So I hear the weather back home in Lafayette is not so good right now…such a same I’m not there! Hah! Just kidding! I do; however, miss all of you dearly. I wish I could pack up each and every one of you and allow you to see all of the wonderful things I am seeing and experiencing. It truly is remarkable. Ahh…so where to begin.
I suppose the last I wrote was at the Sydney airport. So you all heard the Hawaii details, and now you are all waiting to hear about my amazing time in New Zealand! It has been another amazing adventure with amazing people…I can’t even begin to tell you all!
My first night here was somewhat interesting. I arrived after traveling for 30 hours. I did sleep some in there, but of course I was still exhausted upon my arrival. The first room they put me in was a room for 6. I walked in the door and 6 girls gave me dirty looks. I told them I was their new roommate and they told me the room was full (which it was). I asked if I could leave my things in the room until I sorted out the mess downstairs…there was no way in hell I was going to pull 2 suitcases and a carry on back down to the ground floor from floor 4 (yes there is an elevator, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy). The girls told me to just put my stuff in the hallway! How rude! Oh well…so I went downstairs and they put me in a new room…best thing to have ever happened.
I was them placed in an 8 bed room; however, the first night there were only 4 of us. Emma, an English girl I spent most of my first 2 ½ days with, was in my new room. She is such a sweetheart. She is traveling for a little over 3 months and spent time in Australia, now New Zealand and then the US. She is a flight attendant for a British airline back home. Two other English girls were in my room. All of which were very very nice. Quite a change from the room just down the hall! We sat and chatted for a bit before heading for bed. Although it was a Friday night and perhaps I should have been at the bar for $4 drinks (very cheap here…normally they are $7 or more), which is the Friday and Saturday night special at the hostel bar (First Base Traveler’s Bar). Anyway, bed it was for me.
The next day the two other girls checked out and went up to the Bay of Islands (I will tell you about this in a little while). Emma and I spent the day walking around Auckland and exploring. On our way out, while using the internet in the internet café, I met a guy by the name of Alan from Germany. He was on his way to spend 2 months studying just east of Auckland for Medicine. He is then going to Brisbane and spending two months studying there as well before heading home to Germany. He spent the early afternoon walking with us before his bus left at 430. We found a park within the city called Albert Park ( I think?). Beautiful little place…here are a few pictures.
Emma and I then came back and did some laundry. Talk about expensive! It is $3 for the washer and $3 for the dryer as well which gives you 45 minutes!! Good thing I have only had to do 2 loads of laundry during my stay! Emma and I then found this great little pizza place for dinner called the Kiwi Pizza place. It is a little hole in the wall where you go up the steepest stairs to a very small room. I don’t think you could fit more than 30 people comfortably up there around the tables. But the pizza was fabulous and we had a decent view of downtown Auckland. We then came back to the hostel for Saturday night’s $4 drinks! Yay!
We sat for a while watching other people. There weren’t too many people in the bar at this point. After a little while these two guys came over and sat with us. They were both from England as well. Their names were Steve and Andy. We had some great conversations with them about England, New Zealand, and the US. Very very funny. I also found it very funny how after a while the bar got busy and there were actually people on the dance floor. The majority of the music played is from the US…it was very interesting watching people from so many different countries trying to dance to American music. They sure do dance a little differently than we do back home! It’s not too different, but enough that you can tell a bit of difference. So after walking around Auckland for a while around 230 am, Emma and I left the boys and went to bed.
The next day Emma was leaving. I spent the morning with her in the internet room waiting for Steve to meet me downstairs. He came down and Emma and I said goodbye. I showed Andy around Auckland, just as I had shown Sven around Waikiki. I took him to the park. We hung out there for a little while just watching the birds and enjoying the sun chatting about American football and English football (i.e. soccer) as well as Rugby. I learned a little bit about the rules and how things work. For dinner we found this amazing little Irish pub called Father Teds. On Sundays they serve a $5 roast dinner! I couldn’t believe it! A $5 decent meal in New Zealand?! That’s crazy!
From here we went to the harbor and sat and talked. We shared some music tastes on our iPods while watching the sun set and the boats come in and out of the harbor. According to my tour guide the next day (I will tell you more about this in a minute), there are 1.3 million people in Auckland and 1/4 of them own a boat of some kind! That is incredible! The marina next to where we were at is the largest within New Zealand (or at least the Auckland area).
The catamaran was on the smaller side. There were about 30 of us in all on the boat. The bow (front) of the boat had a railing all around it, but 6 at a time were allowed to crawl underneath is and stick the stop half of their body out over the water while hanging on. This meant that you were about 1.5 feet away from the water. While hanging off, the dolphins would swim right underneath the boat so you were within 2 feet of them! At one point, one of them surfaced right underneath me and its dorsal fin almost hit me in the face! It was very neat!
Because we couldn't get in the water with the dolphins, the crew (made up of two women), took us to a spot where we could get out and swim if we wanted to. It was very cool. They also took us to a little beach area where we were able to get refreshments and that sort of thing.
All in all my trip to New Zealand was amazing, as was my trip to Hawaii. Auckland is a beautiful city. While they say there are 1.3 million people here, you would never have any idea. It doesn't feel any bigger than Purdue's campus. The city is beautiful and mellow. I will be sad to leave it here in a few hours. Oh well, it is time for the next adventure to begin! I am off to the Cook Islands. Here I'm hoping to spend a little more time on the beach and relax. It is time to mellow out. I have been on the go go go everyday since I left home.
I miss you all, but I am having a wonderful time traveling. It is so incredible how many amazing people you meet. I know that some of you are worried about my traveling on my own, but I will say that I think it is the best way to do it. If I were traveling with someone, I don't think I would have met half of the amazing people I have so far. I know I keep saying it, but it's so great. I have so many people and places around the world to visit now!
Keep checking my blog. I will probably update it as I have been...every 3 or 4 days. It is easier for me to do it this way. I hope you are all doing well back home! I miss and love you all!
Cheers (one of my new vocab words),
Krissy
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