Laurene

I was up early and hopped on a bus back to Auckland. I booked this ticket ahead of time as it was the cheapest but it worked out perfect because the All Blacks will be having a parade through the city not long after this bus gets to Auckland. Perfect! I took my stuff over to the apartment building I would be staying for my last 3 nights and dropped it off as I couldn't check in yet. I headed back to Queen street and grabbed some lunch and waited with all the other people on the street. At 2:30pm the parade began. It started with some maori calling out to the all blacks with their horns. Then a dancing marching band which were really good! Then the All blacks started coming through. 2 or 3 ... read more

I was able to find a place to stay on the friday night in Auckland luckily. But paying $50 for a dorm bed is ridiculous!!! This rugby world cup had skyrocketed prices for accommodation. Pete and I went on a nice date on the friday night and went for a lovely italian dinner before going to a movie. Pete is really into car and drifting and things and on Saturday there was a drift day. His car is in pieces at the moment as he is tinkering with it but his friend Joe was taking his car out. So we headed down to the racetrack. We spent the day watching these guys skidding all over the track. Was pretty fun. One guy even drifted his go cart. Pete is fast at changing tires! It doesn’t take ... read more

Pete dropped me off at the airport in the afternoon and after a quick one hour flight I was down in Christchurch. If flying in this part of the world I highly recommend Air New Zealand. They are fantastic! They often have cheap deals with their grabaseat website. I hopped on a shuttle to the Old Countryhouse where I used to work. Unfortunately the owners Andy and Gerti were in Germany and I would miss seeing them. There were a few small differences but mainly it was the same as I left it. Only a little bit of visual damage in a few spots from the earthquakes. Many of the double rooms have been converted to dorms to accommodate more backpackers as many of the hostels in the city center were destroyed. I had a quick ... read more

Today is the big game!!! Canada versus New Zealand in the Rugby world cup!!! I met a guy in my room who was also from Canada and Pete invited him to come down to the fanzone on the waterfront with us to watch the game. I bought a Canada hockey jersey in Australia at the Queen Vic Market for Pete’s birthday but just had to wear it on this occasion first! There were heaps of Canadians around which was awesome. The fanzone they have set up is huge and has heaps of big screen tvs to watch the games. The weather didn’t cooperate and was raining of course. So everyone crammed into the two buildings they have set up. It’s a cool set up. Had a couple of beers and got into watching the game with ... read more

My last few days in Australia were mostly spent at the Queen Vic Market having a look around and visiting with Leahanne. I've had a really good time in Australia but I've also had some scary times in Australia! I am very lucky to have survived the fall I had in such a beautiful surrounding. I was also lucky enough to swim with a Whale shark. It was one of the things on my bucket list! I can truly say that I've been all over Australia, east, west, top and bottom. It's a beautiful place in it's own unique way. Each part of the country is so different from the next. I know that Western Australia and the top end are my favorite spots. It's just got a different feel to it and the people are ... read more