First days

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Hey Everybody!
I'm really sorry about the delay in my Blog entry. I hear some people are worried sick about me. Well, first of all let me ease your mind. I am perfectly well. Furthermore: There is no need to be concerned! NZ has next to no crime rate and Backpackers are taken care of by pretty much everyone because 18% of the money going into NZ is through them. So don't worry. In case you think I might get lost or whatever you should know that there's hostels everywhere and people driving around in cars who will happily give you a ride (so I"m told anyway).
So now after that let me get to describing NZ. Personally I think that Auckland is a fairly bad place to start your journey here. You get there and you think: "This isn't what I came for!" However! Once you move out of the city to maybe explore the islands around there or head up to the Bay of islands this changes. A lot of the people I've talked to here say they don't even notice the beauty anymore because you look out of the window of the bus anywhere along the road and you think: "Oh wow check it out... It's ANOTHER scenic view." Well, I remain to be amazed.
So just to render up some stories here (running out of internet time) I'll quote myself from my written journal for a bit:

13.05.09 -Waihake Beach

SO here I sit, thousands of kilometers away from home. The sun is going down, its last glimmers being caught by the scattered clouds trailing after the rain, having just passed over me, the waves gently break as they approach the sandy shoretheir sound carrying over to me as I'm writing this. I sit in an old swing, kept dry by, what they call a "Christmas Trees's" branches hangging above. A sailing boat has let anchor in the bay and swerves gently with the movement of the sea. While I see this, people are walking their dogs along the beach, throwing tennis balls, just for them to be returned shotly after by their furry friends. Everything bad seems so far away. This is being truly sheltered from the rest of the world. I am completely at ease and feel like nothing can takle that away from me. I feel a little sorry that there's noone here to share this moment with me, but I smile at the thought of those people I'd want it to be.

Just as a side note to that, approaching darkness, a thunderstorm and a closed vineyard you intended to have dinner at can! take that feeling away. Although even that was part of the experience

Right now I'm in Paihia and am gettibng restless. I've been here a good three days now and feel the need to move on. I feel like time is running away from me and there's nothing I can do to stop it! I fear that I won't see everything just because on the one hand I don't want to rush myself and on the other I don't want to waste any time doing nothing either. I hear the South is getting colder by the minute, so I'll probably end up spending more time up here (which I shouldn't because It's more beautiful there I hear). I reckon I'll try myself at Hitchhiking in the next week or so. I have so much more to say but no Internet time to let me do so. Too many impressions and stories to sum up here. My next destination is Coromandel in the Mercury Bay. Have togo over Auckland to where I'm getting a ride with some other backpackers here.



its 9:30pm and I'm back in Auckland. I payed the guy who took me 15$ for gas (it's a 4 hour ride) and am now in some shitty shabby dodgy hostel. Luckily a guy I met when I was up in Paihia works here by now and he gave me a discount. I'm gonna try to get out of here as soon as I can. I don't actually like this city much at all. There's not a whole lot to do and a bunch of sketchy people around. I'll be getting the earliest bus outof here tomorrow morning and will arrive in Coromandel around 10ish.
So over the last few days I have realised that I will probably have to return here some other time in my life and that maybe this is not my last trip of this sort. I am definately of the youngest age group travelling around here. Most people are around 25 or so. This means that I have time to save up some money again, get my University done and go travelling again afterI'm done with studying and still be of the average age.

The most important thing I've learnt to do here in NZ so far is to just let go. At first I was really worried I wasn't going to get anywhere and wasn't going to see anything but by now I've realised that travelling isn't really about seeing everything. Travelling should be an experience, not something you rush through. And if it does take you 10 days to get away from one place because maybe you've met wonderful people there or justlove it so much in that particularplace then so be it. If you don't know how to get somewhere chances are youll find someone who's heading your direction. Over all the general scheme works out most the time. I think applying this in a limited fashion to my life back home might do me some good and allow me to relax a little bit more in my everyday life.

In case anyone ever wondered how I'd look with facial hair I'll let you find out some time soon. Essentailly the reason for that is that I discovered that leaving a little bit of hair in one part of your face allows you to get away with not shaving the rest for longer than usually. Also I was just curious how it'd look. Well I'll leave it for another few days, then upload a close up picture of my face and let you vote on it. I'll count the pros and contras and decide according to that. Deal? Until then there will be no actual pictures of my face . They will be added afterwards.

Oh God, this is massive already... well essentially I've decided to not write about everything I do and experience here, simply because its too much! I reckon maybe I'll announce one evening afterI'mback where I'll tell my tale in full detail...or maybe not. Maybe I'll just not talk about it unless asked. Apparantly travellers do tend to focus every conversation around their journey after they've returned so I'll try to restrain myself from that. ANYWAY!

Will keep you posted

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Photos

Waikake Beach
The scene I described in my journal

Bay of Islands
Another scenic view from the beach in Paihia

Cook's Island
From the look off on the Island we sailed to on a day sailing trip

On the Boat
Met some really nice people that day and ended up very drunk that night