NZ Here we are!!

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So the day they got the money for the van we gave them the keys took the money and got a cab to the airport. Now the plan was just to get tickets when we got to the airport (like how they do on TV...) but when we got there there was no ticket booth!! No place to buy tickets and there was no one around. It was the same size as the Regina airport but with no one working. Lol we asked a few workers who didn’t tell us anything helpful. So eventually we just opened up the computer and got tickets online at the airport lol! Got there at 6pm and our plane doesn’t fly out until 2am. So we hang out, met a lady. She also told us that we were smart to book online she said never ever get tickets right at the airport because they are wayy more expensive b/c they know you are desperate for it -good to know! We got on our plane to Sydney -finally- after 8 hrs at the airport just hanging out. Got to Sydney and stood in the wrong line-up for half hr. b/c we booked our tickets online 8hrs before our flight we didn’t have a ticket in our hand. Sooo we had to stand in another line to get our tickets printed, then go to the right line and get checked in. Good thing we had a lot of time. At the Sydney airport we were starving so we got individual pizzas...turns out they were $17 each!!!! OMFG WTF?!? Wow paid for them and we were looking forward to the worlds best pizza...not! yucky I couldn’t even force myself to finish mine...yah that bad. Oh well off to the great NZ in a few hrs. Got on the plane super exited but feeling a lil sick from the pizza. Turns out they served a meal on the plane (damn!) Curry, would have been yummy! Too bad. Flying into Auckland was so so so amazing!!! going from super dry hot and no vegetation to green green green green was really cool! Rolling hills of green beautiful grass, it felt like I had never seen green grass before in my life  I almost wanted to cry (weird I know). It was rainy when we left the airport to get a bus to the hostel but I didn’t care the smile on my face was ear to ear! Such a beautiful place and we only saw a glimpse from our plane. I was so exited to be in NZ and ready to take on the country. We got to our hostel by bus, met some German guys doing the same thing we were but staying at another hostel. The hostel was nice but we had to pay for internet (most places have wifi). I was ready to crash b/c we really never slept at all the night before, but Tyler wanted to look online for vehicles. Lol ok so we went online on one of the three computers. There were lots of people staying there but like Sydney it seemed like they already had there own groups. Oh well I wasn’t going to let that ruin my smile! I hung out with Tyler looking at vehicles, I walked around talking to him looking at all the pictures in the hostel. A guy came out and sat by Tyler on the computers, Canadian to us. We started talking to him, him and his girlfriend were looking for vehicles too. He recommended a car fair that was happening the next day. We chatted a while longer and he invited us out with them. Our clothes were in the dryer and someone took them out to put there cloths in, ours were still wet and soggy. I had nothing to wear out that night. My one pair of jeans were wet and so were all the warm cloths I had on this trip. Uhg I was tired and didn’t want to really go out, but Tyler said put on your capris and lets go! LOL so out I went into Auckland’s clubs and bars with my cargo capris and dirty ass runners. It was still a blast even though I looked like a weirdo. We ran from bar to bar trying out New Zealand beer, music, and people. It was a great time! Went to a gay bar and left the boys by themselves for a while. Had kebabs at 3am in a Turkish place. Met a guy making pirate hats, he was crazzy funny! The food was great, like subway at the end of a good night back home  The next day we had to get up early to make it to this car auction...Tyler was set on a vehicle in New Plymouth but we went to see what was out there, Keith and Laura let us go with them. OMG first time on a city bus!! Wow I feel like a HUGE small-towner (thanks mom and dad). We meet a German selling a petrol surf, he gives us lots of ideas for traveling with a 4x4 and he also showed us books he had with all the tracks you can do with a 4x4 in NZ. Awesome! We don’t want his vehicle though because its petrol and blah blah blah. Laura and Keith found a car and will be a few hrs with all the paper work. So they tell us where to find the bus and we start walking. Its been rainy and cold since we got to Auckland and I am looking forward to buying a jacket and some more long pants! We get to the bus and wait in the rain, arguing because there are many bus stops and we cant agree on what one to go to lol. We get on at where we were dropped off. The bus does a loop of the city center so we are ok. We should have got on the bus across the street , because that one would have been a shorter ride back to the hostel. So we sit on this bus for about half hr, we get to see a lot of the city center which was pretty sweet. But after a while of not knowing when we are getting off or where we were and being a lot hung over I was ready for the hostel bed. We finally found our stop off! Tyler found a place to eat right by our hostel-yummy bakery. So my stomach was full and my bed was close by I was ready for sleep. Butt Tyler had different plans. He wanted to buy a cell phone. UHHHGGG!!! There was a shop close to our hostel so I agreed to just going down the street with him, getting the phone and then coming back to bed. Turns out it was closed, and so was the one further down the street. We stop at a bookstore and grab a few hiking books as well as the 4x4 ones. We ask them about any cell phone shops and they say down Queen st. Crap for me!! I tried pouting but Tyler had none of it. I got my first Chi tea latte and away we went. The Chi tea turned my attitude around! OMFG SOOO YUMMY!!!!!! I was in a great mood the rest of the walk into downtown Auckland, and the many Vodafone stores we had to go into b4 one of them had the cheap phone we wanted. Back to the hostel I was finally able to sleep!!!! YAHHH!!! I was surprised how I was able to function with no sleep on our flights here, then no sleep because we went out the next night. Later we went for Indian food with Keith and Laura, $10 curry! Again, thanks mom and dad for sheltering me. I had never before even knew there were different types of curry, I only thought there was one lol. It was good. The next day they invited us to go for a drive in their new car to different wineries outside of Auckland. Good fun day, went for lunch in a random small town, the restaurant was filled with stuffed animals! Lots and lots and lots of stuffed animal heads and full animal bodies! Lol there was a stuffed cow outside. The wineries were beautiful and of course the wine was yum! The sun was out when we started our day trip but the weather got worse as we went on. We drove to the west coast and walked to a beach. Beautiful even though it was grey outside. Back in Auckland we went to an Asian foodcort. Omg what do I order? Yes again I only really have knowledge of the Club Cafe Chinese menu, here they had everything from Vietnamese to Thai to...they had everything! We just went up to a booth and said give us two of #4 lol. It ended up being good. Lol new food is always good. Went to bed early because we had a flight out the next day at 10. We got to the airport and it was pretty chill. No security to go through! Awesome deal! The plane was a tiny little guy with only 13 rows. New Plymouth was rainy and overcast so bad it took them 45 extra min to land the plane. Chantal picked us up. She let us check out the vehicle Tyler wanted at a dealer ship in town. They let us take it for a test drive and it was a piece of crap!!! Lol! We ended up staying at Chantal’s place for two weeks. She took us around to lots of nice and awesome places around Tarranaki. We met some really great people! Al and Pim are friends of Chantal's and they took us to a rugby game which was so so so much fun. The weather was shit but we learned a lot about the game. Al took us to his local pub for after game drinks we played pool. They were all so nice to us! In Taranaki we became addicted to Thai food, hell pizza, and starbucks!!! If we thought we were fat b4 we got here boy were we ever feeling it when we left! Lol we ate out some nights or Tyler or Chantal would cook something really yummy. I tried cooking one night and it was pretty lame compared to theirs! One night we went for Thai and we parked in a no park zone and ended up with not just a ticket but a tire clamp as well! That was pretty lame buddy wanted $100 before he would take it off. I tried pulling out the tears and they didn’t work, he was tough as dirt. What a wanker! Other than that one small moment it was a great experience to stay with Chantal in New Plymouth!

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