Christchurch and Beyond

The last few days of my traveling have been a bit hectic. On Thursday I took a cheap bus from Dunedin to Christchurch, which was an express route as opposed to the laborious two-day trek with a stop over in Queenstown on the Stray bus. The plains were relaxing with their endlessness and I devoured Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell.Pulling into Christchurch, I lugged my new rolling duffel bag to my hostel for the first of two restless nights. It seemed like every truck and souped up Honda in the city drove under my window.

It took me about five hours to do everything in Christchurch: wandering the huge botanical gardens with the magnificent peacock fountain, poking through the Canterbury museum and browsing the art gallery. There was a great exhibit on perceptions of nudity. I even picked up a cheap chicken wrap from a street vendor before returning to relax in front of a movie at the hostel.

My much-anticipated TransAlpine ride through the southern alps was literally derailed. A freight train blocked the track, so our spectacular ride concluded with an hour bus ride and a late arrival. While the mountains were stunning, the gorges deep, and the 20-plus tunnels impressive, I'm sure it would have been much prettier with a thin layer of snow to sparkle in the sun. Luckily, I took an InterCity bus to Nelson. The driver was more than happy to wait for the delayed train passengers. I'm not so sure a Naked Bus driver would have done the same.

We took the same west coast road as the Stray bus, and it was nice to see the Tasman sea rocking against the island in the sunlight instead of gloomy rain. I checked into a cute hostel in Nelson Saturday night anticipating another sleepless night. My flight to Auckland was at 7.30 am on Sunday. The counter agent for Air New Zealand gave me an earful about trying to carry on my backpack (too long, they said) but no one checked my liquids, gels, and aerosols for the three ounce limits. There was no security at all, just a bubbly lady checking my ticket (without anyone asking me for an ID) and pointing me towards the runway to climb up into the plane. Luckily it was a nice one-hour flight across the Cook Straight and up to the top of North Island.

I will be the first to admit, I do not function well on sleep deprivation, especially when there is nowhere to get a fresh sandwich on top of that. When Naked Bus sent me several texts saying various buses I was supposed to be on were late,I was not a happy camper. Bronson finally came and picked me up. I popped myself into a bar in Mount Eden and called home while I waited for him. Then we drove around the city, visiting a park on one of the nine hilltops of Auckland and splitting pasta and pizza for dinner before heading back up to Paihia.

It was so nice to sleep in all morning and watch TV all day while doing my laundry. The past few weeks had been exhausting, though I had a fabulous time with my new British friends glacier hiking and bungy jumping. Bronson took today off from work and we're going to Rainbow Falls in Kerikeri with a picnic. It's a perfect day, just overcast enough that the temperature is comfortable. I'm so grateful to have these last few days with him. Somehow we really became friends.

My flight home is Thursday at 3.40 pm, I'm excited to watch some new movies on the flight and get back home. But it is sad to be leaving this place. The fairies and hobbits have transformed this magical little country into an ultimate fantasy world. Perhaps someday I can take a few months off, hide away in the mountains with the snow and my imagination. Perhaps I'll be back here to write my novel, my contribution to humankind.

23/75 Williams Road, Paihia

So here are a few photos of my new flat for everyone who's been asking for them for the last 3 weeks. I have 2 roommates, Marie-line from Quebec, and Avia from Christchurch. We even have a tiny Christmas tree and I made apple turnovers!

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Paihia Chistmas Parade

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Those Summer Nights

Last night was the first warm night in Paihia. Jake says it's due to a Northwesterly, but I think it's the Maori ancestors saying summer is finally coming. There was also a fantastic moon rising up over the bay.

On Friday I went out sailing on the Gungha, which means strength in Indian. Mike the skipper was a fantastic guide out to the fringes of the bay. We set the anchor in a bay off Waewatoma Island. One side had perfect white sandy beaches while the other was goupy volcanic sand and crunchy rock. We also had a great view out to the ocean and of Tukituki, an island 9 miles from the bay that is the last piece of New Zealand you see while sailing north to Fiji and the islands.

Being out on the water was definitely the push I needed to stay in Paihia. I'm starting sailing lessons on Sunday before Adam gets in Monday. The whole ride home I found myself wishing I had the boat all to myself. I even got to drive for a bit, steering on the wooleys through the white channel, well, attempting to anyway. It was fantastic.

Tomorrow is Guy Fawkes night, so hopefully I'll run into my friend Bronson when I get off at the restaurant and we can go find some fireworks. It's interesting that we don't celebrate Guy Fawkes night in the US, considering it can be viewed as a celebration of democracy. Since Guy Fawkes was unsuccessful at destroying the British Parliament building in the early 1600s, democracy thrived and the monarchy lost further power. I suppose when you rebel against outside rulers the first thing you do is cease to celebrate their holidays.

Hopefully aside from my sailing class, it will be a quiet weekend. I'll be starting a trial once Adam leaves with MagicMemories, the company who does all of the photography for Fuller's AwesomeNZ Bay of Islands cruises. I am very excited. Then hopefully I can move into a flat in Rimu Park and be sorted enough to write a small review of downtown Paihia. Stay tuned, more exciting adventures to come from next week's camper van road trip!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

So today I had a great Skype chat with Mom. It was great to talk to and see someone who is 8,000 miles away. She was quite surprised by the video, and asked if I could smell her rice krispy treats dipped in chocolate through the internet. It truly brightened my day.

It was also nice and sunny out, so I took a bike down to Woolworth's and bought (more) groceries. When there isn't anything to do, you sit around and make PBJ sandwiches and snack on tea and toast all day, so I needed more bread. There are a few things that I've purchased to make being homesick a little easier, like Heinz Ketchup ($4.50 a bottle) and ranch dressing. Some German girls have kindly given me their recipe for homemade chocolate cake, so this weekend I'll be going back to the store to pick up flour, sugar, and try to measure it out in metric units instead of cups and teaspoons.

And then, as I was sitting on up the deck looking out over the bay to Russell where my friend Rich now lives, I saw someone parasailing, and their chute had a giant smiley face on it. At first, I was confused because it looked like someone had cut down a hole on the opposite hillside and made the face in the ground. But then the sailor landed on a small motor boat in the middle of the bay and the chute was sucked back on board like a ribbon up a vacuum pipe. I almost wish he had gotten a second chance to go up, the parachute catching the wind as the boat continued running along. It's another sunny day in Paihia.

The McKinney Kauri and the Road to Paihia

I took the Stray bus up to Paihia, it guarantees me a trip back to Auckland for when Adam arrives in about a month, and I got a free pass on the Explore NZ Dolphin Cruise. We made a stop at the McKinney Kauri tree, the oldest/biggest tree in Northland. It's over 800 years old! The Maori used to chop them down and burn out the tree trunk to build war canoes that could hold up to 200 Maori soldiers at a time. I got to give McKinney a big hug and hope some of the ancient magic would rub off onto my stay up north.

Once I got up to Paihia we took off on the Explore NZ boat. It was an overcast day, but of course once we saw a pod of dolphins it cleared right up! No one was allowed to swim because there was a baby dolphin, and human body temperatures can confuse the young dolphin.

Even though its been cold and raining in NZ for a while now, I have managed a few nice beach days in Paihia. I try to go for an hour every day, get out of the Mousetrap and away from my crisps and cups of tea to enjoy just a bit of why I came all the way down here: sun and relaxation. You can see my Sperry's making a celebrity appearance on the beach at the end of Kings Road, where I live!

Welcome Home to the Mousetrap

In an effort to get out of Auckland and do two things I came to New Zealand for (lay on the beach, learn how to sail) I've moved up to Northland, to a small beach town called Paihia. Now, lots of people will talk up Paihia, and its a cute little town reminiscent of small beach towns all over the world. But there is  nothing to do here if the weather is crappy. And it's been crappy since I got here on Tuesday.

Currently, I'm living in a quaint hostel called The Mousetrap Backpackers:



There are about 15 rooms, and almost 50 people could stay here a night. I'm in a room with a nice Irish girl Caroline, Holly from Wales and Janine from Canada. Janine and I have fun teasing the Brits about how they say things wrong (a shirt does not have to have a collar).

There are two huge lounges which really remind me of my grandpa's house in Maine, and my friend Rich says it reminds him of back home in England with the big open fires. More often than not the television is turned on to the Simpsons or Friends, and I don't miss home one bit.

The cool thing is the awesome view of the harbor from the deck. We also have a handful of grills and lots of outdoor seating, so once the weather eases into summer it'll be absolutely lovely. It's a quiet, homey place to spend a few weeks relaxing and making a little money waitressing in town. Once Rich comes up next week, I'll have a nice explorer buddy to go traipsing around the bush with. If you want to come rent a sailboat, mid-December would be a great time! Here's to Thanksgiving on the beach!