New Zealand

Oceania
January 15th 2010

Published: January 22nd 2010

After a slightly annoying last night in sydney airport for me I was ready for a change of scene. We borded nour flight to Queenstown and thankfully we´re out of the country with fines and stolen wallets left behind us. We arrived into New Zealnd into Queenstown airport bringing our faithful tent from Australia - ciaran proclaiming that he wanted to take it home to Ireland with him for any festivals he might attend - only to find Conan had to hoover out the inside for the customs authorities. This was fun for all least of all conan, however after about half an hour we set off to find our hostel in Queenstown. Queenstown is a amazing town with a backdrop of mountainous landscape and lakes that is awe-inspiring to say the least and had an immediate impact on all of us. Holly even was bold enough to suggest that he liked New Zealand better than Australia within the taxi ride into the town, I was waiting to reserve my judgement to a little later on in the trip.

We checked into the Nomads hostel, me having to borrow money having lost my bank card, and settled into our room. A few of us headed out for food and to have a look round the town and again were impressed by the town and people there, although I was a bit depressed to see rain but in a way it made it feel more like home, although I was finding it impossible to feel the christmas cheer or accept it was even near that time of year. Having walked around and had the first of many fish and chips from a stall on the corner of the road our hostal was on, we got back into the room for a lie down only to be interupted by an Irish girl and english fella who were looking us to take part in the drinking olympics. I have never considered myself an olympian drinker but we had discovered that other countries drinking cultures had been tame compared with our native land and, so we all made it our national service to sign up and to compete. Later that evening we went down to the common room and we were split into opposing teams and began a series of drinking games. My team included Lenny, holly, ciaran and a few randomers and we set the early lead by winning the first round of games. We progressed onto the next one and this time the cheating started with both teams desperate to win with the chance of winning free stuff from the hostal. The final game for some reason was the decider, and the competitive nature of our trip had reached boiling point. The game included downing a drink spinning five times round a broom and running to the end of a corridor and back to tag the next person to go. We were standing toe to toe with our opposite travelling comrade and me facing barry I knew there would be cheating involved. True enough as predicted we both ran down the corridor and were holding each other back and fighting all the way, and also included one other of his team mates I didn´t know trying to rugby tackle me half way down and then chicken out because of the fight errupting in the corridor. That was to be the tip of the iceberg as Lenny and Conan ran down the corridor and disappeared off at the end scrapping and fighting each other for a matter of pride. Quote ´the most violent and out of hand games i´ve ever seen´, from the drunk irish girl organising it, it was all a bit of fun, even though daly ploughed some guy into a wall. Our team was victorious and wLenny, myself and someone else won a prize each to be decided over the next day. That night we headed out to a club and scpoed out the nightlife, lenny not getting in.

The next couple of days in Queenstown included christmas eve and day. Not much happened. It included more nights of drinking and days of lying about watching movies in the cinema room and getting fish and chips and other healthy meals from the town, and the worst of it included borrowing more money. On Christmas eve Holly, myself and Ciaran got a gondola up to the mountain over looking the town while the others went to bungy jump the nevis (biggest in New Zealand) and came back to go out. At the carry out there was an open mic night, so conan and I gave a dodgy version of fairytale of new york and a much more subdued version of back home in derry to an uninterested crowd. This was followed by a night out in which ciaran got chucked out and then allowed back in again for pinching the manageresses ass and the mauri bouncer beuing so impressed that he went back to change his shirt he allowed him back in, to which ciaran went out of his way to annoy the manageress once more. On christmas day, we all sat around and did very little and I ended up drinking but being in bed early because I was so tired from the last couple of days I just couldn´t be arsed going out. It never really felt like christmas even though a lot of people were trying their best including a stocking full of free stuff from the hostal. On boxing day I had started to get cabin fever again thinking that we needed to sort out a way out of the town as I felt with only 12 days to see the rest of the country we were cutting down our time far too much. So conan set out looking for some juicy rental vans and myself and a couple of others set about looking into buying cars. We found two adverts i the hostal and checked them out finding that the cars were in good condition we all made an executive decision to buy them both for 3000 dollars. This was to be split between 8 as mully and mccarry we gonna hitch hike up through the country. So in typical globetrotters fashion we went out to celebrate everyone getting in and no one being chucked out, a miracle in itself.

The following day we went to pick up the second of the two cars after a long wait and a movie during the day and set off up the road. We set off up the road to haast passing wanaka on the way. Finding that Haast consisted of about two houses and a camp ground we stayed the night and got out of there quickly the next day and headed up the coast for greymouth. The coastal scenery was unreal, slightly spoilt by the rain but nonetheless spectacular. On the way to greymouth we stopped in franz joesph at the glazier for a few photo ops and again I was in awe by the massive ice glazier in between two mountains. Myself and Holly were beginning to take the piss a bit with the amount of waterfall pictures that we could get, though poses that deserved to be in time magazine if I do say so myself. We reached Greymouth and settled down for the night in a camp site. That night was horrific rainfall and we all debated whether or not to stay up for the football match between spurs and west ham, Daly and I having a game or two of virtual cop, and ciaran, lenny, daly and I giving in and driving to the 24 hour Micky D´s drive through. We also met an english guy who was living in Hong Kong and was on holiday with his family (Barry asking the question, ´what´s it like travelling with your family´, as if it was the worst thing imaginable) and got chatting about our plans and where we had been.

The following day we got up to the rain still pounding down and after a moment of genius from sean leo as to get the tent down without getting wet we set off on the road once again. The beginning of a new trend began and we stopped into a swimming pool for an hour, after a few hours of trying to sort out the money back for the Ozzy cars and failing miserably, we headed on down the road to Westport. After arriving in Westport and having the usual arguments and fights about finding smoewhere to stay we found a camp site and all agreed that a communal BBQ would be the best idea to enjoy the small amount of sunshine that we had. That night we sat and watched some random tv and I was able to use free internet to sort out my money situation, so I thought, and then headed to bed. The next day the thought of another swimming adventure in the pool was killing me so Holly and I went back to the camp site and used the internet and the rest of the boys went to the swimming pool, and gurned to the ´Nth´ degree when we arrived back late to pick them up.

By this stage we had been flying through New Zealand as quick as we could and had planed to be in Nelson for new years and on the way up the road the red mazda ran out of oil, this not being a disaster as much as it could´ve been but also very annoying. We arrived up on the 30th and found a camp site which had been over run by what can only be described as school kids on they´re own kind of spring break. This at first suited us down to the ground as we were looking for a bit of a shin dig. As the evening went on the mood changed slightly from being glad for other people partying to a bit of a sour feeling as a lot of the people we met were arseholes, to put it kindly. There was some who were dead on and some who were good craic but the majority decided that it wouldn´t be annoying to call Daly a leprechaun, one who thought that he could teach us how the ´Northern Irish´ situation was and how he knew more than us and one guy who fell into our tent and then tried to square up to at least nine of us there. One advantage of the night was meeting Tui, who was a very angry security guard, who hated the guys from Christchurch but loved us for some reason.

The following day we all got up and headed into town for food and eventually ended up in a bar where we would spend new year´s eve. After a few games of pool and watching the end of an epic american football game we headed back to the camp to get into the new year´s spirit. Ciaran and I cut our hair sporting mohawks and I went for the Pat Mustard handlebar moustache, different but funny. This was to set the tone of the evening. Tui game on night duty at one stage and joined in for a drink or several and gave me the job of going to tell off people for drinking on the street, which I thought was hilarious, most of the others I was telling to get off the road didn´t. Needless to say one guy took it badly and a bit of an argument broke out and ended up in a near full scale riot, but was laughed off again by me and some of the others and Tui, drunk as a skunk, came into the middle and was left to sort it out...a good start. We ventured on to the bar and all got into the bar, lenny as always finding his love on the way in the taxi down. I enjoyed the night but as everything finished up we realised that finding a taxi was gonna be a lot more difficult than we originally thought. I was out of hope after about an hour of waiting and decided that it may be better to walk home, Ciaran disagreed and as always with the two of us and argument started. After about half an hour of the argument it had escalated into a fight me grabbing him by the throat after him punching me in the face, for the life of me I couldn´t even try to describe a more stupid argument. This was all interrupted with Conan having met people trying to introduce them to his fun loving friends. A bit awkward. It turned out that we all had to walk and after meeting McCarry randomly in the street me Holly, Sean leo and Lenny headed on the long walk home, the others away ahead of us. The walk was a least 7 miles and and it was freezing but we held out hope for a taxi a kept thumbing for a lift, and thank god about 3 mile from the camp a taxi picked us up thinking we were the fair he said he´d come back for. Back to camp, an apology from Ciaran and from me to him and into bed.

Having spent the longest in Neslon that we had anywhere in a while we had to move again to Picton to get the boat to Wellington. On the boat we met McCarry and Mully who shared stories and then we all slept Ciaran, Daly and I watching a film on the boat and then getting a bit of food. We got off the boat and began a search in the capital city for a place to stay. At this stage it was dark so we stopped to get our bearings and then ended out of the city a bit to get more of a chance at a camp site. We found one, unbelievably and booked in with the exception of Daly who opted for a free night in the car outside the campsite. The tent was set up with the wind howling and reaching gail force. I went to bed with the tent standing and then awoke at about 6 the following morning to see it completely collapsed with everyone just sleeping on ignoring it. After that night we headed into the city to check out the capital and hung about a few hours and then headed up the road once again to Taupo. When we arrived it was early evening and we got some food and then decided it was about time for a couple of free nights accomodation. We found a great spot in a forest on the outskirts of the town and we all agreed that we would park up the night a sleep there heading on the next day. The only mistake is that we all went to the cinema that night to see Paranormal Activity, which was billed as the scariest movie of the year. Not naming names, but Barry and Ciaran shit themselves after watching it and refysed to sleep in the spot we´d agreed on and spent about half an hour trying to find another place that was safer. Unsurprisingly we didn´t find a better spot and we eventually agreed to go and sleep in the original spot. Even more unsurprisingly no one was taken over by a demon and no one died, in fact it was one of the best nights sleep in the car I´d had in days.

We had been making good progress through NZ and at this rate had decided to heading up past Auckland to see a bit further north before staying in the city before flying out. After our brave night in the forest, I took great pleasure in saying I told you so, and we started on the road up to Rotorua, which is a city known for having sulphur hot springs and geysers that smell for miles (as close a smell to rotten egg as I have ever experienced.) We explored the place and found an activity called zorbing that we thought would be good craic, turning out to be overpriced and not even nearly worth the time queuing and we headed on after a few photos of geysers to a town called Tauranga. When we arrived into the town we liked the place and ended up in a bar expecting it to close early as it was a sunday only to find there was a big beach party on that night and so we all decided to go to it and sleep in the cars parked in the town. We enjoyed a carry out in the cars and then headed to the bar. A good night and back to the cars where a few of the boys slept under a tree and the rest of us in the cars but not before Sean leo was asked to drive Ciaran and some others to McDonalds for a past midnight snack curtosy of his credit card.

Waking up to the rain soaking everyone we headed, again, to a swimming pool to shower. Conan and I decided to stay away from the pool as he couldn´t be arsed and my love for the pool had wained long ago. We went to use the net in a hostel and catch up on emails, Conan discovering that someone had been using his card and taken a lot of money off it. Luckily it turned out that Juicy rentals who had taken the money in the first place had put it back on so thankfully everything was alright. We got into the cars and headed the last time north, passing Auckland with the intention of seeing the very north. We stopped at a camp site on the way up north telling the guy who owned the place that there was only six of us and the next day conan drving past the guy we owed money in an attempt to avoid paying only getting caught red handed. We travelled up as far as Paihia and lay about on the beach, me continuing to have money problems with the card that I had got off Conan. We had been planing to have a game of paintballing since we´d got to NZ and this was to be the battlefield. We headed up out of town to a converted farm to have a go at shooting the crap out of each other - the retard car versus the retard car...not the most original names. Anyway was good craic despite a few cheating bastards and an injury in a place that doesn´t take bruising too well...I´ll let your imagination do the working out on that one.

That night we headed down the road and stopped for our last night´s camp just before we reached Auckland. The following day we reached the city and found the hostel, and cleaned out the cars before relaxing into beds for the first time in 12 days. Over the next couple of days we took advantage of the hostel and managed to sell both cars we had bought although we were very lucky and lost abit of money on them though no one cared just were glad to get most of it back. The first night we headed out to a bar called Fr Teds with an American girl called Kathleen who had met Conan and Barry with Schira Talon in Sydney. She made a mistake of telling everyone at the CO that she was a McCain supporter and the abuse began. The next night Mully, Lenny, Ciaran and I headed out (after lenny saying to a german in a german accent that he loved hitler and don´t slag nazis my ma was one) and ended up in some seedy bars which would rival bangkok. After swiftly leaving them and heading to a burger van for too long, we hit the hay. After check out the next day we all got a bus to the aiport and got ready to fly out to South America. It was a short time in New Zealand and again expensive but was an awesome country most of which was enjoyed more by a lot of the group than Oz though the jury is still out on which I enjoyed more between the two...however the excitement of SA had already taken over and I think for the majority the change of country, weather and most of all price of living was gonna be greatly appreciated

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