Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 18

I haven't been doing much of anything these past few days; I always mean to, but then I forget about it. I'e been thinking about getting a new tattoo; I'll be staying here for a few weeks, so now would be a good time. I'm just struggling with the actual motive and placement, so we'll see about that. More importantly, I went to see Cats today. And honestly? Iconic. I mean, nothing makes sense, the CGI is fucking terrifying, and I forgot what a real human looked like halfway through, but the absolute joy this dumpster-fire brought me is immeasurable. The two guys next to me and I had a great bonding-moment when the three of us erupted into applause as the credits rolled. They asked me how I liked the movie, and I said it ... read more

This was out luxury stay of the trip. Again we had been behind on finding accomodation, and it turned out that New Years was even busier than Christmas, because everyone (many pleople) stay at home for Christmas, but go on summer holidays after. I had stryggled for days searching all over the North Island for something appropriate, and in the end it was Nick who found this website for time-share, where we contacted this guy directly. We ended up letting his week of time share in an appartment four times the size of the room we had just checked out of. It had a pool, lots of local families on holiday, and plenty of fun and games. Paihia was busy, touristy and noisy. Totally opposite of chilled out Russel, just on the other side if the ... read more

Finally we’re off to the beach! Russel is a peninsula in the Bay of Islands, 3-4 hours north of Auckland. It’s an area of 150+ small islands scattered around an area with a rugged coastline, amazing beaches and beautiful nature. Almost everywhere you look, you can see the ocean. So straigh away, we felt right at home. We arrived in the late afternoon, but the boogie boards had to be testet straight away, so we headed for the beach even though it was a bit late. The water was freezing (about 19 degrees), but it was so much fun in the waves that you forget about it when you’re out there. It’s only when you come back in with blue lips and tingling fingers, that you really start feeling it. Luckily we all brought full wetsiuts, ... read more

We went out to get dinner from a chinese take-away. It wasn't really chinese, considering they served fish 'n chips and burgers, but it was still good. We went down to the beach to eat; it was very windy, but nice. The seagulls descended on us like a swarm of carnivorous bacteria, but it was worth it. I' m also thinking about heading back to Auckland for New Year's. Stay there a while, find a job, see what happens. ... read more

I spent my first southern hemisphere Christmas at a beach-house, getting wasted with two very chill guys from the Netherlands and New Zealand. It was a family get-together for the holidays I had been invited along to, which I appreciate very much, but the two dudes and I kind of gravitated towards each other because we weren't part of the family. It was very different from Christmas at home - apart from getting wasted, that is. There was still a lot of great food, though, and ice-cream based dessert with strawberries. For Christmas. At the beach. With beer. I enjoyed myself probably a little too much. ... read more