Salad is Nice. But Nothing Beats Sunday Dinner.

Today was a good day! I got up nice and early, got a shower and actually blow dried and straightened my hair! I must admit, straight hair feels great! I feel clean and well groomed, for a change! While it is nice to have straight hair – I don’t think I will be making it a regular thing, it takes too much time and I’m still seriously lazy!

You are probably wondering why I cleaned myself up – It was because I was going to church in Taupo! There is a church pretty close to the Hostel, so I thought it would be nice to pay it a visit. I got ready, had nice straight hair and put a pretty dress on. I then got a taxi to the church, so I wouldn’t arrive all sweaty and gross and besides I didn’t really know how to get there. The church was in a nice area and it looked pretty good, plus it was a beautiful day so everything looked amazing! Sadly, all my efforts to look attractive were wasted – there was nobody there to appreciate my efforts! The entire Branch was made up of families with young children. I only stayed for the first hour. The people were nice, the Bishop and another man came up and said hello to me, but I thought it was interesting that one of the speakers, who spoke entirely about how important it is to befriend people investigating the church didn’t bother to say hello. Typical. But that actually really annoys me. Why stand at the front of a church, talking about all the people you have brought into church by showing them kindness and friendship, when you won’t even talk to a girl, who clearly has never been in your Branch, or even your country. It makes me so mad. Practice what you preach and if you’re not prepared to do what you have said you will do, then shut up, sit down and stop pretending that you are so spiritual that you are about to be translated. Can you tell that hypocrites make me mad? Because they do. One of the few people that actually talked to me was a lady, who I think was an investigator – she came to sacrament and after I chatted to her, while she had a smoke. At least she doesn’t lie about how she lives her life. Now I think about it, the first speaker was really annoying and he was saying some questionable things. Idiot. But obviously not everyone is like that – the church members in Paihia were the nicest people I have met in a really long time!

After church I went for a walk along the Lake, which was really nice. I called home, got the goss, then went and got some lunch. I had the nicest Caesar Salad...mmm! The place was recommended in the Lonely Planet Travel Guide, so I thought I would pay it a visit. I like my Caesar Salad to be quite spicy, which this one wasn’t, it was quite creamy, but still really amazing – there was stacks of Chicken and Bacon, which is always good! Then after lunch I went and bought a book – which I didn’t really want to do, because I hate spending money on books. Like I love having them and I like to own books, but I read them so quickly it seems like a waste. I’m on Chapter 21 of the book, “Look Me in The Eye” by John Elder Robinson, a man who grew up with Asperger’s syndrome. His brother wrote the book “Running With Scissors” which is meant to be really good. It’s really quite interesting – he had a really difficult life, which was only made worse by his Asperger’s, especially because nobody knew what Asperger’s was when he was a child - he wasn’t diagnosed until he was an adult. I love a good book! I really want to read Jeremy Clarksons books, they all look really good and I do love a bit of Jeremy. I’ve read one of his books and I really liked it, so I may have to invest in the next one soon! I also really want to read “The Secret Life of Bee’s” – I loved the movie and I’m sure the book is even better! I also really want to read Richard Attenborough’s Biography, written by one of his best friends, it looks really interesting and I do love the Attenborough family! I think I might have to leave it for a while before I start buying all these books, there really expensive – I’ll have no money left!

After buying my book I just walked about town for a while, walked along the lake, came back to my room, read some of my book and then went to the “Pak ‘n’ Save” to buy some Peppermint Tea. I bought some tea, some sugar cubes (because cubes are more practical than a big bag of sugar that would spill everywhere, plus we all know I’m fond of the odd sugar cube) and some rice! I also got a mug to have my tea in, which I think is a pretty good idea. If I have my own mug I can have tea whenever I want – I can drink it in my room and I don’t have to worry about bringing it back to the communal kitchen when I’m done! I also bought some plastic spoons for 30cents! Genius? I think so.

After my trip to the glorious “Pak ‘n’ Save” I came back to the room, switched beds – I was originally on the top bunk, but now that the American girl is gone I have changed to the bottom bunk, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I say at the time, because I’m not so sure that I’ve made the right decision. I hate being on the top bunk because it’s a hassle to get in and out of, also there is no place for your mug of tea or your phone, so it’s difficult to set alarms. The bonus of being on a top bunk is that nobody can see you when you sleep, unless they stand up all night watching you, and if they do that then I think you have a bigger problem than having to climb a ladder to get into bed. Also if the person below is leaving early then they can fiddle around on the floor, packing their stuff and it won’t bother you. The good points of being on the bottom bunk is that it’s easier to get in and out of, you can set your phone and tea on the floor and it’s at arm’s length. The bad points, people can see you while you sleep, it’s less private and people wake you up in the mornings. Hmm. What to do?

After the bed making saga I had a nice cup of Peppermint Tea. I was surprised to learn that the only ingredient in Peppermint Tea is actually “Peppermint”. That is actually it! I thought they would have thrown in some other rubbish, but apparently not. Good old Twinings! I knew Stephen Fry wouldn’t endorse a product unless it was great (he does the Twinings adverts). The sugar cubes were also pretty fantastic. Reminds me of the good old days, stealing sugar cubes from Harry’s – who needs desert when you can nick an entire bowl of sugar cubes? And that’s what I’ve done pretty much all night, drank tea, read my book and now I’m Blogging about this highly exciting day! I hope your day was as great as mine!

Oh... One last thing... Today is Mothers Day! I’ll be celebrating by ringing home and hanging up so Esther calls back and I don’t have to spend any of my monies! Mummies are a great thing to have and I would really like mine to be here, drinking Peppermint Tea with me (and if she was here I wouldn’t need to drink Peppermint Tea for dinner). But thanks to the wonders of Telephoneular Communication, I can talk to her, even if I am a million(ish) miles away.

Xx

I Hate Public Transport.

We had another late start today, so that was good! After check out we had to wait around for our bus, so I made a wee phone call home, to get all the goss! Eventually the bus was ready to go and we were dropped down in Raglan, which was nice because I hadn’t been able to see the place. On the bus down I started chatting to a guy, who, strangely enough, was from Bangor! Small world right? It was funny talking to him about home – he went to St Collumbanus (have NO idea how to spell that) and I was able to tell him that I was a Glenlola Girl, from Ballyholme! It’s nice when people know what you’re talking about! Anyway, back to Raglan - It’s actually a really nice town, it’s pretty small and quiet but there is a real surf culture feel to the place, which I really like. Everyone drives really slowly and there is a Volcom Lane! I had a browse through the shops before our next bus came to collect us, which was really cool, there was so much nice stuff, but it was all so expensive! I could have spent all my money in about 30 seconds! I settled for buying door handles, which sounds really strange, but there is a reason. I’m going to use the little door handles as hangers for the back of my bedroom door. There really cute looking, there a mix of colours (pink, blue and white) and there all similar shapes, so against a white door they will hopefully look really nice!

When the bus finally came, my name wasn’t on the list! What a surprise! At first the guy wasn’t going to let me on but it turned out that there was a spare seat on the bus, so I was able to leave Raglan! If I had of been staying in Raglan town centre I would have stayed for a bit longer, but because we were in the middle of nowhere there wasn’t a lot for me to do! The bus journey wasn’t too bad, I just listened to music but when we got to Waitomo things went seriously downhill. We changed buses at the caves and I started feeling really really really sick! Which was so horrible! Feeling sick, on a bus full of people that you don’t know is the worst ever. It was so horrible and there was nothing I could do. All I wanted was my mummy. Eventually we had to stop so I could throw up in a charming public toilet. Lovely.

So that was pretty horrible! We then drove to Taupo and got dropped off at our Hostel. There were two of us staying in Taupo so we stayed in the Base Hostel, which is pretty new and really quite nice! I don’t think there were a lot of rooms left, so I ended up staying in the Sanctuary part – Sanctuary is an all girls section of the Hostel and it is so much nicer! You get a clean towel, shampoo and nicer sheets and the room I’m in at the moment only has two beds in it! There is also a pretty nice view out of the window – it’s not exactly “Grand Designs” quality, but I can see the park area and the road the Hostel is on, so I can be nosey and see what’s going on! I’m sharing a room with an American girl from San Diego, she’s really nice, which is always good, thankfully I haven’t stayed with any real weirdo’s yet! Keep your fingers crossed!

After getting myself sorted out I went for a walk around the town, it looks pretty nice, it’s not too big, but it’s not too small! So that will be nice, actually having things close to where you’re staying is so handy! There is also a McDonalds near the Hostel, which isn’t too exciting, but there is a massive plane outside McDonalds, I think it’s the play area, or maybe it’s the Party Plane! Bangor had a McDonalds Party Bus, trust New Zealand to go one better! I also had some Uncle Ben’s Rice for dinner – bless that man! And now I’m in my dorm, writing this Blog, I’ll probably go to sleep soon, this has been a seriously tiring day!

Xx

Alone Again, Naturally.

So that is probably the most depressing introduction to a Blog ever, but it is a good song. Today was the day when I said goodbye to the girls :(

Even thinking about it makes me sad. We didn’t have to be up too early, so that was nice and I was able to get a nice shower in our wonderful room, so that was a nice start to the day! But then I had to say goodbye to everyone, which was really quite rubbish. After our goodbyes and Facebook exchanges I went and waited for my bus to Raglan. The previous driver – the old grumpy man, assured me that he had booked me onto the bus, but he hadn’t surprise surprise. They did let me on and the five of us made our way to Raglan, two boys that I knew from Kiwi Experience and two girls who were also on Kiwi, but who I hadn’t met before. After getting dropped off in Raglan town centre a bus came and took us to our Hostel. The Hostel we stayed in was actually a surf school, so that was pretty cool – if you’re a surfer, which I am not. The actual Hostel was up in the hills, which was actually pretty rubbish because it’s a difficult 50minute walk to the beach.

When we got to the Hostel our group was divided into separate rooms, the two girls and I went in a room with a Brazilian boy and the boys went in the room next door. The rooms were pretty basic. Like really basic. It’s a pretty old place, so it wasn’t exactly luxurious, but I’m not overly fussy about where I sleep! After setting our bags down we went and cooked some lunch – I made tin spaghetti on toast, which is actually really difficult in a different country. It’s a massive kitchen that is really busy and the cookers are totally different to the cooker I have at home, so that made the process a lot more difficult. I did manage to make a nice meal, so I was quite proud of myself! We then started a game of Monopoly, which I couldn’t be bothered playing, because I take Monopoly quite seriously and I didn’t want to rush the game! After an hour of so the group I was with went surfing, I would have went, but it was $90 for a lesson and I didn’t want to spend that much money on something I wasn’t too fussed on. So I stayed at the Hostel and watched a movie! It was something about poker, it had Drew Barrymore and Eric (I’m going to say) Banna (but I’m not too sure – he was in the first Hulk movie). It was alright, it killed some time – then I wrote part of a Blog and then the others all came back.
We messed about for a bit, had dinner – I saw a HUGE rat in the kitchen! It ran from the bins to underneath the cooker! How disgusting! I actually couldn’t believe it, well I could, the kitchen was quite dirty, but still, yuck! Then we all made some popcorn and watched “The Untouchables” which I think is a great movie! I had never seen it before, but I was really pleasantly surprised. A few people that watched it with us thought that the actors were all overacting but I loved it! I’m such a geek! It was a good movie, go watch it if you haven’t! The mobster dinner scene, with the baseball speech, was pretty intense, wouldn’t fancy that myself!

After the movie I just went to bed because I was so tired! It was a pretty good day, but its strange not having the girls around. I still chat to lots of people and I’m not alone, but it’s still different. Oh well, sometimes things don’t work out – despite what Burger King says, you can’t always “have it your way”.

xx

The Prettiest Maggots I Have Ever Seen.

As the days go by I seem to be laughing more and more. Today we drove from Rotoroua to our next stop, Waitomo. We had a new bus driver who was a grumpy old man, literally. I can’t remember his name, it was a strange nickname that he was using as his real name – someone should tell him that nicknames don’t count when you make them up yourself. Anyway the grumpy old man’s bus was fairly empty (probably because he was so grumpy) so we were able to space ourselves out. Our first stop was a farm show – which I didn’t go to, but basically it was a show all about farms, which would have been interesting, if it was free. So I gave that a miss. We were there for over an hour so to kill some time the girls and I played some rugby with two boys from our group – Tom and Neil. We didn’t play “real rugby”, it was more like, “throw the ball to each other over and over again rugby”. Which, despite not having a purpose, was actually quite fun. We also played a new and improved version of “Donkey” – if you dropped the ball once you had to play with one hand, if you dropped the ball twice you had to play with one hand and one leg, if you dropped the ball three times you had to play with one hand, one leg and one eye. After that it gets quite hard to play the game so I suppose you just go out. It’s a great game. There was also a statue of a sheepdog, which I totally did not climb on top of. Who would do that? (Me).

Our next stop was some adventure centre where they had a tiny bungy jump and some high tech cycle track where your bike hangs down from a metal track and you cycle around the track 3 times, as quickly as you can. Our great driver said that he would buy anyone that made it round 3 laps in under a minute a BBQ at our next Hostel. He was so sure that nobody would be able to, but two guys got round in under a minute, one guy made it round in 59.9 seconds! There were also Emu’s at this place – actually they were Ostriches, but it’s easier to say Emu. Now these ugly birds were behind an electric fence, which would normally be quite a good idea, but because I’m special I managed to get an electric shock. It actually really hurt! I thought I had been bitten by one of the minging Emu’s!

That was our last stop of the day so we made our way to the Hostel. Sally, Jess and I all signed up for the Black Water Rafting, our great driver booked me into the later group but someone dropped out so I changed and went to the earlier group with Sally and Jess! We got dropped off at the Black Water Rafting centre – now before this trip I had never heard of Black Water Rafting, let me/the Kiwi Experience book explain. “The Black Labyrinth is the original black water rafting trip that brought the company international recognition. The three hour long trip (one hour underground) involves a combination of walking and floating on an inner tube along the river canyon, jumping off a waterfall and gliding through caverns lit up by thousands of glow-worms. Experienced guides conduct the tour with professionalism and humour, providing a unique Eel’s-eye view of Ruakuri, Waitomo’s most complex cave network.”

It was so good! Getting into the wetsuits was quite the ordeal and you had to do a practice jump off a jetty before you went into the caves. In order to get into the caves you had to climb through a tiny opening and then we sat for a bit in the first of a few caves – then we set off on our adventure. One of the first things I saw was a nice, big eel! It was pretty big, maybe the length of my arm and it swam off into one of the areas we had to float through! It was so much fun going through all the caves, I did bump my head a few times (right at the start, after she told us no to bump our heads on the stalactites, woops) and at one point my foot got stuck, which was more worrying than funny but that lasted for about 3 seconds! The waterfall jumps were pretty good, really gracefully done...Nat! I don’t think I could have looked worse if I tried; falling backwards into freezing cold cave water is not a good look for me, especially when kitted out in a sexy wetsuit and helmet!

After a while we came across the glow-worms, which are very beautiful for maggots! Imagine a triangle shaped cave. You are standing on the bottom of the triangle, looking up at the point. That’s probably the best way for me to describe this part of the cave – along the top were thousands of glow-worms, like little fairly lights all over the roof! It was really nice! You had to walk through parts of the caves and at other times we had to float along in our tiny little tubes! At one point we were all in a line, holding onto the person behinds feet, so we made a chain of people and we floated down the river, in the pitch black! At this stage we were back to singing... We sang some Oasis, some Queen, a bit of The Beatles and Bon Jovi also featured. They seem to be the classics when it comes to group sing alongs! We eventually let go of each other and went back to floating down the river on our own, well some of us did. I decided that it would be much better if I kept holding onto the chap in front of me! Poor Neil, I’m not sure how he felt about me holding onto him in a dark cave, but I felt a lot better about the whole “in a dark cave with eels” experience, knowing that I wasn’t going to be stuck somewhere on my own, in the dark eel cave. Did I mention that it was a dark eel cave?

When we had finished our Black Water Rafting/Eel Cave Experience we had to get the wetsuits off – which was super fun and then we all went for some soup and bagels, which I thought was just lovely. A really nice way to finish off a really good activity! Then we went to the Hostel. I kid you not, now I know how the Israelites felt when they got to the Promised Land. I don’t think I have seen a more beautiful place. It was a fairly new Hostel, so everything was clean and new and neat! Ellen didn’t go Black Water Rafting so she was able to book us all into a room together, which was so good! The “room” we had was more like a house! On the ground floor there were two single beds, a bathroom and a real wardrobe – like a built in one, with hangers! Then upstairs there was another two single beds! It was amazing. No top bunk! Yesh! Ellen and I took downstairs and Sally and Jess went upstairs. By the time we got back from our Eel Adventure it was almost time to go out, so we all stated getting ready. I took it upon myself to star in my own little fashion show. After showing Sally and Jess all the outfits I had I then showed Ellen all my outfits and we decided what I should wear. Ellen, like myself, is a New Look girl, which was nice because we have the same sort of taste in clothing (and men apparently)! After the classy fashion show, the not so classy fashion show began. I started prancing about in my bright green hot pants with my knee length green socks on. Then I had to do my makeup, so the old makeup pants were out and on my head. The boys were struggling to control themselves, obviously. After being idiots for a while, doing some stretching and a bit of dancing, we were ready to go to the pub. Ellen and I had ordered a big, dirty BBQ, so we got started on that (steak, pasta, potatoes, salad, bread – all the wonderful things in life) and the others came down. We actually had quite a good table, Ellen, Jess, Sally, Neil and Tom (the two English guys that were on our bus and in the caves) and then another guy called Steve. After dinner we played a few games, which I was horribly bad at. There was some clapping game where you clap your hands on the table and I just could not do it! We actually played quite a few games – I was only rubbish at half of them! By the end I was getting quite good at some of them! Then the boys played about 500 games of pool, so that was great fun! While they were all concentrating on the game, Ellen and I were having a right laugh about the boy to girl ratio in the pub – there were about 5 girls in a pub full of boys and we were hanging around all the good looking ones (we actually had a bus full of attractive men, which is always nice). We were also comparing the attractive men and their different dress senses! I must say, I do like a well dressed man! But I’m going to stop before I get too carried away, I need to keep this suitable for Esther!

When the boys were finished playing pool we all headed to our room and played cards - this seems to be a reoccurring theme, playing cards with boys at odd hours! Don’t worry, we played games like Slide and Snap – were wild! The boys were pretty wrecked so they went to bed and we stayed up for a while, laughing, probably a bit too loudly given the time of night, but it was our last night together! That brings me to my next point... Thursday was our last day together. Which I’m actually really sad about. When people say that they have met people that they will be friends with for the rest of their lives on these sorts of trips I always thought, what a loser. Nobody meets people like that on a bus trip. But I will really miss the girls! We had so much fun together! It was so nice, just being with people that you can have a laugh with and who are genuinely nice girls. It was also really nice having someone there who you can have a chat to or whatever. I really loved spending time in our wee group because we were all really different, but still quite similar – we had girlie chats about boys and we could be stupid together and we were all fond of our food, which I feel is a necessity in friendships! I really will miss everyone – we had such a good little buddy system going on! After carrying on for a bit we eventually went to sleep, in our lovely clean rooms!


xx

Laundry, Swimming, Maori Men, Dancing, Stupidity and Lots of Laughter.

After our big night out I was glad we didn’t have to catch a bus! We were still up early, thanks to the heard of baby Elephants that were staying in our room (about four people had to catch the Kiwi Experience bus that morning) but at least we didn’t have to get back on the Duncan (“all I want to do is talk”) bus! Because we didn’t really have to do anything today, we just relaxed. Sally and I went to the “Pak ‘n’ Save” supermarket. It’s basically a cheap place to get your groceries – it’s not as nice as Tesco (I never thought I would say that) but it’s not as bad as Lidl (which is actually quite good for sweeties). It sells brand name products (like Uncle Ben’s Rice, which I chose to mention because I’m living off it) but they’re a lot cheaper here because it’s not a big fancy store, I suppose it’s a bit like Mackro, because it is sort of a warehouse, but not really. If there are any Americans out there, it’s a smaller Costco.

After buying our supplies we walked back to the Hostel. Sally and Jess then went to Te Puia. It’s a volcanic park and you can see geysers and hot mud pools, which did sound interesting, but I couldn’t really be bothered spending more money to go see some mud. I’ll Google it. I’m actually quite glad I didn’t go, they had a pretty rubbish day. The bus times were wrong and they missed the guided tour and then they weren’t allowed into the little show they put on because the man at the desk didn’t give them a ticket. To make the day even worse, Sally’s phone broke. Plus they did a lot of walking. So I’m really really glad I didn’t go. Instead I stayed at the Hostel and did some washing!

Being the genius that I am, I very gracefully spilt milk on my trousers, so I thought it would be smart to give them a wash – I probably smell bad enough, let’s not add sour milk to the equation! Because it was such a nice day I was able to dry my clothes over the balcony (our room had its own balcony), so that saved me a bit of $$$ - however, I do have $25 worth of change, because you need $2 coins for the washing machines! Once my washing was dry I thought it would be nice to go for a wee walk, I was going to hire a mountain bike and go for a wee cycle around the lake, but I got as far as the Hostel reception. That’s where I met Ellen and her roommate Tom (that’s not his real name, he’s Dutch, but nobody can pronounce his name so he gets called Tom – which is strange, because EVERYONE on this bus is called Tom. Literally about 5 boys, which in a smallish group is seriously confusing!). We had a chat and then decided that while Rotoura is nice, it would be much nicer to have a swim in the Hostel pool!

Ellen and I spent a good few hours in the swimming pool, it isn’t a massive pool, but it’s a decent size and it’s naturally heated because of all the geothermal activity in the area. Now if you have seen me in the water, you will know that I am extremely graceful. I’m like a Dolphin. By Dolphin I really mean a Whale – actually, I think a Whale might be more graceful than me. We were doing handstands and underwater sit ups, which was as fun as it sounds. I did a few wee spins and twirls and my attempt at the doggy paddle was fantastic, I looked so stupid, which doesn’t make sense, because I’m quite a good swimmer, but apparently being a good swimmer doesn’t make you good at the doggy paddle. I nearly drowned. But it was really funny. After a great swim we started getting ready to go out, to the Maori Cultural night!

The Maori Cultural night was run by a company called Tamaki Tours and they came to the Hostel to collect us. To make the day worse, they didn’t have Sally and I on the list, but after a few phone calls (and me producing my receipt) they let us on the bus and we were off on our adventure! The night is quite a production, it’s out of town and set in a reconstructed Maori Village. When you first go in you are greeted by a group of Maori people – all dressed up, singing songs, doing dances – all the ceremony you would have had if you were a visitor to the village. You then walk through the forest, where you see how the people used to live, they have replica houses and you can see how they used to catch their food. After having a walk around and getting a few pictures with some big attractive (and some not so attractive) Maori men, we went for the all singing, all dancing part of the night. Walking around the forest was really interesting, but also really funny – Ellen has a thing for Maori men, so we were trying to contain ourselves!

The actual show was amazing, I can’t even describe it, so I’ll type what it says in my little Kiwi Experience book – “Tamaki Maori Village is set firmly in Pre-European times, within a 200 year old native forest village. Celebrate and share in ancient traditions and rituals of the welcome ceremony. Learn more of our ancestors earliest days here, through a mixture of storytelling, Haka, song and dance. Ultimately share in an authentically prepared Hangi meal (cooked in an earthen oven) and enjoy the warmth and humour of your hosts.” Basically it was an amazing night. The music was fantastic and the food was so yummy! They had everything, chicken, lamb, sweet potatoes, boiled potatoes, fish, muscles, pasta, salad and chocolate cake desert, oh and Pavlova (which I always thought the British had invented, apparently not). So it probably wasn’t all traditional food, but there were no complaints here!

After dinner there was a nice speech and we all got back on the bus to go to the Hostel. On the way home our elected chief for the night, was made to stand at the front and sing songs all the way home – we sang Oasis classics, Queen and about one line from every British song ever written (we only sung one line because none of us could remember the words). When we got back to the Hostel we went to the Lava Bar, which was one of the best and worst ideas we have ever had. We were all “high on life” so a dance seemed like a good idea. Maybe not. Sally, Ellen, Jess and I were the only ones on the dance floor and we were properly giving it rice. Like really. You know when you and your friends just go crazy and have a total dance sesh, usually in a bedroom where nobody can see you – well we did that in the middle of a busy bar. It was one of the best night out I have ever had! The DJ was playing all the newies and all the oldies – we had a bit of Tiffany “I Think Were Alone Now” (that song comes to mind because Ellen and I made up dance moves for all the lyrics, the highlights include slow running across the dance floor), some Whitney and then all the usuals. After a while people stopped giving us funny looks and they joined us. I love when that happens. The “cool” people realise that it’s much better to look like an idiot that’s having a lot of fun!

When we were all danced out we ended up playing card games with a group of English boys, which was actually really fun. I was quite good at the games, for a change. We even played Go Fish, which I never knew how to play before! The card games went on for a while and then we just headed back to our rooms. Note to self - packing at night is not a good idea, especially when you have a room full of sleeping people! So that was how our second day in stinky Rotoroua was spent, a day full of laughter is always a productive day!

xx

Pizza and Pretending to be Irish.

Today was another early start – we had to be on the bus by 7.30am, which meant that I had to be up nice and early to have a shower, I may be embracing the homeless look, but I still have some basic personal hygiene requirements. Anyway, the shower was amazing. It was a proper power shower (try explain that to everyone here, “It was a par shar”) and it was clean and there was a real shower door, not just a curtain! So that was a nice experience!

We then got on the bus, which wasn’t as fun, but I can’t really complain, buses are what I signed up for! Our first stop of the day was Waihi, the Karangahake Scenic Reserve (I had to look that up because we were told it was “a gorge”). It was actually really nice, you walk across a few swing bridges, sort of like rope bridges, but sturdier I suppose! You then walk through a series of tunnels, which was interesting as I didn’t have a torch and had no idea where I was going! It was a really nice walk and I went a bit snap happy (no surprises there) so maybe I’ll get some pictures uploaded!

After that we stopped off in Matamata. Matamata was the filming location for Hobbiton, from Lord of the Rings – we got some lunch there and got a few cheesy pictures in front of the Welcome to Hobbiton sign. I bet you’re excited to see that!
We then arrived in Rotoroua, which is also called, Sulphur City, Roto-vegas and Rotten-rua. Why? Because it stinks. The entire place smells of rotten eggs, which is pretty disgusting, but apparently you “get used” to the smell. I don’t think so somehow. When we arrived the weather was pretty rubbish, so I didn’t get to do a lot of exploring. Instead we checked into our rooms and chilled out for a bit. Sally and I are in the same room again, but the two girls from London, Ellen and Jess, are in the next room, so that's’quite handy! Were staying in an 8 bed dorm room, with a bathroom and the bathroom is actually pretty nice, which is a change, usually hostel bathrooms are rubbish! Most people in the room were doing white water rafting during the day so I didn’t really get chatting to any of them, but I did have a nice chat with one of the boys in the room, Pete. It was quite funny; I was trying to find out if he liked the boys on the bus, without telling him that I thought they were all idiots. Turns out, he agrees with me, so we had a laugh about that. I don’t think I’ve actually mentioned the most annoying boy on the bus yet. Let’s call him, J.T, well, he’s from England, Essex I think and at first he was quite normal. He actually seemed quite funny. But after about 5 minutes of listening to him, I realised that he was an idiot. Basically he keeps going on about how much money he has. He LOVES flashing the cash. For example, at the Spa in Mercury Bay you could have a tab on hold, in case you wanted a drink. Most people put about $5 or $10 just in case. But good old J.T walks up and throws $70 at the woman, then decides that “$70 is an odd number, let’s make it $80”, which is just ridiculous, especially since we were only going to be at the Spa for about an hour. He also thinks he’s hilarious. We were talking about the Haka and he was like, “I can do the Haka, look...” and then he started prancing about doing the Y.M.C.A. Idiot. He also told his group of guy friends (they have a bit of a Bromance going on) that he wanted to start a fight at the Maori Cultural Evening. I would pay to see that. He’s shorter than I am. Anyway, I thought I was the only person that found him annoying, but it turns out that everyone I have spoken to really dislikes him. I’m so glad that he is leaving Rotoura before me!

When everyone got back from rafting we decided to go out – it was all you can eat pizza at the Lava Bar (the Hostel bar) so we headed down there. Lizzie (a girl in my room and Pete’s friend) and I legged it to the bar and got some pizza, but Sally, Ellen and Jess came down a bit later and by the time they arrived all the pizza was gone! Because we had all been expecting pizza we didn’t have any dinner, so we were all starving, we then decided to go get our own pizza. Great idea girls! The five of us (Me, Sally, Ellen, Jess and a German girl, whose name I cannot type, but she is really nice) set off on our journey, not having any idea where we could get pizza. I remembered seeing Pizza Hut and Sally remembered where it was, so we set off in that direction. It was raining at this point, so that was fun, combining all my least favourite activities, hunger, walking and rain. We eventually found Pizza Hut, but when we went to order they told us that we were too late to sit in, so we had to get the pizza to go. Being the classy ladies that we are, we decided on 3 pizza’s – Cheese, Pepperoni and a BBQ Meat Feast. While we were waiting for the pizza we had a bit of a laugh, everyone in this country must think English and Irish people are complete idiots – we may have let Old Lizzie (the Queen) down, with our loud, ridiculous behaviour.

We eventually found a nice wall to sit on and we sat, in all our going out gear, eating 3 big, messy pizzas! Beaut. I’m so glad that nobody could see us! After eating far too much pizza we went back to the Lava Bar, had a drink and then set off to find an Irish Pub! We followed the music and found a big, busy, “Irish” Pub. St. Patricks Day is really big over here (I think it’s popular everywhere, except for Norn Iron) so everyone was out in their green outfits, with their Guiness Hats on, I even saw a few Celtic tops. After waiting ages everyone got their pint of Guiness (except for me, imagine, the only “real” “Irish” person there and I wasn’t even drinking) and we went outside for a wee chat/a boogie to the old man on acoustic guitar. I quite liked this bit, it was just like being at home, there was even an old pervy man giving me the eyes, there’s nothing like across the room dancing with an old drunken man!

After a while at the Irish Bar, we all headed home (back to the Hostel). We did try to find an open shop, we had the munchies (it’s nice to know that some things never change, no matter where you are)! Sadly we had to make do with week old pretzels and some Tiramisu Chocolate, which I can’t eat because of Lent. One of my more brilliant ideas, giving up the only thing I actually eat when I’m away from home!
This was, without a doubt, the best St. Patricks Day I have ever had. We had so much fun, stuffing our faces with nasty Pizza Hut and then dancing like idiots in a pub full of backpackers and old men! Bliss.

Xx

Monday Monday, dah dah, dah dah dah dah ...

I think you get the point. Today was Monday and it was a really good day. I got picked up outside the ACB Hostel at 8.20, so it wasn’t too early, not exactly my normal waking hour, but still, a lot better than some pick up times! Anyway, I got on the bus, picked a seat, tried to ring home and then just sat there until we made our next stop. Our next stop was a YHA Hostel, where we picked up a girl called Sally, who I ended up sitting beside, which worked out pretty well because she’s lovely. But I’ll stop because I don’t want to embarrass myself in case she reads this!

So we had a fun bus ride, just chatting and stuff – Sally is from Australia, so being the philistine that I am, I was like “Oh my gosh, have you seen Australia the movie? It was sooooo good! Hugh Jackman is so hot! Are all the men like that?” Apparently they are not all like Hugh. Typical. I also had to do the whole, “I love Neighbours and Home and Away” thing. I probably shouldn’t be allowed out in public.
When we stopped for lunch we got some groceries (I bought apples, and I have actually eaten them. I’m a changed woman.) and went to KFC, which Sally calls “Dirty Bird” which is actually a more accurate description of the food. Kentucky Fried Chicken. No. I got a “Snack Burger” thinking it would be the same as a mini filet burger. It was not. It was gross, the “Chicken” was flat and grey. Yummy. The chips weren’t too good either – if you think the KFC chips back home are rubbish, you should try the ones here. Now after reading that, I’m sure you are wondering, did you actually eat it? Yes. Yes, I did. Because that’s the kind of person I am.

After our lunch stop we drove to Cathedral Cove. It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Every time I go somewhere I say that it is the most beautiful place in the world and that it is my new favourite place. Well, Cathedral Cove is the most beautiful place in the world and it is my new favourite place. It is basically a really beautiful cove, surrounded by limestone cliffs and caves. If you have seen The Chronicles of Narnia; Prince Caspian, then it’s the beach they use in the film. When the children go from the train station to Narnia, it’s where they arrive. If you can’t remember it, then watch the movie again and you will see just how amazing it is. If you haven’t seen the movie, then you really should. I’m not even going to lie, the Narnia books are probably my favourite books ever. Everything about them is just great. Maybe you’re a secret Narnia fan. Don’t be ashamed. There is nothing wrong with loving a children’s book. If I could live anywhere it would be Narnia, obviously. But, for now, Cathedral Cove will have to do.

Cathedral Cove was beautiful. The scenery was amazing. The water was perfect. But unlike regular beaches, that you can easily drive to or walk to, Cathedral Cove, in all its beauty was a 30-45 minute walk away. No problem, right? No. There were problems. There were serious problems. I’m not exactly the most active person, but I’m not grossly unfit. Well, that’s what I thought. The walk down nearly killed me. It wasn’t really a walk down. It was more of a walk down and then a walk up, then a walk down and a walk back up, before another walk down. It was probably the most indirect way to get to the beach, ever. I just about made it to the beach. Then after some swimming/frolicking around in the waves (On my own. Idiot) we made our way back up. Which didn’t feel as difficult, but it wasn’t exactly a stroll through Ward Park. Because there were no shower facilities, I had to get back onto the bus, covered in sand (You never believe people when they tell you that sand gets everywhere, but really, sand gets everywhere) and in wet clothes. Lovely.

We arrived in Mercury Bay and checked into our hostel – Turtle Cove, which is a really new, really nice hostel. Its run by older people, so it’s a bit quieter and more chilled out, but it was weird seeing that they have “Rules” – in the Base Hostels, pretty much anything and everything goes! Anyway, Sally and I got our own room, which was sweeeeeeeet, it’s so much easier when you trust the person you’re staying with – you don’t have to hide everything! It was also really good because we were getting the same bus, so I didn’t have to worry about waking her up!

After getting ourselves sorted out, we went for a walk. Mercury Bay is actually really nice. The main beach is called Buffalo Beach, named after some boat that sunk there, way back in the day. What an historically accurate statement. After taking a few pictures we ended up going to a bar to use the internet – how strange, can you imagine going into Jamaica Inn and using a computer. Weird.

After our walk we went to a Spa place called “The Lost Springs”, we had to wait around for a bit, so we were quite late getting in, but they let us stay for a while extra. It was sooo nice! The water was lovely and hot, it was like having a giant bath, with about 40 other people, which isn’t as disgusting as it sounds! So we floated around there for a while, they had little man made caves to go into and everything, so that was really nice. We then got chatting to a bunch of girls from England. I think they were all from London, so we just started out with the usual backpacker chat “Where are you from, how long have you been here?”, but the conversation turned into one of the funniest nights of my life. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it was seriously funny! I can’t even describe it, but it was proper good banter. I think everyone thought we were a bit strange because we in fits, it was so funny that my seriously loud, super obnoxious laugh made a guest appearance. Some highlights include, Sally thinking that she could see the Milky Way throughout her entire childhood, she told everyone where it was and people would always believe her – until she was told that you can’t actually see the Milky Way from the Southern Hemisphere. It wasn’t just Sally’s dream that was shattered, it was millions, thanks to all the people she had told. Also, the phrase, Sally Knows Everything. Ok, so you can’t really do inside jokes justice, so I’ll stop. Basically it was a really fun night!

They eventually came round to chuck us out – we did try to hide, but it didn’t work. Getting out of the hot water was the worst – the air was pretty hot for night time, but it felt freezing, which was only made worse by the fact that some tosser nicked my towel. At the Spa they give you a towel, which I was really excited to use, but oh no. I get out, dripping wet, in my swimming suite, go to get my towel... and it’s gone! I was so mad. All my stuff was in a locker, which wouldn’t have been too bad – but if you want to get to your locker you have to walk through the lovely Spa restaurant. That was fun. Sauntering through a classy restaurant in a swimming suit – and let’s face it, I’m not exactly up to Baywatch standards, think cuddly like a Teddy Bear. So that was fun. After awkwardly drying myself with a T-Shirt, we walked back to the Hostel (probably waking everyone in the town up with our laughter).

Then I went to bed. Fantastic. I was so tired, I didn’t even care that my hair was wet – I could have dried it, but seriously, any vanity I had before this trip is now gone. I have fully embraced looking minging. Who needs straight, shiny, beautiful hair, when you can have wet, curly, sea salted hair! Which is quite strange – I spend ages looking good(ish) back home and there isn’t even anyone to appreciate it. Whereas here, I’m on a bus with several attractive men... and yet, I’m fully embracing the homeless look. Trust me to do things the wrong way round.

xx

And on the Seventh Day, He Rested.

Or something like that. Today I didn’t do much resting. I didn’t do much resting last night either, thanks to Mr Canada, our new roomie. Oh. My. Dear. Goodness. Last night was probably one of the few times I have seriously contemplated murder. Let me explain...

After my strenuous day of sunbathing and swimming I was fairly tired, so I put my ear plugs in and went to sleep. Great. Not really. I woke up in the middle of the night, which wouldn’t have been too bad, normally I just go back to sleep. But last night this just wasn’t possible. Our new roomie, Mr Canada (who I thought was from America, he was very offended by this. Cry me a river.) has a SERIOUS snoring problem. And I don’t mean regular snoring. I mean wall shaking, earth shattering snoring. Personally I have always found snoring to be quite therapeutic. Normally it helps me go to sleep, which is weird, but it really does work. When I was sixteen I went camping in America and there was this MASSIVE Fijian guy in the next tent and he snored, so much so that his wife had trouble sleeping in the same room as him. He sent me right to sleep. But Mr Canada is obviously some sort of mutant freak. I have never heard anything like it before. He literally woke everyone in the room up. I had ear plugs in and he still woke me up and then once I was up he prevented me from going to sleep again. You might think I’m just a light sleeper. So not the case. I can sleep anywhere, really. When I was quite young I went into someone’s house (someone who I had never met before) and fell asleep behind their sofa. I only woke up when I heard a baby crying and someone walking down the stairs. Luckily the lady recognised me as a little girl that lived in the next street and she was able to bring me home. But really, I can sleep in most places. So this chap keeping me up is a big deal. If you still can’t grasp just how loud this was, turn your iPod right up (full blast literally), that’s what I did and I could still hear him. I seriously felt like kicking him, I could even reach his bed if I scootched down, but I didn’t want to wake up the girl in the bunk below. So that was a fun start to my day.

After getting ready and getting all my stuff out of the room I checked out and then went to church. Yes. That’s right. I went to church. No typo, I actually went to church. And I was early. Early. I will repeat that. I was early. Are you with me? I went to church and I was early. Miracles do happen, or so it would seem. (I feel that achievement deserves its own paragraph.)

Now, being serious, this was the first time, in a long time, that I actually enjoyed church. I sat with a family I had met earlier in the week (being the genius I am I walked into a marriage class on Wednesday night, that was interesting, but that’s how I met this family). Two missionaries talked and then a man gave the shortest talk ever. Which is the way church should be I think, short, sweet, straight to the point. We sang 4 hymns, I had only heard of one of them, which I think is quite interesting. It seems that every region and country has their own favourite hymns, in America it was the same, they sang a lot of the same songs, but they were songs that we don’t really sing at home. So yeah, the meeting was good, there was a really nice, chilled out atmosphere, everybody was really upbeat and friendly so that was good (and a bit of a change from church at home!). My personal favourite part of the meeting was... When I dropped the sacrament bread down my dress! Laugh all you want, the old lady sitting beside me certainly did! This has never happened to me, which is quite surprising because I am quite “special”, but I just thought it was funny that it happened, especially since it was in a ward where I was a visitor. I bet everyone thought that the poor Northern Irish girl doesn’t get out much. I did try to retrieve it, but that was not happening, so instead I sat through church with bread down my dress! I didn’t do too bad, if this had of happened in Bangor I would have been in fits of laughter, but I was on my best behaviour.

I then met a really nice guy from England - it was nice to just chat to someone from home (or near enough). Most of the people I have met haven’t really got my sense of humour (this guy probably didn’t get it either, but he was polite enough to laugh at/with me) and he was nice and normal and funny, which is always good! So yeah, it was nice to talk to someone nice and genuine! It was also cool that he was in church, because let’s face it, I’m not going to meet very many church members on the Kiwi (party bus) Experience. Which doesn’t bother me – some of the best people I know don’t go to any sort of church, but you know what I mean, it was nice to meet someone from my neck of the woods!

I left church early (actually going and being early is one thing, staying for the whole meeting is another thing entirely) but I only missed R.S so I didn’t do too badly! I then went for a wee walk, watched a bit of Superbad (which I need to see in its entirety because it was awesome boy humour, which is my favourite) and then I got on the bus – which is where I am right now. You know what, I think I hate buses. Not a good thing to realise when I’ve booked my entire trip with a bus company, but still, there not exactly a lot of fun – warm, cramped, noisy. Not fun. Were on our way back to Auckland where I will stay for a night before the next part of my journey, so I will probably write a bit more when I get there. But right now I’m going to go because I am feeling dangerously nauseous/nauseated. Whatever.

Update: I have now arrived in Auckland and I’m sitting in an Esquires Coffee House, which is actually pretty nice, they are playing awesome music and the internet is free with purchase! I wish I knew this earlier, but I guess I’ll just look out for Esquires for the next two months! Anyway, I’m drinking an awesome drink, at home we call them steamers, basically it’s caramel syrup with hot milk and a bit of foam on top. B-E-A-UTIFUL! I also had a muffin, so that will do for dinner :)

There is a couple at the table next to me and they are really quite annoying. I haven’t got a clue what language they are speaking, but it sure isn’t English – I’m going to go with Mandarin. Anyway, the girl keeps slapping the boy and it sounds really hard. Now I know it’s affectionate and that a boy should never hit a girl. But if it was me I would plant my elbow firmly in her face. That sounds mean. But really, when there not slapping each other they are kissing and feeding each other food. NoThankYou.Com. Also, another thing that I think is pretty cool – I’m in the same room in my Auckland Hostel as the last time I was here! Room 712 if anyone is near the Sanctuary section of the Base ACB Hostel.

Last thing, is it normal to get shooting pains in your ribs all day? If not, I’m thinking we might have a problem... I better get going! I have 3 minutes of free internet left and I need to post these Blogs!

xx

Hello Mr Sunburn! Let’s get Acquainted!

Today was a good day, by any standard. Do you want to know why it was good? (“Yes” I hear you all say) Fine, if you insist I’ll tell you! Today I got up at a nice, normal hour, checked some emails and then... Went to the beach. Get in.

Now this may not seem like a very exciting thing to do, especially as I live beside the beach in Sunny Bangor, well the thing is, in Paihia it actually is sunny. So if I was to say, Sunny Paihia I would be telling you the truth. When I say, Sunny Bangor, I’m lying and you can probably hear my sarcastic tone of voice.

Anyway I headed down to the beach (it’s at the end of the road where the Hostel is), set up my towel and proceeded to bake/burn. I can’t really make this sound any more interesting, because all I really did was sunbathe on the beach. I listened to some music, read a bit of my Lonely Planet New Zealand book, ate some pretzels, drank some water and chilled out. I also went swimming which was a lot of fun – I always feel like a bit of a saddo swimming on my own, especially when I start doing handstands and all that very sad, very childish stuff. But hey, if I’m having fun why should I care how stupid I look!

After my day at the beach I went to the shops, got some lotion for my soon to be tanned skin, made some wonderful Microwave Rice, packed my things and then went to the bar with a friend. I’ve met a lot of nice people here – it’s so fun talking to all these new people, hearing all about them and where they live! My life must seem so boring in comparison, but everyone is loving the “Irish” thing – there’s no point explaining that I’m actually from Northern Ireland, if they don’t know the difference yet then they never will and all the clued in people don’t need an explanation!

After a drink at the bar we went to the living room and watched a bit of “Knocked Up” before we went to bed. So yep, that’s what I did on Sunny Saturday in Sunny Paihia!

xx

It Rained Today. Does That Make You Feel Happier About Not Being Here?

Some people say that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day – maybe it is, but I’ve never had any problems. It usually passes like any other day; in fact, I usually go out of my way to make Friday the 13th a good day. Sort of like Valentine’s Day – A day when loved up happy people get to throw their happiness in the faces of the not so happy singletons. Instead of investing in a tub of Ben and Jerry’s and a massive box of tissues, I try to have the best day possible and it’s been working out pretty well for me – I’ve never had a depressing Valentine’s Day. This year was the closest I’ve came to having a bad Valentine’s Day simply because there were no men on the scene – but it was still pretty good – there’s nothing like celebrating your singleness when everyone else is obsessing over their lack of a significant other.

I didn’t really do anything special today – instead I decided to just chill out. I paid for unlimited internet access and spent the day catching up on the Blog and the Facebook goss, of course. I also uploaded my pictures and basically sorted myself out. Spending the entire day on the internet is actually quite sad, especially when I’m somewhere as beautiful as New Zealand, but the weather was pretty rubbish (warm but cloudy with occasional rain – still better than home) so it seemed like a good day to do it!

I also went to the shop and bought some food, which was probably a good idea. I cannot express how happy I am that they sell Uncle Ben’s Microwaveable Rice in this country. Like really. Thank you. It might be one of the best inventions ever – it’s so easy, even a domestically challenged person (and a challenged person in general) like myself can make it.

So yes, today was productive, even if it was spent entirely on the kitchen floor of my dorm.

xx

Mr Sea, Meet Mr Ocean

So today was the day of my trip to Cape Reinga. We were collected outside the Hostel at 7.00am by a big yellow bus which is a change from the big green Kiwi Experience bus! According to Wikipedia, Cape Reinga is the northwestern most tip of the Aupouri Peninsula at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand.

The name of the cape comes from the Māori word 'Reinga', meaning the 'Underworld'. Another Māori name is 'Te Rerenga Wairua', meaning the “leaping-off place of spirits”. Both refer to the Māori belief that the cape is the point where the spirits of the dead enter the underworld, the spirits of the dead travel to Cape Reinga on their journey to the afterlife in the spiritual homeland of Hawaiki, using the Te Ara Wairua, the 'Spirits' pathway'. At Cape Reinga they depart the mainland by leaping off an 800 year old Pōhutukawa tree on the cape. They turn briefly at the Three Kings Islands for one last look back towards the land, then continue on their journey.

Cape Reinga is generally considered the separation marker between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. From the lighthouse it is possible to watch the tidal race, as the two seas clash to create unsettled waters just off the coast.

There you go – A brief history of Cape Reinga! Our bus driver took about 4 hours to tell us that, literally, so be thankful! The driver was a bit of a weirdo, he kept making jokes that just weren’t funny in any way and when I don’t find something funny then you know it isn’t funny as I laugh at literally everything. He also kept lying to us which was mean as I am quite a trusting person. I don’t think I’m gullible, because I’m not an idiot, but if you tell me something then I will believe you – I don’t know why anyone would try to trick people, quite clearly it’s a personality defect. Jerks. Anyway, our driver was a pain in the ass, he went on and on and on (like what I’m doing now) and lied a lot and tried to be funny when he clearly wasn’t.

So yeah, we made our way up to the Cape, had a few stops on the way, we stopped at a bakery, which was gross and we stopped at some forest place, it has some big trees that are native in New Zealand and are really special and there protected but back in the day the Europeans cut a whole bunch down. The driver told us a super long story, which was quite interesting but I can’t really be bothered typing it all out – if you really wanna hear it, Facebook me! After looking at the trees we drove for ages, the driver did some more talking and we eventually got to Cape Reinga. There is a lighthouse and you walk down the hill to get to it, then when your there you can see where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, which was cool… Wikipedia has already explained all that so I don’t need to, but basically, it was cool.

Then we all got back into the bus and went down to a beach, had a paddle and a bit of lunch! It was cool, paddling in the Pacific Ocean because our next stop was 90 mile beach, where I paddled in the Tasman Sea. 90 mile beach is actually about 60 miles long, but it’s legally classed as a highway, so people can drive on it if they want! So our bus drove the length of the beach, we went in the water and everything, so that was cool… very bumpy, but quite cool!

We also went sand boarding, which was overrated, but quite fun. Basically we climbed up this MASSIVE sand dune, which nearly killed me and then when we got to the top, we slid down on a boogie board. Exciting stuff I know, some people had epic falls because it’s like wet at the end of the sand dune, so they came off at the bottom and got a face full of wet sand. Nice.

On the way back to the Hostel we stopped and got fish and chips, but we had to eat them with our hands because apparently that’s what people do in this country. Gross. But the food tasted nice! When we got back I went for another epic walk – it gives me something to do as there isn’t a lot to do in Paihia, but it’s pretty to look at! Then I headed to the living room and watched some random T.V show that I’ve never seen before, it was possibly called The Unit, but that could be lies. Then I went to the bar for a bit, but it was super busy so I just went to bed! Earplugs are the best invention ever! Like really. Put the earphones in, head on the pillow and that’s me out! Even in the morning when everyone is getting ready it doesn’t even bother me! Also, the eye patch things that they give out on the plane are great, I don’t know if I could survive without my earplugs and my eye coverer things, I might look like a deaf and blind pirate, but at least I’m well rested!

xx

Swimming With Dolphins, Without the Swimming...

On Wednesday I left Auckland – Which as a city isn’t too bad, but it isn’t great either and it’s definitely not what I came to New Zealand for! I had to catch the Kiwi Experience bus at 7.10am (gross) but I was up on time – When I know that I have to get up for something important I can’t sleep, in case I sleep in, so basically my body wakes me up every 2 hours, seriously weird – does anyone else ever get this or is it just me? It only ever happens when it’s something really important that I can’t miss, I.E. it never happens when it’s something trivial like church or school :)

Anyway, I got up on time, got ready and headed down to the front of the Hostel (bye mean hostel workers) and waited for the bus. I got taking to a few people and then our driver arrived – His name is Dave and he is properly mental patient crazy, which was actually quite nice, he was quite funny and he just chatted away to himself. We stopped off at some Honey cafe place and got breakfast, they had a beehive behind plastic so you could see the bees at work, which was pretty cool, especially after I watched “The Secret Life of Bee’s” on the plane! After that we made a few toilet stops and we got to Paihia by about 12 – it’s about a 4 hour drive, which thanks to M.r iPod wasn’t too bad. As soon as we arrived a friend and I booked a Dolphin Spotting trip – I think it was called the Dolphin Eco Encounter and after getting some lunch we got on the boat.

Now, in relation to lunch, I got a “scone”... It was NOT a “scone”. It tasted like meat. No joke. There was nothing buttery and nice about it, which surprised me. I expect imitation “scones” when I go to America, because in America “scones” are called “biscuits” and they are served with “gravy”, but not in New Zealand, especially as N.Z is like home, but nicer. I probably went a bit crazy with quotation marks there, but it’s to emphasise just how wrong everyone else is with their imitation scones and biscuits and gravy.

Back to Dolphins – we got on the little (well medium sized) boat and our two drivers (two women, who were slightly mental, they had names for all the Dolphins and talked to them and about them like they were people “Oh Spot, where’s your girlfriend?” etc) gave us a little talk about Dolphins and basic boat safety... Then we actually got out to the Bay and began our spotting of Dolhins. It only took us about 10 minutes to find some, they were in really shallow water, which was good because you could see them all really clearly. Sadly we couldn’t swim with them as there were a few baby Dolphins with the group and you can’t swim when there are little babies about. It would have been nice to swim with them, but it was still cool to see so many of them. We spent a while there and then we moved on to find some more, I think we saw about 3 or 4 groups in total, which was really good, especially as some people go out and don’t see any!

Seeing the Dolphins was really nice, but the trip would have been worth it even if we hadn’t seen any... The scenery was so beautiful! Everyone says that the North of N.Z isn’t as nice as the South, which is probably true, but they Bay of Islands is just awesome. There are about 150 Islands, which means a lot of nice beaches!

Towards the end of our Dolphin trip we stopped off on one of these islands, it had a little coffee shop and accommodation for campers, it was amazing. I felt like I was in Thailand (not that I’ve ever been, but I have watched the Beach and it was like that). After getting a hot chocolate in the little cafe (strange as it was a beautiful day, but it was free, so meh) we got back on the boat and came back to Paihia.

After checking into the Hostel and getting myself sorted out I went for a swim! I seem to be a bit of a loner these days, but I quite like it, I like my own company, which is quite good, there is nothing worse than hating being alone with yourself! I wasn’t alone for too long, while swimming I met up with a few guys, they were English and German and we had the traditional Backpacker chat – “So where are you from? How long have you been in New Zealand? Are you with Stray or Kiwi? How much longer do you have? What do you think of New Zealand?”. Backpacker chat is pretty much the definition of small talk, but it’s better because the other person always has something interesting to say, not like when you bump into someone you sort-of-but-don’t-really-know in Cafe (or an equally rubbish club of your choice).

After my swim I got a nice shower and went for a walk to try and locate some food. I went for a chippy and ordered a sausage, just for fun. My word it was minging. New Zealanders obviously haven’t got the art of a good chippy sausage down. It was a beast, properly big and fat and it looked like it had been deep fried because of its crispy outer shell. That was quickly given to the seagulls and I came back to the Hostel and went to bed! I’m a bit of a saddo, going to bed early, but I get so tired here, I think it’s because I walk a lot and I mean a lot – it’s a real change from home, where, on a good day, I move from the sofa to the kitchen and then back to bed!

So basically, today was a good day! Paihia is so beautiful. The Pipi Patch Hostel (which is so much nicer than the Base Hostel in Auckland) is really nice and chilled out, it’s also right beside the beach which is a bonus. The beach is really nice, even better than Ballyholme Beach and the water is actually warm and hopefully not as polluted! Chippy Sausages and Scones are just plain wrong in this country, but other than that, no complaints!

xx

Day Two...

Hello, again.

So it’s Tuesday here in Auckland and i’ve had quite a busy day. Last night I went to bed pretty early – I was so tired and thanks to my new earplugs I fell asleep pretty quickly! For anyone that hasn’t been to a Hostel, you should know this, the walls are paper thin. You can hear EVERYTHING the annoying American girls in the next room are saying. Everything. However, the earplugs helped me drift off to sleep while Mindy, Bindy, Cindy and Lindy chatted away until the early hours – I don’t actually know my neighbours names, but I’m making a gross generalisation, to fill a few lines.
Back to my busy day – After a brilliant night’s sleep I was woken by “Housekeeping”, they came in to change the bed sheets – not knowing that I was still in bed. Being woken by a middle aged woman, trying to pull the sheets of your bed is super fun. After I told her that I was staying for another night and I didn’t need my sheets changes, another equally lovely woman barged into my room. “Are you Gina McCune” ( “Why yes I am”) ... “You need to go check in at reception, you’re really late, we will have to charge you for another nights stay if you don’t leave now”. Spaz. I was staying for another night, so why, for the one hundredth time did I have to tell them that. Also, you have until 11.30am to tell them that you plan on staying another night and this all happened at 11.10am. I wasn’t late. Jerk.

After check in I came back upstairs, tried to make my bed (it was quite the struggle, especially as I am on the top bunk) and got ready to go out. Before I went anywhere I did the important task of checking Facebook, keeping up on all the goss is important, regardless of where you are! Had a quick chat to the parentals and then I was on my way! After checking my Lonely Planet guide to New Zealand I decided to go to the Auckland Museum (such a difficult word to spell).

After finding out that I had to take a Link Bus I walked around for a bit, trying to find the right bus stop... That did take a while, but no complaints here, gave me plenty of time to eat my Dunkin Donuts breakfast! I feel that I should just mention that I have NEVER taken any public transport on my own, ever. I have never taken a bus or a train on my own, I have always had someone with me, and they have always know where to get on and off. If you think I’m lying, talk to Hannah McConnell, she was always in charge of buying the train tickets and choosing the right stops! So I’m pretty proud of myself for actually getting on the right bus. It really will be one to tell the Grandchildren! Anyway, I finally got on the bus I overheard an old couple say that they were going to the Museum too, so I hoped off with them. The bus doesn’t drop you off at the Museum, it drops you off on some random road, you then have to take a short walk down a few streets (it really was short, thankfully) and then you’re there! The Museum is advertised as free, but basically, you have to pay. So I paid my $5 (guilt) donation and selected a locker for my rucksack – Was a bit mad because I had to pay $2 for the locker instead of $1, but I was fine after 30 seconds.

The Museum itself was really good. I will refer to my Auckland Visitor Guide to tell you a bit more about the Museum. The Ground Level is called “People of the Pacific”, it houses “some of the most significant Maori taonga (treasures) in the world”, “Pacific Masterpieces” displaying Pacific craftsmanship and “Pacific Lifeways” shows the “diversity of Pacific Island communities”. There is also a thing called “Wild Child” which “tells the story of growing up in New Zealand” – there was a giant stuffed Elephant, like a real one, which was really cool to look at, but I haven’t got a clue how it represents growing up in New Zealand.

Level One of the Museum covers, “Natural History; Other Worlds”. This was a really good floor and now that I’m reading the brochure, I have just found out that I missed seeing where the “Museum’s favourite mummy is housed”. Ahh well, I’m sure I’ll live. Anyway they had an “Origins” room – which basically covered the Origins of earth, which I found really interesting, I’m a real geek for that. Fact – If you were to condense the Earths’ history into a 24 hour period, Humans would appear in the last 3 minutes, with us only appearing in the last second. Something to think about. Anyway, after “Origins” I went to the “Weird and Wonderful” room – a great room for Kids (and myself) as it has a whole bunch of interesting games to play – there are puzzles, stuffed animals (the dead kind, not teddy bears) and tanks with living animals, like frogs, lizards and fish! I then went to the “Land” room and the “Costal” room – there are pretty self explanatory – rooms that show animals and plant life that can be found on the land and in coastal regions. I now have the desire to see a Penguin in New Zealand – They had a stuffed Penguin and I can’t remember the name, they might even be endangered/super rare, but it was seriously tiny – maybe it was a baby, I’m not sure, but it was like a Pocket Size Penguin and it was grey, not black. I want one. There was also an “Oceans” room, which was cool, I can’t remember if they stuffed Albatross collection was in this room of the costal room, either way, I know an interesting fact about them (courtesy of Q.I) an Albatross can glide through the air for 6 days without flapping it’s wings! How cool is that? Then I went to the “Volcanoes” room, it made me think of Geography days with Mrs McKillme and Mother Barr and also Matt Broderick, as he is a Geography man. There was another “Maori Natural History” room, a “Arts of Asia” room and an “Ancient Worlds” room, all good. My favourite rooms on Level One were the “Origins” room (there was a 3 metre high bird that used to live in NZ, I can’t remember it’s name, but it was one of 11 types of that particular species – It was freaking huge!) and the “Weird and Wonderful” room.

Level Two was called “Scars on the Heart” and it covered warfare. They had two war planes on display, a Zero and a Spitfire, if that means anything to you. They also had a WW1 room, a Boer War room and a room covering the NZ Wars. There was also a room showing what it was like to live in Auckland in 1866 and an Armoury room, full of guns (my favourite things... nat!). I really liked the WW2 room - I’m still a History geek at heart, WW2 and Hitler were my all time favourite (things to learn about). They had a Holocaust room, with lots of little personal stories, quite intense. The Hall of Memories was really nice but it was really sad – seeing the names of all the New Zealanders who have died in War, usually fighting for us Brits. But it was nice to see our flag all over the place, they mustn’t hate us too much (unlike the rest of the world).

I then went for a little walk around the Museum, it’s a really beautiful building, it’s up really high and there are some really good views, it was nice to see my first glimpse of “real” New Zealand – yes I could still see the city, but the view of the sea, the blue skies and the greenery, was just amazing! Hopefully I’ll put up some pictures soon so you can all see what I’m talking about! Then I got the bus back to Queens Street, came back to the Hostel and here I am, waiting for my phone to charge up before I get a shower and venture out for dinner! I start the Kiwi Experience tomorrow... Ahh! I’ll be glad to get away from this Hostel – the Hostel itself is lovely, pity about the psychotic staff! Hopefully I’ll be able to get up early so I don’t miss my bus!

I’m going to finish by telling you some of my favourite quotes from the Museum,
“This is the war to protect our Greater East Asia. Justice is with us and the victory is ours.” Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan 1941-44.

“We must be the great arsenal of democracy.” Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States 1933-45.

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.” Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940-45.

“There is only one right in the world and that right is one’s own strength.” Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany 1933-45.

“I need several thousand dead to be able to take my place at the peace table.” Benito Mussolini, Duce and Head of Italian Government 1922-43.

“History shows there are no invincible armies” Josef Stalin, Leader of Soviet Union 1924-53.

“...I went home to a father, mother and four sisters and no one ever asked me what it was like. For seventy years no one ever asked me what it was like.” Cecil Burgess, Wellington Infantry.

““Remember” he said. “When you go ashore you are not heroes. The heroes lie in France.”” Willaim Taylor recalling the final words of Colonel Evans before New Zealand disembarked at Wellington.


xx

Hello New Zealand

I’m sitting in my hostel in Auckland and I thought I would give you all a little update! I should really be checking into my room, but the queue is long and I can’t be bothered standing around... Anyway, I managed to get here, I didn’t miss any of my flights, I got on the right bus and I even met a few fellow travellers!

This epic journey started in Belfast, with dad driving us to the airport, we were a bit late and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a few speeding tickets because of this! After checking in our baggage and paying the overweight baggage charge (for my bag, obviously) we were on our way. I say we because James was at the airport with me – he flew to Gatwick and I flew to Heathrow! We both arrived at our destinations and after taking 2 trains I was finally at the departure gate – I only had 6 hours to wait!

Finally I boarded the flight to L.A , which was seriously long! It was a B.A flight so it was actually quite nice – lots of free drinks and the usual airplane meal – “Chicken” and “Rice”. Sure. The flight was pretty uneventful – I watched Doubt, The Secret Life of Bee’s and Australia – I think I should take a moment to tell you all just how beautiful Hugh Jackman is. My goodness, after seeing that movie I was seriously tempted to change my flights from Auckland to Australia! If you haven’t seen the movie you really should – yes there are about 50 different possible endings and it is quite weird in parts but it was worth the watch – life changing scenes include Hugh Jackman dumping a bucket of water over his head, Hugh Jackman dancing, Hugh Jackman in a suit, Hugh Jackman on a horse, Hugh Jackman in every scene. So yes, great movie, go see “Hugh Jackman”, emm I mean, “Australia”.

Doubt was a decent movie, the cast was good, but The Secret Life of Bee’s was really, really good. It was one of those movies that makes you think – the actors were brilliant, especially Dakota Fanning! I’m not even going to lie – there were a few teary moments on the plane – actually, there were a lot. Very embarrassing especially as I was sitting beside some random foreign man. Good times.

When we arrived in L.A we were late for the next flight so we had to collect our baggage, run and get our baggage checked in again and then we had to run to the departure gate! We weren’t too late as they were still boarding, but still, not a fun thing to do! The flight from L.A to Auckland was really good actually, there were four of us in a row, two American girls and a guy from Norway – he had dreadlocks – awesome! We were quite the rowdy row, but after some airplane banter we all had a wee sleep – I watched The Wrestler and we were in Auckland in no time!
We arrived in Auckland at 6.10am on Monday morning – I befriended a nice English girl and we went through customs together, we then parted ways – we were going to different parts of the city... Then I got on the Airbus Express where I met another English girl and we went to the Hostel together! Because we weren’t able to check in for a few hours we decided to get some breakfast and have a walk around Auckland. We went to the Sky Tower and took a few pictures (we weren’t in any as we looked properly minging) and then we walked down to the docks. We may or may not have made a stop to Dunkin’ Doughnuts, I can’t say if we did because Esther (my loving mother) will probably freak and say that I shouldn’t be eating doughnuts – but realistically, it’s a once in a lifetime/once in a day opportunity ! It’s opposite my Hostel – this could be a problem.

Finally I was able to check into my room – It’s pretty nice, there are four girls in a room – I haven’t met any of my roomies as I was the last one into the room – I have the top bunk, sweet! So yeah, I got a shower – In the past I have had many good showers, but this one was really awesome. The actual shower was pretty basic, the water was hot and then cold and you had to push a button for anything to happen – but it was still an awesome showering experience – I feel so clean! Now that I’m nice and clean (with curly hair) I decided to take a walk. I walked straight down Queens Street (the street my Hostel is on) and I arrived back at the docks – so right now I am sitting out, in the sun (and the wind, with occasional clouds), listening to a bit of Colbie Caillat, watching the ferries go back and forth – this is officially 100 times better than being in Bangor! Fact! However, the seagulls are freaking me out, especially this one that keeps fluffing its feathers up and chasing the other birds away! There nice to look at, from a distance, but they keep flying near me and I am not liking this at all... Ahh, one just flew at my feet! (s me of the time Esther befriended a seagull and I couldn’t sunbathe (or revise) because it kept landing on my sun lounger!) I hate birds. So much.

So yeah, Auckland is pretty nice – there is a lot of walking and quite a few hills, which I’m not too fond of, but I’m going to have to stop being lazy one day, it might as well be when I’m here! Random thought as I look at the sea – I really want to go swimming, hopefully I’ll get to when we go up to the Bay of Islands!

Also, I would just like to say that the providers of Wireless Internet are all really mean. You have to pay for EVERY single one – ceeeerap! If I want to use the internet for free I will have to go to a food place, like McDonalds, which isn’t too bad, but it means that I’m getting fatter in order to use the internet. Not fun! And on that note, I’m away to buy flip flops, the only thing I didn’t bring with me, because I don’t want to stand on the skanky shower floor in my bare feet again!
Update: I still haven’t got flipping flops, I did get ear plugs though, I’m really excited about sleeping tonight... I am soo unbelievably tired. Also I met a really nice girl today, my roomie! She’s from China and she’s really sweet – that’s one psycho roomie down, about 1,000 more to go! In relation to the food/internet saga, I decided to go to McDonalds, so I could use the internet while stuffing my face! G –R –E – A –T ! Some things never change...

Last thing – If you’re as clever as you look then you will see that I uploaded all these Blogs on the same date – short version, I’m Lazy. Long version, I’m Lazy.

xx

These are a few of my (least) favourite things...

I’m sure you can guess what this blog is going to be about... It’s about some things that I really, really dislike. If you know me then this won’t be a surprise, but maybe, just maybe, you don’t know me as well as you think you do – if that’s the case then consider this a learning opportunity. There may even be a quiz at the end. (There won’t be, but I got your attention, right?)

The first thing that I strongly dislike is, getting up in the mornings. Sure, if you’re lucky enough to encounter an early sighting (normally reserved for delivery men, employers, or my personal favourite, the idiots that ring the house phone at 8.00am), then I will seem perfectly happy. In fact, some might say I’m abnormally happy, the question “why would anyone be happy at this ungodly hour?” usually comes to mind. Confusing I know, how can someone who hates getting up early look so happy? Easy answer; I’m lying. Fact, I hate having to leave my bed.

It’s not just any bed; it’s an M&S bed. Not really, but it might as well be, in fact it is so good that I am going to write an entire paragraph about how fantastic it is. Mr Bed consists of a mattress (a classic “Restmaster” mattress, the label even says, “Rest Assured, Beautiful Beds Since 1898” It also promises “5 fold electric powered action – supports the neck, back, posterior, thigh and lower leg.” I kid you not, I literally sat and the bottom of my bed and directly quoted that from the label on the mattress), sheets (spun from silk, by angels, obviously), a duvet which I sleep on top of, a duvet which I sleep below (Also made by angels), 3 pillows (including a triangle shaped pillow that old ladies use) and a very happy young lady – me! I think you get the point – I hate getting up early, I avoid it at all costs, I will reset the alarm clock, pretend I don’t hear the doorbell and phone... Sometimes I even get up, do something important, like driving Esther to work and then I go back to bed and fall asleep until my favourite time of day – lunch time :)

Another thing I really hate is – Packing. Packing to go somewhere is the most stressful thing ever. You have to make sure you have everything you could possibly need, because we all know that other countries don’t sell toothpaste, or underwear, or socks... If any of these essential items are forgotten then your whole holiday is ruined – well not actually, but that’s what I always think will happen when I’m packing for a holiday – I make sure I have anything and everything I could possibly need. Deciding that everything I own is “essential” does create problems... We all know the Boy Scout Motto, “Be Prepared”, but really, is it practical? Mr Baden-Powell obviously never had to meet the baggage allowance for internal and international flights. It’s a risk we run, should we bring everything and “Be Prepared” to pay the charge for excess baggage – or should we pack light, bringing only what we think we will need, not realising that the things we decide not to bring would come in handy if they weren’t half way across the world! Packing to go home isn’t as bad – you don’t need to neatly fold your freshly washed clothes – instead you can throw all your dirty clothes into a suitcase and worry about basic hygiene when your home and your mummy can sort everything out – which is what I plan on doing! Still, packing is horrible and it is one of the reasons why I am writing a Blog – I really will do ANYTHING to avoid packing!

The third thing I strongly dislike is – finding the correct departure gate at an airport. Some people like this, the thrill of finding out where your plane will be in the not too distant future, maybe even the excitement of rushing to be the first or last ones boarded, some people look forward to mingling in the departure lounge. These people obviously have mental conditions. Personally I hate this part. I hate trying to find the departure gate number on the ticket (nobody really listens to the airline worker who tells you the departure gate – even if you are listening it’s pretty hard to decipher what they are saying – must everyone have an accent different to my own?). Once I finally find the gate number there is the small matter of actually getting there. Confusing signs, idiotic people getting in your way – or my least favourite, the super ignorant airport workers who feel the need to drive about inside the airport, beeping at anyone and everyone – they even shout, which is rude, mean, embarrassing (especially when it’s me they’re shouting at) and totally unnecessary .

Sometimes it’s as if the departure gate doesn’t exist, or maybe it’s just a special platform that us mere Muggles can’t get to (if you have no idea what I’m talking about then you should probably read some Harry Potter, you know, the books that everyone liked before attractive Vampires took over the world/female population). Maybe the next time I ask what departure gate I should head to, I should ask if it’s near Platform 9 and ¾! Once I finally find the departure gate I am back to my pleasant self. I sit in the lounge, go for a walk, listen to music, watch a DVD, get something to eat and now, maybe write a Blog. All these activities are what I love about airports – that and people watching. Don’t judge, you do it too! Airports are one of the best places to watch people – it’s like watching the opening credits of Love Actually, but its real life and obviously not as lovey dovey, oh and Hugh Grant isn’t doing a voice over to tell us that “Love Actually, is, All Around”.

Airports are great places. Over priced shops and fast food restaurants, parents trying to keep an eye on their children, people in revealing tank tops proudly displaying their sunburn, announcements telling you to look after your bags at 30 minute intervals – nothing beats it! Every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose the “Airport Experience” is the much deserved reward for facing your fears and finding the correct departure gate – before the plane leaves!

Now you might be wondering why I chose to talk about these 3 things – getting up early, packing and finding departure gates. Surely these are small, insignificant, petty dislikes. There are better things to dislike – prejudice, racism, bad haircuts, wool toe socks, war and pure orange juice with bits in it. While there are a lot of things that I dislike (and even more things that I like) these three things are particularly relevant tonight – Saturday is getting closer everyday (literally) and I leave for New Zealand on Saturday morning, early. Very early. I still haven’t packed my bags and I have no idea what I should and shouldn’t bring - even when I figure out what to bring, I probably won’t have enough room for everything. I also have to find several departure gates – all by myself. I have to go from Belfast to London, changing from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5. I then have to fly to L.A, where I will have to find another departure gate to take me to New Zealand! So that’s why I wrote this Blog. I wrote it about the 3 things that are currently on my mind – apparently that’s what you do in Blogs – write about yourself, your thoughts and feelings, your friends and family, your ups and downs, what you had for lunch today, all the great and not so great things that happen to you.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I hated the idea of Blogging. I thought it was self obsessive activity, in which needy, attention seeking people fully participated. While there is an element of self obsession in Blogging (you can’t deny that some people Blog about themselves, hoping that people will take interest), it is actually a pretty good way to keep in contact with friends and family. I find myself enjoying the Blogging process – I get to ramble on about anything and everything I want, maybe someone will read this, maybe they won’t (parents don’t count as people), either way, I find it quite therapeutic. And besides, nothing beats reading other peoples Blogs, it’s the easiest way to be nosey, ever. So in conclusions, Blogs are awesome and you have wasted at least part of your day reading mine! Stay tuned for more self obsessed Blog posts! I promise that the next Blog will be much more exciting... It might even be about my actual, real life, adventures!

xx

Once Upon a Time...

There was a girl, who didn’t know how to begin her Blog – so she decided to begin it with four very famous words - Once Upon a Time. Now that the Blog has officially begun, I’m not really sure what else I should say! This is my Blog. I have decided to use this as a sort-of-but-not-quite-travel-blog. Basically I will be writing about all my adventures on my Netbook and posting them on this website – So you (and anyone with the internet – hello people I don’t know) can read about pretty much everything I am doing! Also, I’m quite lazy (gasp of surprise) so this will act as the diary I never started because I couldn’t be bothered! I’m already excited to look back on this when I’m old and decrepit! I guarantee you that I will forget to Blog in about a week – But until then, enjoy! I know I will :)

xx