New Zealand Part 1

Ok I apologise to people that are still on dial-up as there are a lot of photos in this post :) Since almost all of my art supplies are packed away I thought I would do a post of our travels in New Zealand.

So the above picture of the Sky Tower in Auckland is the only picture I took in Auckland that turned out. After 22+ hours getting to NZ I was pretty out of it. So I flew from Toronto to L.A. and spent 7 hours before my flight to NZ trying not to fall asleep or get mugged (no wasn't scared of that actually, was more afraid of falling asleep and missing my flight). By the time I got to Auckland I was so sleep deprived I had no idea where I was going.

No really, I had no idea where I was staying. I chose Base as a place to stay as it was the last place I read about before I left and it was the first place that came to my mind when the scary immigration officer asked where I was going to be. He didn't look very happy when I said I had no idea where I was staying and as I really did not want to get into another tin can and return to Canada, I just blurted out Base. I had no set time to go anywhere. Was just going to where the wind blows me as they say (who?).

Not a bad place to stay, but of course there was the typical foreigner who likes to walk around in the skimpiest underwear they can get away with wearing, while strutting back and forth around the small room. I saw a little bit more than I wanted to :-0 (and heard a lot more than I wanted to [trust me, I'm not a prude, but even I have my limits])

I honestly spent most of the 2 days I was in Auckland sleeping. I got jet leg so bad I was a zombie. Another person in the room asked me if I was all right or if I needed a doctor. I was pretty green looking.
Arrr!! Kiwi pirates!!

Mount Eden. Mr.Fuzzy went out here and took some pictures before we met. Dead volcano crater that you are not supposed to go down in, but people do :/

So I left Auckland in the direction of Coromandel. Because I don't drive I took the bus and my bus driver on the leg between Thames and Coromandel was crazy. He spent almost the whole trip pointing out landmarks (which was nice and helpful), but hardly looked at the road (which was bad [very bad]). I had visions of us falling off the side of the road into the water, the bus got so close to the edge. Death by bus driver is not something I want on my tombstone. (or eaten by a shark)

So this is where I stayed when there. Highly recommended. Nice dog there named Bella :) This also happened to be the place that Mr.Fuzzy was staying at.

And he was only there because he had cut the bottom of his feet on Oyster beds going for a swim.

So yeah if you get to an area like the above, don't go swimming!! He still has bits of shell in his feet. (I still wish that we had of taken pictures of his feet. Most people cringe when we tell them, but I think photographic evidence would have been nice[if not a little bloody])

The room where people were sleeping. I had the top bunk. And let me say there really is no graceful way to get out of the top bunk. You always look like an idiot. If the person on the bottom bunk had still been sleeping, they would have gotten squished :p (death by Canadian zombie?)

So it wasn't like he used some cheesy pick up line on me (what's your sign?). And I was really thinking it was such a good thing that I watched a lot of Coronation Street or I would have been completely screwed trying to understand him lol (I still have a hard time with some Scots words). I honestly can't remember what he said the first time, just that he kept putting wood into this:

It was a little chilly. He almost set himself on fire twice :P (joke, actually no. He almost did :p) hmm so he did get around to asking if I wanted to drive to the next town with him, but because I wanted to look around, we made plans to meet up in Whitianga (Fitianga).

Ok having a car was a plus, but I thought it would be a good thing to see the sites with someone else. And I had have many people ask me wasn't I scared to get in a car with someone I had only known for 2 days. No. Not at all. Trust me, Mr.Fuzzy isn't scary :p

The car

But back to Coromandel. We ate at this fish and chip place that was like a free-for-all. The place was packed and the orders were always getting mixed up. We got someone else's fries and they probably didn't get the right order either. But they were good fries lol so really that is all that mattered.

I had to stop and ask this guy if I could take his picture because my dad's nickname is Hippy and he rides motorcycles. So I had to see if I could get a picture of even just the bike. But he was more than happy to let me take a picture of him and his bike, especially after I told him it was also my father's nickname. So hello to random guy who's real name I didn't get.

So Mr.Fuzzy went on to Whitianga and I stayed behind to look around. I climbed up some stairs to a look out area. Puffing and wheezing, probably just as attractive as seeing me climb out of the top bunk. But I managed to make it to the top and was glad I did. Gorgeous views (but it made me more scared of getting on a bus because I had a better view of how close the road actually was to the edge :p)


So the next morning I got on a bus on my way to the next town. Thankfully this bus driver kept his eyes on the road, and dropped me right off at the next hostel I was going to stay at.

So next post: rain, rain and more rain, more scenery pictures, cheap food, lots of tea, crazy hairstyles, and did I mention the rain?