiFi everywhere. We were kind of hurting from the previous nights festivities so we played some cards at a local bar and headed to a DOC campsite. Gates close at 9pm, alright then we will sleep on the side of the road just outside the gate. Which does bring me to where I woke up this morning but last night was our second night so it was the night before. Not really knowing what to do we went over to Base Hostel to ask them about excursions
How do I manage to get myself into things that terrify me. WHITE WATER RAFTING! I've always wanted to do it so I figured I might as well even though it scares me. Plus we get a free pizza and beer at Lava. We get picked up and driven out the place. We get geared up and hop on a bus. I didn't have shorts with me so I kept my leggings on "nice, rafting pants, I love it" says one of the guides lol. As we are driving one of the guides is telling us if this happens, if the boat tips, if you get stuck under a water fall, if you get stuck in the rapids. OMG this is sounding less appealing by the minute. To top it off we are riding the highest waterfall for rafting in the world...oh this is great because I am such a daredevil.
We get there and are put into our groups. Haha guess who my guide is. Gofor, the guy from Lava in the green dress and pink wig!!! Way to funny. The boat gets dropped in the water and I jump in. We hop in and we are off. Backwards, forwards, hold on and DOWN. Alright we hit one water fall 2m then another one 1m. Ok this isn't so bad I can do this, infact I am having a blast. My adrenanline is pumped! Alright, we are now at the top of the big one. My body is shaking, I dont want to do this anymore. "ready! forward!....down!" Down I go grabbing the rope on the side sitting down, feet to the front, chin down and holding on to the handle beside me. Over we go at 90 degrees dropping 7m. We hit the water and get completely submerged...i'm holding on, I havent gone over. The boat starts rising out of the water, and then very slowly like in the matrix I can feel the boat flipping to the right, having enough time to think my next movements I somehow get out of the boat and grab hold to the side ropes and then....the boat is completely flipped over! I come up to hair. SWEET AS! WOOOHOOO! LETS DO THAT AGAIN! FUCK YA THAT WAS AWESOME! I AM SO GLAD IT FLIPPED OVER! What a rush. I didn't even panic when it flipped I was stoked! haha!! I even high 5ived Gofor when I got back on the boat. We picked up the rest of our team who ended up getting picked up by the other boats and continued on our way. We got to jump off the boat and swim through the rapids. Wes missed the boat and had to keep going through them. He wears contacts so he had to keep his eyes closed the whole time and had no idea where he was going, it was really funny considering he had a confused look on his face the whole time. After that we sat on the front of the boat and Gofor put the head of the boat right under the rapids and we got dunked under and rode on top of the rapids. Then it was over :( I was pretty hyper the rest of the day. My adrenaline wouldnt stop. It was so much fun I definately want to do it again.
We went back to Base and met up with Jordan who said he had ran into Paige. She came down and hung out with us for a bit. We were going to give her a lift into Taupo today, but her plans changed. So now we are back to where I started. The beautiful morning I woke up to outside the DOC Campsite. We were leaving Rotorua today to drive through Taupo and head to Tongeriro.
We stopped at the Hot and Cold River. it's where the hot water springs meet the cold water. Its the beautiful secluded little area where the locals go to hang out in the water. You can take a bath and then move a little bit and cool off and when you are cold just move back into the warmth. If you stood in certain spots you could feel the current of cold water hitting you and then the current of hot water hitting you. Its been one of my favourite places we have been to. We continued on to the hot springs just outside of Taupo. They were so hot I couldnt even keep my feet in. Though they ran to a lower level that met a lake where people were swimming and diving. We hoped into the car and went to the look out at Huka Falls. Absolutely beautiful, I took a video of the water. The water is the bluest of bluse with white tips that beat through a small gorge off the falls and into the lake. New Zealand has really taken my breath away, not just because of the beauty and the people but the unexplainable natural beauty that happens just because. Mud pools, hot springs, geisers. They may not smell nice or all be so pretty but they are just so natural that you can't help but hold your breath.
Well time to sign off, my netbook is almost out of battery. We are heading to Tongeriro to do an 8h hike up the volcanoes tomorrow to see Mt. Doom (from Lord of the Rings).
Take care

Auckland and the Start of a Crazy Road Trip

I should honestly be blogging everyday...so much happens in one day that after 3 days I forget so many things...but lack of internet makes it difficult so I am going to try and do my best.
In my last post I finished off by saying I had to get my stuff printed so I could board the plane; well that didn't and I almost didn't get to leave Fiji. Because I didn't have my papers printed I didn't have proof of a flight leaving NZ. I ran around the whole airport looking for someone to print my stuff out for me but no one could do it they said I had to walk 15 minutes to the closest place that would do it. I went back to the check in and this really nice woman told me if I could email her my info she could print it out for me. I had to go buy internet time and then use one of the computers in the terminal (which are brand new MACs) send it to her email and wait a half hour for her to print it all out. Paige was with me and we were both getting really stressed out. We finally get through the gate and to our terminal and grab some food as we were starving. We buy two sandwhiches (if two buns and a piece of meat qualifies of a sandwhich) and fries. 20minutes later our fries still hadn't arrived so I went up to the counter and they said hot food takes 20 minutes. I explained that my plain was boarding and that I needed them to cancel it, I was told that because I i already ordered it. Finally after a bit of arguing they gave me my money back and Paige and I boarded the plane and were on our way to Auckland New Zealand.
The plane wasn't bad, it was a pretty short flight and Paige and I got to stretch out, play cards and enjoy some free wine (gotta love the international flights) and celebrate her BDay up in the sky. I was so excited when we landed! I couldn't believe I was in NZ (just like I couldn't believe I was in Fiji) we grabbed a shuttle and headed towards Base hostel right in the heart of Auckland City.
Everything was fine when we checked in except when they said they needed a $20 deposit for the room key. All I had on me was Fiji and Canadian currency and they wouldn't exchange it at the hostel. Off I go to the corner to an ATM. Card 1- not an account that I really use just a savings account. I punched it what I thought was my code - try again. Ok - try again. Third attempt - your account has been frozen. Shit. Card 2 - no problem its my everyday card - your request is being processed. Waiting ....waiting...waiting...the card was getting stuck in the slot and wouldn't pop out...all of a sudden the machine sucks in my card and says "your card has been taken please call your bank" ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!! Back to the hostel I go starting to stress, its after 7pm and everything is closed including the money exchange locations. Crossing my fingers I hand over my Visa-accepted, Thank God! Finally I'm in my room with my roommate from Fiji, Matthew. We had two other English guys in our room Jordan and Wesley they seemed pretty cool so I said they should come to the bar with us for Paiges Bday. We all headed down to the Globe Bar (the hostels bar) and got good and liquored up. During the night Wesley was telling me that him and Jordan were buying a campervan and going across both Islands. Thinking this was pure awesomeness I knew I had met them for a reason and that there was a possibility of a crazy ass adventure that was going to take place very soon.
The next day the guys and I headed out into the city. Now its a city with a small town feel to it, only 4 lanes wide and lots of hills, lots of hustle and bustle, and the sidewalks are all pretty much covered so you don't get rained on. There seemed to be so much life to. You walk along the main road and then look up a little side street that is a steep hill with outdoor patios and cafes, everywhere you look there was something different. We went to a little restaurant off a side street called my bar where people from another restaurant were sitting at the tables inside-it was really wierd. We went to an art gallery and went to Alfred Park and enjoyed the hot afternoon sun. I went to the bank and was told that my card would be cut up.Grrr! So frustrating.
For dinner Wesley, Jordan and our other dormmate Nikki (from Germany) headed into Ponsonby for dinner. This classy part of Auckland where the street is just lined with restaurants. We ended up eating at Thai House. The food was fantastic, we drank Chang beer and our bill was almost $200! But we knew we wouldn't be able to eat good like this for awhile so it was well worth it. We then walked along Ponsonby and went to Long Bar. Its an open concept classy restaurant bar with expensive drinks and good looking people but just like dinner it was well worth it. We headed back to Base at about 1am, the guys grabbed there wine and vodka (it was kept at the front desk as they don't allow drinking in the hostel) and drank in our room till about 5am with me as usual being one of the first ones to pass out.
I woke up at around 9am (its hard to tell as our room had no windows-my first morning I woke up confused because I didnt know where I was or what country I was in) I woke up the guys and we packed our stuff because we had to check out by 10. I was told I was welcome to go with them -though I dont really think I gave them a choice.
We put our stuff in storage, grabbed some pizza and fed our crusts to these little birds who fought over the big pieces. We watched them for almost an hour so technically I did some bird watching in Auckland lol.
At about 4pm we went to go pick up the campervan. Its a 1985 silver camper with black zebra stripes that has come fully loaded with everything a backpacker needs. A bed, two sleeping bags, sheets, 1 pillow, two comforters, a table, two gas cookers, flashlights, tools, laundry detergent, wash cloth, toilet paper, maps, power bar, curtains, snow chains, 7 soccer chairs, a fold up table, tent and probably a few more things that I am forgetting. To top it off it fits two people comfortably and there are three of us! Its a bit of a tight squeeze. Sleeping is COZY. We can't all sleep pon our backs because then I have one shoulder on Jordan and one under Wes so one of us always as to be on their side. If one person moves it wakes everyone up. Sometimes I roll on my side and almost kiss one of them because we are facing eachother and are almost nose to nose. Last night I was on my side and Jordan says "do you mind if I spoon you?" lol its too funny. We have completely lost any sort of privacy. We know when the other has to pee or poop, who snores, eachothers morning breath, we change where ever we can, body odor considering not a campgrounds have showers - yesterday we showered at the beach shampoo and all with our bathing suits on trying discreetyly to wash our "naughty bits" to get the sound out. When one has gas we try and make sure we are stopped as to not kill the other two, makeup, hair and shaving have become a luxury and food well sandwhichs chips and noodles are on our menu right now but I am having a blast!!!
We tried to leave Saturday night but within in two hours of buying the camper the battery died and we got stuck at a gas station with no one to help us, but after about an hour we finally got a boost. It was getting late and didn't really think it was a good idea to drive anywhere so we found a ritzy area in Ponsonby and pulled over the zebra (which stuck out like a sore thumb) and curled up for our first family slumber. We woke up at about 8 the next morning and decided that our first top would be Hot Water Beach. Once we found out how to get there (a really nice couple had us follow them so they could show us where to go) we were on our way on the Pacific Coast Hwy. What a fucking incrdible drive. I had no idea that NZ was so beautiful. One minute you are in this little beach down with a row of beach houses and restaurants. Kids swimming, people fishing off a dock, sail boats and beautiful mountains off in the distance and then you are driving through the country with miles and miles of farm land, cows and mountains all around and everything is so green and then you are driving the craziest winding roads through the mountains where on one side is the stoney walls of the mountains and the other side is palm trees that have black trunks and other jungle like looking trees at times we felt we were driving through the rainforest. We had to keep stopping to take pictures because everything was so breathtaking. We drove for hours until we finallly got to Hot Water Beach but got there a little late and hadn't packed any food and didn't know where to stay so we decided to go back there in the morning and rest for the night. We drove into a town to grab some food. It was incrdibly beautiful. On the left of the main road was this beach with presitne looking sand and beautiful water that washed up about 100 feet out and a wall of mountains off to the right that was a perfect back drop at sunset. It was something out of the movies, it didn't even look real. We grabbed food and headed to a camp ground that we found on a map it was about a 5 minute drive down a long dirt road just off the main road. There was only about 4 other vehicles there, it had a kitchen, bathrooms, showers and power posts and only cost $15 for the night. Plus you get access to their bird farm, ya that was fun to wallk through, peacocks, chickens and squacking birds are not my cup of tea. Jordan cooked a spaghetti bolognese which was awesome and we sat there and got a little shittered with a couple that was there with there kids - well I got shittered, got emotional and started to cry cuz I was a little homesick. Anyways we were up and out by about 8am - we didn't pay, the owner never came to collect our money - so we left as free is always good when on a budget and head over to hot water beach.
Once again a beautiful spot. A long stretch of beach framed by high rocks and mountains and huge rocks out in the sea. Now at hot water beach everyone digs in the sand to make their own pools of hot water. We rent a shovel and start digging - well the guys dug I took pictures - and just as we were told it filled up with hot water, but I mean hot water, in some parts you could see it bubbling because it was so hot. If you stuck your finger in the sand it burned. It was pretty awesome. We were there about an hour and met a really nice couple from England and then decided to head back to the camper and decide our next stop. As we were walking back I said to Wes "the water is pretty rough here" "nah I like it rougher" and just as he said that a wave comes in splashes on a big rock infront of us and lands on us. SOAKED I look at him and say "is that rough enough for you?"
We showered (as mentioned above on the beach) and hung out with the English couple exchanging information and decided to make our way to Hobbiton in Matamata. How quickly our plans changed. We were driving for a few hours when all of a sudden on either side these massive walls of rock rise up out of nowhere. I can't even explain what it was like it literally took my breath away. It was incredible, and then it was gone, wanting to see if we could somehow take pictures Wes took a quick left into a parking lot. It was like winning the lottery! We ended up pulling into the Karangahake Gorge. It used to be a gold mine but when they couldn't find any gold they literaly just left everything there to rot and now it's left for people to walk through the ruins and the caves which is all surrounded by the rocky walls of the mountains. Asking an older couple in a camper we asked if we could stay over night and they said "sure can" Excited about our discovery we parked the camper, pulled out our chairs, table and cooker and cooked up sausages, noodles and beer and enjoyed our backyard of mountains and a rocky river. It was an early night as we were all pretty tired, but not sleeping to well as family cuddles are not always comfortable. We woke up at about 830, cleaned, packed up, went across the road english breakfast tea, played in the river for about half an hour and then headed towards Waitomo Caves. Half hour outside of town I took over driving. I know right? So wierd driving on the left side but I made it our destination Jude (YHA) hostel. Once again a beautiful spot. A nice cabin like hostel with grounds for campers, a pool, trampoline, internet and SHOWERS!!! So now I am just doing our laundry before we head to the Glow Worm Caves tonight.
I can't believe I have only been in NZ for 5 days. I feel like so much has happened. The guys are great. We call Wes Uncle Wes as he makes sure we are ok and takes charge, Jordan is Chang Master as he loves Chang Beer and they call me Mother Hen. We went to buy some food the other day and I grabbed the cheapest bag of noodles Wes looks at Jordan and says "I wanted the better noodles but Mother Hen wouldn't let me spend the extra dollar"
Anyways I hope this was enough until my next one. I miss you all.
xox