Four Days To Go

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Hello All

I hope you're all well and good. I write this blog with a heavy heart (not wanting to be too melodramatic). Firstly, I've only four days left in New Zealand and 11 days (not counting this one) left of my travels; I've just done my last EVER load of washing on this trip, and more importantly, my step brother has had an accident and is in hospital with very serious head injuries, so I apologise if my mood isn't as cheerful as usual.


This last week has been quite hard. I can't remember if I wrote on the Saturday or Sunday but Sunday I don't think we did anything, although I'm not sure. Monday was my last day, so i packed up my stuff and bought a new bag to put all my junk in. It was raining and so the boys were at home too, and we were all thoroughly bored! I played one last game of Battleships with Clemens, who managed to win, after I claimed that whomever won best of three was the ultiamte champion of Battleships; so sorry England, but I lost us that one! Oh, me and Tanja also made mulled wine which was nice, and Charlie and his girlsfriend from across the road made crepes (pancakes Lauren, pancakes!).

Tuesday was really hard. I was really tired from an extremely late night and everything was a bit bizarre. Tanja drove me to Picton to get the ferry (very nice of her) and Clemens came too! I had a few tears when we said goodbye, but then I sat down on the ferry and just burst into tears!! It was quite embarrassing, even for me who is used to booing in public! The ferry takes about 3.5 hours and is meant to be really beautiful, although I was more engrossed in animal hospital, plus I was sulking so I didn't really notice!

Got to Wellington and paid for a taxi to the hostel, which was really not that nice! It smelt like poor peoples toilets and there was an odd contingency of older, gay men hanging around the place. Also, the woman at reception was useless. I'd spoken to her when I'd called to book the room, and she had failed to tell me, even though I'd asked, that there was a shuttle bus from the ferry point to the hostel! I could have saved about $10.00, and I only realised this when I got there and read the sign on the wall! Anyway, I moved hostels the next day into a really lovely one, and met this really nice German girl called, Anaia, or something like that! Everytime I tried to pronounce it I said it wrong so I gave up in the end! We had great ambitions for the day of galleries and museums, but the first gallery was shut, and the museum failed to entertain us for that long. We eventually gave in to the fantastic shopping in the area, and spent the next four hours hopping back and forth between some amazing shops! Thoroughly exhausted, Annai cooked me a really tasty tea and that night we headed off to a bar where live jazz was playing. It was a really nice evening, although definately not a late one.

Thursday, I caught the bus to Lake Taupo, after walking about a mile with my bags. I can't tell you how heavy they are! My backpack must be 18kg and the holdall I have must be at least 10kg, if not slightly more! Its so heavy that I can't lift it past the height of my elbow, which is really emabarrassing when I'm trying to put it into the boots of cars etc! I honestly thought I was going to be sick in the streets at several points and my arms and shoulders were killing me, by the time I finally arrived at where the bus leaves! Thankfully, the Rainbow Lodge at Lake Taupo picks you up from the bus stop, and so after a brief look around, and a good old fashioned sulk, I went to bed! I was really missing my Blenheim friends at this point, well I still am, but here I think it finally sunk in that they weren't there, and I was having withdrawal effects from bleating "Tanja" and "Clemens" in stupid voices around the hostel, so I was sulking and didn't feel like making any friends, oops!! Luckily for me, I woke up feeling much better, and had a nice chat with the Danish girl Louisa in my room! She was doing a bungy jump that day and I had plans to go to Oraiki Koraki, or the 'hidden valley'. However, much to my bad luck i couldn't get there, and so settled for going to the Craters Of The Moon, and the Huka Falls instead. This actually worked out quite well for me, as Louisa came along too, and the shuttle bus that normally runs between Craters and Taupo wasn't to be found and so we shared a taxi home. We were also lucky in that we managed to hitch a ride (yes sorry mum, I promise I wont do it again) up to Craters. We had talked about it but decided that neither or us was brave enough, when a woman pulled over and offered us a lift (this is much more commonplace in New Zealand, practically everyone does it and compared to other countries is very safe, although I wouldn't do it again). We were quite surprisedwhen we got in though, to find that she was accompanied by two huge Thai kickboxers, whom she was giving a lift to Auckland! However, they smiled and shared their sweets so all was good!

That evening we went out in Taupo, which was fun, although a bit of a meat market, and after going out in Blenheim I felt very shy! Luckily, most of the advances were towards my Danish friend and so I was left relatively unscathed!

Saturday,we took a steam boat ride on Lake Taupo which was nice, and we saw the Moari carvings on the side of the cliff that were commissioned in the 70's. I managed to get absolutely soacked though, again, and my camera stopped working for four very tense hours. Didn't do anything in the evening as I was really tired, and also a bit downcast as missing my friends and also news of Anthony (my step brother).

Today, Sunday, I caught the bus to Rotorua, which smells faintly of rotten eggs, from all of the geothermic activity in the area. Oh, I forgot to mention that every second two olypmic sized swimming pools worth of water (really abd sentance but can't be bothered to change it) rush over the Huka falls, and also Craters Of The Moon is where steam rises up from the ground in certain places and its really cool. Anyway, arrived here and I've done my last washing EVER on this trip, and haev spent the last three hours on the swinging seat thing, like what old people have in their gardens, reading my book. In Rotorua I'll be visiting the loacal spa with geothermic hot water pools and also some other place with hot water, but you can't sit in that as its too hot. Wednesday I'll be going to Auckland and then Thursday I fly to LA, providing that I don't need to go home.

Today, as I was heaving all of my stuff around, I realised some very important things:

A. My ass us HUGE. If I saw myself in the street, I would honestly think 'Ooh she needs to loose some weight and really shouldn't be eating that'
B. I'm carrying around so many useless, heavy items its not even funny. AS follows:
Two pairs of high heeled shoes
Two pairs of flipflops (useful for America but definately not here)
One bag of make-up that I've only used once
Two really heavy books from the 70's aimed at teenagers going through puberty. There's one for boys and one for girls and they're so funny!! Masturbation is actually called a sin, its classic and I couldn't resist! But its a completely useless and ridiculous thing to buy when you have to carry everything that you own with you!
Two stretchy toning things
About 5 cd's which are actually really heavy
Loads of bits of paper that I'm not sure whether I should throw away or not, from my work in Australia
One bottle of wine, very important but also very heavy!!
One snuggly blanket. I have fond memories attached to this but its completely impratical
Three sarongs which I'll probably never use again
Five bikinis (eugh, I'm so fat its not even funny to think about wearing those!)

and that's it, i think! Not to mention the bottles of shampoo, moisturiser, useful make-up, clothes, walking boots etc etc, that I need but don't want to carry!! On my next trip I'll definatley know to pack lightly!!

Anyway, that's it! The next blog will hopefully be in LA, providing that I can find an internet cafe, you know what these Americans are like!! As always, let me know what you're up to. Lots of special love to my family, blood related and extended, I'm thinking of all of you lots!!

Take care


xxxxx

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Comments

[Pat Temiz]

You make good friends travelling
Hi Julie We're having agreat time with my old friends from Canada, Dick and Sharen who I met in 1970 when they were doing their post-university travels and Fraser and Shary who were their university friends and made it to Turkey a couple of years later. They all arrived last Friday and we have laughed, talked, eaten and drunk far too much ever since. Maybe you'll still be seeing people you met on these travels in 35 years time when I'm long gone. Safe journey to US. Love Pat