From Grads to Nomads

Today, Rob and I took a boat tour out in the Bay of Islands to go swimming with the dolphins. However, as it turned out, once we found the dolphins after searching for 2 hours (with at least gorgeous scenery to keep us amused) the dolphins were enjoying the rituals of mating, which made it impossible to swim with them. There was also a baby dolphin, and if humans swim with a baby, it becomes too interested in the people and forgets to feed from its mother, as it has to feed 20 times an hour to stay alive. So we were not able to actually get in the water, but we got to watch wild dolphins for an hour, swimming right by the boat, and doing acrobatic flips in the air.....apparantly they do this when they are happy about getting physical with other dolphins!!!

It was a great day, sunny, which was a nice weather change from rain, especially as the morning was rather rainy. We sat out on the front of the boat in the sun enjoying the boat ride and all in all was well worth it.

Tonight is New Years Eve for us, so we will see what the night has in store. The town is packed with tourists, so it should be a fun night out and about.

Yesterday we drove from Auckland up to Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, which is a beautiful little town right on the ocean. As the car crested over the hill coming down into the bay, we caught out first glimpse of turquoise waters and sailboats scattered throughout. Paihia is also the first European settlement in New Zealand, in 1834 I believe it was. We are off shortly to view the treaty signing location between the Maori's and the British. There is my political science interest coming out right there. This afternoon we are headed to adventure land, where they have an array of circus like activities to try, like a trapeeze!

Last night, I made the mistake of ordering garlic pizza for dinner.....let me give a fair warning to all...unless you love the taste of garlic for hours and hours never try this pizza topping!

We awoke this morning to a loud blast of bad eighties music coming into our hostel, however as Rob and I have now moved into the other hostel with the rest of the group, it should be a much quieter sleep, save for the loud obnoxious drunks. We are on a street that is purely backpacker hostels and bars....so you get an interesting mix.

Anyhow, the day of sunshine is beckoning.....

Yesterday evening we decided to venture into downtown Auckland, to head to the internet cafe where it is just 2 dollars an hour, so we could all use the internet for an extended period of time. Well, we decided to park our car in the parkade across the street which apparantly was not the brightest idea. We went to retrieve the car at about 1am, and discovered we wree effectively locked out of the parkade until 6am. Luckily, Kirby and Krista had parked their car in an outdoor lot, so I headed home with them and left the 3 guys to spend the night playing on the internet. We got back to the apartment, and then at about 4am, I heard loud banging on the window, which freaked me right out. Turned out to be this guy who lives 2 houses down and he had drank a little too much, and was looking for the guys to party with. I told him they were not home, and sent him on his merry way. Then at about 7:30, I receive a text message, and realize I have the parking ticket in my purse....Whoops! Thankfully the little old parking lady took pity on the boys, charging them $16 since the proper fee for a lost ticket would have been $28 (times 2 days...yikes!)

So now half the house is fast asleep, and tomorrow morning we leave for Paihia in the Bay of Islands!

As all of you at home in Canada are currently enjoying your Christmas feasts, we are in the middle of boxing day, nothing too exciting really. I am laying low due to a head cold resulting in dizziness and eating chicken noodle soup, and the guys are out looking at new speakers for our car. Yesterday we opened our presents to each other in the morning, lots of interesting presents such as some "pretty" ugg like boots for Rob, found for a whopping $1.50! I am cuddled up in my new fleece blanket on the chair there.
Chris spent the day preparing dinner, and we had a scrumptious meal of turkey, potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, beans, carrots, and corn. Our pie for dessert was consumed about 4 hours after dinner, due to the feelings of fullness! Rob and Jason had fun doing dishes, as you can see above!
We will be back to exploring the country in 3 more days here, as we will wrap up our time in Auckland on the 29th.

It is officially Christmas day over here in New Zealand, and it is a very non Christmas like day, green and rainy outside! Yesterday we bought all our Christmas groceries, and were sure to make sure we had everything, as in New Zealand on Christmas day, everything is closed, which is the way Christmas really should be. In the afternoon, I ventured down to the beach with Kirby and Krista, and discoved a bay with gorgeous turquoise waters. We wandered around, enjoying the sunshine and the view before heading back home to prepare some homemade pizza for dinner. While we were exploring the beach, the guys were out finishing last minute Christmas shopping.

The homemade pizzas were delicious, and afterwards, while the guys wrapped their last minute presents, the rest of us took a walk around the neighborhood and found a pond with about 100 ducks swimming around. We enjoyed the sunset walk and then headed back to the apartment to open presents. As is customary for for Kirby and me, we are used to opening presents Christmas eve, so the 2 couples exchanged presents. I got a golf glove, a book (Catch 22) and a shirt, and Rob got sandals, a shirt, and a flight.

Later in the evening, to end our Christmas eve, we watched the classic version of the Grinch, and then we received a group present- tiny water guns.....which ended in a huge fight around the house, soaking the floors, walls, and everything in between. Rob and I were ambushed in the garage.....so it ended up being a bit of a wet Christmas eve!! Now we are getting ready to open Christmas morning presents.

And a note for next year......we miss all our families very much and plan to be home to celebrate Christmas the normal way next year! Do feel free to leave us comments for Christmas!

The past few days have been spent preparing for Christmas. Yesterday I found presents for all, and it is beginning to look rather festive under our tree! We have put a temporary hold on being tourists as we are trying to create Christmas over here. The touring and adventure activities will begin once again in the New Year! For now, it is nice to be relaxing and going to the gym, and seeing movies. Last night Rob and I saw The Family Stone, and it was a bit of a disappointment to come out of the theatre and not see snow! But on the other hand I am enjoying lounging around in shorts and being warm while at it!

After spending some time in the suburbs of Auckland however, I have determined even more so that New Zealand is indeed very similiar to Canada. They just have an obsession with the ending "ie" here, as sunglasses are sunnies, sausage is sausies, mushrooms are mushies, mosquitos are mozzies, and the list goes on!

Yesterday, after a confusing drive along the freeway here ( I am starting to get used to the roads though) we made our way to Botany Downs, and checked into our apartment. It is a modern 3 story 3 bedroom place with a pool, tennis courts, and a pleasant gym just steps away from our place. There is also a gigantic outdoor mall with everything imaginable right across the street.

Last night we brought out our 5 dollar tree and put it up. It actually is quite pretty all decorated, the picture of it will be coming soon. Jason went to work making popcorn strings (and with me making him angry as I kept eating the popcorn) and Krista started some paper snowflakes. Soon several were making the popcorn strings, I made some paper ornaments, including a snowman, and Rob made a star for the top. Although today was about 23 C out, it is feeling a little more like Christmas around here. Jason and Kirby found a turkey for us, and now the countdown begins!

Well, the other day we all got out into the ocean on surfboards. Of course, as rain has followed us our entire trip, we awoke to a grey day and it rained the entire day, but since surfing means getting soaked, the rain did not matter too much. The wetsuit did make it much warmer. I never did quite get up on the board, I had the last time I tried in Hawaii, but this time, I was riding it on my knees when my board got wedged in the sand when the water got shallow, and hence, my board stopped moving, but my body did not so I sort of wrenched my ankle, effectively ending my day of surfing. Kirby and Chris probably did the best, actually getting up standing, although Rob got up once as well. I found the waves here to be much harder to catch than the ones I had surfed on before, and with the constant rain, it got quite chilly outside! I was not sad to leave the beach for a hot shower after just an hour and a half!

Yesterday, before leaving Raglan, we got out golfing once more, as the day was just beautiful, with sun shining down and perfect blue skies. We had to actually play around the sheep this time, although they run pretty fast when a ball is headed their way. I will miss Raglan, as it was a fantastic place to finally get active and be outside doing tons of activities- that is my kind of place. Enough of the relaxing! After finishing with golf, we then drove to Auckland, where we are back to do some errands like picking up new airline tickets before checking into our suburb apartment tomorrow for our Christmas stay. Tomorrow our tree finally goes up!

Check back later today also, as I plan to get some pictures up when I go to another internet cafe where they have the proper software.

We drove yesterday up from Rotorua to Raglan, a tiny town of 2000 people right on the coast, and is well known for its surf culture. There is a ton to do outdoors here, and we extended our intended stay an extra night upon arriving. We are in a quaint little hostel with very friendly staff, and we all have private rooms surrounding a courtyard, with hammocks and lounge chairs. It is right on the ocean, and last night Rob, Jason, and I went for a walk and ended up walking 14km round trip along the beach, 2 1/2 hours gone by like nothing! It is a beautiful spot here, and today we were able to golf again! After searching the town for leftie clubs for the boys, we hit the town course, which for 10$ green fees is in fantastic condition. We had to play the back nine, as the front nine was covered in sheep, certainly was golf New Zealand style!! Rob tied me today for 1st, with some fantastic pars! The course had views of rolling hills, sheep, wooded areas, and the sea/estuary, and was just stunning. Afterwards we relaxed in the hammocks, and just now, Rob, Kirby, Krista and I finished an evening kayak paddle our in the bay. We got rained on but it was fun nonetheless. Tomorrow, our day of surfing. The hostel owner is giving us a free 10 minute lesson and then we hit the waves for 3 hours in wetsuits (as it is not quite Thailand warm here). Wish us luck, hopefully we all get to ride a wave. I have a slight advantage having tried before. Now I am off to pick up some Thai take away for dinner and we have a pictionary board just waiting to be played.

Well, we have enjoyed our time in this small thermal town, as much as possible, although we were not able to see and do all that we wanted due to extenuating weather circumstances. However, yesterday was absolutely gorgeous so us 4 golfers got out for another 9 holes on the Government Gardens course, this one not filled with boiling, acidic, sulphur mudholes. Instead, we had normal obstacles like sand and ducks. My ability to drive a straight ball helped greatly on this course, as all the holes lined up pretty much side by side. A few pars were shot by Rob and I, and due to the sudden burst of sun yesterday, we also are suffering from some painful sunburns on our faces. Jason lucked out since he was wearing a hat! I on the other hand am applying aloe vera quite constantly to my nose.

Last night we went to the midnight premier of King Kong, which was the first movie we have seen since September. It was very entertaining, I reccommend it as a holiday thriller, and we got to bed at about 3:45am, so today was a bit of a write off. For our last day, Rob and I drove out to see these lakes which were suppossed to be quite pretty, called Blue and Green lake, but it was slightly disappointing. However, we realize we are spoiled with lakes such as Lake Louise, and Emerald Lake so close to home.

Tomorrow we drive up 150km north to a small surfing town for a few nights, and we are all looking forward to breathing fresh air which does not trigger a gag reflex from the putrid smell! Rotorua has been a pleasant place to spend time though, very very relaxing and although we are leaving behind the comfort of having a whole house to ourselves, we are soon heading to Auckland to have an apartment with all of the same space.

Yesterday, Rob and I explored the Government Gardens in town, the building behind me is the Rotorua Museum, the most photographed building in New Zealand as a matter of fact. Last night, as the nights are getting slightly restless, Kirby, Krista and I purchased some play dough and scultped a Christmas scene at the dining room table!

We have now been in Rotorua a week now, and while the area is pretty, the one aspect I will be happy to leave behind is the constant smell of sulphur, aka, rotten eggs, which is constantly in around town and yesterday managed to permeate into our holiday home. My nose burns from the very smell of it, and I am not sure how those who actually reside in town for their entire lives manage to live with the smell all the time!

It has been raining all weekend, so it has been rather uneventful for us. We have spent some quality time in Starbucks, and there have been several late night scrabble matches between Jason and I (it can get rather competitive). There are lots more natural hot pools and swimming holes to get out to around here, so we are hoping for nice weather soon. Today, Calgary is only about 10 degrees colder than it is here.....not much of a difference!

Our most exciting news is that yesterday we bought a Christmas tree, a 6 foot high fake one, for just 5 dollars!! It will be put up once we get to Auckland.

Today we took a drive out to Whakawamerawa (or something like that) Forest Park to take a walk through giant Californian Redwoods. We spent an hour in the shade of the giant trees (and finally brought the beloved garden knome who has been traveling with us since Calgary along for the adventure). The trees are just massive and made for a very pretty walk throughout the forest. At the visitors center, I learned that the trees were just brought here 100 years ago, but the New Zealand climate, and thermal soil in these parts really helps the growth, so the trees are as large as though they had been growing for 200 years.

We had been planning on going to the hot springs again today but it seems summer has finally kicked in here and it is much too hot to be going to sit in 40 degree water!!! I think we are going to go this evening after dinner, and wait for it to cool down out here. It is a pleasant change for summer to finally arrive here. Lastly, for those wondering about the previous post's picture, it is of Jason and Rob fighting and wrestling, as the guys have been giving out some rounds of "pink bellies" lately.

Now that the rain is FINALLY slowing down/stopping, we have been able to get out and see and do more. Yesterday, Rob, me, Kirby, Krista and jason went out to find Kerosene Creek, a natural hotsprings. After driving for 35 minutes and being sure we were going the wrong direction, we found the turn and parked off in the woods. As you drive out of ROtorua, there are random pockets of steam rising everywhere due to the high thermal activity in this town. We walked down a path to a creek, and found the large pool below a waterfall and hopped in. It was fantastic, about 39 C in the pool, and felt like a huge warm bath! we soaked until we were too hot and got out with very soft skin due to the high mineral content.

Today Myself, ROb, Jason and Kirby went golfing for 9 holes, on a thermal golf course, where instead of sand traps and lakes to watch for, there are numerous areas fenced off with huge danger signs where there are sulpheric acid mudholes which just reek of sulphur. Essentially, you hit in there ,goodbye to your ball. It was a great day, 23 and sunny, and the course was interesting, as many of their par 3's would be more like a par 4 at home. Bizzarely long par 3's for sure! I beat all the boys, although Kirby held his own for it being his 2nd time ever golfing! I think he was only 2 strokes behind Rob and 7 behind me!

Back to the house in a bit here to prepare dinner, last night we had a feast of lasagna and salad and garlic bread courtesy of Chris's cooking while we were at the hot springs. Pictures coming soon, as my computer here at the moment has no USB.

We left Auckland 3 days ago to drive to Rotorua, and driving on the opposite side is starting to feel more natural. I have stopped looking to the right for my rear view mirror and am getting used to glancing left now. THe drive was gorgeous, with rolling hills and one section through a tunnel of trees. Jason got excited on the drive as he found the rolling hills matched his image of what outside Auckland would look like!

Our rental house is quaint, right on the lake, with 3 bedrooms, and it is great having a full kitchen, a living room, our own rooms, and being free of the loud noise of other backpackers. Our car is holding up fantastic and is enabling us to get around hassle free. Rotorua has been rainy, but there is a fair bit to do once the rain subcedes. I have been noticing though that Kiwi's are a breed of their own when it comes to outdoor extreme adventure. For example.....

At home, there is a 65km/hr speed limit on curvy roads....here is is 85km/hr

At home, white water rafting consists on no higher than class 4 rapids, which provide a great thrill. Here, they go in class 5 and over a 25 foot waterfall.

At home, an agricultural farm has animals and plants....here it includes a bungy jump

At home, we have hills......here they feel a need to roll down them in a giant ball

Essentially, they enjoy their adrenaline rushes here. We will see what we end up doing, but I don't foresee myself going over a waterfall in a small inflatable raft anytime soon!

This morning, arising bright and early at 8:30 am Rob and I headed down to the weekly Auckland car auction. It was a warm and sunny day, with perfect blue skies, and we arrived in the gravel parking lot to peruse the options set before us. We found the aisle marked "cars under $3000" and narrowed down our choice from here. I had quite liked the VW Golf in the other row, but at $8000, it was a little steep! In the row more aimed at "backpackers", we first spotted a Toyota with a sunroof and in fairly decent shape. We requested a test drive, but soon after leaving the parking lot the constant clunking noise coming out of the back made us both uneasy and whenever I questioned the owner about the car, he would only reply that "everything was good, very good." Including the extremely rusted windshield wipers. So this was a NO.

Next, we looked up and down, at many cars around 950$, but none seemed suitable and we wanted an automatic, to make driving on the opposite side of the road easier. There is enough to worry about besides shifting with the opposite hand. Anyhow, an 1989 Audi caught our eye, but some other backpackers had jumped on that, so next up was a Mazda Familia, which we are now the proud owners of. We took it for a test drive, nothing seemed abnormal, the car has remarkably solid power for its age, and seemed a good all around purchase. We negotiated the seller down to 1700 (1400 CAD) and were off to the bank machine and post office. 5 minutes and 9 dollars later the registration was transferred, and the car was ours. Oh and our car accumulated a parking ticket while outside the post office which the seller has promised to pay on his credit card, so let's hope he is honest and our car is not suddenly towed one day.

Getting insurance was ridiculously easy, as it took one phone call and 160$ for 6 months of full insurance, with 4 drivers listed on it. Insurance is not even mandatory for drivers here, crazy as that sounds! So tomorrow we head off for a 2 1/2 hour drive to Rotorua where we have a 3 bedroom house rented for 12 days at the low cost of 16 each per night....cheaper than a hostel- and we get privacy, a full kitchen and a lakefront house! It will be the first test of the road worthyness of the car. And a note about opposite side driving- the worst thing so far is hitting the windshield wiper when I want to hit a turn light, or looking to my right for a rear view mirror and temporarily panicking when I can't find one!

One last note for those interested in economics- can anyone explain to me why Nike running shoes are so expensive here- at around 250 NZD, which is over 200 CAD still!

We have finally been able to see a bit more of the city as jet lag slowly wears off. Yesterday I was the only one able to rise in the morning, so I spent the early morning exploring, discovering a park overlooking the city and then heading over to the Auckland city museum on my own. It ended up being a long walk over hills and through a construction zone, so in retrospect the bus may have been a smarter choice....anyhow....the musuem was huge, the white building in the picture is of the museum. There was a floor on Maori history, where I saw an old Maori war canoe that held 100 warriors; a section on natural history where I saw stuffed albatross's and were amazed at the size of them; and a floor with New Zealand's war history where I learned that Kiwi's apparantly did fight in WWI and WWII.

Today Rob and I took a free shuttle over to Kelly Tarltons Antarctic Adventure, which I thought was very cool! It started off with replica huts of Shackelton's group when they were exploring the Antarctic, and all sorts of stories about their journey. We then got to see lots of penguins (large grin from me at this point) and rode a "snowtram" through the penguin area, which was extremely enjoyable. Picture penguins running around flapping their wings and waddling to and fro! Upon exiting here, there was a manta ray feeding, and these beasts were 450lbs!! We watched them for a while, I learned how to distinguish between a male and female manta ray, and then we moved onto the underwater tunnel with a moving sidewalk to watch fish, sharks, eels, and other such creatures.

Tonight, we decided to be real backpackers and try to cook dinner in the kitchen which was a bad bad idea! Our ceasar salad had the worlds most disgusting lettuce, as it is some strange variety of romaine which has the flavor of oversweetened vegetables. The toaster oven for our pizza was defective so we had burnt cheese and uncooked bread. Chris's ichican replica smelled like rotten seaweed, so needless to say, we brought pizza in from the outside world!

Tomorrow we have all intentions of buying a car, so hopefully the next post includes pictures of the beauty we will undoubtedly find.