Leaving Auckland

Hooray! I bought a car today! And it's a sweet, sweet ride.
It's a Nissan Avenir. Whatever that is. But it's a station wagon with plenty of room to sleep in the back. Just like my truck at home. Sweet.

My new driving machine 

So tomorrow I'm off to northland to go hiking, camping and exploring New Zealand!

But onto fun stuff. I went out last night again with people from the hostel. It was another social event that was sponsored by the hostel. There was a raffle for prizes and guess who won.
ME!!!
Ungh!

Me with my prize voucher

I won a bus tour to the bay of islands. Then a friend from the hostel, Ross won the grand prize which was a bus tour around the entire north island. Since Ross didn't want it, he tried to give it away to me. But that's not fun. So the event people made me get up on stage and do a trick or talent. So I did my monkey noise. Apparently no one else wanted to get on stage and make an ass of themselves. So I won the prize! Sweet!

The rest of the night I celebrated my win all over Auckland. There was even karaoke involved. I didn't sing. There's just not enough booze in the world to get me to karaoke. But it was really fun.

Ross wearing my sweatshirt

Austin powers was parked outside a strip club

Backpacker Karma

I haven't done much the last few days. I've gone to the weekend car fair and bussed around Auckland looking for cars. Wandered about the city center and hung out in the hostel.

 

Andean dancers on Queen street

                                                

I love my new hostel even though I wasnt able to watch the niners play Sunday football. It's like a giant functional family. I've made some friends and met lots of people. It's been a great time. We've had movie nights, bar nights, BBQ's and poker tournaments.
Three German girls who were staying at the hostel bough this heap of crap car to travel in. I took a look at it , and couldn't understand how they were able to drive it the few blocks back to the hostel.

Since their English isn't great, I talked to the seller on the phone and he agreed to bring another car to trade for the original P.O.S. Which he did the next day. The second car seemed much better so they swapped the cars. I hope the girls don't break down during their 3 month trip. They brought me a present for helping them.  Nom. So hungry!

My gift from the Germans

Chill Day

I didn't do much today. Slept in till 10:30. So nice. Then off to the library to hop on their free wi-fi and to have my first flat white. So good. Thanks Erin for yet another useful tip!

Flat white

        These kiwis take their java very seriously. On every block there's at least 3 or 4 coffee shops.

Today I mostly hung out around the hostel. I did some laundry and looked for a car online. Very exciting!

I've met a lot of really nice people and we all went out to the bars and hung out till early the next morning. It's fun meeting so many different types of people.

Dinosaur!!!!

                     Everyone speaks English and its so funny to listen to someone from France conversing with someone from Chile. A lot is lost in translation because of their thick accents. It happens to me too, even with the Brits. It took me 2 tries to understand that "Unday's" name was not Unday, but ANDY. haha.

   

Geode in Auckland museum

I don't have many pictures of the streets of Auckland but that's because I don't feel like whipping out my giant camera while hoofing up a hill. Also, it s mostly just buildings. We all know what those look like. But  I'll force myself to take some before I leave the city.
In the meanwhile, enjoy the ensuing randomness of this post.

Fun fact for ya: everything is insanely expensive here. The cheapest meals are about
$9. A 24 pack of  Heineken is $45. Cheapest
pack of cigarettes? $13.50. So quitting is not an option, it's a necessity. I guess you have to be a gazillionare to be a smoker in NZ. It's a good thing tho.

Maori carving at museum

Fun fact 2: Mcdonalds has a lamb burger.

Fun fact 3: oncoming traffic comes at you from your right. I was almost hit twice my first day here. I

Fun facts continued: Lauren gave me the smallest, lightest most absorbent towel in the world to bring to NZ. It must be some sort of magic space towel. Thanks Lauren!

Outside of the  museum

Viva los fun facts: I take goofy self pictures. And I love photoshop to erase all my wrinkles. 

Uphill both ways

Is Auckland hilly?
Yes.
Yes it is.
Its uphill both ways. Apparently the city is built over about 40 dormant volcanos, so that explains all the dang hills. After my walk today, I feel like everyone living in Auckland should have the most spectacular asses in the world.
Pub crawl last night was hilarious.
At the first bar, the Fat Camel, I was having serious doubts about what I had signed up for. Everyone seemed so young.
But I was determined to get the full worth of my $10 in booze.
So onto the second bar, led by a man with a bullhorn, just like the drunk cattle we were.
And the second bar was none other then Globe, the Dirty Bird of Auckland.
But my German roomies were there and I was happy to see some friendly faces. There I met Tim the Brit and Charlie from Alabama who were also in the pub crawl. I asked Charlie if he knew a place to watch American football and he told me to come to the Frienz hostel.
So I moved to Frienz this morning. It's much smaller then the last place. It has much more character and is how I pictured a hostel would be. So far everyone's very friendly.
But back to the pub crawl.
There were games and prizes to be won by the brave/shameless. The last prize was a tour around the north island on a stray bus. Worth about $1000. I tried to get picked for the scavenger hunt contest but I'm so glad I didn't! The last challenge was to get someone from the crowd to give you a full pint and a pair of guys underwear. Then place the crotch of the underwear over the pint and chug the beer as fast as possible. Bleeeehhh. Disgusting. It was hard to watch.
Needless to say, I was very happy not to be picked for the contest. I never could have done it and would have had to face chants of "pussy! pussy!" from kids a decade younger then me.
At the third bar I met Dave from Wales and spent the rest of the night hanging with him and his mates, Russel from Ireland and Phil and Robby from Britain. It was pretty funny when they all tried to guess how old I am. I had to call it a night a little after 1am. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.
The next morning we all met up for some free coffee in the hostel and I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pass out.
Later that day I walked to the Museum at the Auckland Domain. Oh my god this city is hilly.
The domain is beautiful and I'm happy I didn't have time to see the whole museum. It gives me a great excuse to visit again.
Besides having football, I like staying at Frienz because its not a dry hostel. I can drink a relatively cheap beer in front of the tv. Awesome.
So I did that, and met about 8 Brits who were all hanging around pre-gaming. Then I went salsa dancing with my German ex-roomies, Juls and Jana. Juls is an amazing dancer.  One guy asked me to dance, I told him I didn't know how but he insisted. After about 30 seconds he held up 3 fingers on his hand and asked "how many? Are you drunk?"
"No, I told you I just CAN'T dance!"
hahaha. What a dick. Me and the girls laughed about it on our way back from the club.
Here's some photos from the museum.

The giant fish hook looks easy to snag

     

                                      

       

                         

               

    

Tour of Auckland

My plan today was to visit the free museum at the Auckland Domain. But before I could tear myself away from the Internet at the program center they announced there was a free sight seeing trip leaving in 10 minutes for anyone who waned to go. I thought, "what the hell? It's free" and jumped on the big orange Stray bus. So much fun!

Maori Carving depicting the
Creation Myth in the Sky Tower lobby

Sky Tower

First stop was Sky Tower, just a few blocks from my hostel but I hadn't seen it yet. It's kind of like the stratosphere in Vegas (casino, restaurant, and a tower to walk around or jump from) just on a much smaller scale. There we played a game and the winner did a free sky jump from the tower.

Then on to an overlook. I would tell you the name but its classified information...
I forgot the name already. Good thing I'm keeping this blog for a journal!

Next, was a short stroll through the gardens at the Auckland Domain.

Strolling through the garden

Tropical flowers

Afterwards, a stop at the Speights ale house for brews and lunch. Finally, some beer! Strolling can be thirsty work.

yes please

Just gorgeous

Our last stop was at the Auckland bridge for bungee jumping. I had to decline. I'm saving my bungee virginity for a very special bungee.
A very high, very scenic bungee. Preferably in the summer so I can do the full dunk in the water.



You can kinda see the bridge
behind me
What a goofy face!

The whole group harnessed up and walked up the bridge to watch the brave few who wantd to strap their ankles to some elastic and jump 50 meters off a bridge. The view was spectacular and it was freezing with gusting wind. If it wasn't for the harness I probably would have been blown off the catwalk.



We were way up there!

The tour guides were very nice and fun. They even brought my purse to me at the hostel. Because like a COMPLETE IDIOT I left it on the bus. Hopeless.
In my defense I was in a huge hurry to get to the bank and ran off the bus without doing a recon. The irony was not lost on me. Obviously, my financial plans fell through since its so difficult to use the ATM WITHOUT ANY  DEBIT CARDS!
Haha. Luckily it all worked out OK. Thanks to the tour driver, Sandfly. Yup. That's his name.

Sandfly taking the plunge

 

Now I'm off to try the pub crawl downtown. Next stop the Fat Camel bar. I think I'll leave my purse locked up at the hostel for this one.

On the bridge with Auckland in the background

Auckland from the bridge

Day Trip

So for a variety of reasons, I am stuck in Auckland for probably another week. I changed hostel rooms to an all girls room and it's SO better.

I was really hoping to be out exploring NZ by now, not stuck in Auckland which I don't really like. I decided I had to get out of the city and took the 30 minute ferry ride to Waiheke island. It was amazing. It looks as if Hawaii and California went halfsies on a baby.

Waiheke Island looking back towards Auckland

I hopped on a shuttle for $6 and and took a tour around some of the island. It is nothing but hills, vineyards, beaches and hiking trails. Some parts look like Sonoma county. Other areas reminded me that I really am in the South Pacific.
 




Onetangi Beach

Onetangi Beach



It drizzles here a few times a day and is sunny inbetween, the kiwi's call it 4 seasons in 1 day. You can see a little from my pictures what it's like. Some of these are taken 15 or 20 minutes apart. Layers, Ungh!

I had a great time walking the beaches and I already want to return when I have more time. There's just so much to explore there!

Shells on Oneroa Beach

Shells on Oneroa Beach

  

Oneroa Beach was beautiful and had piles of shells everywhere. It was gorgeous.

Oneroa Beach

I had fish and chips and a Speights beer for lunch. $22!!!!!!! And that was the bargain lunch special!

I can't believe how expensive everything is here. Hopefully prices will go down a bit when I get out of Auckland and further away from the city.

Oneroa Beach 15 minutes later in another "season"

After eating it was back on the ferry to Auckland where I checked into my new hostel room and met Juls and Christine two incredibly funny German girls. They nicknamed me grandma or "oma" for being so old.

We attempted to go salsa dancing with another roomie Jana, but found out it was only on weekends. So back to the hostel and to the Globe bar next door.

It's a backpacking bar, where all the 20 somethings from the hostel go. There are always free drink vouchers for girls so I usually drop in, have a free drink and leave really early before the debauchery gets in full swing.

Wet tshirt contests, giant twister and crazy european guys doing exteremely weird dance moves on the stage next to the stripper pole.

This gma's too old for that crazy business!

Arrived in Auckland

I arrived at 5am and was able to sleep most of the flight and purchase a giant coffee once I got into town. So far, no jet lag. The surreality of the trip is just beginning to fade. Each new thing that happens makes it feel increasingly real instead of like I'm some sort of mental hitchhiker.
Things like getting my boarding pass.

And going through orientation. I've got a bank account, in the process of getting a phone, job, car, plans.
However, I feel ahead of the game since I can proudly say I've already made my first purchase at the warehouse. NZ's version of Walmart. I felt at home.
At least I know where I'm staying tonight.
I checked out my dorm room and judging by the mess , giant flip flops and 2 gallon drum of protein powder, my bunk mates  are all guys. A little weird sharing a tiny room with 4 strange dudes.
But I guess it just means I won't be the only one passing gas while sleeping.


View from my room

The possibilities for the next year are literally endless. I'm overwhelmed by my freedom of choice! Should I buy a car? Take a train? Start work now? Work later, travel now? Take an adventure tour? North island or South Island first? Aaaaaaaah my heads spinning.
Year long vacations, first world problems.....

Seaside dinner (subway sandwich)