Day 9 - Auckland to Rotorua - Friends, Hobbits and a Walk in the Woods

On the day of the bus to Rotorua I waited outside the base hostel I was staying at, and waited for the bus. The bus didn't come at the proposed time, so I waited some more. After a little while longer, I got a bit worried, and I decided to wait a short while longer. Luckily, the bus did turn up. The driver, Murray, told me that I was supposed to be at the Magic office, and I told him that I was told to be at the hostel. He told me not to worry, since he had come to check and it was all good, so I got on the bus. When I got on to the bus, I started talking to Emma, a doctor from Guernsey who was living in Ireland, and had been on the bus the day before. She was travelling with her roommate, Paddy. I also got talking to Ingmar and Anouk, two Dutch girls who had also been on the bus from Paihia the previous day. Our first stop of the day was at the top of Mount Eden, where you can get 360 degree views of Auckland City. It was from here that Ingmar made a couple of calls and got accommodation for herself, Anouk, Paddy and Emma. We then headed down and out of the city towards the town of Thames, our first stop of the day. We Stopped for a break here, and The five of us visited to grocery store and decided to get some meat and veges and have a barbecue that evening at their hostel. We also discussed the possibility of doing the Tongariro crossing together. The next stop was Paeroa (again), and it was here that I met Pugsy Jr Jr, Emma's mascot who has pictures taken everywhere. She has more at home who are bigger, and these are called Pugsy and Pugsy Jr. I took the initiative and decided to bring out Edwin, a small teddy bear that my mum had given me, and so Edwin T Bear got the first of a few photos taken. The next stop of the day was Matamata, also known as Hobbiton. Here we got some more pictures of Edwin and Pugsy, and some of me in my kilt. We arrived into Rotorua shortly after 3pm and headed first to Tamaki heritage village for those who were going to the cultural show that evening to pick up their tickets. We then headed to Whakarewarewa Maori Village (pronounced Phuka rewa rewa). We dropped off all those that were visiting, which included Emma, Paddy, Ingmar and Anouk, and the rest of us headed off to the redwood forest. I decided to draw some inspiration from a certain nursery rhyme, and i took many photos of 'Edwin's Forest Adventure'. After that, we headed back to Whakarewarewa to pick up the rest of the guys before hostel drop-off. I got dropped off last, and I checked in and got my stuff together before I headed off to the barbecue at the other guys' hostel. We had sausages, steaks and salad and it was gorgeous, and really filling. After I had bid them goodnight, I headed down to an Internet cafe for a while, before going back to the hostel for an early night.

Day 8 - Paihia to Auckland - Dolphins, Detours and a Distinct Lack of Food.

The bus which turned up to take me back to Auckland was a surprise. It was a small minibus towing a trailer. The 1st stop of the trip was in the small town of Rawene which was completely dead. It was meant to be a breakfast stop. We didn't stay too long before we headed onto somewhere with food. The next stop was the joint towns of Opotiki and Opononi, where there was still no place to get food. We passed straight through and headed just out of town to a cafe just up the hill, where the views were brilliant. After breakfast, we headed back into Opononi. We stopped at the i-site where there was a small museum with a section dedicated to Opo the dolphin. A little while after we had left Opononi we visited ancient Waipoua forest, home of Tane Mahuta, a 51.2m high giant kauri tree believed to be between 1250 and 2500 years old. According to Maori mythology Tāne is the son of Ranginui the sky father and Papatuanuku the earth mother. Tāne was the child that tore his parent’s parental embrace and once done set about clothing his mother in the forest we have today. All living creatures of the forest are regarded as Tāne’s children. The pictures were pretty amazing. Next stop was the Kauri Museum at Matakohe. This was a very interesting museum, which told the story of the Kauri logging industry before the harvesting of wood from living Kauri was banned. it also had a really good gift shop with very reasonable prices. I got a Kauri egg identical to those in the Ancient Kauri Kingdom for only $5. It was 35000 years old and made from a piece of swamp Kauri. I also go a piece of ancient Kauri gum (hardened sap, not for chewing). We then got underway back to the Big Little City, and Bex, our deriver , told us that there were going to be huge tailbacks on SH1. Instead, we took a detour along SH16, which passed through Kaukapakapa, an area of outstanding scenery. We even took a little rest stop at a lookout with a couple of long drop toilets. We arrived back in Auckland only slightly behind schedule, and I got dropped at my hostel, where I checked in and got myself some food. After that, I went down to the Globe Bar to get a drink (I still had some free drink vouchers from the previous stay) and I watched the killer pool competition, which was played on two table side by side, with one person to a table. The first person to clear their table won, and the black got potted last. It was quite good. After I had run out of free drinks I headed back upstairs to bed. 

Day 7 - The Morning After

When I woke up on new Years Day, i definitely felt a bit rough. The sunlight was blinding, my mouth felt like sandpaper, and I had the grand union railroad's entire construction team working in my head. I staggered off to the toilet and then headed to the kitchen for a drink. I then found that sometime the previous evening I had misplaced my glasses, and remembered handing them to 'Jesus'. I decided to have a shower (I stunk) before heading back to the house of the party to find my glasses. I went over there and I searched everywhere I could remember going before admitting defeat and leaving the guy my phone number to get in touch if he found them. I then headed back to the hostel and decided to go to relax on the beach for a while. I took a short swim, but I still didn't feel quite right so I decided to head to the hostel's pool and hot spa, instead. I relaxed for at least an hour before I got a gall from the guy to tell me that he had found a pair of glasses. I headed over straight away, and there they were. Jesus must have put them on the edge of the guy's decking, out of the way. I headed back to the hostel and crashed in the TV lounge for a while, swam in the pool some more and just lazed about for the rest of the day, before getting my packing done for the next day. I went to bed quite early, to hopefully feel better the next day.

Day 6 - New Years' Eve

New Years' Eve dawned bright and early, and the weather was wonderful. I, however, did not, and I wasn't out of bed until at least lunchtime. I had a pretty lazy day, saving my energy for the night to come. I got invited to a house party at the house of one of the guys at the hostel's uncle, who had a big house on the waterfront. I headed to the liquor store (at the end of the street) and picked up a 6-pack of beers and a 6-pack of vodka and mixer drinks, and some chips (crisps). I had a pretty lazy afternoon and when the party started at the bar, a few of us went in for a couple of drinks until the rest (girls) were ready. I had my kilt on, of course. When we were all pretty much ready, one of the bouncers at the bar came over and told us to get moving, because the police were coming to inspect, and anyone with alcohol on the hostel premises who weren't in the bar could have it confiscated. We all assembled in a mad dash over to the house and the party began in earnest. A group of us all sat round playing drinking games, and we started off with categories, where someone says a category and the rest have to give an example. When someone says what the person who gave the category was thinking, the categorizer would say it was between that person and someone else. Everyone else would then bet on who they thought was right, and the correct person would be revealed. The people who bet wrong would then drink. the other game was just plain ridiculous. Everyone would put imaginary goggle on using their hands, and they would be passed using hand gestures and sound effects, and everyone who messes up would have to drink. It all got pretty messy the more drunk everyone got. We then just sat and talked about rubbish for the rest of the time, until the fireworks started going off. A huge crowd of us then stood at the edge of the property, next to the pavement, and shouted happy new year to anyone who passed. A few of us then erupted into a raucous chorus of Auld Lang Syne. Two of the kiwi guys also erupted into their national anthem. After that I was feeling pretty rough, and I decided to go for a lay down on the back of the guy's ute (pick-up truck). I ended up face down, vomiting over the side, and this was the position I was in when some random woman, whose face I didn't ever see (i was a bit preoccupied), jumped up on the ute and started rubbing my back. She then started yelling to her friend 'Vicky, look, I'm being Jesus!' She kept shouting. 'Here, Vicky, this guy's got a kilt on! And (she lifts up kilt) very shiny boxers." It was shortly after she left that I blacked out for about an hour, and woke up still on the ute. I then managed (miraculously0 to make it back to the hostel, and to bed.

Day 5 - Cape Reinga - Scotch Mist

The day of the Cape Reinga day trip dawned, and the weather seemed to be a good metaphor of how i was feeling after the previous night. It was grey and drizzly with fog. The first place we visited was a huge great big Kauri Tree in a natural Kauri forest. This was somewhere that the queen had visited, and they had built a wooden walkway especially for her visit. We took a short walk through the forest before heading back to the bus. The next stop was the town of Taipa, which is believed to be the first Maori landing point. We stopped there to pick up some lunch from the bakery, and to use the toilets, which were bogging! The doors didn't lock properly, they stunk and they were outside.We then headed straight onwards to Cape Reinga, which is believed to be the departure point for souls as they leave New Zealand and head towards the ancient lands of Hawaiki. When we arrived, we found that the fog had closed in completely, and we could only just se the lighthouse. We couldn't see the meeting of the sea, or the ancient tree form whose branches the souls apparently leap. I took a quick picture in my kilt, but was pretty disappointed with the lack of view. We clambered back aboard the bus, a bit downhearted, and our driver, Dice, told us not to worry, because the sand boarding would be fast and fun. To get to the Te Paki giant sand dunes we had to pass through the Te Paki stream, which was quite a bumpy ride. We stopped the bus right in the middle of the stream, on a sand bank, and we disembarked to try our hand at sand boarding. First we had some safety instructions, and we were warned not to dig our feet in if the sand was too hard packed by the rain, but it turned out to be quite soft, which made it easier to go slower, and harder to get up the sand dune. It was awful climbing up, as every few steps forward brought another step or two of sliding back. We reached the top and proceeded to throw ourselves down the dune on body boards. it was great, fast fun. On my first turn i lost grip of the board and stopped at the bottom of the slope by means of my face. It didn't help that I had been trying not to hit the idiot who was standing in my way. I got up, unscathed but with a faceful of sand, and headed back up the dune to try again. The next time I managed to hold on, and I made it all the way into the stream. Great success. That was me for sand boarding, however, as I couldn't quite summon the energy to try to get back up the dune again. After everyone had given up on the sand boarding, we got back on the bus and headed to the beach itself. We arrived and took a short drive along before stopping again for a photo op. A few of us (myself included) decided to go for a swim, and we took of into the Tasman Sea and jumped waves for a few minutwes. The water was cool and refreshing, and the waves were a great height for jumping. A short while later we were really motoring along the beach when the bus driver pointed out an arch of rock jutting out in the Tasman. 'See that', he announced, 'that's the real hole in the rock. At low tide, I can drive you through it. The one at Cape Brett is just a fiberglass copy, so the boats don't get scratched.' I should now explain to you that it is typical kiwi humor to make fun of tourists by telling them any old rubbish to see how much they believe. He also told us why Ninety Mile Beach, which is not 90 miles long, is called Ninety Mile Beach. There are two stories. The first is that the Aussies have an 80-mile beach. The second is that a ranch owner at Cape Reinga used to drive his bullocks to market down the length of the beach. he knew that the bullocks could travel 30 miles a day, and it took 3 days to cover the beach, so 90 mile beach. He forgot that bullocks walk slower on sand. I don't know which, if either, is true, so believe what you want. We kept on going down the beach, and eventually we pulled alongside one of the other companies' buses. We started to pull ahead, and they started to pull back, and we ended up drag racing. It was a bit futile, since both buses were the same model and engine capacity, but our driver used dirty tactics, and turned the air-con off to get 2 extra horsepower. We pulled ahead, and won the race. After we had left the beach we drove onward for another 20 minutes or so before reaching the Ancient Kauri Kingdom, a large gift shop which sells many different objects made from ancient kauri trees which have been found perfectly preserved in a swamp with the oldest workable timber ever found. I took a look around and found the prices to be extortionate, and although i was tempted to buy an egg made from the wood for $15, i decided not to bother. The last stop on the way home was at the Mangonui fish shop, which is supposedly world famous. Well, I don't know about world famous, but at $7 for a fish supper, it was certainly cheap. We spent about half an hour there before we headed back to Paihia. On my return I decided to try to get some accommodation for new years and stay in Paihia, and i found a bed for the night of the 1st in the YHA, so all I would have to do is pull an all-nighter over new years eve, something which I felt was doable. I then headed back to the base to phone Auckland and tell them the good news, when the receptionist at base told me that there was plenty of room there for all of the New Year period, because the last Kiwi bus had arrived with 27 less people than they had saved beds for. Result! I headed back to the YHA and quickly cancelled my booking. I then headed to the hostel pool for a little while. after this I decided that I needed to get some shopping, and I was going to walk along the bay to the Woolworth supermarket (no relation to the defunct British store) which was down by Waitangi, but I saw the bus going towards the treaty grounds for the night show. I decided to try to blag a lift, and it worked! The driver dropped me off right on  the end of the supermarket's street. I managed to get quite a few good deals, such as 2 packs of sausages for $6, and a whole 700g block of un-iced Christmas cake for $2! I then took the walk back to the hostel and , felling shattered from the long day and the long walk, I had an early night.

Day 4 - Ladies' Night

When I woke up on day 4, still on the boat, the first thing I did was go for a swim before breakfast. It still wasn't cold, but it really woke me up. Breakfast was a bowl of the traditional kiwi dish - porridge (okay, so it's Scottish, but it was still good). Shortly after, we anchored in another bay and we went snorkeling, to collect urchins with which to make the traditional Japanese sushi dish, uni (oo-knee). We then moved to another bay, near Robertson island, and we took a trip over to the beach, a few of us (including myself) kayaked over, and the rest took the tender across. We had a good few hours on the beach, and took a walk to the crest of one of the island hills and we got 360° views of the bay of islands. We then headed back towards Paihia, and I played pool on the boat with the American couple's two sons. It was great fun, because every time you got a shot lined up, the balls moved about the table from the rocking of the boat. Shortly before we were due to arrive in Paihia, we were called to the back of the boat to try some uni. This is prepared by sticking a knife straight into a live sea urchin, splitting it in two and scooping out the innards. The egg sacks are then collected and these are uni. it's actually not as gross as it sounds, and it don't taste too bad, either. It's slightly salty and creamy. Shortly after that, we arrived back in Paihia and we were dropped off on the wharf by the tender. I headed off to the base hostel to check in and pick up my bags. as soon as I was moved in, I jumped in what is claimed to be the smallest hostel pool in the world, certainly in New Zealand. Saying that, there was still room to swim. I had the hostel's barbecue for tea, because i couldn't be bothered cooking. I found out that it was going to be the hostel's ladies' night, and all the men had to dress as women. I thought 'why not?', and I decided to wear my kilt as a skirt, with my pink shirt tied to make a crop top. I stuffed it with my kilt socks, but I could have done with bigger boobs. When I arrived in the bar, I found out that there a was a 'Miss Pipi Patch' competition, with the prize being a free sky dive. I decided to go for it, and if I won, I would actually give skydiving a go. Thankfully, I didn't win, I got beaten by another guy in a dress. I got knocked out in the first round, limbo dancing. I was glad I didn't get to the final, as there were two blokes left, and it was a snog off between them. after the competition had finished, I headed to bed, to get a good night's sleep before the Cape Reinga day trip the next day. 

Day 3 - Auckland to Pahia - The boat that rocked

On day 3 I luckily woke up before my recently acquired alarm clock. especially lucky because I had discovered that it had somehow gone from being on time to 15 minutes late in the space of one night. I headed downstairs, checked out, had some toast and quickly packed an overnight bag. I then went down to wait for the bus to Paihia. The bus arrived shortly after, and we headed for our first stop of the day, the 'Top of the Dome' cafe. This was a quaint little diner, situated upon a hilltop and with a small selection of puzzles to keep customers occupied. We waited for a while, as Scoobs, the driver, had to head back the the last town we had passed to pick up some more folk. We then headed further north, stopping shortly in Whangarei. We got into Paihia for lunchtime, and so I had some time to kill before I was due to embark on a cruise on board the Rock boat cruise. I popped over to base Pipi Patch, which was to be my accomodation for the following night, and I made use of their luggage storage room to get rid of the heaviest of my bags. I then spent $10 on a ferry ticket across to Russell, which is often misquoted as being the 'first capital of New Zealand' (i.e. under British rule). It is not, in fact, that honour going to a small town outside of Russell known as Okiato, which was capital until 1841 and was called Russell until 1841, until the name was transferred to Kororareka, modern day Russell. However, as a favored stopping point for some long distance sailors, Russell did become known as the 'hellhole of the pacific', a name which no longer applies, and today it is known as 'Romantic Russell'. I didn't really find much to interest myself in Russell, although I did find it to be very similar to Devonport. I had some fish and chips, which weren't really anything to blog about, and I took the ferry back over to Paihia. I wandered about the town center for a while, and eventually it was time to board the tender for 'the Rock'. Well, it wasn't actually their tender, whose engine was having a break for Christmas, but a scuba diving company'y rib, onto which 19 people were crammed, all of us leaning over the side and holding on for dear life. We reached 'the Rock' and were helped aboard by John, the captain. Whilst the rest of the guests were collected, we met the rest of the crew, Mink, Ben, Olten and Lizzy. We were then shown to our rooms before assembling back downstairs for the shooting competition. This was a 'duck shoot', the target being Matilda, the plastic Aussie duck who was riding in the boat's wake. I hit her on the first go, and got through to the second round. I then shot her again, and won a free drink. When we arrived at our anchoring point shortly after, we got ready for a spot of fishing. it took a while for the fish to start to bite, but then we were catching Snapper thick and fast, and sadly all too small, so they had to be thrown back. We then had a barbecue which was gorgeous, with a huge range of salads with steak and sausages. I sat with a nice American family who I had gotten talking to, and we got put into a group together for the night kayaking. Happily, it also happened to be the first group going out, and at about 9pm, when it was pitch black, we all got our life jackets on and mounted out Kayaks. Although I didn't see the famed luminescence, the view of the constellations out there was breathtaking. You could see everything so clearly, even the great Magellanic cloud was visible. After we had finished kayaking, and the other groups started to go out, a few of us jumped in for a swim. I was surprised at the temperature of the water, which wasn't exactly warm, but didn't feel cold either. It was so relaxing, and after that, I got a great night's sleep.

Day 2 - Mt Mangonui to Auckland - L&P and Shopping

On the way to Auckland on day 2 we passed through some interesting places, one of them being almost a pilgrimage for a lover of L&P such as myself. The first stop, however was a small gold mining town which had a huge open cast gold mine just outside. It was so deep that you can't see the bottom when you'r standing on the rim of the pit. we spent a short time there before heading onwards to Paeroa, which is the birthplace of the world famous (in New Zealand) soft drink, Lemon and Paeroa, more commonly known as L&P. I love the drink, which is like lemonade, but it has just something which makes it taste superb. The whole town is covered with the L&P brand, it's even on the 'welcome to Paeroa' sign and, pride of place in the village square is a giant L&P bottle. I posed for a photo (in my kilt, of course), before we moved on to the cafe, affectionately known as the L&P cafe, featuring another (not quite as big) giant L&P bottle, and selling such delicacies as L&P milkshake and L&P icecream (I didn't try these, settling for just L&P instead). We then climbed back aboard the bus for the trip to Auckland, I was sitting up front, next to the driver, Rangi, who kept tossing me Turkish Delight sweets from his pack of Cadbury favourites, which pacific Coast had given him. I was too polite to tell him that they weren't exactly my favourite, and ate them anyway. We arrived in Auckland about midday, and we got deposited at our various hostels. I was staying at base ACB again. After dumping my bags, i decided to go shopping for a rash top, for swimming. I found very little success in the CBD, with masot of the shops' stock peing either prohibitively expensive, or prohibitively small. In the warehouse, however, I did find a top, which was too small, but I was informed that the warehouse in parnell had one. I took a bus over, and I was really tempted by the top, which was on sale, but it was just that little bit too small. I then decided to go shopping, and found that there was a New world in Newmarket, and so I hopped on another bus to there. I got off at the Victoria park market on the way, and took a look around before deciding that I could have easily blown my entire budget there on one item, and I left shortly after. I popped into New World and picked up the essentials for a good dinner before heading back to the hostel to eat. After tea i decided that, having placed my watch somewhere in my bag in mount mangonui, andf that it wasn't going to appear for some time to come, that I would go out and try to find a cheap watch. i scoured all of the souvenir shops to no avail, before deciding to have a look in the warehouse. i found a very cheap watch for $15, and used one of my christmas presents to pay for it, a gift card (thank you Amy(or is it Amie or Ami)). I then headed back to the hostel to chill for a while longer before heading to boed, only to find that my phone (which doubles as my alarm clock) was out of batteries. I ran down to reception to be told that I could get an alarm clock from the shop donstairs. I bouth one for $4, and I really should have spent more, because it managed to lose 15 minutes in the course of the night, and I nearly didn't get up in time the next morning.

Day 1 - Napier to Mt. Mangonui - Changed plans and new friends.

Day one of my big trip, which also happened to be boxing day, was hectic. I was also the day my Aunt and Uncle were going off to Oz for a month with my cousin Aaron. We had to get the christmas decorations away, pack lunch and get all our bags together ready to go in an hour, befor my other Aunt turned up to take them to the Airport, and me to the bus stop. we got the the airport early, and I waved my aunt and uncle off before we turned and headed off to the bus stop. The bus didn't take long to arrive, and I said goodbye to my Aunt and cousin before embarking. I headed to the back of the bus, where I got talking to a couple of guys, named Al and Jo. The first stop of the day was a lookout over a bautiful watefall in the valley below. We then headed over to Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland. Although I had been there before, there wasn't much elso to do there, so I decided to head in. It was onlt $25, anyway. I walked round with al and Jo, and we saw some really great geothermal features, such as the champagne pools, which were red, devil's hole, which was bright lime green, and the blue lake, which was (can't you guess) bright blue. After Wai-O-Tapu we headed into Taupo and Rotorua for a quick stop to pick up and drop off passengers, before heading out to the Zorb site. I had been zorbing before, and although no-one else wanted to go, Rangi, the driver had to drop us off there so that he could go and fill up the bus with diesel. al, Jo and myself decided not to go zorbing, and we jumped into the neighbouring field and played a game of hacky sack, which is surprisingly more difficult than you would expect. When the bus returned, we all embarked agin to head towards Tauranga and mt Mangonui. i was supposed to be staying in Tauranga, and I would hve been if Rangi hadn't told us all how great Mt Mangonui was at this time of year. I manged to cancel my reservation at YHA Tauranga without penalty, and I manged to get a room at the Pacific Coast Backpackers in the mount. When we arrived, Jo had to go to another hostel, and we all agreed to meet up to go to the beach to bodysurf. It was great fun, and the sea was brilliant for it, with the occasional huge waves coming over to wipe us out. after a good few hours of swimming we all headed back to our hostels, and Al and I agreed to go halves on dinner, so we headed up to the supermarket. We had Sausages with chicken and tomato pasta. We then just chilled around the hostel, and I watched Armageddon in the TV lounge before heading to bed for an early start the next morning.

The Overlander - 12 hours of non-stop scenery

Another escape from Napier was my trip to Wellington To Auckland by train. I managed to get a bargain ticket (only $49). First I took the Inter City coach from Napier to Wellington. This was my first foray into Coach travel in NZ, and the coaches were spacious and comfortable (I will not judge too much on legroom, as I am an exception). The coach trip to Wellington took 6 hours, but there were plenty of breaks to use the toilet and a food stop at Palmerston North. I got into wellington at the Train station (The coach bay is next to platform 9), and went off to find out where my hostel was. It turned out to be in Courtenay place, more than walking distance form the station, and so I caught a bus. The hostel, base Wellington turned out to be clean and not too cramped, with a good bar down in the basement (actually called, *sigh* basement bar). This was my first foray into the base chain of hostels, and it was a good impression. I had a few days in Wellington, and on the first day I visited Te Papa, the big museum which stands out as one of the greatest exhibition of NZ and Maori culture. I spent the whole day there, and could have happily spent longer. There were so many attractions, including a 4-D cinema, where the chairs were on Hydraulics, and an interactive floor map of New Zealand, where you could step on an area and be rewarded with pictures and stories from that area, which flashed up on the wall. I even dined in the cafe, where the fish and chips were gorgeous, definitely the best I've had in New Zealand so far. The batter was melt-in-the mouth and the chips, although obviously of the frozen variety, were cooked to perfection. On return to my hostel in the evening I went down to the bar and had a few drinks. I made friends with a couple of girls who were travelling round NZ in a 'van. we arranged to meet up the next night (Guy Fawkes' night) and go to the botanical gardens before the fireworks. The following day we walked right through town and up the hill to the gardens, which were quite pretty, if a little uninteresting, and then we headed up the hill to find a good view. We didn't quite make it to the summit, but we did find a giant ear trumpet (well, that's what it looked like), and a children's play area with a small flying fox (well, it was quite fun). We headed back down the hill and found a quaint little Chinese restaurant. Where we had lunch. We then split and agreed to meet up later back at their van for the fireworks. That evening, we went out onto the harbor front and watched a jet-ski race, followed by some powerboats (one tipped, but everyone was ok). Later, when the sun went down, there was a fireworks spectacular, orchestrated between two barges in the harbor. After that, we headed back to their van for a couple of drinks, and we were sitting down when a policeman came knocking on the window. "Is this the party bus?" he enquired. One of the girls actually invited him in, but he refused. Later, when we were finishing off the dregs of our alcohol, another policeman cam knocking and told us it was a liquor ban area and that we weren't supposed to be drinking. We showed him that we were pretty much finished, and he told us that he wouldn't do anything this time, but if another policeman came knocking, he might not be so lenient. This time one of the girls asked is she could borrow his hat for a photo, but the policeman refused, claiming 'hygiene reasons'. After that, we finished off the last of our drink and I headed back to my hostel, off to bed before the train the next day. The following morning, I got up at 5am for the train, and I was witing at the bus stop at 6am. There was also an older American couple waiting, who ere also getting on the train. We waited for 15mins, and there was still no sign of the bus, and then a taxi pulled up. we agreed to share it, and split the bill. However, when we got to the other side, they refused to take a cent from me, telling me that they would have had to pay the same anyway. We checked our bags in for the train, and were assigned our seats. They were in coach A, and I was in coach P. Oh, well, I told them, it was nice meeting you. We headed to the train, and discovered (to my surprise) that there were only 4 coaches, named, in order, coach A, coach P, coach B and coach C. (Later examination showed that the sign on P was just a B with the bottom part covered. i reached my seat and found that I was in a seat with a lack of legroom, and so I headed to see the guard. after some hustle and bustle, I was finally seated in coach A, which was definitely the place to be, with a Lounge at the back and a huge plate glass window that let you look right along the track behind you. it was amaszing, and the views were immense. I got some great shots of mount Ruapehu, and Tongariro. Although the trip was 12 hours loong, it was really worthwhile, and we saw views that you just wouldn't see by road. We also traversed the Rumeru spiral, whis wound its way right around the mountainside. Also, at the start of the journey that guard told us over the tannoy to take 'only 20 mins each in the lounge', but no-one seemed to want to come to the lounge, so a small group of us spent several hours there, and I had pretty much moved in there by the end of the journey. When we arrived in Auckland I was tired and hungry after such a lonmg journey, and I headed to my hostel,base ACB, which was entirely contained in a tower block, with reception on floor 3. I took my room on floor 6 and dumped my stuff, before heading out for food. I had an early night that night, because I was just so exhausted after all that sitting around all day. The next day I got up early and had a chat to Krystal, the gir who worked at the travel desk.She told me that I could get a magic buss north island discovery pass for $450, and get the south island pass, woth $600, for $1. That sounded like a good deal, and I considered it as I took a trip out to mount rangitoto. To get there I had to take a ferry from the harbour to rangitoto island, a volcanic island in the mouth of auckland harbour. I then took the tour around the island, on a tractor-trailor. It was a good ride, and i got some great pics, especially from the top of the mountain, which is a dormant volcano which erupted and appeared from the sea floor several hundred years ago. It was also used as a long distance early warning watchtower during the second world war, when there was a threat of invasion from Japan. On my return to the hostel that evening I had made up my mind, and I bought a magic bus pass, which I bough several add-ons for, such as the total Northland, covering from Aucland up to Pahia and Cape Reinga and back. I also bought the Milford and Catlins Combo, covering the very south of he south Island, and including a day trip to the milford sound. As well as this, I bought base jumping vouchers, which is a deal with the Bbase group of hostels, giving 11 nights accomodation for the price of 10, and free drink vouchers every night. It's a really good deal. I was then all set for my big trip around New Zealand, which is the focus of the rest of this blog. The following day I took the trip back on the bus to Napier from Auckland, a 7 hour journey which passed through some nice scenery, but nothing so epic. I arrived back to Napier that afternoon, and the planning began for the big trip.

Napier - Art Deco, Orchards and a Distinct Lack of Nightlife

I'm gonna tell it like it is for this one. Napier is a nice little city, and the people are pleasant enough, but it is just a bit dull. The Art Deco can keep you amused for the first few days, and there' always a trip to the cinema, but other than that there's not much doing. When i stayed with my Auntie Julie in Greenmeadows, the only night we really went out anywhere was to the Napier RSA (Think British Legion), where she went line dancing and Uncle Tommy and I played Snooker (It's amazing how much bigger a snooker table is compared to a pool table). The lack of jobs was quite frustrating, too. I spent a good two months doing what I could to get a job, and got nothing. I trawled the streets putting out CVs, and applied to anything and everything advertised. I eventually did managed to find one, but only because My Other Aunt, Auntie Lisa had a friend, Judith, who played tennis with the wife of the owner of an orchard, where I got thinning work. I worked there for a whole month, and it was mind numbing. There were only a few points of excitement, like when one of the German guys, Florian, found the dismembered head of a rabbit, when I found a chick still in its nest and, of course, when I fell out of a tree. I was working up one of the larger trees when I happened. I was reaching round a large branch to thin a higher branch when my ladder gave way, sending me the other way, and taking the branch with me as I fell. Luckily I didn't break anything, and I managed to continue after a short break to recover and have a cup of tea. One thing I didn't enjoy about the orchards was the way pay was worked. Instead of a definite hourly rate, you got payed by tree, which sometimes made it almost impossible to get a good wage, and sometimes worked out great. The people I met in the orchard were nice, though. There were Tom and Catie from the UK, Florian, Stefanie, Anna, Kathryn, George and Peter from Germany, Terry and a couple of girls whose names I can't recall from NZ, Julian, Benoit and Trevor from France, Marie and Sebastien from French Canada, and a few Czech guys, as well as the Managers, Tony and Neville and the Owner, Phil. Another few exciting events from Napier so far were the Christmas concert in the Park, which was okay, with good songs and not too much churchliness (there was only about and hour of the happy-clappies at the end), and the fireworks were quite spectacular. There was also the escape to Waipatiki. this was about my second full week of work when my Uncle Nigel bought a trailer tent. we decided to take it out to Waipatiki beach, an hour or so's drive from Napier, and spend the weekend. the weather had something to say about this, though and the whole week in the lead up was awful (there was one day where I was told not to go into work at all). On the Friday the weather was still a bit worrying, as it was overcast in Napier and threatening drizzle. Thankfully, we persisted and we managed to get the trailer tent up before the heavens opened too much. We were glad we did when the following morning the weather was spectacular. We took a long walk around the coast, and my cousin and I kayaked up the river. On the Sunday we even went jumping waves on the beach. There was another escape I made earlier from Napier, when I was still job searching, but that's for the next blog. Christmas was also different in New Zealand. Christmas day was bright, sunny and wonderful. As opposed to a traditional Christmas dinner we had a Christmas Brunch, with Barbecued Sausages, Eggs, bacon, waffles, cheesecake and several thousand calories each. Gorgeous. On Christmas eve we even had a bonfire on the beach and toasted marshmallows.

New Zealand - The first few footprints

Okay, so here's how this is gonna go. First, I'm gonna get my first couple of follies in NZ outta the way first! Fist there was the few days i spent in Auckland when I first arrived in NZ. I stayed in a little guest house slightly out of the CBD, called Freeman's lodge. The bed was comfy, and the breakfast wasn't bad, so no complaints here, although it was a bit of a walk from the CBD. on my first night, I walked up to Kerangahape Road (K Road) to get some food and i picked up some fish and chips. It was only when I sat donw to eat on a bench that I noticed all the rainbow flags. I had unwittingly entered the gay district. Oh, well, no harm in that, could be worse. I quickly finished my fish and chips and headed back to the hostel. On the way, I tripped on the edge of one of the pavements and took a flying leap right onto my arm. I scraped the skin off one elbow and cut the other hand. It could have been worse. I landed about a foot from a broken glass bottle. I stumbled back to the guest house (I banged my knee too!), and patched myself up with my trusty first aid kit. The following day I walked into centraql Auckland and headed first to the Sky Tower. I took the lift to the top and the views were spectacular. I also visited the little cafe downstairs, which does a nice bit of cake. My next stop was the harbour, where I took a tour right around. it was a great trip, and the captain was so knowledgeable. On my return I visited Minus5, officially the coolest bar in New Zealand (it'a actually -5C). The downside was that I cost $25 to get in and have one cocktail, but it was a good cocktail.
affter that, I decided to head back to the hostel, for a well earned rest. The following day I headed first on a ferry over to Devonport. This is a sleepy little town, but it's quite cute in the way it sits so close to the CBD of Auckland. I walked up to North Head, the site of the Gun batteries used to defend Auckland Harbour during the wars (though there was never a shot fired in anger). The tour was quite informative, although some of the underground passageways were a little bit spooky. I looked for a chip shop on the seafront before I caught a fery back, and the only place I found was in the ferry terminal itself. It was run by an Arab family, and the fish and chip come highly recommended, as do the reasonable prices. Once fed, and back in the CBD, I caught a bus out to Kelly Tarlton's underwater world. This was a bit disappointing, to say the least. There really wasn't that much to see for the steep entry price, and the only highlight for me was the ride through penguin enclosure (although the car was a little cramped). I wouldn't recommend this, as there are plenty of places much more worthy of your money. After another full day of exploring. I headed back to the hostel, passing a kebab shop on the way (the kebab wasn't that good, nor were the chips, but I was hungry). That was it for Auckland for now, as the next day I caught a plane to Napier, home of my Aunts and the Art Deco Capital of New Zealand.