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Published: October 29th 2008
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OH MY GOD! The people here are the most friendly folk in the whole entire universe! New Zealand is the BOMB! AND I've not even got to the south island yet! Been here for 6 days, started in (a tad disappointing...) Auckland and got the stray bus on tuesday. What a riot! Its too much fun doin this stuff!
I TOTALLY didn't mind the 13hr flight in in the end either, surprised myself, really, but by the time ya eat an journal an watch some movies an sleep(well, kinda wriggle around an kick folk, an try shut eyes an lose yer teeny weeny flight pillow, i.e. marshmallow) its all kinda over! Think the whole travel thing may get a bit easier once ya do a few long haul numbers...the greyhounds kinda prepped me for this one an i think this is the biggest flight i do, so nice one its over! I'm actually enjoying the forced chill time ya get when travellin for a while. Ya literally can do nothing but sit down, an sometimes ya gotta just take a minute an sit an chill in life, which i find difficult, given any other opportuinity to do something and/or anything
else... can anyone say ADHD?! So its good for the soul to have some you time: be it in a jumbo jet, on a boat, in a train...
Yeah, Auckland is just kinda a city, really... think goin from van (which i had fallen inl ove with by the end of my time in it discoverin all the wee settlements within it) to here has left a lot to be lived up to for the cities, and Ayuckland is ,kinda small and don't get me wrong there's a lovely market in Victoria park an a sky tower an stuff, oh an the backpacker booze places are CHEAP AS! But that's kinda it.. think lotsda folk just use it to get to and from other parts of new zealand, really. Still, fun for a few nights an a full day. Met a lovely gal from Manchester an spent a fun day hangin with her, then it was off to the stray bus...
SOOOO glad i chose stray over magic or kiwi experience! I knew the minute the BRIGHT ORANGE minibus screeched to a halt outside the hostel an this grinny cheeky-llokin dude in board shorts leapt off the bus
an announce he was the driver that it was a good choice... Within seconds, no not like me at all, i was chattin to my seat buddy, Alex from Paris, about allsorts...Along with others including Kel form Sydney, Moya an Vik form England an a smily happy open-minded german called Christian, to name a few we toddled off to explore...And BLOODY HELL, explore you do wi the stray crew!
Been doin it for 5 days now and already i feel like these guys are my best mates, its crazy how quick that happens on these tours! I love backpackin, its the schizz! Stared off headin to Hahei beach, a BEAUTIFUL series of coves and sandy beaches and rock outcrops into the pacific. On the way we stopped at Hot water beach, where we dug thermal hot pools along the faultlines, i got my bum so hot it went FECKIN SCARLETY! and i am not exaggerating, withwer... I tried to say it was a bit too hot an no one beleived me until i leapt into the sea an it practically steamed, i'm tellin ye, those things are freakin warm! Was MUCH MUCH happier in the ocean, it may be
cold but i bet it don';t give a scar tissue, man! Struggled to sit down for like a day after that bloody pool! On a serious note thios it is totally stunnung, and this is such a good way to strat the tours - definintely an off the beaten track vibe goin on... the hahei hostel is opart of a camp sitre, sdo its babrbie a la BP (driver) for dinner, after we all set off on a hike along to cathedral coev to see the place where caspian was filmed, and rwealise thyat BP's 45min hike is ONE WAY... So, after a few "erm, what's that?!"s regarding about 15 different coves an some CARAZEEEE ass bird wi a feather haning RIGHT in front of its eyes that majke a well metalist noise, we arrived back, starvin, a little more knowledgeaboe about each other, an good for a glass of vino...
Just as well, on all accounts, after giggles an a glass of wine, we ate our barbie of which there was enough to feed a small feckin country! (i am so not a veggie anymore, i eat nowt but red meat an veg here, its odd!) Looks like BP's
gonna be a fab driver, good wi meals an BBQs an got a wicked sense of humour... ITS SO GOOD BEING SARCASTIC AN FOLK GETTIN IT AGAIN!
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